Musical Structure
The Song starts ("If you're listening") with an A melody note in the key of A. This moves in what appears to be a simple diatonic (I-ii) progression (on "chords are going wrong") to a Bm7 except this becomes a "slash" polychord owing to the dissonant bass note E (11th) that is not in the normal root. With the verse beginning "It doesn't really matter" a B melody note anchors a kalidoscope of shifting and borrowed chords as follows: on "doesn't really" (harmonising as a 5th with a V (E) chord); on "matter" (harmonising as the root of a (ii7) Bm7 chord); on "chords" (harmonising as a 3rd in a ♭VII (G) chord); on "play" (harmonising as a ♭7th in a III7 (C#7) chord) and on "words I say" (harmonising as a 4th on a VI7 (F#7) chord. The result is a nonchalant, seemingly uninspired melody expressing Harrison's dissatisfaction with contractual requirements while the real action happens "under the table" where seemingly haphazard harmony cleverly pulls the strings.
Read more about this topic: Only A Northern Song
Famous quotes containing the words musical and/or structure:
“If we cannot sing of faith and triumph, we will sing our despair. We will be that kind of bird. There are day owls, and there are night owls, and each is beautiful and even musical while about its business.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“What is the structure of government that will best guard against the precipitate counsels and factious combinations for unjust purposes, without a sacrifice of the fundamental principle of republicanism?”
—James Madison (1751–1836)