Continuing my blog from February 2, this one will look at non-chord tones used in the song "Yesterday" and why they help establish the nostalgic mood of the song. The term "non-chord tone" is used to refer to any musical note used in a melody that is absent from the accompanying chord. For example, the chord C major consists of the tones c, e, and g. Any melodic note heard against that C major chord other than c, e, or g is considered a non-chord tone because it is not part of the chord. In essence, a tone that is not part of the accompanying chord is dissonant. Dissonances provide spice to music and thus can be an extremely effective way of creating particular emotional content in music. And in "Yesterday", non-chord tones are used extensively to help capture the emotional and nostalgic feel for which the song is so famous. The example below (click on it to enlarge) shows several non-chord tones of the verse shaded green. Indeed, the very first sung words feature such an instance. The opening chord is an F (in this case consisting of f and c - but no a) while the opening syllable is sung on the tone g, dissonant against f. The next two syllables ("ter-day") are both f's, which resolve that dissonance. Two measures later, on the word "far", the pattern is repeated. The word is sung on the pitch e against a D minor chord (consisting of the tones d, f, and a), resolving on the following two syllables ("a-way") to d. Both of these uses of non-chord tones resolve from the second scale degree to the first. The next instance is very similar, but uses the fourth scale degree resolving to the third. The word "here" is sung on a b-flat, dissonant against the chord F (consisting of f, a, and c), resolving to a. This particular pattern of non-chord tone resolution produces a "sighing" motive that carries a certain emotional content that parallels a similar feel established by the lyrics. But of course, Paul McCartney is hardly the only composer to use this trick. Taylor Swift's cover of "Last Christmas", which was broadcast seemingly incessantly over the radio this past holiday season, uses the exact same pattern (same starting note against the same staring chord, with a resolution descending by step, and with lyrics displaying a similar character and degree of emotional content): Nor is Paul McCartney the inventor of this trick. Though non-chord tones have been used for many centuries, their full expressive capability was unleashed during the Romantic Era (roughly 1800-1900), in which composers consciously embraced emotional expression through their musical production. Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 (1888) uses non-chord tones rather similar to those in "Yesterday", both employing highly expressive "sighing" motives in which the dissonance resolves through descending by step. In the graphic below of the famous horn solo at the start of the second movement, these dissonances are shaded green. The first two of these three non-chord tones resolve as 2-1, with the third resolving as a 4-3 - just like those found in "Yesterday".
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Formal structure of [49] "I Need You":
Intro (verse) 0:00-0:04 Verse 1 0:04-0:28* Verse 2 0:28-0:53 Middle 8 0:53-1:08 Verse 3 1:08-1:33 Middle 8 1:33-1:49 Verse 4 1:49-2:14 Coda (verse) 2:14-2:29 Comments: "I Need You" is another song in which the third quarter of each verse is slightly different from the other three quarters (a pattern found in [31] "A Hard Day's Night", [35] "Things We Said Today", [40] "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party", [42] "No Reply", and [43] "Eight Days a Week"). This one, however, is the first Harrison composition to employ this tactic. Here are the lyrics of the first verse divided into these four sections: You don't realize how much I need you Love you all the time, would never leave you Please come on back and see just what you mean to me I need you The chords of the first, second, and third divisions are nearly identical (A, D), while the chords of the third division are entirely different (F#m, C#m, Bm). The rhyming of the lyrics follow suit. Harrison has clearly learned this lesson from the Lennon/McCartney original [40] "I Don't Want To Spoil the Party", which is very, very similar. One of the most fun aspects of historical research is having to put together disparate evidence on a particular topic in order to logically deduce a conclusion about that topic. It's as if I'm a detective out gathering as many clues as I can in order to piece together the story and solve the mystery. One such instance is attempting to figure out exactly when Paul McCartney wrote "Yesterday":
Regarding the origin of "Yesterday", Paul admitted that the tune came to him in a dream while he was living with Jane Asher (his girlfriend at the time) in her family's house in London. "I was living in a little flat at the top of [the Ashers'] house and I had a piano by my bed. I woke up one morning with a tune in my head ... I went to the piano and found the chords to it ... It just came to me in a dream" (Anthology, page 175). The exact date of Paul's move-in with the Ashers is unknown, but thanks to McCartney's friend and biographer Barry Miles, we do know the month: "In November he moved out of Green Street and took his few belongings to the Asher household" (Miles 1997, page 104). We do, however, know that the Beatles' schedule during November 1963 was grueling: 26 live performances in 30 days. The only days that month that the Beatles did not perform live were November 8, 11, 12, and 18, making those four dates likely candidates for the move. Of course, just because Paul would have played a concert on a particular evening does not necessarily mean that he could not have moved in on that same morning. But since the Ashers lived in London, it is probably safe to assume that Paul did not move on a day of a performance not in London due simply to travel. (Admittedly, Miles does make a point of stating that Paul's belongings were meager, so it is possible that he could have moved in the morning, traveled in the afternoon, and performed in the evening of the same day, but that seems unlikely.) On the other hand, two of the Beatles' November 1963 shows were in London (November 4 and 9), so it is reasonably possible that Paul moved in on one of those two dates, in which travel time would have been significantly less, and thus he would have had more time to do other things (like move) prior to playing a show. The only non-London performances within 100 miles of London during this month was Slough on November 5 (which was only about 25 miles from the Ashers' home in London) and Northampton the following day (which was about 70 miles away). Thus, November 5 and 6 can also be added to the possible move dates. This brings the total potential move dates to 8: November 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 18.
This weeding reduces the likely move dates to just one: November 9. Given this evidence (and admitting that this is hardly conclusive) it appears probable that Paul McCartney moved into the Ashers' house on the morning of 9 November 1963. What this means, then, is that the earliest possible date that Paul could have dreamed up "Yesterday" is 10 November 1963. At this point, I should also mention that Paul often spent the night at the Asher residence prior to moving in there, and thus it is not unreasonable to think that perhaps he dreamed up "Yesterday" during one of those visits - prior to actually moving in with them. However it seems unlikely that Paul would have had a piano next to his bed if he weren't living there. And as quoted in Barry Miles' biography Many Years From Now, Paul said, "I eventually got a piano of my own up in the top garret. Very artistic. That was the piano that I fell out of bed and got the chords to 'Yesterday' on" (Miles 1997, page 114). This quote seems to show rather conclusively that Paul had in fact moved in to the Asher house before writing "Yesterday". We also know that the earliest documented performance (in this case by "performance" I mean Paul played the song in its incomplete form) comes from a recollection of Lionel Bart citing "late 1963" (Spitz, page 560). Thus, "Yesterday" must have been written between 10 November and 31 December 1963. Taking the next step of determining precisely what date "Yesterday" was born would prove utterly futile, but given that the band was out of town touring in early December, but played regularly in and around London in late December 1963, it seems more likely that Paul McCartney composed "Yesterday" in late December 1963 (when he was in London and thus staying with the Ashers more frequently) than in November or early December (when he was frequently on the road and thus not staying with the Ashers). Several books cite May 1965 (Turner, page 83; Miles 1997, page 201) as the date of Paul's "Yesterday" dream. This is conclusively false. George Martin recalls first hearing the tune in January of 1964 (Lewisohn, page 59), as did Dick James and Chris Hutchinson (Carlin, page 94-95). Furthermore, John Lennon himself admitted that the tune "was around for months and months before we finally completed it" (Everett, page 300). This quote would make no sense had Paul written "Yesterday" in May 1965 - just one month before recording it in June 1965. Peter Ames Carlin's biography of McCartney states that Paul asked for help identifying the song "First to the saloon singer Alma Cogan, then the theatrical composer Lionel Bart" (page 118). But the Beatles met Cogan for the first time on 12 January 1964 (Miles 2001, page 126), and Bart claims Paul played it for him in "late 1963" (Spitz, page 560). Clearly, the evidence is contradictory, and as a result, we may never know conclusively when Paul McCartney actually wrote "Yesterday". But given the available evidence, it seems most likely that Paul McCartney composed "Yesterday" in late December 1963. CITATIONS: Beatles. The Beatles Anthology. Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA, 2000. Carlin, Peter Ames. Paul McCartney: A Life. Touchstone Book, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 2009. Everett, Walter. The Beatles as Musicians: The Quarry Men through Rubber Soul. Oxford University Press, New York, NY, 2001. Lewisohn, Mark. The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years 1962-1970. Harmony Books, a division of Crown Publishers, New York, NY, 1988. Miles, Barry. Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now. Henry Holt and Company, New York, NY, 1997. Miles, Barry. The Beatles Diary, Volume 1: The Beatles Years. Omnibus Press, New York, NY, 2001. Spitz, Bob. The Beatles: The Biography. Little, Brown and Company, Time Warner Book Group, New York, NY 2005. Turner, Steve. A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song. itbooks, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY, 2005. Formal structure of [48] "Another Girl":
Chorus 0:00-0:07* A Major Verse 1 0:07-0:22 A Major Chorus 0:22-0:28 A Major Verse 2 0:28-0:44 A Major Chorus 0:44-0:49 A Major Middle 8 0:49-1:00* C Major Verse 3 1:00-1:17 A Major Chorus 1:17-1:22 A Major Middle 8 1:22-1:33* C Major Verse 4 1:33-1:50 A Major Chorus 1:50-1:58 A Major Coda (ind) 1:58-2:05 A Major Comments: No intro, just launches right into the chorus (just like [12] "She Loves You", [14] "It Won't Be Long", [23] "Can't Buy Me Love", [34] "Any Time at All", and [36] "When I Get Home"). The transition from chorus to middle 8 is particularly interesting because of the modulation from A Major to C Major. [35] "Things We Said Today" flirts with this modulation, but never fully commits to it. "Another Girl" takes it a step further and commits to this new tonality, but only very briefly (each Middle 8 is just 11 seconds long). The relationship between A Major and C Major will culminate in the Abbey Road Medley, which makes extensive use of those two tonalities. The use of C Major in the Middle 8s, and A Major everywhere else in the song, "Another Girl" is the next step towards that ultimate destination. "Yesterday" features strikingly similar chord progressions with Ray Charles' 1960 cover of Hoagy Carmichael's “Georgia on My Mind". These similarities, however, are not terribly easy to hear. They are much more easily understood visually, hence the example below (click it to enlarge), which displays "Georgia on top with "Yesterday" on the bottom, each with chords with red lines denoting similarities between the progressions. Of the 11 different chords used in the verses of “Georgia on My Mind”, all but one corresponds to a comparable – if not identical – chord in the verses from “Yesterday”.
Attempting to prove Paul's awareness of Ray Charles' recording of “Georgia on My Mind” prior to the composition of “Yesterday” would be utterly futile, but it does seem extremely probable that Paul knew of the song because he uses that title phrase in his lyrics to “Back in the USSR”. Formal structure of [47] "Ticket to Ride":
Intro (verse) 0:00-0:08* Verse 1 0:08-0:38 Verse 2 0:38-1:09 Middle 8 1:09-1:23 Transition 1:23-1:27 Verse 3 1:27-1:58 Middle 8 1:58-2:13 Transition 2:13-2:16 Verse 4 2:16-2:45 Coda (verse, ind.) 2:45-3:10* Comments: Another two-part intro (along with [6b] "A Taste Of Honey", [11] "Thank You Girl", [17] "Little Child", [14b] "Roll Over Beethoven", [24] "You Can't Do That", and [31b] "Matchbox", [37] "Baby's in Black", [38b] "Mr. Moonlight", [45] "I Feel Fine", and [46e] "Honey Don't"). The coda uses lyrics adapted from the conclusion of each verse ("but she don't care" turns into "My baby don't care"), but the music (the backing, which is abruptly twice as fast, the guitar riffs, and the vocals) is independent from the rest of the song. If you had to pick a single word to describe the song "Yesterday", it would likely be "nostalgic". And while admitting that how music makes a person feel is extremely subjective and thus any attempt to perfectly and uniformly explain anything emotional is inherently doomed to failure, there is a degree of benefit to be had from attempting to understand why certain combinations of words and musical tones prompt certain emotional responses. With that caveat in mind, both the music and the lyrics of "Yesterday" provide a strong nostalgic feeling in the majority of listeners. With words it is relatively easy to accomplish that ambiance - through lyrics like "Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away, now it looks as though they're here to stay, oh I believe in yesterday" and "I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday"; but what about with the music? Why does this music have a similar emotional content? What is it about this music that elicits this reaction? There is a particular conflict in the lyrics, a discrepancy between actual reality and what the singer wishes was reality - and what was reality in the past: "Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be" and "Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play, Now I need a place to hide away". Reflecting that conflict, the music employs a conflict of its own regarding the tone B: is it B-natural or is it B-flat? To illustrate, observe the example below (click it to enlarge). In the graphic, notes and chords using B-natural are light blue, while those using B-flat are red. To illustrate sonically how this could have been different, here are a few MIDI examples:
The use of B-naturals slightly brightens the music (especially right after the word "believe") providing a brief respite from the gloom. The use of B-flats, by contrast, makes it slightly darker and more melancholy. But the combination of both - the use of B-flats and B-naturals side by side - helps elicit that potent twinge of nostalgia that "Yesterday" is so famous for, musically paralleling and symbolizing the singer's own nostalgic feelings regarding his past and present. In this way, Paul McCartney solves the problem of "How can the music and lyrics work together to both elicit the same nostalgic feeling?" Formal structure of [46e] "Honey Don't":
Intro (coda) 0:00-0:07* Verse 1 0:07-0:22 Chorus 0:22-0:43 Verse 2 0:43-0:57 Chorus 0:57-1:18 Solo #1 1:18-1:47* Verse 3 1:47-2:02 Chorus 2:02-2:23 Solo #2 2:23-2:37* Chorus 2:37-2:50 Coda (intro) 2:50-2:57 Comments: Another two-part introduction (along with [6b] "A Taste Of Honey", [11] "Thank You Girl", [17] "Little Child", [14b] "Roll Over Beethoven", [24] "You Can't Do That", and [31b] "Matchbox", [37] "Baby's in Black", [38b] "Mr. Moonlight", and [45] "I Feel Fine"). The first solo section is also in two parts, though clearly the same solo (and not two separate solos back-to-back). Despite being identical to the first half of the first solo, the second solo section melds into the chorus for the second half. |
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