“Can You Feel The Love Tonight” by Elton John is a heart-touching love song that carries a smooth flowing blend of pop and soft rock, showing Elton John’s inclination to use diatonic (major and minor) chords, 7th chords and inversions. The song, largely stays in its home key of C major, has an interesting chord progression that shifts between the tonic, subdominant, and dominant. Internally, there are multiple secondary dominant chords and borrowing from the parallel minor, providing color and contrast.
“I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues” is a well-known hit by Elton John from the album “Too Low for Zero” released in 1983. The song is a blend of pop, rock and blues styles and showcases Elton John’s proficiency in blending different music genres. The verse uses a straightforward I-V-vi-IV progression which is a common progression in pop music.
The Chorus’s
“Rocket Man” by Elton John, released in 1972, is a melodic and harmonically sophisticated example of his pop/rock style. The piece is in the key of G, and the chord progression of Verse 2 introduces some harmonies that exploit john’s expertise in using extended and altered chords, which lend colorfulness and a feel of departure and return. The use of slash chords like G/B and D/F# creates a descending bass line that is very characteristic of pop and rock music, creating a sense of melodic movement within the chords themselves. Verse 2 is navigated skillfully between simplistic and complex harmonies.
“Sour Times” by Portishead is largely written in the key of C# minor, with elements of modal interchange and chromaticism that contribute to its haunting, dark sound. The song exhibits a remarkable amount of harmonic complexity and non-diatonic harmony, which is a defining characteristic of the trip-hop genre. The piece makes use of intricate inversions and chromatic voice leading, along with a frequent use of sevenths and diminished chords for added tension.
“Brown Sugar” by The Rolling Stones, off their 1971 album Sticky Fingers, is in the key of C major, and primarily uses the chords C, F, G and Bb. This song showcases the band’s blues rock influences, built on a repetitive, riff-driven chord progression. The use of I, IV, V, and a borrowed bVII (Bb), which is common in the blues, creates an appealing and familiar sound, helping the song resonate with listeners.
The verse of “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John is generally in the key of C major (with some temporary modulations) and features a varied and interesting chord progression that is indicative of Elton John’s complex, piano-driven musical style.
“Tiny Dancer” is an iconic song by Elton John from his 1971 album Madman Across the Water. Written in the key of C Major, it genre-wise fits the mold of pop music from the early 1970s. Structurally, the song displays unique nuances, especially in its pre-chorus, which shifts the tonal center and incorporates some borrowed chords from parallel minor scales.
“Tiny Dancer” by Elton John, written in the key of C Major, is a classic example of elaborate pop song writing. The chord progression features common primary and secondary chords in the key of C Major, along with some borrowed chords to add color. This combination makes for a memorable and melodic song.
The most unique feature of the song is how it slowly changes to the key of C minor in the second half of the verse, making use of two borrowed chords. This is a powerful tool in songwriting, as it can dramatically affect the emotional tone of the song. Lastly, this song demonstrates Elton John’s use of Coloristic harmony, through chromatically altered chords.
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