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Related Music Theory Alchemy

“Dont Let Me Down” by The Beatles is a song that’s heavily grounded in the key of E Major, with some interesting use of borrowed chords for a richer, more emotional harmonic texture. The song is a fine example of The Beatles’ songwriting style, which often involves mixing diatonic chords with chromatic passing chords, borrowed chords, and secondary dominants.

The progression is in the key of C major. The use of the Bb major is known as modal interchange, where a chord that is not in the key is borrowed from a parallel key, which in this case is C minor. This contributes an interesting tone color to the overall sound. The chord progression does consist a use of slash chords (C/B, C/G) which adds a more complex bassline creating a more harmonically active feeling, and yielding more tension and release.

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‘Set Fire to the Rain’ is written in the key of D minor. The main course of progression uses the chords of Dm, B-flat Major, F Major and C Major. This is a 6-4-1-5 progression, which is very popular and is used in a lot of pop music.

What makes this progression interesting is that Adele uses the 2nd inversion of the A minor chord, Am/B, and G/A, which gives it a unique timbre. `Am/B` is the 2nd inversion of the `Am` chord and `G/A` is the 2nd inversion of the `G` chord.

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The key of ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ is G Major, a common key for pop and country songs which provides a bright and uplifting sound. Throughout the song, only four different chords are used: G, D, Em and C. The progression is repeated consistently, with only the sudden introduction of an F major chord (borrowed from the parallel minor of G) towards the end of the song during a transition phase.

The chord progression in the chorus of “Lost Cause” by Beck showcases a simple yet effective pattern utilizing major chords and a dominant seventh chord, which creates tension and resolution throughout the progression. The song is in C major, and the chords predominantly follow the diatonic harmony of the key. The style is reminiscent of folk and alternative rock, with the harmony playing a significant role in evoking a sense of melancholy in the listener.

The Beatles – Dont Let Me Down – CHORUS

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Chord Progression

[‘E’, ‘F#m’, ‘F#m7’, ‘Amaj7/B’, ‘E’, ‘F#m’, ‘F#m7’, ‘Amaj7/B’, ‘Esus4’, ‘E’]

Chord Progression Analysis

E (I), F#m (ii), F#m7 (ii7), Amaj7/B (IV7/5), E (I), F#m (ii), F#m7 (ii7), Amaj7/B (IV7/5), Esus4 (Isus4), E (I)

Below are the full chord names along with their roman numerals as per your request:

“`shell
E Major (‘I’)
F# Minor (‘ii’)
F# Minor Seventh (‘ii7’)
A Major Seventh over B, also known as A Major Seventh with B in the bass (‘IV7/5’)
E Major (‘I’)
F# Minor (‘ii’)
F# Minor Seventh (‘ii7’)
A Major Seventh over B, also known as A Major Seventh with B in the bass (‘IV7/5’)
E Suspended Fourth (‘Isus4’)
E Major (‘I’)
“`

Similar Chord Progressions

Okay, now let’s look at a few other songs that demonstrate

Musical Analysis

The Beatles often used borrowed chords in their music, but in this chorus, there are no borrowed chords, instead they’ve got the simple diatonic chords (I, ii, IV) and common secondary chords like the ii7 and IV7/5. The use of the slash chord, Amaj7/B, creates a suspension feeling before resolving back to E major. The Esus4 chord is a common device to create tension before resolution to E Major.

Overall Analysis

As this song has a distinct classical rock sound, you’ll see a mixture of major and minor chords. The progression is in the key of E major. The use of seventh chords and suspended chords provides a dense harmonic texture.

Style Analysis

In terms of the Beatles’s style, this chord progression is quite representative of their later, more experimental period. The combination of simple major and minor chords with more complex seventh and suspended chords is very characteristic of their style. This harmonic complexity, combined with their strong melodic writing, is one of the reasons why their music is often used to demonstrate advanced concepts in pop music theory.

Chords in the Chorus section of Dont Let Me Down by The Beatles are:

[‘E’, ‘F#m’, ‘F#m7’, ‘Amaj7/B’, ‘E’, ‘F#m’, ‘F#m7’, ‘Amaj7/B’, ‘Esus4’, ‘E’]