One effective songwriting tool is to have the different sections of a song contrasting with each other (Ticket 5). We've already seen the Beatles use this in She Came In Through The Bathroom Window and Here Comes The Sun but in Something Harrison takes things to extremes and manages to pull it off yet again.
VERSE
Key of C
Tempo - Slow
Melody - mostly around root and lower
long, languorous melody with no real repeats
Lyrics - odd rhyme structure (only internal rhymes) no repeats
Descending motif in melody and harmony
BRIDGE
Key of A
Tempo - Double time feel
Melody - all around 3rd (and 5th) and higher
short, strong melody with a exact repeat
Lyrics - obvious ABAB rhyme structure
Descending motif in bass line
A different key, tempo and structure. With such extreme contrast between the two sections how does Harrison achieve any cohesiveness? Both sections start with the same chord change. root chord going to the root major 7th chord.
Verse - C Cmaj7
Bridge - A Amaj7
This is obscured by the bass line on the Abbey Road version which makes the Amaj7 sound like a C#m/G#. But listen to Harrison's demo on Anthology 3. Whether it made it into the final version or not he clearly envisaged both sections starting with the same chord sequence.
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