5:10 I interpret it as "If yer wanna be a spaceman....Eight days a week! And if the band you're in starts playin' different tunes, I'll see you on the dark side of the moon"
Great writer and perhaps an even better arranger both vocal and instrumental.. It is said that Brian Wilson and John Phillips were the two best vocal arrangers of the last 60 years. Phillips was a seriously bent guy but the vocals on those Mama's and the Papas records were unbelievably beautiful and Brian may have used studio musicians for the first instrumental tracks but those boys were talented singers and gave Brian a lot to work with.
I don't think our brains fill in the thirds, but when you play chords that correspond to a given key with out the 3rd, it does imply the key, and that's what you perceiving, The reason you may have a problem with ambiguity of the two chord is likely one of two things. It's probably the most common secondary dominant, so in the key of G heating an A major before a D happens a lot. The other, depending on the order on the chords the progression could be perceived as A mixolydian- like an A/G/D/A progression which one of the most commonly used modes in pop and rock.
James, your ability to help us gain some understanding of why certain techniques do what they do to our listening experience is peerless. Please do it more. Linking it to intriguing material is a bonus.
One of the more amazing tricks that Brian pulled in this song is getting back to the home key after explicitly changing key at the vocalized bridge. The melody transpose up a fourth (opening with G/D as compared to D/A). That key change is obvious. But somehow, after all of that, he subtly ends back up in the home key in a way that still floors me every thing I hear it, and I’ve been listening to the song for 40 years. Genius.
As per the Oasis song: I use that chord shape when playing solos. Particularly in songs in a minor key. You can move that chord shape around to do all sorts of wonderful things
These theory vids are brilliant. A lot of the topics I know of, but you're adding a new perspective on them. Actually inspiring me to try these tricks in a tune. Great stuff!
There are 2 different types of slash chords. I've always found that calling them the same name is a little confusing. D/A, for instance, is a (consonant) inversion of D. In the same way, B7 over A is an inverted B7. On the other hand, G/A is an enriched (dissonant) A7sus4. Its bass note is a non-chord tone... or the only chord tone depending on how you see it.
You are absolutely one of the best teachers of songwriting techniques and appreciation anywhere...thank you so much for this one...I have learned it a few ways for guitar but no one else has so clearly explained what's actually going on...Steeley Dan uses slash chords too...keep up the great work man❤
The fact that it has a “7” in its name should tell you that it’s more than a 3 note chord; 1=root(vital), 3=quality(ie major or minor), 5=optional (just colour, but recommended for richness) and 7 for determining dominant or major 7th (dominant leads to 1, major 7th is stable...).
So glad you covered the beach boys James. Great video. Hope you can cover more of Brian Wilson especially, and his relationship with Dr Eugene Landy as it’s fascinating and would love to see your take on it.
Brilliant.… I’ve always elevated this song to equal to the best songs ever written (“the Long and Winding Road“, “here there and everywhere“ - all three cluster at number one for me… With perhaps one or two more). Thank you for your diligent, well-elucidated presentation. Cheers/ Slainte. 🇬🇧🏴🇺🇸. 🎸👨🏼⚕️🫶✌️♾️
This video is gold. You show history of music, connect it to Oasis and in the end, you teach us something. The comparison between the chords without/with the bass notes is so great and teaches so much. Thanks for always going a step beyond, your Sherlock Holmes skills, storytelling, music knowledge and love for Oasis are all in the mix.
It’s his best video. I think it’s the second best video about music I’ve heard in the whole year. And the reason why second is because I’m a Strokes head and so that Room On Fire making of wins.
Great job making this concept so accessible. The song has always haunted me but I never attempted to break it down. The anticipation of tension and release, that magical effect when familiar melodies grab us, with this song is brought to a whole new level, it’s not just a brilliant moment, it’s more like a kind of secret sauce that captivates our musical souls. Sparks shall be flying!
Totally agree but it's them harmonies for me. What completely changed me with the beach boys was listening to Pet Sounds Acappella. I downloading once n now I've lost but yh the whole thing with no instruments is just 'wow' n for me 'don't cry put your head on my shoulder' is right up there as well. Naive lyrics but truly sublime and from the heart. I listen now lol
One of my favourite ever songs is by the Beach Boys, but I can’t remember the name for the life of me! It’ll haunt me now until I can ask my wife. She never forgets, anything 😊 Edit: it’s “I can hear music”. Check out the extended version.
Utterly brilliant video, James. It's a regret of mine that I didn't learn the guitar as a boy, but my lack of understanding regarding musical theory did not hinder my appreciation of your analyses thanks to your excellent explanations. Although I am not a musician, I fancy myself as a musicologist of sorts(!) when it comes to The Beatles and Queen, in particular. Your education about Brian Wilson's masterpiece here was enlightening and appreciated; any videos on my favourite bands will be devoured!
It is one of my top 10 songs of all time. I was very happy to see Brian Wilson and his band play all of Pet Sounds on its 50th anniversary back in 2016. I do love The Beach Boys and Brian is such a genius. As much as his song writing is unique and artistic, there are other songs that are just as great from the other members.
Brian is a special songwriter and it's wonderful to hear the lead vocals from Dennis, Carl and the others too. We wouldn't miss them out as they added their wonderful tones for the classic BB sounds along with him.
It is such an emotional thing when his health was worse after his scarring drug experiences. Love & Mercy is a fantastic film and I recommend it as well.
@@TheStrongBoyz19 yes I've seen it absolutely brilliant film - love the 2 time periods thing and for me it came really close to capturing the brilliance of Brian in the studio
Good call, Brian Wilson certainly ascended the heavens, how about Steely Dan for musical ambiguity and slash chords, sone of their songs definitely have this quality, agree?
Brian wrote the song in 20 mins. He must of been in one of creative cycles as he says. I love the sudden crazy interlude then the 4 part vocals happen and the whole thing comes together again like magic.
An analysis that is clearly and simply stated and is very useful to apply to songwriting. Thanks. I have only ever used 'Slash' chords playing one or two covers and have known them as Poly Chords. I picked up the Asus2, used for the first time in one of my songs, 10 years ago. I had been playing Gordon Lightfoot's 'The Wreck Of The Edmond Fitzgerald' for I'm not sure how long? ....maybe 30 years. Asus2 is the starting chord of this song. The chord progression in all 14 verses is Asus2 - Em - G - D. It repeats right through, with a turnaround between certain verses. It's a story telling song, using brilliant lyrics and so is suited to the repeated chord progression. If you like great story songs, if you follow the story, you will never get bored with the repeated chords. They complement the story, but never take attention away from from the story. By the way and I hope this doesn't confuse you; Gordon uses these chord shapes but raises the pitch (and changes the key) by using a capo on the second fret, on his Gibson 12 string guitar. My favourite performance of this song was in a concert that Gordon and the band played in Reno. It's on UA-cam. For my song I used the standard guitar tuning of E A D G B E. The Asus2 is fingered on the second fret. You fret the D and the G strings, taking D to E and G to A. So the notes of the chord are E A E A B E. This gives it that ambiguous ethereal sound that I love. I wrote the song using the chord progression Em Asus2 on the verses, just these two chords repeated, 4 bars of the Em and 2 bars of the Asus2. For the chorus I used a different chord progression. It starts with G, goes to G7 and uses 3 other major chords including the leading note chord, and two minor chords. So the verses are simple using two chords, one ambiguous, and the chorus is 'busy' and lifting, using 8 chords with a bit of a surprise, using the leading note chord F. The keys used are Em and the relative major G.
Maybe you are thinking too diatonically. Slash chords are not supposed to be viewed like this. Maybe some Barry Harris; family of dominants and jazz theory will help you to understand the implied movement here. It’s very common in modern jazz. This is a wonderful example of a pop tune using more advanced harmony. Unfortunately, one of the very few.
That's interesting. When you were playing the 2 chord, I did keep hearing it as major. I wonder if that's from listening to the Beatles and Oasis for so long.... It's a trippy song. I always thought it was beautiful, but hearing it sung a capella in Bioshock Infinite reduced me to tears....💔
1. Totally agree. It's probably the greatest song ever written. 2. To my ear it is in E. E is always home. I always say the key of a song is the one that if you can imagine a live band playing it what chord would they choose to end on and to me that is definitely E.
I always point to that song as a brilliant example of atonal music. Most people think "atonal" is the same thing as "dissonant", but it simply means the song lacks a clear tonal center. Lennon's A Day in the Life is another example of atonality in pop music -- it kind of lives ambiguously between the keys of Gmaj and Bm before moving to E (but still using the borrowed flat-7 chord, Dmaj). Brian, John and Paul were just that brilliant!
Elliott Smith was briliant at having ambigious tonal center and has a lot of songs that do so. Listen to "Everything means nothing to me" or "Speed trials" as an example
Major II often sounds "right" because it's often used either in a V-of-V formation (that is, the dominant 7th OF the dominant 7th of the main key: i.e., D7 to G7 to C) or in a sort of abbreviated form in which II creates a descending chromatic melody (the g in C as I, the f# in D as II, the f natural in F as IV).
Wow, this video was amazing! I truly appreciate the deep delving into theory and also into the practicality of these concepts. Bookmarking this for the next time my songwriting needs something extra … or, maybe that’s *every time! Cheers!
Nice analysis, James. Here's my harmonic understanding of the verse and chorus. I will add Roman numeral figured bass in parenthesis to show chord function. 1. "I may not always love you, but as long as there are ... " A three chord progression in the key of F# Minor. Key of F# Minor: D/A (VI 6/4), B Minor 2 (iv 2), F# Minor (i). 2. "... stars above you..." A transition chord preparing/moving into the key of E Major: B Major/A (V 6/4/2) 3. "You never need to doubt it, I'll make you so sure about it ..." Key of E: E/B (I 6/4), A Diminished 7 (iv 6/b5/b3), E/B (I 6/4), A# Half Diminished 7 (#iv 7/b5/b3) 4. "God only knows what I'd be without you ..." Key of E: A Major (IV), E Major/G# (I 6/3), F# Minor 7 (ii 7), E Major (I) 5. Summary: A. I perceive the verse in two keys: F# Minor for the first three chords, and E Major for the last five chords. B. The refrain continues in the key of E Major for four chords. 6. Comment: Although harmonic changes in popular music are most easily understood with chord symbols, Roman numeral figured bass is a helpful auxiliary tool to display chord function and progression within a key.
Another great vid man 👌 also, I get that the Pet Sounds cover is, aesthetically, a bit odd, but I'd say probably Dark Side and Pepper aside, it's right up there as one of the most instantly recognisable album covers of all time 🤔
Why ii is ambiguous. A possible pointer : Consider building quintal chords from piles of perfect fifths 15 2 6. The 3rd comes in next but its relatively insignificant. A 69 (no 3) chord captures the quintal quality as effectively as one including the major third. Starting with a major scale, ii is unique in allowing both quintal 69(no 3) and quartal m7/11 chords. The latter are clearly minor sounding, and the former have more of a major character, despite lacking a 3rd.
Something you didn’t mention, was that this uncertainty around the tonal center sort of mirrors the uncertainty in the lyrics, ie what would he be without the person he’s singing about…it’s uncertain. Having said that and as fascinating as this topic is, I do wonder if Brian was actually consciously intellectually planning all of this or if he just had a unique melody come into his head and that was the genius of the composition, versus trying to be clever and creating a song without a tonal center. Being a songwriter myself, I would tend to think that the melody came to him and he worked out the chords later and it just happened to turn out that way regarding subversion of key, but I guess you never know. My advice to young songwriters would be to let the melodies come to you and not to try and get too intellectual or clever clever around the chord progressions. As you said in your video, music at it’s very core is about transferring emotion and I think the organic emotion that comes naturally to a songwriter when creating a beautiful melody is more ultimately important than any intellectual cleverness one could construct. But maybe a bit of intentional cleverness around tonal center can enhance the song at times. I do see that as well. I guess what I’m saying is that the tonal ambiguity is an ingredient and it shouldn’t be overused. I would also say that while it could possibly make a good song better, it could never make a bad song good. Thanks again for the great video… and let’s all keep saying our prayers that Liam and Noel don’t beat the shit out of each other before they get through the first show.😂
After watching this video, a most curious thing occurred. I paused to absorb the video in its totality and as a wave of wonder washed over me I sighed and swept my hair back with my hand at the same time. This is the strange part. It seems the top of my head was missing. Momentarily alarmed, and I brushed my hand up there again to confirm what my hand had told me. It had returned, but I haven't been quite the same since. Learning something new and at the same time so interesting to oneself does that very rarely. Thank you, sir!
Some of this was covered by our Church lead guitarist. He said 4 finger G, C, ect. Holds it together part of the Worship Chords, I get it better now thanks to you and he.
By the way, the chord he’s showing you IS NOT a 2 chord. A, E, A, D, G is A7th sus4. The G note is the 7th in the scale and D note is the suspended note. If were a 2 chord, the notes would be: A, E, A, B, E. This chord is a moveable chord by the way.
Please focus more on brian wilson. I love oasis and the beach boys but brian is a much better composer and songwriter and no one has come close since. The best video ive seen to explain the fact that god only knows has no defined key. Bravo
I have to say your channel is mindblowing good! Ive learned so much from you and you give us hope as musicians and songwriters. This is the good side of UA-cam as a platform for knowledge sharing. Keep up your stellar work and know that is deeply appreciated!
2 chords are beautiful. Technically, it’s a sus2 because the 3 note becomes the 2 note. The sus moniker is dropped for whatever reason. Anytime you see sus, (suspended) it means the 3 note has been replaced by the 2 or 4. Not to be confused with add9 which is 1, 3, 5, 2. So an add9 is the full chord with a 2 added. As far as the 3 note becoming the 4, lets take Asus as an example. The 3 note becomes a 4. Any time you see the word sus (suspended) it just means the 3 note has been replaced. Pretty simple.
Well done. Sus4 and slash chords are blends, so of course you’ll get an ambiguous tonal center. Wilson’s genius was making it musical for the Western ear. BTW: it’s pronounced res-PIT. 😊
I love FMaj7 and CMaj7… and all Maj 7th chords… I totally agree with you about the ambiguity and the mystery of that song that Melody and the underline chords, it is really beautiful
in western music there are at least four types of chords: major minor diminished and augmented. And then you've got all the chords with the sevenths added and all the other extensions
Very interesting points! I personally feel that despite the use of slash bass notes, the verse is split between two keys, D and E, with bar four marking the transition between the two. I wrote this very brief summary of God Only Knows for a BBC website about great songwriting: "Brian Wilson’s talent is nowhere better displayed than in this gorgeous verse, which moves flowingly through two keys and four sweeping phrases, with the bass on fifths and thirds, gaining a sense of romantic reassurance as it progresses to the chorus. The outro canon is Beach Boys’ heaven, the voices crossing in a tapestry of parts, saved from excessive sentimentality by the nifty use of the barber’s shop flat seventh." And yes, the chorus is definitely in E. The clever use of the G chord at the end of the first chorus takes us back down to D for the second verse.
At around 20:00, you say 'a B chord with a C in the bass, or a C half-diminished'. I can't see this: B7/C is B C D# F# A; C half diminished is C Eb Gb Bb; yes, Eb is D# and Gb is F#, and we allow the addition of the B to the C chord, but C half-diminished has Bb, and C dim7 has Bbb or A. So C dim7 with B in the bass, if you like, but not C half-diminshed.
I agree that the B7/C - C half diminished is incorrect. I think the correct chord to play there the is simply the Cdim7 you mentioned (C-Eb-Gb-Bbb technically; enharmonically C-D#-F#-A). Yes, there’s a B in the melody, but that’s a passing tone. If you listen to the backing track w/o vocals, no one is playing a B there at all. The bass is definitely playing C. The way I think this was done on piano for the E/B to Cdim7 move was Left hand: B-B (octaves) to C-C right hand B-E-G# to A-D#-F# I made a note of this chord and a few others a few hours before you did.
As for slash chords, my limited experiments here show that playing the second note of the scale in the bass of a chord produces more harmonic tension than more typical devices such as sus4. If you maintain that unrooted bass for a long time, the eventual resolution is more powerful.
Great video mate - i think that there are still people doing this kind of thing today but it does feel more rare. Macca used to do the same thing when he would play basslines with notes that introduced ambiguity.
I guesed the song when I saw the title. There is a video of Carl singing it on his own on UA-cam it has (intimate setting) in the title and I suggest you give it a watch as it is incredible.
Not sure what they’re called but I’ve always played the (always loved you) like this: lower the A on the 4th string/7th fret to Ab along with the B bass note on 6th string. I’ve also played it with a normal D chord lowering the A on third string to an Ab on first fret and hitting the B bass with thumb on second fret. As for the “ sure about it” chord, from the bottom it’s Bb (5th string 1st fret) E (4th/2nd) Ab ((3rd/1st) Db/2nd). Give it a try
Wishing you will read this. On God Only Knows I beg to differ: first, you (and maybe other writers you've cited !) seem to only explore the possibility of A major and E Major, ignoring (staying in a tonal point of view) F#m and Bm. But the melodies in fact make in clear: - the first line (2 bars) alone suggests clearly B minor (B-D-F# with C# as a passing note). And the chords? E7/B is in fact a Bm6 (E is barely heard or important, but would be 11), and the bass makes the melody suggestion clearer: we are in B minor. B is a very clear tonal center to my ear. - the second line (bars 3-4) is going to V in B minor (F#m), modulating (you know think Bm was in fact the IV). The first chord and melody also make it clear (F#-A-C#) and B/A is... another kind of strange F#m6 chord! An exercice to "prove" this: replace the chords by "Bm | Bm6 | F#m | F#m6". You've have a simplified version of the same emotions! That's a problem for with slash notation: very efficient but can be misleading for analysis - actually only your ear analyses well The following (bars 5-7) is a quite abrupt modulation in E Major (I-Valt-I). All that said, all those chords are magic, it's a following of unusual colors and complexities, though creating something evident and is of course a masterpiece. Only disagreeing with the "bi-tonal" interpretation! There are tonal centers here (moving, like in most complex chord progressions).
I'm not going to go through the whole song but in my theory class I believe the first chord would be called a cadential 6-4 chord because the A in the bass is actually on the 5th scale degree of D so it is in the dominant , 6 --4 because the D above the A is a 4 and the F# is a sixth interval away fron the D (Hence a six four chord .).So it might be seen as a double suspension of the 4 and a 6 that resolve to the C# and the E respectively. before cadencing on the D, If memory serves, it sounds like the first piano chord of Bridge over Troubled Water. Anyway, this idea of a 5 in the bass is skewed because it is a cadential V chord resolving usually to a 1 as in classical music. . The following sections are a type of circle of fifths .Yes it does sound ambiguous starting on a cadential chord almost like you are walking in on someone already thinking about something and you missed the prologue .The melody coming in after the downbeat also suggests a reflective pause ,like in For No One by McCartney .
Saw Brian's photo, so wondered for a moment and decided it had to be "Good Vibrations". Tho I was a west coast teen during those years, I was much more into the Beatles. Good Vibrations made me sit up and pay attention...
I saw Brian last night in a dream. He was a toddler and was sitting on the kitchen countertop at my grandparents house. He did not speak, but I knew who he was.
Excellent breakdown. Im not sure but surely this kind of musical ambiguity is found in most classical music. Also ambiguity as a feeling is created in many different ways like changing the modality of a piece of music. Also using pedal notes (open string tunings) or using micro-tonalities even as broad a technique as glissandi create ambiguity. I think you can go back to Bach to find much of this feeling in counterpoint where musical tension or ambiguity stays pretty present. I think its a common technique in writing underscore or film soundtracks where ambiguity is often key to what works. It would be great to know where wilsons influence comes from especially as he is a bass player and the beach boys were all about complex harmonies where typically tensions are created in a similar way say in choral music.
Thank you for this enlightening video. I now understand what that certain something is in great songs that evoke emotionally. I’m not talented with song writing, but I’ve inadvertently added some of this to my version of some covers. I now know why and can do it more purposefully.
In a nutshell, the bass is playing something different but still harmonious/diatonic with the chords. Still genius though. Pretty sure Brian was the first to do it
Great video. I especially enjoyed the background regarding the tonal ambiguity of the two chord. (I heard it as major!) There are a couple of chords in God Only Knows that I think you don’t have quite right. I’m not an expert, these are just my ears. E7/B in the first line. You mention it could be called Bm6. I think it *is* Bm6. But I’m not hearing an E in it at all when I listen to the backing track sans vocals B7/C at “you’ll never *need*) I simply don’t hear a B in that at all in the instrumentation. Yes in the vocal on “doubt” but not in the accompaniment. I hear all of the rest of the notes of that chord though. C-D#-F#-A, which form a Cdim7 chord. (strictly speaking, Cdim7 would be C-Eb-Gb-Bbb, but I chose to write the enharmonic equivalent with sharps) And in the next line, “I’ll make you so *sure*) comes the most magical chord in the whole song. It’s C#m/A#, otherwise known as A#m7-flat5 or A# half diminished.
You should look at Stevie Wonder's "Send One Your Love' from The Secret Life Of Plants". That is also a master class of deceptive key center. As is his song "Overjoyed". Masterful.
Did Brian ever write another song with the same ideas? Maybe jazzers do this kind of thing all the time, but has any other single with the same structure been so highly praised?
I think when we hear the full progression, hearing the G5, makes us assume the note G in the E5 to "hear" Em and that completes a diatonic progression. No chance for me of hearing a G# that would be very dissonant given base other chords have laid out.
I had A Lydian diminished once, but the wheels fell off! Seriously, to what extent do you think Brian Wilson did this because he knew exactly what he was doing from a music theory point of view, and how much was he feeling his way, and just wrote, “what sounded nice”?
Great video 👍 One of Oasis' greatest legacies is the journey they took you on, once you started investigating their influences - Oasis - Beatles - The Who/Kinks/Small Faces... Eventually ending up with the Beach Boys, and this masterpiece 😍
if pet sounds was earthly genius, smile was universal genius
I concur
yeah, how to classify the tune "Wonderful" by Harpsichord and Voice?
"Surf's Up"" off The Smile Sessions is also genius, with all due respect to the mix off the "Surf's Up"album (1971)
Es Verdad
Too bad it came out 40 years after most of the recoding was done and not finished with the original band. But I concur.
5:10 I interpret it as "If yer wanna be a spaceman....Eight days a week! And if the band you're in starts playin' different tunes, I'll see you on the dark side of the moon"
Thanks for an incredibly interesting video, shedding light on why Brian Wilson is regarded as a genius songwriter.
Great writer and perhaps an even better arranger both vocal and instrumental.. It is said that Brian Wilson and John Phillips were the two best vocal arrangers of the last 60 years. Phillips was a seriously bent guy but the vocals on those Mama's and the Papas records were unbelievably beautiful and Brian may have used studio musicians for the first instrumental tracks but those boys were talented singers and gave Brian a lot to work with.
I don't think our brains fill in the thirds, but when you play chords that correspond to a given key with out the 3rd, it does imply the key, and that's what you perceiving, The reason you may have a problem with ambiguity of the two chord is likely one of two things. It's probably the most common secondary dominant, so in the key of G heating an A major before a D happens a lot. The other, depending on the order on the chords the progression could be perceived as A mixolydian- like an A/G/D/A progression which one of the most commonly used modes in pop and rock.
Interesting reply cheers
James, your ability to help us gain some understanding of why certain techniques do what they do to our listening experience is peerless.
Please do it more.
Linking it to intriguing material is a bonus.
Totally agree - not many take on complicated theory with your blokey style
One of the more amazing tricks that Brian pulled in this song is getting back to the home key after explicitly changing key at the vocalized bridge. The melody transpose up a fourth (opening with G/D as compared to D/A). That key change is obvious. But somehow, after all of that, he subtly ends back up in the home key in a way that still floors me every thing I hear it, and I’ve been listening to the song for 40 years. Genius.
As per the Oasis song: I use that chord shape when playing solos. Particularly in songs in a minor key. You can move that chord shape around to do all sorts of wonderful things
These theory vids are brilliant. A lot of the topics I know of, but you're adding a new perspective on them. Actually inspiring me to try these tricks in a tune. Great stuff!
There are 2 different types of slash chords. I've always found that calling them the same name is a little confusing. D/A, for instance, is a (consonant) inversion of D. In the same way, B7 over A is an inverted B7. On the other hand, G/A is an enriched (dissonant) A7sus4. Its bass note is a non-chord tone... or the only chord tone depending on how you see it.
You are absolutely one of the best teachers of songwriting techniques and appreciation anywhere...thank you so much for this one...I have learned it a few ways for guitar but no one else has so clearly explained what's actually going on...Steeley Dan uses slash chords too...keep up the great work man❤
The fact that it has a “7” in its name should tell you that it’s more than a 3 note chord; 1=root(vital), 3=quality(ie major or minor), 5=optional (just colour, but recommended for richness) and 7 for determining dominant or major 7th (dominant leads to 1, major 7th is stable...).
So glad you covered the beach boys James. Great video. Hope you can cover more of Brian Wilson especially, and his relationship with Dr Eugene Landy as it’s fascinating and would love to see your take on it.
Brilliant.… I’ve always elevated this song to equal to the best songs ever written (“the Long and Winding Road“, “here there and everywhere“ - all three cluster at number one for me… With perhaps one or two more). Thank you for your diligent, well-elucidated presentation. Cheers/ Slainte. 🇬🇧🏴🇺🇸.
🎸👨🏼⚕️🫶✌️♾️
And there's the bit after the bridge with a chorus in a different key which then perfectly blends into the last verse.
This video is gold. You show history of music, connect it to Oasis and in the end, you teach us something. The comparison between the chords without/with the bass notes is so great and teaches so much.
Thanks for always going a step beyond, your Sherlock Holmes skills, storytelling, music knowledge and love for Oasis are all in the mix.
+1 on all this.
It’s his best video.
I think it’s the second best video about music I’ve heard in the whole year. And the reason why second is because I’m a Strokes head and so that Room On Fire making of wins.
@@josephlambert5413 agree. I appreciate specially the storytelling and how he links two apparently very different topics.
Great job making this concept so accessible. The song has always haunted me but I never attempted to break it down.
The anticipation of tension and release, that magical effect when familiar melodies grab us, with this song is brought to a whole new level, it’s not just a brilliant moment, it’s more like a kind of secret sauce that captivates our musical souls.
Sparks shall be flying!
Glad you enjoyed it and best of luck applying it to your own stuff :)
Thanks for your support
The Beach Boys are such a great band, way more than just fun-in-the-sun hits, they've got some real deep cuts worth listening to 🌴😌🌴
Totally agree but it's them harmonies for me. What completely changed me with the beach boys was listening to Pet Sounds Acappella. I downloading once n now I've lost but yh the whole thing with no instruments is just 'wow' n for me 'don't cry put your head on my shoulder' is right up there as well. Naive lyrics but truly sublime and from the heart. I listen now lol
One of my favourite ever songs is by the Beach Boys, but I can’t remember the name for the life of me! It’ll haunt me now until I can ask my wife. She never forgets, anything 😊
Edit: it’s “I can hear music”. Check out the extended version.
Totally even after Brian
A dense, complex presentation. But you manage to keep it tied to the essential emotional experience. Well done, sir.
Utterly brilliant video, James. It's a regret of mine that I didn't learn the guitar as a boy, but my lack of understanding regarding musical theory did not hinder my appreciation of your analyses thanks to your excellent explanations. Although I am not a musician, I fancy myself as a musicologist of sorts(!) when it comes to The Beatles and Queen, in particular. Your education about Brian Wilson's masterpiece here was enlightening and appreciated; any videos on my favourite bands will be devoured!
Now at 73 I’m learning what I should have learned 14-15.
It is one of my top 10 songs of all time. I was very happy to see Brian Wilson and his band play all of Pet Sounds on its 50th anniversary back in 2016. I do love The Beach Boys and Brian is such a genius. As much as his song writing is unique and artistic, there are other songs that are just as great from the other members.
And thats condidering Brian wrote about 98% of all the greatest BBs is it?
Brian is a special songwriter and it's wonderful to hear the lead vocals from Dennis, Carl and the others too. We wouldn't miss them out as they added their wonderful tones for the classic BB sounds along with him.
He's definitely a genius but it's a bit sad to see what happend to him and how he ended up
It is such an emotional thing when his health was worse after his scarring drug experiences. Love & Mercy is a fantastic film and I recommend it as well.
@@TheStrongBoyz19 yes I've seen it absolutely brilliant film - love the 2 time periods thing and for me it came really close to capturing the brilliance of Brian in the studio
Good call, Brian Wilson certainly ascended the heavens, how about Steely Dan for musical ambiguity and slash chords, sone of their songs definitely have this quality, agree?
Brian wrote the song in 20 mins. He must of been in one of creative cycles as he says.
I love the sudden crazy interlude then the 4 part vocals happen and the whole thing comes together again like magic.
An analysis that is clearly and simply stated and is very useful to apply to songwriting. Thanks.
I have only ever used 'Slash' chords playing one or two covers and have known them as Poly Chords.
I picked up the Asus2, used for the first time in one of my songs, 10 years ago.
I had been playing Gordon Lightfoot's 'The Wreck Of The Edmond Fitzgerald' for I'm not sure how long? ....maybe 30 years. Asus2 is the starting chord of this song.
The chord progression in all 14 verses is Asus2 - Em - G - D. It repeats right through, with a turnaround between certain verses.
It's a story telling song, using brilliant lyrics and so is suited to the repeated chord progression. If you like great story songs, if you follow the story, you will never get bored with the repeated chords. They complement the story, but never take attention away from from the story.
By the way and I hope this doesn't confuse you; Gordon uses these chord shapes but raises the pitch (and changes the key) by using a capo on the second fret, on his Gibson 12 string guitar.
My favourite performance of this song was in a concert that Gordon and the band played in Reno. It's on UA-cam.
For my song I used the standard guitar tuning of E A D G B E. The Asus2 is fingered on the second fret. You fret the D and the G strings, taking D to E and G to A. So the notes of the chord are E A E A B E. This gives it that ambiguous ethereal sound that I love.
I wrote the song using the chord progression Em Asus2 on the verses, just these two chords repeated, 4 bars of the Em and 2 bars of the Asus2.
For the chorus I used a different chord progression. It starts with G, goes to G7 and uses 3 other major chords including the leading note chord, and two minor chords.
So the verses are simple using two chords, one ambiguous, and the chorus is 'busy' and lifting, using 8 chords with a bit of a surprise, using the leading note chord F.
The keys used are Em and the relative major G.
Love replies like this - good stuff
Maybe you are thinking too diatonically. Slash chords are not supposed to be viewed like this. Maybe some Barry Harris; family of dominants and jazz theory will help you to understand the implied movement here. It’s very common in modern jazz. This is a wonderful example of a pop tune using more advanced harmony. Unfortunately, one of the very few.
That's interesting. When you were playing the 2 chord, I did keep hearing it as major. I wonder if that's from listening to the Beatles and Oasis for so long....
It's a trippy song. I always thought it was beautiful, but hearing it sung a capella in Bioshock Infinite reduced me to tears....💔
I always think of Beatles “You Won’t See Me” and that II7 chord (A B7 D A)
1. Totally agree. It's probably the greatest song ever written.
2. To my ear it is in E. E is always home. I always say the key of a song is the one that if you can imagine a live band playing it what chord would they choose to end on and to me that is definitely E.
Wilson also thinks of it in E. It does feel like home when that un-inverted E major chord hits on “God Only *Knows*”
Really enjoy these songwriting break downs! Keep it up James.
I guessed it when you said 1966 and not the Beatles. The genius of Brian Wilson.
I always point to that song as a brilliant example of atonal music. Most people think "atonal" is the same thing as "dissonant", but it simply means the song lacks a clear tonal center. Lennon's A Day in the Life is another example of atonality in pop music -- it kind of lives ambiguously between the keys of Gmaj and Bm before moving to E (but still using the borrowed flat-7 chord, Dmaj). Brian, John and Paul were just that brilliant!
Elliott Smith was briliant at having ambigious tonal center and has a lot of songs that do so. Listen to "Everything means nothing to me" or "Speed trials" as an example
Major II often sounds "right" because it's often used either in a V-of-V formation (that is, the dominant 7th OF the dominant 7th of the main key: i.e., D7 to G7 to C) or in a sort of abbreviated form in which II creates a descending chromatic melody (the g in C as I, the f# in D as II, the f natural in F as IV).
5:55 I don't hear either "E minor" or "E major" I hear OOOOH I NEED YOUR LOVE BABE
Wow, this video was amazing! I truly appreciate the deep delving into theory and also into the practicality of these concepts. Bookmarking this for the next time my songwriting needs something extra … or, maybe that’s *every time!
Cheers!
Well done. I never understood why this song made my soul fly. It is a masterpiece.
Nice analysis, James.
Here's my harmonic understanding of the verse and chorus. I will add Roman numeral figured bass in parenthesis to show chord function.
1. "I may not always love you, but as long as there are ... "
A three chord progression in the key of F# Minor.
Key of F# Minor: D/A (VI 6/4), B Minor 2 (iv 2), F# Minor (i).
2. "... stars above you..."
A transition chord preparing/moving into the key of E Major: B Major/A (V 6/4/2)
3. "You never need to doubt it, I'll make you so sure about it ..."
Key of E: E/B (I 6/4), A Diminished 7 (iv 6/b5/b3), E/B (I 6/4), A# Half Diminished 7 (#iv 7/b5/b3)
4. "God only knows what I'd be without you ..."
Key of E: A Major (IV), E Major/G# (I 6/3), F# Minor 7 (ii 7), E Major (I)
5. Summary:
A. I perceive the verse in two keys: F# Minor for the first three chords, and E Major for the last five chords.
B. The refrain continues in the key of E Major for four chords.
6. Comment: Although harmonic changes in popular music are most easily understood with chord symbols, Roman numeral figured bass is a helpful auxiliary tool to display chord function and progression within a key.
Another great vid man 👌 also, I get that the Pet Sounds cover is, aesthetically, a bit odd, but I'd say probably Dark Side and Pepper aside, it's right up there as one of the most instantly recognisable album covers of all time 🤔
Why ii is ambiguous.
A possible pointer :
Consider building quintal chords from piles of perfect fifths 15 2 6. The 3rd comes in next but its relatively insignificant. A 69 (no 3) chord captures the quintal quality as effectively as one including the major third.
Starting with a major scale, ii is unique in allowing both quintal 69(no 3) and quartal m7/11 chords. The latter are clearly minor sounding, and the former have more of a major character, despite lacking a 3rd.
Something you didn’t mention, was that this uncertainty around the tonal center sort of mirrors the uncertainty in the lyrics, ie what would he be without the person he’s singing about…it’s uncertain. Having said that and as fascinating as this topic is, I do wonder if Brian was actually consciously intellectually planning all of this or if he just had a unique melody come into his head and that was the genius of the composition, versus trying to be clever and creating a song without a tonal center. Being a songwriter myself, I would tend to think that the melody came to him and he worked out the chords later and it just happened to turn out that way regarding subversion of key, but I guess you never know. My advice to young songwriters would be to let the melodies come to you and not to try and get too intellectual or clever clever around the chord progressions. As you said in your video, music at it’s very core is about transferring emotion and I think the organic emotion that comes naturally to a songwriter when creating a beautiful melody is more ultimately important than any intellectual cleverness one could construct. But maybe a bit of intentional cleverness around tonal center can enhance the song at times. I do see that as well. I guess what I’m saying is that the tonal ambiguity is an ingredient and it shouldn’t be overused. I would also say that while it could possibly make a good song better, it could never make a bad song good. Thanks again for the great video… and let’s all keep saying our prayers that Liam and Noel don’t beat the shit out of each other before they get through the first show.😂
5:30 I hear it with a major E, because I know a bunch of songs with a I, II, IV, I chord sequence with the II being major.
The song I tried to figure out by ear as a teenager was Goldfinger by Ash.
I seem to remember James doing a video on ash? Anyway I probably did too when I had the cheap cassette version of 1977
After watching this video, a most curious thing occurred. I paused to absorb the video in its totality and as a wave of wonder washed over me I sighed and swept my hair back with my hand at the same time. This is the strange part. It seems the top of my head was missing. Momentarily alarmed, and I brushed my hand up there again to confirm what my hand had told me. It had returned, but I haven't been quite the same since. Learning something new and at the same time so interesting to oneself does that very rarely. Thank you, sir!
I did have a moment watching where I was like hmmmmm that's interesting and new
Some of this was covered by our Church lead guitarist. He said 4 finger G, C, ect. Holds it together part of the Worship Chords, I get it better now thanks to you and he.
I didnt expect how your singing voice sounds from your talking voice and it is lovely
By the way, the chord he’s showing you IS NOT a 2 chord.
A, E, A, D, G is A7th sus4. The G note is the 7th in the scale and D note is the suspended note.
If were a 2 chord, the notes would be:
A, E, A, B, E.
This chord is a moveable chord by the way.
I think the implication is that it's built on the second chord of the key of G not an Asus2
James this is extra-ordinary work. I have learned so much, i didn't know that I didn't know.
Mate you have cracked the code
Thank you. Great work.
Fun!!! thank you. Excellent especially in the exploration of Brian's work.
Who else actually likes the Pet Sounds album cover ?
Please focus more on brian wilson. I love oasis and the beach boys but brian is a much better composer and songwriter and no one has come close since. The best video ive seen to explain the fact that god only knows has no defined key. Bravo
Yes, Brian is a much better composer than the Beach Boys were😞
10:35 That chord sounds like the intro to All Around The World.
I have to say your channel is mindblowing good! Ive learned so much from you and you give us hope as musicians and songwriters. This is the good side of UA-cam as a platform for knowledge sharing. Keep up your stellar work and know that is deeply appreciated!
A wonderful story, told well. Thank you.
Here There And Everywhere is my "bring me to my knees perfect song". Thank you Paul.
It's a great love song .
2 chords are beautiful. Technically, it’s a sus2 because the 3 note becomes the 2 note. The sus moniker is dropped for whatever reason.
Anytime you see sus, (suspended) it means the 3 note has been replaced by the 2 or 4.
Not to be confused with add9 which is 1, 3, 5, 2. So an add9 is the full chord with a 2 added.
As far as the 3 note becoming the 4,
lets take Asus as an example.
The 3 note becomes a 4.
Any time you see the word sus (suspended) it just means the 3 note has been replaced.
Pretty simple.
I lived the exact same thing with cast no shadow lol, down the pub with the guitar playing pool when times were good
Well done. Sus4 and slash chords are blends, so of course you’ll get an ambiguous tonal center. Wilson’s genius was making it musical for the Western ear.
BTW: it’s pronounced res-PIT. 😊
Very good videos, James. This video will take many watches for me. I also like 'Love and Mercy.'
This direction is revivifying rock music and it's great.
I first heard it in the movie Boogie Nights... Blew my mind, and beautifully placed in the movie.
I love FMaj7 and CMaj7… and all Maj 7th chords… I totally agree with you about the ambiguity and the mystery of that song that Melody and the underline chords, it is really beautiful
in western music there are at least four types of chords: major minor diminished and augmented. And then you've got all the chords with the sevenths added and all the other extensions
Pet Sounds was a disjointed jumble and no competition for the White Album despite the hype. The Beach boys masterpiece was and is Good Vibrations.
Very interesting points! I personally feel that despite the use of slash bass notes, the verse is split between two keys, D and E, with bar four marking the transition between the two. I wrote this very brief summary of God Only Knows for a BBC website about great songwriting: "Brian Wilson’s talent is nowhere better displayed than in this gorgeous verse, which moves flowingly through two keys and four sweeping phrases, with the bass on fifths and thirds, gaining a sense of romantic reassurance as it progresses to the chorus. The outro canon is Beach Boys’ heaven, the voices crossing in a tapestry of parts, saved from excessive sentimentality by the nifty use of the barber’s shop flat seventh." And yes, the chorus is definitely in E. The clever use of the G chord at the end of the first chorus takes us back down to D for the second verse.
At around 20:00, you say 'a B chord with a C in the bass, or a C half-diminished'. I can't see this: B7/C is B C D# F# A; C half diminished is C Eb Gb Bb; yes, Eb is D# and Gb is F#, and we allow the addition of the B to the C chord, but C half-diminished has Bb, and C dim7 has Bbb or A. So C dim7 with B in the bass, if you like, but not C half-diminshed.
I agree that the B7/C - C half diminished is incorrect. I think the correct chord to play there the is simply the Cdim7 you mentioned (C-Eb-Gb-Bbb technically; enharmonically C-D#-F#-A). Yes, there’s a B in the melody, but that’s a passing tone. If you listen to the backing track w/o vocals, no one is playing a B there at all. The bass is definitely playing C.
The way I think this was done on piano for the E/B to Cdim7 move was
Left hand:
B-B (octaves) to C-C
right hand
B-E-G# to A-D#-F#
I made a note of this chord and a few others a few hours before you did.
As for slash chords, my limited experiments here show that playing the second note of the scale in the bass of a chord produces more harmonic tension than more typical devices such as sus4. If you maintain that unrooted bass for a long time, the eventual resolution is more powerful.
Great video mate - i think that there are still people doing this kind of thing today but it does feel more rare. Macca used to do the same thing when he would play basslines with notes that introduced ambiguity.
I guesed the song when I saw the title. There is a video of Carl singing it on his own on UA-cam it has (intimate setting) in the title and I suggest you give it a watch as it is incredible.
You’re actually playing two wrong chords on that first verse - the “always love you” chord and the “sure about it” chord.
Curious what you think they should be. Bm and C#m, respectively?
Not sure what they’re called but I’ve always played the (always loved you) like this: lower the A on the 4th string/7th fret to Ab along with the B bass note on 6th string. I’ve also played it with a normal D chord lowering the A on third string to an Ab on first fret and hitting the B bass with thumb on second fret. As for the “ sure about it” chord, from the bottom it’s Bb (5th string 1st fret) E (4th/2nd) Ab ((3rd/1st) Db/2nd). Give it a try
Love your descriptions of the feelings of certain progressions. Great vid !
Wishing you will read this. On God Only Knows I beg to differ: first, you (and maybe other writers you've cited !) seem to only explore the possibility of A major and E Major, ignoring (staying in a tonal point of view) F#m and Bm.
But the melodies in fact make in clear:
- the first line (2 bars) alone suggests clearly B minor (B-D-F# with C# as a passing note). And the chords? E7/B is in fact a Bm6 (E is barely heard or important, but would be 11), and the bass makes the melody suggestion clearer: we are in B minor. B is a very clear tonal center to my ear.
- the second line (bars 3-4) is going to V in B minor (F#m), modulating (you know think Bm was in fact the IV). The first chord and melody also make it clear (F#-A-C#) and B/A is... another kind of strange F#m6 chord!
An exercice to "prove" this: replace the chords by "Bm | Bm6 | F#m | F#m6". You've have a simplified version of the same emotions!
That's a problem for with slash notation: very efficient but can be misleading for analysis - actually only your ear analyses well
The following (bars 5-7) is a quite abrupt modulation in E Major (I-Valt-I).
All that said, all those chords are magic, it's a following of unusual colors and complexities, though creating something evident and is of course a masterpiece.
Only disagreeing with the "bi-tonal" interpretation! There are tonal centers here (moving, like in most complex chord progressions).
I'm not going to go through the whole song but in my theory class I believe the first chord would be called a cadential 6-4 chord because the A in the bass is actually on the 5th scale degree of D so it is in the dominant , 6 --4 because the D above the A is a 4 and the F# is a sixth interval away fron the D (Hence a six four chord .).So it might be seen as a double suspension of the 4 and a 6 that resolve to the C# and the E respectively. before cadencing on the D, If memory serves, it sounds like the first piano chord of Bridge over Troubled Water. Anyway, this idea of a 5 in the bass is skewed because it is a cadential V chord resolving usually to a 1 as in classical music. . The following sections are a type of circle of fifths .Yes it does sound ambiguous starting on a cadential chord almost like you are walking in on someone already thinking about something and you missed the prologue .The melody coming in after the downbeat also suggests a reflective pause ,like in For No One by McCartney .
I need to read this a few times to get my puny brain around it
love love love love love your content James!
I heard the major in E couse you played Eight Days A Week
Right... or You Won't See Me...
How can I take you seriously and go further after hearing that (What's the Story) Morning Glory ? is your "favourite album of all time" ?
Saw Brian's photo, so wondered for a moment and decided it had to be "Good Vibrations". Tho I was a west coast teen during those years, I was much more into the Beatles. Good Vibrations made me sit up and pay attention...
Wow, this is an interesting and informative analysis.
Great breakdown! There's also rather complex choral pre chorus, then a syncopated mid section. I don't fully comprehend them either!
I saw Brian last night in a dream. He was a toddler and was sitting on the kitchen countertop at my grandparents house. He did not speak, but I knew who he was.
Cool lyric that.
Was it the haircut
Excellent breakdown. Im not sure but surely this kind of musical ambiguity is found in most classical music. Also ambiguity as a feeling is created in many different ways like changing the modality of a piece of music. Also using pedal notes (open string tunings) or using micro-tonalities even as broad a technique as glissandi create ambiguity. I think you can go back to Bach to find much of this feeling in counterpoint where musical tension or ambiguity stays pretty present. I think its a common technique in writing underscore or film soundtracks where ambiguity is often key to what works. It would be great to know where wilsons influence comes from especially as he is a bass player and the beach boys were all about complex harmonies where typically tensions are created in a similar way say in choral music.
The song is easier to understand when playing it on the piano
Songs that have an ambiguous tonal center, have you heard of Radiohead? 😉 I really enjoyed this video, thank you for making it.
The G5 in The Beatles “Rain” shifts the 1 chord into ambiguity.
Thank you for this enlightening video. I now understand what that certain something is in great songs that evoke emotionally. I’m not talented with song writing, but I’ve inadvertently added some of this to my version of some covers. I now know why and can do it more purposefully.
When playing power chords, an overtone of a major third is produced. It’s hardly audible, but enough to give it a major feel.
The genius of AC/DC was Malcolm and Angus often played power chords and the bass players would play the major third for a great sounding major chord.
What were the refrain chords you played them but didn't say what they were?
In a nutshell, the bass is playing something different but still harmonious/diatonic with the chords.
Still genius though. Pretty sure Brian was the first to do it
Great video. I especially enjoyed the background regarding the tonal ambiguity of the two chord. (I heard it as major!)
There are a couple of chords in God Only Knows that I think you don’t have quite right. I’m not an expert, these are just my ears.
E7/B in the first line. You mention it could be called Bm6. I think it *is* Bm6. But I’m not hearing an E in it at all when I listen to the backing track sans vocals
B7/C at “you’ll never *need*) I simply don’t hear a B in that at all in the instrumentation. Yes in the vocal on “doubt” but not in the accompaniment. I hear all of the rest of the notes of that chord though. C-D#-F#-A, which form a Cdim7 chord. (strictly speaking, Cdim7 would be C-Eb-Gb-Bbb, but I chose to write the enharmonic equivalent with sharps)
And in the next line, “I’ll make you so *sure*) comes the most magical chord in the whole song. It’s C#m/A#, otherwise known as A#m7-flat5 or A# half diminished.
I love Dsus2, I call it the Beautiful chord. It also has no 3rd.
When you say chords are ambitious, could they be bitonal or Atonal ??? Being either Major Minor or dominant.
This was fascinating, thanks mate!
You should look at Stevie Wonder's "Send One Your Love' from The Secret Life Of Plants". That is also a master class of deceptive key center. As is his song "Overjoyed". Masterful.
Love that song. Another one of theirs that uses similar techniques (and is therefore beautiful) is Caroline No. Same album I believe
There are many chords other than major and minor. The first chord in the Oasis chord is an A7sus4th chord.
Did Brian ever write another song with the same ideas? Maybe jazzers do this kind of thing all the time, but has any other single with the same structure been so highly praised?
I'm sure he uses degrees of jazzines in all his songs - good vibrations what's going on there
I think when we hear the full progression, hearing the G5, makes us assume the note G in the E5 to "hear" Em and that completes a diatonic progression. No chance for me of hearing a G# that would be very dissonant given base other chords have laid out.
I had A Lydian diminished once, but the wheels fell off! Seriously, to what extent do you think Brian Wilson did this because he knew exactly what he was doing from a music theory point of view, and how much was he feeling his way, and just wrote, “what sounded nice”?
This was phenomenal thank you!
Great video 👍 One of Oasis' greatest legacies is the journey they took you on, once you started investigating their influences - Oasis - Beatles - The Who/Kinks/Small Faces... Eventually ending up with the Beach Boys, and this masterpiece 😍
Noel Gallagher hated The Beach Boys.
And I don’t understand The Beatles.
Sooo well done. Thank you very much!