If I Needed Someone - Musical Structure

Musical Structure

The song as recorded by The Beatles is in the key of A mixolydian, switching to B minor (ii chord when the tonic is A) during the breaks. The verse beginning "If I needed someone to love" ends (on "I'd be thinking of") with a B melody note complementing a ♭VII triad over a I root (G/A) 'slash' polychord (like that used at the opening of A Hard Day's Night (song)). Harrison gets to the Bm via an Em on "Had you come" this representing a v minor in the tonic of A and a iv minor in the new Bm key. Harrison's switch to the v minor (Em) here is not as could be expected a "precursor to a key centre on IV but an inspired alternative that demonstrates his innate vision of the structure of any key." The verses are heavily harmonised: Harrison sings the first two lines of the first verse by himself—double-tracked, as was customary on Beatles recordings of the period—after which John Lennon and Paul McCartney join in, singing above him throughout on each subsequent verse. Harrison sings the bridge solo, once again double-tracked.