The Band Who...Kept Expanding

Long Long(er) Long(est)

The ever increasing Beatles running time

Love Me Do (1962) - 2:23
The average pop song in the early 60's was well under 3 minutes. Some bands would even print fake shorter running times on their labels to ensure airplay.

I Saw Her Standing There (1963) - 2:56
Two bridges and guitar solo pushed this bluesy rocker to epic lengths.

You Really Got A Hold On Me (1963) - 3:03
A Smokey Robinson cover pushes the boys over 3 minutes.

She's A Woman (1964) - 3:03
McCartney pens his first B side over 3 minutes

Ticket To Ride (1965) - 3:10
And the first A side. A rave-up outro added 20 seconds

You Won't See Me (1965) - 3:23
It's a slow tempo that extends this album track.

Strawberry Fields Forever (1967) - 4:07
A experimental coda/jam session and post fade out drum solo adds over 1 minute.

Within You Without You (1967) - 5:05
mid tempo song with 30 second intro and over 1 minute instrumental section

A Day In The Life (1967) - 5:35
this time it's fade out piano chords, a dog whistle, then a loop originally recorded in the playout groove of the vinyl disc which add over 1 minute

Hey Jude (1968) - 7:08
3:03 of song plus 4:00 of coda

Revolution 9 (1968) - 8:22
nearly 81/2 minutes of atonal ego stroking by John and Yoko doesn't really count as a song. 

So the longest Beatles song is -

I Want You She's So Heavy (1969) - 7:48
4:37 song plus 3:10 non fading fade out


 It's interesting that in many of the Beatles fattest songs there's thin song trying to get out. Rather than a truly epic song like Bohemian Rhapsody, from Ticket To Ride onwards we have short songs with something tacked on the end.

The Minor 4 Chord (pt.4)

From the m2 to the m4

(Read part one here)

This a very Lennon change – he used the exact same progression three times to great effect, most famously in

Nowhere Man

Em Making all his Gm Nowhere plans for D nobody
(and all the other lines that end the verses)

(ii, iv, I)

It also crops up in the verses of

Across The Universe

Po- Em -ssessing and ca- Gm -ressing me. D Jai…
In- Em -citing and in- Gm -viting me. D Limitless…

(ii, iv, I)

and With The Beatles track

All I’ve Got to Do

F#m Call you on the phone
& you’ll come running home
Yeah Am that’s all I E gotta do.

(ii, iv, I)


Other songs

The progression dates back to the first album where it made an appearance on Do You Want To Know A Secret, in the verse just after “Do you promise not to tell”

G#m Gm Woh F#m oh Am oh E Closer…

(iii, biii, ii, iv/bVI, I)

McCartney plays a C under the Am making it sound even more complex than it already is.

He covers his tracks in a similar way (on piano this time) on the intro to Honey Pie. Instead of playing Am - Cm - G (which would be Nowhere Man transposed) he plays Am/D - Cm – G.

Em She A6 was a Am/D working girl Cm north of England G way

(vi, II, ii/V, iv, I)

As well as appearing in the verse of You Won’t See Me the bridge has the following progression


Bm Time after Dm time you re- D dim fuse to even A listen

ii, iv, iv dim, I (key of A)

A final alteration comes from the chorus of She Loves You (also in the key of G) where, instead of approaching the iv (Cm) from the ‘in key’ Am he uses a major (A7).

She Em loves you yeah, yeah, yeah
She A7 loves you yeah, yeah, yeah
With a Cm love like that
You D7 know you should be G glad

(vi, II, iv, V, I)

Try using this chord pattern in your songwriting. here's the progression in some common keys (the last chord is the root). Keep 'em in your songwriting tool box...

Em - Gm - D

Bm - Dm - A

F#m - Am - E

Dm - Fm - C

Am - Cm - G

1: Introduction
2: Major 4 to minor 4
3: Minor 6 to minor 4
4: Minor 2 to minor 4
5: 1 to minor 4 

The Minor 4 Chord (pt.2)

From the 4 (IV) to the minor 4 (iv)

Last time we had an introduction to the minor 4 chord (iv), now lets take a look at where the Beatles use it in their own songs. First a couple in the key of A


In My Life – verse I, V, IV, iv, I

There are A places E I remember all my D life Dm though A some have changed


You Won’t See Me – verse I, I7, IV, iv, I

A we have A7 lost the D time that Dm was hard to A find


I Call Your Name is in the key of E and the end of the verse goes II, IV, iv, I

I never F#7 weep at night A I Am call your name E7


When I’m Sixty Four is in C – verse I, I7, IV, iv, I,

C If I ‘d been out till quarter to three C7 would you lock the F door
Will you still Fm need me C will you still…

(Though they sound nothing like each other the sequence in When I'm Sixty Four is exactly the same as You Won’t See Me)


Hello Goodbye is also in C – Chorus IV, iv, I

I don’t know F why you say good - Fm/Ab – bye I say hel—C – lo

(Notice the iv here is in the first inversion, with the Ab in the bass rather than the F. It’s still the minor 4 though).


Lastly Blackbird is in G – verse IV, iv, I

All you C life Cm G/B you were only waiting for this moment


(Almost all McCartney songs! Hmmm….)

There are a few other songs that hint at this change – the chord pops up in Dear Prudence’s main guitar pattern, as a passing chord in Her Majesty (thought it may be a mistake) and on the ‘unreleased’ What’s The New Mary Jane?

They used it. So can You!

This progression has cropped up a lot post-Beatles too. Oasis used it (surprised? – me neither) in Don’t Look Back In Anger

F so I start a revo Fm lution in my C head
Cos you F said the brains I Fm had went to my C head


And Green Day’s - Wake Me Up When September Ends is another example.

C wake me up Cm when September G ends


Next time we’ll look at songs where the Beatles use the minor 4 (iv) alongside the minor 6 (vi).

1: Introduction
2: Major 4 to minor 4
3: Minor 6 to minor 4
4: Minor 2 to minor 4
5: 1 to minor 4 

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