12.7 She Came In Through The Bathroom Window (pt.2)

Last time we inducted this song into the Lyrical Hall Of Shame. This time I’ve got to admit it’s getting better.

Musically I’ve never known such a simple song be so complex. It’s taken me ages to figure out which is the first bar of each section, what key (or keys) it’s in and whether we have a verse and a bridge or a verse and a chorus.

Starting over

Where does the verse begin? The first 5 seconds are a link attaching this track to Polythene Pam, so we can ignore that. But does the verse start on the one before “She came in through…” (which means the first chord of the verse is an A major)? Or do the lyrics lead in to the verse, which starts on “window”? (meaning the first chord is D major).

The former would make it like We Can Work It Out – (chord) “try to see it my way”, the later like Hey Jude, which has “Hey” as a lead in and starts on the word “Jude”.

Ditto for the next section. Is it (A major) "didn’t anybody tell her” or does it start on “TELL her” which is a D minor?

What key?

Obviously the first problem has a big impact on the second.

Verse – are we in A major (at least as far as the chord progression goes) or D ???
Then are we sticking with some weird variation on A or going into D minor. And then do we sneak into C major before we head back to the beginning?

What’s my name again?

We only get the title once in the first of three verses. So what does that make the next section? A repeated bridge, or a chorus that (unusually for the mop tops) has no connection with the title?

My answers, like yours, will probably be largely subjective but why not have a play through the song and leave me a comment with YOUR conclusions before you read MINE.



She Came In Through The Bathroom Window - pt 1