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Related Music Theory Alchemy

“Sometimes It Snows In April” is commonly recognised as a hauntingly beautiful ballad that features gentle, intricate piano work and tender vocals. Musically, it explores a slightly complex harmonic structure that creates a profound emotive sound spectrum.

“Kiss” is a funk, synthpop song written, produced and performed by Prince. The song’s structure runs around a simple, repeated two-bar eight-note pattern, but what’s odd is the song’s key. Dotting between E and D, it’s hard to pin down definitively, but the song seems to be written in the ambiguous key of E Mixolydian/D major.

“Penny Lane” by The Beatles is an eclectic and elegant piece of music evident in its rhythm, harmony, melody, and lyrics. It is predominantly in the key of A Major, but it has several key changes and introduces chords that are non-diatonic, giving it a progressive and unexpected feel.

“Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word” by Elton John employs interesting chord progressions and borrows chords from other modes and keys, contributing to its melancholy, yet dynamically expressive mood. The song is set in E minor and uses basic chord progressions, some more sophisticated ones, and many borrowed chords.

The chord progression of “Beast Of Burden” by The Rolling Stones from verse 3 appears to be a standard pop/rock progression with a bit of melodic flavor. It features the chords of E major, B major, C# minor, and A major.

The song is in the key of E Major as that’s the chord the progression starts and ends with, and most of the chords are from the E major scale. There are no borrowed chords, and the progression is repetitive, maintaining a loop throughout most of the song.

Let’s move on to the detailed chord progression analysis, chord names, and their roman numerals.

Prince – Sometimes It Snows In April – Verse 3

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Chord Progression

[‘Eadd9’, ‘F#7add11’, ‘Amaj9’, ‘Eadd9’, ‘F#7add11’, ‘Eadd9’, ‘F#7add11’, ‘Eadd9’, ‘F#7add11’]

Chord Progression Analysis

Eadd9 (Iadd9)
F#7add11 (II7add11)
Amaj9 (IVmaj9)
Eadd9 (Iadd9)
F#7add11 (II7add11)
Eadd9 (Iadd9)
F#7add11 (II7add11)
Eadd9 (Iadd9)
F#7add11 (II7add11)

Note: In regards to borrowed chords as per your request, none of these chords are borrowed from a parallel mode. All of these chords fit functionally within E major.

“`No borrowed chords in this progression“`

Similar Chord Progressions

– “Purple Rain” by Prince
Chord Progression: Bbsus2 (Isus2), F (V), Gmadd9 (viiadd9), F (V), Ebadd9 (IVadd9), Bb (I)

– “Michelle” by The Beatles
Chord Progression: Fm7 (iim7), Bb9 (V9), Ebmaj7 (Imaj7), Ab6 (IV6), Dbmaj7 (bVII), Fm7 (iim7), Db (bV), Bb (V)

– “Peg” by Steely Dan
Chord Progression: A13 (I13), G13 (bVII13), Cmaj9 (IIImaj9), E7#9 (V7#9), Amaj7 (Imaj7), C#m7 (iiim7).

Note: The Roman numerals for the songs by other artists might be different in their respective keys. These examples are transposed to E major for comparison. The function might not exactly match due to the change in the tonal center.

Musical Analysis

The use of the Eadd9 and F#7add11 as the primary chords gives a tonal ambiguity to this progression. Eadd9 is a major chord with an added 2nd/9th, and F#7add11 is a dominant chord with an added 4th/11th. The Amaj9 chord serves as a temporary resolution, but its placement as the IV chord maintains a suspended feeling before returning back to the tension with Eadd9 and F#7add11.

Overall Analysis

“Sometimes It Snows In April” is a song by Prince in the pop style. It’s characterized by its use of extended and added note chords, as seen in the chord progression for Verse 3. This advanced harmonic content gives the song a distinct, rich, and complex musical texture, typical of Prince’s style.

Style Analysis

Prince is known for his distinctive musical style, characterized by sophisticated chord progressions and a unique fusion of different types of music including funk, rock, and pop. This progression is classic Prince, featuring extended chords which give a rich, atmospheric sound, and an interesting mixture of tension and release that draws the listener in.

Chords in the Verse 3 section of Sometimes It Snows In April by Prince are:

[‘Eadd9’, ‘F#7add11’, ‘Amaj9’, ‘Eadd9’, ‘F#7add11’, ‘Eadd9’, ‘F#7add11’, ‘Eadd9’, ‘F#7add11’]