2.2 She Loves You pt 2

We covered the chorus of this song in a previous post.

Break New Ground With Every Song

Very early in their careers the Beatles are consciously avoiding repeating themselves. The Verse/Chorus format is a new one for them and, after a run of ‘first person songs’ addressed to their fans they write one about the ‘third person’. So it’s important to keep looking at your recent songs and trying something different. You don’t arrive at Sgt Pepper levels of innovation unless you make it a habit to constantly break new ground in small ways.

Here’s another small example. Trying to play the chorus’s “yeah, yeah, yeah” vocal hook on guitar pushes Harrison into new chord shapes.

They’re played (from D to top E) 5003, 4002, 2000.

The last one is a straight Em, but have you ever played a pattern like that in any other song? Me neither.

Original. But Not Too Original

The chord structure in the verse & pre chorus is simple but effective. They almost go for the traditional doo-wop chord sequence of

G Em C D (I vi IV V)

But they change it just enough to keep it interesting

In the verse it's

G Em Bm D (I vi iii V)

And the pre chorus is

G Em Cm D (I vi iv V)

This is a pretty simple ‘trick’ – anyone can throw in a different chord or two but the Beatles are great at doing as much as possible with very simple patterns. I’m sure it’s part of their memorability – giving you something you’ve heard a hundred times before with a one little twist.

But using the same pattern twice and only changing one chord? Isn’t that too boring? Here’s another trick. Each chord in the verse lasts for one bar. Each chord in the pre chorus lasts for two.

Same yet different. Haven’t I heard that before? No, not quite.

More from this classic song next time.