Ticket 75: Meet the Relatives

“How strange the change from major to minor…”^[1]

Cole Porter: Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye

Most pop songs stay in the same key throughout. Some have change key towards the end (usually higher, to ‘lift’ the final chorus) while a few have different sections in different keys. But one easy way to alter the mood between sections is to shift from the relative minor to the major or vice versa. As heard in:

We Can Work It Out, When I'm Sixty Four and Crazy Train (Ozzy Osbourne)

One Minute Theory Lesson

In musical terms relative keys share the same seven notes but treat a different note as the centre of their musical universe and use a different chord as the home chord. The most common example of this concept is the relative major and minor.^[2] The key of C major has no flats or sharps and consists of C D E F G A B C. If you make C the most important note and C major the most important chord you’re in the key of C major. Make A the centre and Am the most important chord and you are in A minor ^[3] Many songwriters utilise this switch going into a new section because, rather than altering notes, they’re merely emphasising different notes, which can provide an effortless change of mood.

Beatles Application

In Cry Baby Cry a G major chorus gives way to an E minor verse (0:11). When I'm Sixty Four begins in C major but soon shifts to Am (0:38). Though the chords in general draw from the same set of notes the mood become darker - a chill wind blows, momentarily, through the song. At the same spot in We Can Work It Out (0:38) a hopeful chorus in D major gives way to a more sombre meditation on mortality in Bm. Sixty Four and Work It Out both songs drop to the relative minor in the bridge and coincidentally borrow the V7 chord from the harmonic minor in place of the v (E7 in the former, F#7 in the latter).

Featured Song: Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne

This 1980 rock anthem opens with a classic guitar riff in F#m (0:18) before launching into a frenetic, yet jolly, chord progression in A major for the verse (0:31). This happy sound is a little uncharacteristic for the genre but the song soon reverts to F#m for the chorus (1:07) and bridge.

Reader Application

Consider using this ticket when the lyrics have scope to switch the mood, from happy to sad, hopeful to hopeless or vice versa. It usually works best if you start your section with the new root chord to strongly establish that you have switched to a new key centre. You can even keep the same progression and just swap out the first chord^[4] - e.g.

Verse: F#m | D | E | Bm

Chorus: A | D | E | Bm

Extended Playlist

1930 Georgia On My Mind – Hoagy Carmichael and His Orchestra (0:51)

1960 Georgia On My Mind – Ray Charles (1:15)

1965 We Can Work It Out - The Beatles (0:38)

1966 When I'm Sixty-Four - The Beatles (0:38)

1966 Good Vibrations – Beach Boys (0:26)

1968 Cry Baby Cry - The Beatles (0:11)

1969 Let It Be - The Beatles (0:39)

1980 Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne (0:32, 1:07)

1985 Yesterday's Men – Madness (1:58)

1986 Livin’ On A Prayer - Bon Jovi (1:32)

1994 Live Forever – Oasis (0:33)

2006 All The Way Down - Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová (0:00, 0:41)

2012 Enjoy The Ride – Nik Kershaw (1:14)

2013 Traveling Alone – Jason Isbell (0:55)

Further Study

Ticket 10: The Aeolian Cadence

Ticket 45: Change Keys Between Sections

Ticket 69: Climb the Chord Ladder

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[1] To be strictly accurate, Porter’s song does not change from a major to minor key at this point but from a major to minor chord (IV to iv).

[2] Of course there are five other notes (and chords) to promote as the new home. You could, for instance, switch from C major to G mixolydian mode - but these kind of switches aren’t as common - though the Beatles used this very one in Getting Better [0:00, 0:09, 0:26].

[3] Some classical music theorists would say the legitimate relative of C major is not A minor but A harmonic minor which does have a different note (G# instead of a G natural). This complicates things a little theory-wise and isn’t usually what is happening in pop songs. Naturally the Beatles flirted with this substitution too - on When I’m Sixty Four and We Can Work it Out (see application section).

[4] The Beatles and Oasis both use the exact same trick on Let It Be and Live Forever, taking a verse progression that starts with a major chord and replacing it with a minor chord for the chorus.

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10:59 Cry Baby Cry (pt.3) Music

Having looked at the lyrics and the drama behind the song let's finish with the music. Cry Baby Cry has a beautiful natural sounding melody that sits easily on top of some pretty unconventional chords. That's something Lennon excelled at. Here his use of OoKCs (Ticket 28) is not as showy as I Am The Walrus, but just as effective.

Walrus Tears

To start with the chorus melody: Lennon uses the G major blues scale (G A Bb B D E) which means the overall tonality could be viewed as G major or G mixolydian (Ticket 51). The ambiguity comes from the lack of 4ths and 7th – there is no C or C#, F or F# in the melody (Ticket 40). There are lots of F naturals in the harmony which weights the overall tonality towards G mixolydian (G A B C D E F G) but whichever way you land there are out of key notes in both melody and harmony. The harmony favours C natural (in F major, Am and C7) but include C# as well (A7).

The verses makes a switch from G major to the relative minor (Em) and melodically the G major blues scale (G A Bb B D E) becomes the E minor blues scale (E G A Bb B D). Same notes, different starting point (or more accurately a different centre).

This switch to the RELATIVE key is common in songwriting - Crazy Train (Ozzy Osbourne) switches from a 'happy' A major chorus to a 'sad' F#m chorus. Arguably it's not even a real key change since you're only shuffling the notes around, rather than altering them.

But the Beatles much preferred changing between PARALLEL keys (like A major to A minor) which retains the same centre but alters three notes around it. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (1:07-1:28) is a prime example. (Lennon and McCartney's neglect of relative key changes probably explains why it's only now getting it's own ticket. Say hello to Ticket 75!).

Switching between B natural and Bb adds a piquant bluesy flavour (Ticket 22) which can be heard in the C7 chord*, the lead guitar fill (1:17) and the way melody 'sighs' and 'cries' (0:32 and (0:37) from Bb to A to G. This 'madrigalism' (Ticket 49) is also reflected in the “playing piano” line (at 0:20 – 0:28).

The final kicker in the discombobulation stakes is the way Lennon ends his lead vocal on a very unresolved A over an Em chord. Most songs end on the root note and tonic chord which here would mean a G over a G major chord. But Lennon unexpectedly substitutes an Em chord (giving us the legendary Aeolian Cadence - Ticket 10). And A is the 2nd in the key of G major and the 4th in relation to the Em chord. So whichever way you slice it, very unstable and unfinished. And cool.

Contrast

The key change isn't solely responsible for the contrast between verse and chorus. The verse harmony is built on the 'line cliché' of E Eb D Db C B within the chords

Em - Em maj7 - Em7 - Em6 - C7 - G

while the chorus uses simpler chords with much more root movement.

G Am F G Em A7 F G

The verse melody is constructed from a repeated motif with a narrow range (E-B) over moving chords (Ticket 48) whereas the chorus is more expansive and free.

Mama's Little Baby Loves Short'ning

One of the ways Lennon generates tremendous forward momentum throughout the song (apart from omitting any intro, outro or solo) is by cutting out extraneous bars and beats (Ticket 37 – The Lennon Edit). The chorus is four bars long but the first chorus omits the last two beats and the last line of lyrics.

Similarly the verse are truncated. Any other writer would have hung on to G major for a fourth bar just to 'square things up' (0:19). But Lennon's in too much of a rush – so three bars it is. And then he outdoes himself the second time (0:20) cutting the three bar pattern down to two and a half. After all, the verse ends on G major and the chorus starts on G major so why play it twice? Let's edit the edit!

Lennon does it again in the double chorus finale (2:07). The chorus starts and ends G major. So he removes the beginning of the final chorus. Or is it the end of the penultimate one? Who cares! Snip!

By the way, about that verse. Repeating a chord progression is the most normal thing in the world. But the Beatles hardly ever did it. Interesting that...

Arrangement Hall Of Fame

The recording abounds with subtle, yet brilliant, arrangement ideas. Little painterly flourishes like the few seconds of flashy harmonium soloing from George Martin (0:05) never to be heard again, the organ (0:41), Harrison's lead guitar fills in verse three (1:17, 1:26), the piano bassline that brings out the spookiness of the verse progression (1:40). Along with other sonic touches like the gnarly phasing on the acoustic guitar (0:01) and recordings of birds (1:13) all betray crafting. And Ringo is the master craftsman, taking a different approach on every single verse. Check out the great bass/drums groove on verse two (0:39).

So that's Cry Baby Cry completely wrapped up. But there's still one more thing to look at with the track. Can you guess what it is?


*C7 is the bVI7 chord in the key of E minor – a very bluesified choice.

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Under The Influence: Ozzy Osbourne

John Lennon was my God ... Lennon knew how to be aggressive with a great melody, and I find that's something that's lacking in a lot of current music: it's just aggression; where's the f***** melody? Lennon could deliver the heaviest message with a terrific melody. And at the same time he'd paint this abstract, Salvador Dali picture in your head.


They did every form of music and made it their own. I owe my career to the Beatles. I wanted that excitement – they gave me a reason to carry on with my life...They had as much impact as World War II, but in a positive way. I remember feeling so good about buying [Strawberry Fields Forever]. It somehow made me feel good about myself. My confidence went up. The Beatles gave me hope.


Everybody knows what an incredible Beatles fan I am by now! But they influenced everybody, one way or another... If I ever get some terminal disease, just give me my medication, put on any Beatles album and just let me die like a f***** Viking. That's my last request.

Ozzy Osbourne selected I Am The Walrus, Strawberry Fields Forever & The Long And Winding Road for his ultimate mix tape in Guitar World, Dec 1998.