Be It Let – A Beatles Chord Inversion Primer

I'm very pleased to present this video guest post by Lee Pat of One Minute Song


Do you remember when you started out on the piano or guitar and you only knew one chord shape? How embarrassing it was to jump all over the place just to play C – G – C?

Well, you probably learned fast enough that C major is still C major whether you play c-e-g, e-g-c or g-c-e.

You probably also realized how useful these different shapes can be for bass lines and melodies, even if you didn't care what they might be called (root position, first inversion, second inversion) or how they might be written (C, C/E (C over E) and C/G (C over G)).

Let It Be offers a nice example of the usefulness of inversions.

Before each new verse, we hear the short f---e-d-c motif, which is then extended (Ticket 9 - recycle musical cells) and repeated just before the guitar solo.

Let's imagine for a minute that Paul came up with that short motif first and then decided to harmonise it. (Matt here probably knows better if that's the case). [Matt: I don't! Sorry!]

What were his choices?

F - C G | C …
F - Am G | C …
F - C Dm | C … , etc.

In each of these cases, the note in the motif, whether you think about it as a melody (highest note), bass line (lowest note) or something in between (middle voice?), is a chord tone in the corresponding chord...

Of course, who says you can't have a non-chord tone (or a non-scale tone) in the melody or in the bass? That's how you get chord extensions, bass pedals and the like, but that's another story.
What if Paul had simply played

F / / / | C …

with f---e-d | c … in the melody?

The first chord is clearly Fmaj, the second Fmaj7, but the third?

Is it F6, Dm7/F, or something else? And, if you like how it sounds, does it matter?

Lee Pat is the guitarist and singer for Let Bygones and One Night Band. He recently founded oneminutesong.com to make wannabe rockstars, past their prime, who want to hear better music on the radio (himself included), actually sit down and write it. So he is currently writing ... a book on music theory for songwriters. Write to him at leepat@oneminutesong.com

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Paul McCartney Live At The Queen's Diamond Jubilee

For those of you that missed it - here's Paul's full set from Tuesday's Royal bash

Magical Mystery Tour
All My Loving
Let It Be
Live And Let Die
Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da

I'd also recommend checking out Madness' set.

After weeks of promises I'm happy to say I've completed the remaining research for the Let It Be and posts should start rolling on Monday. Thanks for your patience!

The Good, The Bad And The Educational Let It Be

The Good - I said Let It Be was basically a gospel hymn - back me up Carol Woods and Timothy Mitchum (from the Across the Universe film)

   

 The Bad - if Mother Mary looked like this, you'd never get back to sleep...

   

 And uber-parody pioneers Sesame Street

 

11:9 Let It Be

Let It Be is a great song, even though it is remarkably straight forward musically. Usually there's a clever concept lurking under the simplest Beatles track (see The Long And Winding Road) but if there's one here I can't find it!

Stylistically Let It Be is a gospel hymn, from the chord changes and the standard piano/electric organ paring,to the elastic timing in the lead vocals and the the celestial BVs. Inspired by a dream of Paul's deceased mum Mary ("Mother Mary" geddit?). It holds out a vague non-denominational hope's which means anyone can claim it as their own - essentially "there is a reason for the suffering you're going through, you will understand one day, so don't worry now"

The reason why the song works so well is that it's a song of comfort that communicates a FEELING of comfort. There's more than the usual amount of repetition of musical themes and lyrics, which is comforting in itself, as is the predictable cadence from the IV (F major) down to the I (C Major) which ends EVERY SINGLE LINE in the verse and chorus and is the basic theme that's extended in the link section (see below).

Here's a couple of cool tricks to try and work into your own writing

First, the way McCartney develops the main lyrical theme. The 3rd and 6th lines in the verse repeat the same two phrases then the chorus reverses them

eg

Verse -
I would like to eat some - Sausage rolls
Chorus -
Sausage rolls, Sausage rolls, Sausage rolls, Sausage rolls
I would like to eat some - Sausage rolls


The next verse is slightly different, giving us a slightly different chorus but we can predict what it will be which gives us a comforting sense of predictability without the drudge of complete repetition

Verse -
Would you please go buy some - Sausage rolls
Chorus -
Sausage rolls, Sausage rolls, Sausage rolls, Sausage rolls
Would you please go buy some - Sausage rolls

This makes the chorus almost like folk style refrain.

Secondly, the way Paul creates a link (twice before the solo and once at the end) out of the little descending chord pattern that ends the verse. This is a masterclass in Ticket 4. Check out the way he

• develops the theme doubling it's length
• takes it out of key briefly simply by continuing the line downwards in the same way (F E D C repeated down a fourth Bb A G F )
• takes something that was in the background in the verse and puts it front and centre in the link
• adds lead guitar and organ to change the timbre

So, thumbs up, moving on...

  

The Many Guitar Solos Of Let It Be

Still confused about the four different guitar solos in Let It Be? So was I. So in the name of musical science I edited them all together. Then I thought I'd do a little video and share it with you. But hurry. I'm sure people who have no respect for fair use in musical education will want to spoil the party.. Which solo is YOUR favourite...

 

The Best Of Let It Be (pt.4) - Let It Be

Just like I Me Mine, Let It Be contains extensive overdubbing done by George Martin rather than Phil Spector.

Past Masters

This is the single version recorded and mixed by George Martin. The master take (take 27-A) was recorded on 31 January 1969 at Apple Studios. McCartney played grand piano, Billy Preston played organ (switching between organ and electric piano sound – compare 1:45 with 1:52), Lennon on six-string electric bass, and Harrison on electric guitar. On 30 April, Harrison overdubbed a new guitar solo using a leslie effect. On 4 January 1970 He overdubbed another more distorted solo and Martin added brass and nearly inaudible cellos (last verse, panned right). Ringo and Paul added extra drums and maracas to verse 3 and Harrison, Paul AND Linda McCartney added BVs. This version uses the first solo (panned right) though the second faintly audible (centre). There is almost no trace of the original guitar track. Just after Paul sings Though they may be parted (1:06) you can hear someone (George Martin?) saying “stop it!” in the right speaker.

This was the version used on the 1967–1970 'Blue' album, 20 Greatest Hits and the 1 album.

Let It Be

Phil Spector's remix. He used the second more distorted and aggressive solo (with the first overdubbed solo still faintly audible – both are panned centre), cut the BVs except for the first verse, added delay to the hi-hat in the second verse and brought the bass and brass up in the mix. Just as in I Me Mine Spector 'copied and pasted' to increase length, this time extending the final chorus from twice to three times.

Let It Be Naked

Spector's reverb and extra chorus, and Martin's overdubs are all removed (except the backing vocals?). This is the same basic track as LIB/PM but with numerous edits flown in from other takes, most obviously notably the guitar solo, and there is even evidence of auto tune (listen to the first WORDS of wisdom – 0:21). The solo (from take 27-B) appears to have been lifted with the entire section not just the lead guitar track (compare the piano and drums). The guitar tone is similar to the PM version but the track is much cleaner as there is no 'shadowing' from other takes. Because much of the 'original' guitar tracks are removed there is no real 'build' in the last verse or penultimate chorus.

The whole track is much clearer sonically and seems tighter rhythmically (listen to the cool way Ringo swings the rhythm in the second chorus).

Anthology 3

A completely different version. Take 1 of the song (recorded 25 Jan) is bookended by studio chatter from Jan 31st (take 23) -

John: Are we supposed to giggle in the solo?
Paul: Yeah.
John: OK.
Paul: This'll...this is gonna knock you out, boy.

followed by more chatter from take 25 -

John: I think that was rather grand. I'd take one home with me. OK let's track it. (Gasps) You bounder, you cheat! (a reference to abandoning the no-overdubs/double tracking position that Lennon himself had advocated for Let It Be).

This is simpler and rougher version. No organ at all, and a repeat of verse one replaces the (as yet unwritten) final verse. Harrison is strumming chords on the last verse with a fairly clean leslie'd guitar tone and the drums drop out completely in the last verse. Lennon/Harrison contribute BVs.

The opening is hesitant, the tempo wobbles and there are mic pops throughout. Lennon phones it in on an out of tune bass, playing his trademark bored staccato bass parts. John may have joked about Ringo not being the best drummer in the Beatles, but Lennon's performances on Let It Be and Long & Winding Road definitely earn him 'worst bass player in the Beatles' award.

Film Version

Take 27-B, like 27-A, was recorded at Apple Studios the day after the roof top concert, along with Two Of Us and The Long and Winding Road. Though the audio to this version has never been officially released (apart from the guitar solo), this is the version used in the Let It Be film. The chorus lyrics end “there will be no sorrow, let it be” instead of “there will be an answer, let it be”.

Though there's nothing wrong with the overdubs they're not up to Martin's usual standard and LIBN really benefits from their removal and all the other cleaning up. LIB's solo gives the latter half of the track energy that the LIBN lacks, the brass sounds like a collection of individual instruments rather than single entity and the organ and BVs blend angelically (all of which I like). Anthology is yet another horrible rehearsal tape of historic, rather than artistic, value. And every version has that horrible bass slide at the end!

Verdict

There's really not much to chose between PM, LIB and LIBN but because of the sonic fixing I'd go for LIBN.


abbreviations

LIB - Let It Be
LIBN - Let It Be Naked
A3 - Anthology 3
PM - Past Masters

You have no idea how long this post took to research. I think I would have gone mad without What Goes On - The Beatles Anomalies List and Mix Online. I also would have gone mad without Wikipedia, but Wikipedia was also part of the reason I was going mad in the first place!

Still not got your head around the many solos? There's a special treat for you tomorrow - for a limited time only!!!!!

  

11:5 The Long And Winding Road (pt.1)

Let's dig into the song that is arguably McCartney's last great Beatles song (feel free to disagree that's what the comments section is for!) with some background and a roundup of cool songwriting points. Future posts will look at how McCartney develops the central melodic theme and how he evoked such a strong sense of being on a restless journey.

If you want any evidence of what a songwriting monster Paul McCartney was (is? Discuss!) how about this – He wrote The Long And Winding Road and Let It Be on the same day!!! (sorry I don't think that as enough exclamation marks. !!!!). Feeling inadequate yet?

Both this song and Harrison's Something were written with Ray Charles in mind. You can hear this on the way Paul sings a b3 over a Db/Eb chord (seen that road before). Very jazzy, very Ray. Bluesifying the melody (ticket 22) also happens on the second line of the verse (leads to your door) but this time using a b7. The sparse and tasteful use of this 'trick' really rescues the song from just being a straight melodic ballad and gives it a slight cool edge.

It's no coincidence that the only two 'out of key' chords in the song (ticket 28) occur in the same place as the 'blue notes' in the melody. There's a lot of subtlety and restraint here, Paul is not bashing you over the head with wrong chords 'Walrus' style (though there's nothing wrong with that!). The chord progression in general is quite creative, avoiding the V chord (Bb major) till the end of bar 7 (ticket 7) and not really coming to rest on the root chord (Eb major) till the end of the verse (ticket 6).

The AABA structure (ticket 26) harks back to the earliest songs like Love Me Do – verses and a bridge, but no chorus. The strong contrast between the two sections (ticket 5) helps keep the song interesting - the bridge is short, regular and repetitive but the verse is long, meandering and only cycles through the melody once. The 12 bar long verse - a 'non 12 bar blues' (ticket 35) also hints at the Beatles influences. It's almost as if 12 bar blues were so ingrained in Paul that he slipped into writing sections 12 bars long even when he wasn't using blues progressions. He did this a few times, most notably on the verse of Fool On The Hill. The old Beatles economy comes back too – there's no intro (ticket 2) and the ending is an instrumental restatement of the vocal hook (ticket 4).

Speaking of the ending, McCartney uses an Aeolian cadence (ticket 10) at the end, using the vi chord, Cm, instead of the I, Eb major (listen to 'Naked'). But unfortunately Lennon (and Harrison?) miss the substitution and play Eb anyway (listen closely to Anthology 3) which caused Richard Hewson to orchestrate it as a Eb (I) on the original album. Shame.

Next time we'll take a quick look at the lyrics.

  

Rare Let It Be Deleted Scenes!

It's a common experience for songwriters to think that they're doing something original, only to find the Beatles got there first. I thought the subject matter I tackled in The Eglon Song was fairly unique. Turns out I was wrong, as this recently discovered Let It Be outtake proves...

Actually this is a clip from the Peter Serafinowicz Show.

Peter will be playing Paul McCartney in the remake of Yellow Submarine. [Update no he won't. The film has been shelved].