10:54 What's Wrong With Sadie? (pt. 4) Drop Everything

The '7 drop' (Ticket 60) is one of the great chord moves in the Beatles toolbox, but on Sadie it isn't just chronically overused - but used in a really ambiguous way.

In Sadie the chords G to F# to Bm should be I VII iii but you could argue that the beginning of the verse is really bVI V7 i and we're in the key of Bm rather than G major. If we're not in Bm from the start of the verse we certainly are by the time we get to Bm. – the C# in the melody -

F# B C# D (What have you done?)

reinforces the fact that the F# is acting as a dominant V chord (the V of iii). However we only remain in Bm till we hit the C major. Then we're definitely in G major. This is so disorientating that the Bm almost feels like the first bar of the verse. Lennon slaps us in the face with the C# melody note then pulls the rug from under us with the C chord. Melodic uncertainty abounds. Yet McCartney pulls a similar stunt in Yesterday (in fact he goes further out of key) but doesn't create the same sense of confusion. Let's compare them.

All My Modulations Seemed So Far Away

Both verses start in G major* over a G major chord, Yesterday gets a full bar before the 'drop'; Sadie only half a bar. Over the drop both melodies start to go out of key

Melody

Sadie        F# B C# D (What have you done?)
Yesterday B C# D# E (All my troubles...)

Yesterday has two out of key notes to Sadie's one (the F# is in key) and the D# isn't even supported by the chord, but we never lose our footing.

Chords

Sadie        G F#    Bm C
Yesterday G F#m B7 Em

It's clear the 'seven drop' (a 'weaker' minor chord - F#m vii) is just a slight detour because the III (B7) is telling us Em is the new tonic chord. In fact the B7 is acting as the dominant chord of Em (the V of vi) just the way Sadie's F# - Bm is acting like the dominant chord of Bm (the V of iii). The difference is that in Yesterday Em and G major are relative keys (meaning they share all the same notes) so we're already feel 'back home' but in Sexy Sadie F# is telling us Bm is the new tonic chord, which is a completely different key and one immediately contradicted by the C major chord that follows it.

As we've found before (compare Something with Old Brown Shoe) bad Beatles songs don't employ different compositional techniques to their greatest songs. They often use exactly the same techniques, but over use them, use too many different ones or employ them too early. That's certainly the case here. There isn't anything here that's wrong - just too many right things, too often or all at once. The way the F# chord appears so soon, repeatedly trying to lead us to a new key that never sticks is one of the most disorientating aspects of the song.

So there we have it. It would be remiss not to note that the chords in bars 3 – 6 of Sadie's verse are same as bars 1 – 4 of the chorus of Karma Police by Radiohead, a debt which they openly acknowledge. But not as openly as I admit this collaboration I did with fellow Beatlemaniac Stuart Kidd blatantly borrows from them both. There's such a resemblance we called it ... Sadie's Sister


*For the sake of comparison I'm treating both songs as if they are in G major. Sexy Sadie IS in G major, Yesterday is PLAYED in G major but tuned a whole step down to F major.

Would you like to receive exclusive bonus Beatles Songwriting Tips? Join the mailing list right here!

70+ Songwriting Tips From The Beatles
The BeAtletudes
About Beatles Songwriting Academy
Let's Build An Airport EP

Golden Ticket: The Seven Drop

How do you use the 'seven drop' (Ticket 60) in one of your songs? Easy! Just start on the root chord and then immediately descend to the chord built on the seventh tone of the scale. In minor keys this is nothing special - it just gives you Em to D or Am to G etc - but in major keys things get interesting...

the 'correct' I – VII change in the key of C would be

C to B dim (B D F)

 or

C to B half dim 7 aka Bm7b5 (B D F A)

But that's a weird jazzy chord and many rock/pop guitarists don't like it (or even know it!).

So the Beatles tended to make things more complex by using simpler chords that don't fit in the key, like

C B7 (B D# F# A)

I VII7

or

C Bm7 (B D F# A)

I vii7

(out of key notes are in bold)

So we get progressions like I'm So Tired

      A  G#7   D                    E7
      I   VII7   IV                  V7
I'm so tired I haven't slept a wink


or Sexy Sadie

G          F#7      Bm
I           VII7      iii
    Sexy Sadie,          what have you done?

The verse of Martha My Dear doesn't have chord changes per se as it's made up of several interweaving lines but the progression that's implied is

Eb                                    D5           Gm
I                                       VII5          iii
Martha my dear though I spend my days

There's more going on than meets the eye (ear?) tonality wise here, because the root note and key here is actually F, but I'll save that for the next post. For now all we need to know is that our ear assumes the initial Eb is the root until we get to the end of the phrase.

Another example is Radiohead's Karma Police (directly inspired by Sexy Sadie) where the chorus has the same chord progression as part of Sadie's verse


Sexy Sadie 

C                      D                 G      F#7
IV                    V                  I       VII7
    You made a fool of everyone


Karma Police

C              D             G      F#
IV            V              I       VII
     This is what you get


The most famous/obvious example of this is Yesterday

F               E7sus4            A7                         Dm
I                VII7sus4         III7                        vi
Yesterday             all my troubles seemed so far


It's interesting that almost all these examples are from the beginning of the verses. So you could say the ticket works most effectively as a means of pulling the rug out from listeners the second they set foot in(on?) the song.

And also, whether we're going on a brief trip to a new key or heading for a home we didn't realise we had, the next step is often the same. Start on a major chord, drop a semitone to the seventh and then drop a fifth to the third degree of the scale.

     I – VII – III
eg C - B   -   E or Em

Next time we'll pause to look at some essential background work. What key is Martha My Dear in, and where exactly is the 'one'?

10:11 I'm So Tired (pt.3)

12 Bar Snooze

One of the great mysteries to me about the Beatles evolution is how a band that cut their teeth playing 12 bar blues covers in Hamburg nightclubs could go on to pen so few 12 bar blues songs themselves. To be sure the influence survived in the bluesy vocal lines and inflections in melodies like From Me To You and She Loves You. But the 12 bars structure seems to be something they outgrew. Or did they? Because a surprising number of tracks that don't appear bluesy from Don't Bother Me to The Fool On The Hill are built on 12 bar sequences (ticket 35).

In I'm So Tired the chorus chord progression clearly owes a debt to the American south

A A A A
D D D D
E E A A

just switch the D's in bars 7 and 8 to A's and you have the most basic 12 bar you can have. But the AABBC rhyme scheme does a great job of disguise the origins.

On the verse

A G#7 D E
A F#m D E
A E+ F#m Dm Dm

we have 13 bars, but the Dm is really nothing more than the Lennon extension (ticket 52). John drags out the sequence merely to add “no no no” in precisely the way that John Lee Hooker or Robert Johnson might stretch a pattern to squeeze in one more fill or phrase.

In the verse, though the chords are a 106 miles from Chicago, the lyrical structure again reflects the blues.

Consider the stock lyrics scheme

“When you got the blues, you repeat the the opening line
I said, when you got the blues, you repeat the the opening line
Then sing something else, just make sure it rhymes”

essentially a three section structure with two parts the same (or similar) followed by one contrasting part. In I'm So Tired we have and 2 lines that start “I'm so tired...” sung over almost the same chord progression twice

A G#7  D E
A F#m D E

followed by a line that contrasts musically and lyrically -

  A                         E+            F#m           Dm
I wonder should I get up and fix myself a drink...

All in all a stellar example for ticket 35 - a non blues 12 bar structure.

Chords and Contrasts


While we're looking at that last line check out the chords. The song has only (!) three out of key chords (ticket 28) but each is an absolute gem. First the Dm in last two bar of the verse is the classic Beatles doo wop chord the minor 4 (iv) a trick so ubiquitous it's earned it's own ticket (ticket 8). Here instead of the doo wop approved progression IV iv I (D to Dm to A) we slam into it from a minor 6 (F#m to Dm to A) which is a progression we ran into last time in Bungalow Bill

He’s the E all-American G bullet-headed Am Saxon mother’s Fm son

Note: the final verse chord in both songs is a iv, both are Lennon songs recorded on the same day. Who says you can't recycle ideas?

You can hear this on She Loves You, You Won't See Me and I Will amongst others.

The other two chords, E augmented (E+) and G#7, both contain C natural which is the only out of key note that appears in the melody. The G#7 is the VII7 chord and is of interest because it's same striking chord Lennon used in Sexy Sadie

I'm So Tired - A G#7 D   E   -  I  VII7  IV  V
Sexy Sadie   -  G  F#7 Bm      -  I  VII7  vi

McCartney did something similar (using the minor version – vii7) on his most famous song

Yesterday - F Em7 A7 Dm - I vii7 III7 vi

Stuart Kidd and I used exactly the same G – F#7 Bm move on our song Sadie's Sister (hey, if you're gonna steal be shameless!) but this time the key is D major renedering the progression

Sadie's Sister - G F#7 Bm - IV III7 vi

which is similar to what Radiohead do in Karma Police

Lastly we have a lot of cool contrasts between sections (ticket 5). The verse has one chord per bar but the chorus spends a long time on each chords. Lyrically the verse states “I'm tired” but the chorus talks about why he's tired. And reflecting that distinction the rhythm of the verse melody is very dragged out with lots of melisma but the chorus is more rhythmic and bursting with nervous mental energy.

Under The Influence: Radiohead

Thom Yorke: [Paranoid Android was written] in three different sections at different times in different states of mind, and then put together. Our working model for it was Happiness Is A Warm Gun. [I] Walked into the rehearsal room one day, 'Well you know Happiness Is A Warm Gun, you know that's like three songs put together? Let's do that.' And I didn't obviously think it was going to work, until we put it together finally, which was a f***ing shock”

Colin Greenwood: [We had become interested in] brutal editing, where you just splice bits of music together, like the Beatles on Magical Mystery Tour or whatever.

Thom Yorke: What can you say about the IMF, or politicians? Or people selling arms to African countries, employing slave labour or whatever. What can you say? You just write down “Cattle prods and the IMF' and people who know, know. I can't express it any clearer than that, I don't know how to yet, I'm stuck. That's how I feel about A Day In The Life, Lennon was obviously stuck and said, 'I'm going to write a song because I've got to get this down' and it's everything he didn't say by doing that...That was what I dreamed of doing on [OK Computer]

Exit Music: The Radiohead Story by Mac Randall (p.150, 151, 159)


(And for further evidence you could always check out the similarities between Sexy Sadie and Karma Police).