John Covach wrote an excellent essay titled "From 'Craft' to 'Art': Formal Structure in the Music of the Beatles" in which he cites common forms used Beatles music. This blog will be a summary of that essay, with the goal of basing my own structural analyses on Covach's work.

Perhaps the most basic of all pop song structures is the Simple Verse form, in which a section (verse) is heard over and over again with little or no alterations or development. The lyrics might change (or a solo might replace the vocals entirely), but the music itself (i.e. the underlying chords and fundamental harmonies) remain constant with each iteration.

Obviously, the Simple Verse form puts structural emphasis on the verses because no other sections exist. The limitation of the Simple Verse form, then, is that using the same musical material over and over again can easily become monotonous. The solution is executed in two primary ways: with middle 8s and choruses.

The AABA form also puts structural emphasis on the verses, but it adds a middle 8 to provide contrast to (and thus enhance) those verses. A design most closely associated with Tin Pan Alley, AABA form is when the verse (A) is immediately repeated (AA), then the middle 8 is heard (AAB), before the verse is repeated once more (AABA). Usually these four sections will not last long enough to justify a complete song, and consequently it is often repeated in whole (AABA with full reprise), or in part (AABA with partial reprise). 

Another subset of the AABA form can be found where the initial AABA components are heard again, but (unlike the full and partial reprises) in an unpredictable combination of A and B sections. This is called the Broken AABA form.

In contrast to the AABA design and its various permutations, the Verse-Chorus form employs a chorus to contrast with the verses (instead of a middle 8). Where the Simple Verse and AABA forms all place structural emphasis on the verse, the Verse-Chorus forms place emphasis on the choruses. 

There are three basic subsets of the Verse-Chorus design: 1) Simple Verse-Chorus is when both verse and chorus use the same underlying chords, but incorporate different melodies, lyrics, textures, or energy levels; 2) Contrasting Verse-Chorus is when the verse and chorus use very different music elements; and 3) the Beatles' Contrasting Verse-Chorus is a subset of the Contrasting Verse-Chorus in which there are two different versions of the chorus.


CITATIONS
Covach, John. "From 'Craft' to 'Art': Formal Structure in the Music of the Beatles". In Reading the Beatles: Cultural Studies, Literary Criticism, and the Fab Four, ed. Kenneth Womack and Todd F. Davis. State University of New York Press, Albany, NY, 2006.

Formal structure of [186] "I Me Mine":        
        Intro (v)   0:00-0:06   186 bpm
        Verse 1      0:06-0:39   186 bpm
        Middle 8   0:39-0:57   124 bpm
        Verse 2     0:57-1:29   186 bpm
        Middle 8  1:29-1:47    124 bpm
        Verse 3     1:47-2:26   186 bpm

Comments: "I Me Mine" is very much the product of Phil Spector's producing. Originally the tune was significantly shorter, concluding after the second verse. Spector edited the song, essentially copy/pasting the middle 8 and verse 2 from 0:39-1:29 to create the middle 8 and verse 3 (which is why the two middle 8s and verses 2 and 3 are 100% completely identical). Structurally speaking, what Spector's addition does is extend the song from a ternary A-B-A' structure into a 5-part rondo: A-B-A'-B-A'. And "I Me Mine" is just the second Beatles song to employ a rondo structure (which is more associated with classical styles than popular styles), behind [33] "I'll Be Back".

Helping articulate the formal divisions is a metric modulation. The verses are all in a quick simple meter (around 186 bpm), but to transition to the middle 8s the subdivisions remain the same (372 per minute) while the macro-beat shifts to a compound meter that is 33% slower (around 124 bpm).

Formal structure of [185] "Because":         
         Intro (v)  0:00-0:31
         Verse 1     0:31-1:00
         Verse 2     1:00-1:31
         Middle 8  1:31-1:43
         Verse 3     1:43-2:12
         Coda (v)   2:12-2:45

Comments: Very unusual for this very late period of Beatles recordings, the formal structure of "Because" is remarkably simple and straight-forward. 

It does place the first two verses contiguously (as did [1] "Love Me Do", [7] "Do You Want to Know a Secret", [8] "Misery", [9b] "Anna (Go To Him)", [9c] "Boys", [9d] "Chains", [9f] Twist and Shout, [10] "From Me To You", [13e] "Till There Was You", [17] "Little Child", [19] "Not a Second Time", [23] "Can't Buy Me Love", [25] "And I Love Her", [26] "I Should Have Known Better", [28] "If I Fell'', [29] "I'm Happy Just to Dance With You", [31] "A Hard Day's Night", [31b] "Matchbox", [32] "I'll Cry Instead", [35] "Things We Said Today", [40] "I Don't Want To Spoil the Party", [41] "What You're Doing", [42] "No Reply", [43] "Eight Days a Week", [44] "She's a Woman", [44b] "Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey", [46d] "Words of Love", [47] "Ticket to Ride", [49] "I Need You", [50] "Yes It Is", [51] "The Night Before", [52] "You Like Me Too Much", [54] "Tell Me What You See", 56b] "Dizzy Miss Lizzy", [56c] "Bad Boy", [57] "I've Just Seen a Face", [59] "Yesterday", [66] "If I Needed Someone", [68] "We Can Work it Out", [71] "Michelle", [77] "Tomorrow Never Knows", [80] "Paperback Writer", [82] "Doctor Robert", [84] "Taxman", [88] "Yellow Submarine", [89] "I Want To Tell You", [92] "She Said She Said", [95] "Penny Lane", [96] "A Day in the Life", [99] "Fixing a Hole", [100] "Only a Northern Song", [101] "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite", [105] "Within You Without You", [111] "All Together Now", [114] "All You Need Is Love", [116] "I Am the Walrus", [122] "Lady Madonna", [126] "Don't Pass Me By", [128] "Blackbird", [129] "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey", [135] "Sexy Sadie", [138] "Mother Nature's Son", [139] "Yer Blues", [140] "Rocky Raccoon", [143] "Dear Prudence", [144] "Glass Onion", [145] "I Will", [149] "Honey Pie", [152] "Long Long Long", [163] "For You Blue", [166] "One After 909", [172] “Oh! Darling”, and [172] "Octopus's Garden").

I got nuthin else...

Formal structure of [184] "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window":         
         Trans.        0:00-0:08
         Verse 1      0:08-0:29
         Middle 8   0:29-0:52
         Verse 2      0:52-1:12
         Verse 3      1:12-1:33
         Middle 8   1:33-1:58

Comments: Unlike [183] "Polythene Pam", which actually does fit the conventional mold for a Beatles song, "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" is quite a departure from that mold.

Beatles songs often place verses 1 and 2 contiguously. Much less common is placing verses other than 1 and 2 contiguously. In fact, "Polythene Pam" is just the 15th to do so, behind [19] "Not a Second Time" (in which verses 1 and 2 are contiguous, as are verses 3 and 4), [31b] "Matchbox" (in which the first three and last two verses are contiguous), [56b] "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" (in which verses 1-2 are contiguous, as are verses 4-5), [77] "Tomorrow Never Knows" (in which verses 1-3 are contiguous, as are verses 4-7), [80] "Paperback Writer" (in which verses 1-2 are contiguous, as are verses 3-4), [84] "Taxman" (in which verses 1-2 are contiguous, as are verses 3-4), [95] "Penny Lane" (in which verses 1-2 are contiguous, as are verses 4-5), [96] "A Day in the Life" (in which verses 1-3 are contiguous), [129] "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey" (in which all three verses are contiguous), [135] "Sexy Sadie" (in which verses 1 and 2 are contiguous, as are verses 3 and 4), [140] "Rocky Raccoon" (in which verses 1-5 are contiguous, as are verses 6-7), [143] "Dear Prudence" (in which verses 1 and 2 are contiguous, as are verses 3 and 4), [157] "Dig a Pony" (in which verses 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6 are contiguous), and [163] "For You Blue" (in which verses 1 and 2 are contiguous, as are 3 and 4). Of these 15 songs, "Polythene Pam" is the only one to place verses 2 and 3 contiguously.

Obviously as part of the Abbey Road Medley, a traditional structure is not needed, and this allows the band to play with new and unusual formal designs. And "Bathroom Window" is certainly a good example.

Formal structure of [182] "Mean Mr. Mustard":
         Anacrusis        0:00-0:02
         Verse 1             0:02-0:35 
         Verse 2             0:35-0:59     quadruple meter
         End of verse/trans    0:59-1:06    triple meter

Comments: "Mean Mr. Mustard" consists of two verses, most of which are identical except for different lyrics, but the endings of which are very different. The first verse retains a quadruple meter throughout, but the second changes into triple meter at the very end.

Formal structure of [183] "Polythene Pam":
        Intro/Tag   0:00-0:06
        Verse 1        0:06-0:20
        Tag               0:20-0:26
        Verse 2        0:26-0:40
        Tag               0:40-0:46
        Solo              0:46-1:12

Comments: In many ways, "Polythene Pam" could be the first half of a complete song - its structure, with the intro/tag, verses, and solo, matches rather nicely with the first halves of previous Beatles songs. If it were to be an independent track, however, it would need the addition of a middle 8 (and probably a middle 8 on the long side in terms of duration - more like 16 bars instead of 8), likely immediately after the solo, which could then proceed to a third and final verse, before concluding with a coda.

In any case, it's not an independent track, and it doesn't have a middle 8, and because of its nature as part of a medley, it really doesn't need one. Its structural function is very much tied in with [182] "Mean Mr. Mustard" - they could be thought of as pairs, both being Lennon fragments, and both being in E major.

Formal structure of [181] "Sun King":
          Introduction (Section A)   0:00-0:14
          Section A (instrumental)    0:14-0:52
          Trans.                                         0:52-0:58
          Section B                                   0:58-1:24
          Section A' (+ vocals)            1:49-2:26

Comments: Once again, the structural analyses of the "Abbey Road Medley" are very different from previous analyses because of the unique structure of the medley as a whole. However, unlike some of the other medley songs, "Sun King" does contain very clear formal articulations. With that in mind, I've chosen to neglect the standard nomenclature of verse, chorus, middle 8, et cetera, and simply use letters (Section A, Section B), which seems better suited to this song specifically. This provides a very nice, clean ternary form: A B A'.

The two A sections are practically identical except for the addition of the vocals (the tempo during A' is also a little faster, and the endings are a bit different since they lead to different places).

The B section - despite not being a true verse - uses the "third quarter verse structure" that the Beatles used rather frequently in their earlier years ([6] “I Saw Her Standing There”, [31] "A Hard Day's Night", [35] "Things We Said Today", [40] "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party", [42] "No Reply", [43] "Eight Days a Week", [49] "I Need You", [51] "The Night Before", [70] "I'm Looking Through You", [74] "Wait", [75] "You Won't See Me", [172] "Octopus's Garden", and [174] "Her Majesty"). In this case, the first, second, and fourth quarters all use the lyrics "Here comes the sun king", while the third quarter uses the lyrics "Everybody's laughing, everybody's happy". The chords are different, too, but consideration of that will have to wait until my harmonic analysis of this track.

Formal structure of [180] "The End":
        Intro              0:00-0:12
        +vocals        0:12-0:19
        Drum Solo   0:19-0:35
        Beat              0:35-0:54
        Alternating Solos    0:54-1:29
        Piano            1:29-1:33
        Couplet        1:33-1:47
        Coda             1:47-2:04

Comments: Many of the tracks from the "Abbey Road Medley" employ novel formal designs due to the unusual structure of the medley as a whole. "The End" is no exception. There are no verses or choruses, middle 8s or tags. A structural analysis, then, is really more description than anything else in that I have described what happens, but really can't draw any large-scale conclusions from that. I suppose that will have to wait until I finish the analyses of the entire medley, and then put them all together to analyze the structure of the medley as a whole.

Formal structure of [179] "Come Together":
         Intro/Tag   0:00-0:12
         Verse 1         0:12-0:36
         Tag                0:36-0:47
         Verse 2        0:47-1:10
         Chorus        1:10-1:16
         Tag               1:16-1:27
         Verse 3       1:27-1:51
         Chorus        1:51-1:57
         Tag               1:57-2:03
         Solo 1 (kybd)  2:03-2:14
         Solo 2 (gtr)  2:14-2:26
         Tag                 2:26-2:31
         Verse 4         2:31-2:55
         Chorus          2:55-3:01
         Tag                 3:01-3:12
         Coda              3:12-4:20

Comments: "Come Together" features an unusual use of the tag in that the distinctive feature is the bass line, which is also heard in the verses (usually tags are independent and structurally cohesive in nature - heard in between sections as a way to connect them). For this reason, the tag might easily be labeled as "beat" instead.

The solos are also interesting. "Come Together" is just the 11th Beatles song so far to use multiple solos (after [29b] "Long Tall Sally", [38] "I'm a Loser", [46b] "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby", [46e] "Honey Don't", [58] "I'm Down", [119] "The Fool on the Hill", [160] "Get Back", [163] "For You Blue", [169] "Old Brown Shoe", and [178] "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"). The solos are heard over the music of the verse (although the drums are much heavier during the solos than during any of the verses).

Lastly, at 52 seconds, the coda is the 4th longest the Beatles recorded to date. The only longer codas were those of [137] "Hey Jude" (3:59), [113] "It's All Too Much" (1:44), and [93] "Strawberry Fields Forever" (1:07).

Formal structure of [176] "Carry That Weight":
         Anacrusis   0:00-0:01
         Chorus        0:01-0:24

         Reprise of "You Never Give Me Your Money"
                  0:24-0:35    [brass]
                  0:35-0:44    [guitar solo]
                  0:44-1:07    "You never give me your money..."

         Chorus   1:07-1:27

         Coda/Trans.   1:27-1:36

Comments: A drum fill very similar to the one that introduces [182] "Mean Mr. Mustard" launches "Carry That Weight" into its anthem-like chorus, which consists of a 4-bar phrase that is immediately repeated. Upon the repetition, it segues into the reprise of "You Never Give Me Your Money", first with brass, then a guitar solo, and finally with the lyrics.

The coda functions both as a further reprise of "You Never Give Me Your Money" (the guitar arpeggios having been used to conclude that track are heard again), and as a transition into [180] "The End".