A really funny example is "New Guru" by Vulfpeck. In the final chorus / breakdown, the vocalist, Antwaun Stanley, shouts out, "Come on, y'all, take it up for me!" and they modulate up a tone. The key change lasts for four bars before he says, "My bad, bring that down!" and they modulate back down.
it gave me such a laugh when i first heard that; similiar to the bit in 'Miracle' where Jack goes 'move tape b up 16 ips' which has the effect of moving the key up
Yes and Ultravox - Vienna as well for example. A shift down from C to Bb while going up a register in vocals towards the chorus and the chorus ends in F.
@@slidenawayMasterful key changes. When the key goes down, the notes go up, when the notes go down, the key goes up. It's like an Escher staircase, with an energy boost going into the chorus *and* into the boost. And all that modulation makes the gear shift key change at the end feel more natural than normal. I may have miused the terms modulation and gear shift key change, but you know I mean.
I'm not sure why your Beatles' explanations are consistently that they had no idea what they were doing and that they simply stumbled into brilliance. The fact is that they had a huge knowledge of music, from Paul growing up with a musical family, to learning a variety of songs so that they could play eight hour sets in Hamburg. Give them credit for being able to figure things out from learning other songs.
I agree. They didn't study theory and reading music and know the names of stuff. But they listened to a lot of music of all different types, knew what they liked and worked, and put unique combinations that hadn't been done from their various influences because they wanted to try new things. Just because they weren't trained a certain way doesn't mean they didn't have knowledge of what usually worked and a specific creativity and curiosity to methodically try to see what new things would work. That's not stumbling. That's preparing for a long time with listening to music, practicing, forcing themselves to write a song every day. They stumbled after a lot of work and preparation
I think Woody’s pointing out as hell lucky we are that they did not know all of the rules of music. It was purely artistic for them, which meant the sky was the limit.
Probably because it’s well established by musicologists like Ian McDonald. And, by Paul himself. Who said, his approach was like "the primitive cave artists, who drew without training". It’s ok to think Paul was someone with innate talent and a great ear.
The Beatles knew about key changes in music and knew how to apply them but I think the uploaders point is that perhaps Paul was simply in the spirit of making music and stumbled into the chords/key change unintentionally, and it just worked. I don’t see what’s wrong with saying that. Especially when you consider the spirit of the times when those songs were written. Things were more free, open, and exciting. The idea that Paul was sitting around, working out the song and says to himself “hmmm perhaps a key change is what this song needs!” Is honestly kind of funny to me because I really don’t think those guys thought like that. And I don’t think saying that undermines the brilliance of the music they made or their talents. If anything it simply speaks to the times in which the music was made. I am a big Beatles fan and a big fan of Paul’s especially BTW.
@andrewhawkins6754 - Thank you! My mind was trying to remember a specific song but wasn't quite able to get there, and luckily I then saw your comment. Which most likely saved me from trying to figure it out for the rest of my day - and it's only 11.30am here in NZ! 😄
My ears always loved the key change in the ballad "I'll Stand by You". A very strong emotional chord change, with a real punch vocally too. Great video David~!
@@eviltomthai It might be, but it doesn't change the fact that they segued into a piece of music that was in a lower key than both keys the had used throughout the song up to that point.
An example of downwards key change I really like is Mariah Carey's version of I Want To Know What Love Is. Similarly to How Will I Know did, it changes *downwards* in the last chorus, but it adds higher harmonies to the chorus and gives Mariah more room to do crazy adlibs, that way making the final chorus really impactful
Also, Goodbye Cincinnati (Closing Theme from Tom Clancys Jack Ryan S1&2) by Ramin Djawadi starts from E Minor and final part changes key from E Minor to C Minor
First Love / Late Spring by Mitski is another song that has a descending key change. First, it modulates up a semitone from C Major to C# Major during its guitar solo, but modulates back down to C major for the final chorus
Our house by madness goes down 3 semitones for the chorus and I think in the third chorus it goes up again with a new middle key in between the two. Edit: just checked and the chorus is in D at first, then switches to B, then C, then returns to D again during the outro. Pretty cool example of a downward key shift
I always thought that Layla shifted from D Minor to C# Minor from chorus to verse. I believe the recording was sped up on tape which resulted in a somewhat D half sharp sound.
When I was taught it by my first guitar teacher it was D minor for the intro and C# minor (or E major, depending on which you hear as the tonic chord) for the verse, then back to D minor in the chorus.
The cool thing about Penny Lane is that it sounds so natural going into the chorus that I never even really noticed a key change. The Beatles were really good at that. They did that in Help, too
With the Whitney Houston song, it’s worth noting that Eb Major tends to sound brighter based on where it is on the circle of fifths relative to Gb major, and relative to the diatonic major scale, the Eb is the 6th note, which the VI chord is usually minor. Switching it to a major chord ads a little glimmer of light and makes it almost mystical.
I think this is the first time I’ve seen MGMT on your channel! Please do more. One of my all time favs. They have some really cool stuff going on in their songwriting.
Frank Wildhorn is the KING of downward key changes in the Broadway musical The Scarlet Pimpernel. He always keeps the momentum by using chromatics and pivoting from there
I've always noticed that about the Whitney song and thought it was really odd - glad someone else finally says something about it! Jimmy Ruffin's "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" key changes upwards for the chorus and reverts on the verses before sticking with the lower key for the final chorus
One of the best downward key changes is Aerosmith's "What It Takes", written of course by Desmond Child. Verse in G major and chorus in F major. And yet it still ironically sounds uplifting.
Another cool thing about the key change for the bridge of Always, is that the key changes up again for the guitar solo, which makes its introduction sound very beautiful, especially with the guitar playing the major third of the One-Chord.
Such a weird co-incidence. I was tabbing out the chords for "Whistle for the Choir" by The Fratellis yesterday, and they do this. The whistling solo, near the end of the song, shifts from E Major to D Major and the exact same rhythm pattern can be used on both. It really boosts the ending and feels like a surprise when you are playing it. Genuinely never noticed this before.
I thought of "How Will I Know" right away. There's also a SATB choir arrangement of Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain" that is mostly in F, then goes to D for the final verse.
One of my favourite types of key change is when the song shifts down for the first couple of choruses (and then back up for the succeeding verses) but then stays in key for the last chorus, making it effectively higher in key than the previous choruses. 2 songs I know that do this are "Absolution Calling" by Incubus and "Bodies" by Robbie Williams.
Very cool video! More recent examples are "Diet Pepsi" by Adison Rae that has a downward keychange in the last chorus and "Please Please Please" by Sabrina Carpenter, that modulates up for the 2nd verse but shifts back down again to the chorus.
To Be With You is such a great downwards key change. Great example of a song going down so the lead singer can go higher. Sacrificing a little energy to immediately get more back.
Thank you! I've been interested in downwards key changes for a while. Now I can add some new ones to my dedicated playlist! Some of my favorites are 'Sag mir wo die Blumen sind - Marlene Ditrich' and of course 'Our house - Madness'!
I do love how Scenes from an Italian restaurant does the 12 notes down into the final section, does it suit this video, I’m not sure. But I was reminded of it
I think this is just the song returning to the original key when it goes back to revisit the "Bottle of red..." segment. The faster "Brenda and Eddie..." ssecion in between is in a higher key (G major, IIRC)
The key changes in "Show Must Go On" by Queen are one of the many things that make it a masterpiece: the emotional rollercoaster of facing ones impending death.
"I can see for miles" by the Who, it changes key a few times and i'm not quite sure if it goes up or down, but the voice clearly sounds less energetic in the last chorus. Great song and very strange harmony. Great video!
My favorite descending key change is probably the one at the end of "Violence I" by They Are Gutting a Body of Water. Something about the "schwing" sound effect that heralds it, combined with the slowdown and the feeling of added heft in the distorted guitars as it returns to a slightly lower version of the original riff, give it this stunning sense of full-circle finality that counteracts any downswing in energy one would usually expect from such a key change. That sense would probably almost entirely disappear if even one of those elements was absent.
Our song _Bilateral Flaws_ goes through a few key changes. The verse is in Am, The chorus is in C, but at the end of the chorus, the song shifts down to Am, and the instrumental is in Gm. After the solo, it shifts back up to C for the chorus, Am for the end of the chorus, and finally a Picardy third A to end the song on. Our song _Speedwell Cavern_ is in Gm for the verse, but shift down to Fm for the chorus. It then shifts down again to Eb for the bridge. And our song _In Time_ is in G, but shifts to Em. Technically it shifts down, even if they're relative keys.
A song I have been thinking of that hasn't been mentioned in this video is the Davy Jones theme from The Pirates Of The Caribbean by Hans Zimmer. The melody is played in the following keys: Starting D Minor ->downgrading to B Minor -> downgrading to Ab Minor -> and for the outro shifting back to B Minor.
Get Closer by Seals and Crofts has a descending key change at the coda after the line "I've given you my all, there's no more to borrow" where the key changes from G major to E major. The verses are in A major, then a couple chord changes go back to G major then the last verse has the E major and stays in that key at the end before the fadeaway.
This. And I wonder how many goth and doom metal (or in this case, heavy mithril) songs do lowered key changes to represent descending into something? I'd guess a lot.
Modulating 3 semitones down changes a key by the major of its relative minor, so it's a "brighter" key. For example, if you're in C (enharmonic to A minor), and you move to A, it's going to sound brighter since it also feels like a minor-to-major key change.
Here in sweden we have a pretty well known song called "då går jag ner i min källare" (then i go down into my basement) and it has a pretty noticeable decending key change. The artist, pierre Isaksson, did so only to show off how deep his voice could go. He made a big hit and is still regarded as one of, if not the best bass voice in Sweden.
One my favorites is in the song Mit Dir Kann Ich Alleine Sein, by the German band JEREMIAS. The song starts in Db and goes on until the bridge, when it transitions very smoothly to the 5th below and most instruments stop playing and the vocalist switches to a lower register. It really makes the end sound more intimate, but not as low as it would had he just gone down an octave
This was great! Its something rarely discussed and song writer's rarely do drop down keys. Neat. Theres more than a couple of examples of Bon Jovi doing that.
I can’t believe I forgot this one, I literally just watched this movie: “Rose Tint My World” from Rocky Horror. Starts in the key of D for one verse, then shifts down into C.
I have few songs saved that I liked that have the same method as Whitney’s How Will I Know. I just works for me and feels really good- in a way that makes me feel hopeful and at ease. The Truck Driver Gear Shift key for me seems to be grandiose, which bores me after listening for a while.
Wow, I was thinking about a video like this the moment I saw your truck driver shift video. A downward key change always sounds interesting whenever I hear it in songs
Yes’ I’ve Seen All Good People does that! At the end, the song’s chorus descends one semitone each time they complete the chorus. This continues until the song fades out.
There is another example I would have suggested: Heroes live forever from Vanessa Amorosi. The song goes down from D major to C# major, but the key change feels more like an ascending key change because she starts singing in a far higher range. It's a masterpiece used in the Sydney Olympics, so I'd suggest you check it out.
In the Whitney Houston song the D♭ to E♭ chord change is deceptive cadence (V - VI) in G♭, a musical question mark, highlighting the "how will I know?" lyrics.
Nice collection, and great demonstration of how differently (or not) things sound without the key change. I thought of Idol by Yoasobi which has quite some key changes, but the one in the end of the song really stands out: it goes one semitone downward only to be followed by two semitones up to deliver that extra punch of energy.
Morning Had Broken by Cat Stevens. The piano intro starts in D major but modulates down to C major for the first verse. Then at some point it modulates back up to D major before the end.
I believe that a modulation from a major scale to the major 6 even though it goes downwards as it's moving to a tone that is 3 places to the right in the circle of fifths it gives a powerful sensation. In fact if the modulation is done by having the progression IV - V - VI (as the new I) it has the very powerful bVI - bVII - I cadence. An example is the song by Whitney Houston described in this video that has the sequence Cb - Db - Eb that is IV - V - VI in Gb but is bVI - bVII - I in Eb.
After having written that comment I remembered there's a very well known Beatles' song by George Harrison that also has this kind of downward modulation that I wonder how could you omit mentioning it in the video! A hint, it has almost the same cadence, just that there's an extra chord between the IV and the V.
In Ray Lamontagne's "Step into your power" there's an upward change at the end but when you think the song will end in that key it comes back down to the original key.
"The moon is a harsh mistress" originally by Jimmy Webb but covered by many people, has a downward key change. It hits especially hard in Radka Toneff and Steve Dobrogosz's version.
Cool!! You got the Whitney Houston one I mentioned! That was the only one I could think of at the time that went down, and to me it made vastly different colours in my head. I forgot if you did "We've Only Just Begun", from the Carpenters, but whatever that verse/bridge part goes down, then the chorus goes back up to...A major...? I think. LOL Deceptive Cadence would be awesome to hear, too! These are fun to analyse. :D
15:16 Whitney starts “How Will I Know” sounding like a starry-eyed girl, and by the end, she’s transformed into a confident woman. The downward key change brings her right into that powerful, sweet spot in her range. It works perfectly because the song is a mix of bubblegum pop and gospel, crafted for an R&B audience. That higher key at the start gives us her playful, excited side, while the lower key at the end brings out a more mature, grounded vibe.
My personal favourite downward key change is Burn It Down by Alter Bridge! It never feels less energetic to me; more nostalgic and warm which I think really works for the last chorus!
The chorus of "To Be With You" also employs the lead-backup swap trick (where the background vocals are suddenly singing the main melody, punctuated by the lead singer) and, in that last chorus, the lead vocal goes higher than in any of the previous choruses (with that "IIIIII'm the oooo-ne"). I wonder if they decided to shift everything else down in key in order to make that high feel higher.
I don't even know how you would qualify it cause it's all over the place, but Queen's Innuendo changes key about every 12 seconds. It's a monster of a song with changes up and down throughout. Structurally like an anti-Bohemian Rhapsody.
How about duets in which the key goes down for the second singer. Country music has several examples; one of my personal favorites is Eddy Arnold remaking his classic hit "Cattle Call" as a duet with LeAnn Rimes on her breakout album, "Blue". LeAnn starts the song in B-flat, then it drops all the way down to D (almost a full octave!) to accommodate Eddy's baritone. Also in the 80s we had Juice Newton dueting with Eddie Rabbitt on "Both To Each Other (Friends And Lovers)" This one downshifts TWICE, first for the second verse (G to F), and again for the last chorus (F to E flat). Note that in this example, the female singer (Juice Newton in this case) gets the lower key.
The most interesting song I can think of is “I’ve Seen All good People by Yes. The fade-out drops by a tone over and over, because the chorus lends itself well to it
Fade to black by Metallica goes from Bm to Am in the intro, stays in Am most of the song but takes advantage of the fact that if you count every note in that part of the song you get this sort of ambiguous scale with a natural minor shell and an added Bb (b2) and F# (natural six) to change key to E minor for the bridge and back to Bm for the outro guitar solo.
I was subbing as a music teacher in a primary school and end-of-year ceremony was among my duties. Two girls wanted to sing a song, I forget what song it was. The only problem was that even though they sang the verse in C major, but when the chorus came around they dropped to Bb. I couldn’t get them to stay in the same key, so my accompaniment just had to follow. I’m pretty sure very few of those present noticed, none of them commented.
I love it when you show how things sound without key changes
the key change in How Will I Know is MASTERFUL, I will not tolerate any slander toward it.
!
And there was none. Calm down.
@@VintageTVMemoriesit’s called dramatic effect chill
@@VintageTVMemories He was a trollin'!
A really funny example is "New Guru" by Vulfpeck. In the final chorus / breakdown, the vocalist, Antwaun Stanley, shouts out, "Come on, y'all, take it up for me!" and they modulate up a tone. The key change lasts for four bars before he says, "My bad, bring that down!" and they modulate back down.
it gave me such a laugh when i first heard that; similiar to the bit in 'Miracle' where Jack goes 'move tape b up 16 ips' which has the effect of moving the key up
I was going to mention this!
That's just showing off:)
That's brilliant, I'm gonna check it out now! Thanks for the tip 😃
@@hippyronn You absolutely should! 😁 Vulfpeck are something else
No way, I just paused "Layla" to watch this video and you immediately start talking about it
Wait. You paused Layla to watch another video? Sacrilege.
@@kekcsiAs long as it wasn’t during the piano outro
Dude the fact that your subtitles include the chord names in spanish is crazy. As a dual lingual musician, this is so cool!
Toto - Rosanna is another famous example. A shift down from G to F while going up a register in vocals between verses.
Yes and Ultravox - Vienna as well for example. A shift down from C to Bb while going up a register in vocals towards the chorus and the chorus ends in F.
if Penny Lane isn’t in this video I’m cancelling you David
2:50 whew
@@slidenawayMasterful key changes. When the key goes down, the notes go up, when the notes go down, the key goes up. It's like an Escher staircase, with an energy boost going into the chorus *and* into the boost. And all that modulation makes the gear shift key change at the end feel more natural than normal.
I may have miused the terms modulation and gear shift key change, but you know I mean.
Thank you.❤
😂
I kept waiting for “And I Love Her”.
Africa by Toto is a good example of a downward modulation. The verses are in B Major, but then the chorus hits A Major
I'm not sure why your Beatles' explanations are consistently that they had no idea what they were doing and that they simply stumbled into brilliance. The fact is that they had a huge knowledge of music, from Paul growing up with a musical family, to learning a variety of songs so that they could play eight hour sets in Hamburg. Give them credit for being able to figure things out from learning other songs.
I agree. They didn't study theory and reading music and know the names of stuff. But they listened to a lot of music of all different types, knew what they liked and worked, and put unique combinations that hadn't been done from their various influences because they wanted to try new things. Just because they weren't trained a certain way doesn't mean they didn't have knowledge of what usually worked and a specific creativity and curiosity to methodically try to see what new things would work. That's not stumbling.
That's preparing for a long time with listening to music, practicing, forcing themselves to write a song every day. They stumbled after a lot of work and preparation
@@magroves "If I Fell' is a case of DELIBERATELY trying something very different.
I think Woody’s pointing out as hell lucky we are that they did not know all of the rules of music. It was purely artistic for them, which meant the sky was the limit.
Probably because it’s well established by musicologists like Ian McDonald.
And, by Paul himself. Who said, his approach was like "the primitive cave artists, who drew without training".
It’s ok to think Paul was someone with innate talent and a great ear.
The Beatles knew about key changes in music and knew how to apply them but I think the uploaders point is that perhaps Paul was simply in the spirit of making music and stumbled into the chords/key change unintentionally, and it just worked. I don’t see what’s wrong with saying that. Especially when you consider the spirit of the times when those songs were written. Things were more free, open, and exciting. The idea that Paul was sitting around, working out the song and says to himself “hmmm perhaps a key change is what this song needs!” Is honestly kind of funny to me because I really don’t think those guys thought like that. And I don’t think saying that undermines the brilliance of the music they made or their talents. If anything it simply speaks to the times in which the music was made. I am a big Beatles fan and a big fan of Paul’s especially BTW.
Yes - I've Seen All Good People. The outro is just downwards keychange after downwards keychange.
Same with some parts from the title track to Close To The Edge.
@andrewhawkins6754 - Thank you! My mind was trying to remember a specific song but wasn't quite able to get there, and luckily I then saw your comment. Which most likely saved me from trying to figure it out for the rest of my day - and it's only 11.30am here in NZ! 😄
"I'd Love To Lay You Down" by Conway Twitty similarly ends with a series of downward key changes.
Was getting ready to mention that!
How was "...All Good People" NOT in this video? First song I thought of because it really twists the modulation to crazy depths
My ears always loved the key change in the ballad "I'll Stand by You". A very strong emotional chord change, with a real punch vocally too. Great video David~!
Layla shifts down even lower when it gets to the beautiful outro
Yes. But the outro is a completely different song that they spliced onto Layla.
@@eviltomthai It might be, but it doesn't change the fact that they segued into a piece of music that was in a lower key than both keys the had used throughout the song up to that point.
An example of downwards key change I really like is Mariah Carey's version of I Want To Know What Love Is. Similarly to How Will I Know did, it changes *downwards* in the last chorus, but it adds higher harmonies to the chorus and gives Mariah more room to do crazy adlibs, that way making the final chorus really impactful
Also, Goodbye Cincinnati (Closing Theme from Tom Clancys Jack Ryan S1&2) by Ramin Djawadi starts from E Minor and final part changes key from E Minor to C Minor
First Love / Late Spring by Mitski is another song that has a descending key change. First, it modulates up a semitone from C Major to C# Major during its guitar solo, but modulates back down to C major for the final chorus
Our house by madness goes down 3 semitones for the chorus and I think in the third chorus it goes up again with a new middle key in between the two.
Edit: just checked and the chorus is in D at first, then switches to B, then C, then returns to D again during the outro. Pretty cool example of a downward key shift
That's such a ballsy move. "This chorus is so good it works in a more unflattering key as well!"
Surprised that this wasn't used as an example in this video, considering how well known it is.
Came here to ask about that. It always sounded unusual to me in the outro.
Love madness
So glad you included The Youth! I’ve always loved that last chorus, would love to see more MGMT on your channel!
Yeah, I quite like their song with the video in which the singer is riding on a giant cat at some point, and also 'Electric Feel' 😀
PS: 'Time To Pretend'! 😉
I always thought that Layla shifted from D Minor to C# Minor from chorus to verse. I believe the recording was sped up on tape which resulted in a somewhat D half sharp sound.
Ahh, the bad ol' days. Song is too long for radio? To the speeder-upper! 😁
When I was taught it by my first guitar teacher it was D minor for the intro and C# minor (or E major, depending on which you hear as the tonic chord) for the verse, then back to D minor in the chorus.
Yeah, and the coda section is similarly in C half-sharp major.
@@FairyCRat Yes I totally forgot about the coda! I love that section so much. And yes because the song was sped up, the coda is c half sharp major.
@@johvanortiz6267one of the best codas ever!
The cool thing about Penny Lane is that it sounds so natural going into the chorus that I never even really noticed a key change. The Beatles were really good at that. They did that in Help, too
I was just waiting for Penny Lane, and you didn't disappoint. I also love how you show how the song would sound without the key change.
With the Whitney Houston song, it’s worth noting that Eb Major tends to sound brighter based on where it is on the circle of fifths relative to Gb major, and relative to the diatonic major scale, the Eb is the 6th note, which the VI chord is usually minor. Switching it to a major chord ads a little glimmer of light and makes it almost mystical.
I think this is the first time I’ve seen MGMT on your channel! Please do more. One of my all time favs. They have some really cool stuff going on in their songwriting.
I had already forgotten about the „down and up“ key change of „I stand by you“. Very cool! Thanks for bringing that back!
I remember when you covered this a few years ago! Happy to see you revisit it
@@royalex21 😊😊
The “key change” into the HD piano plug was genius….GENIUS
I went into this just *waiting* for How Will I Know. Cheers, David, once again you didn't disappoint. :)
Frank Wildhorn is the KING of downward key changes in the Broadway musical The Scarlet Pimpernel. He always keeps the momentum by using chromatics and pivoting from there
The youth is such a great song! Thank you for the discovery!
I've always noticed that about the Whitney song and thought it was really odd - glad someone else finally says something about it!
Jimmy Ruffin's "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" key changes upwards for the chorus and reverts on the verses before sticking with the lower key for the final chorus
I was never aware to all that! 😮 This is one of the most fascinating and educational channels. Keep on the good work! ❤
Thanks!
I accidentally turned on captions for this video and I just wanna say these are incredibly well done.
amazing video as always dave
@@goat9629 cheers!
So great that you show what it would be like without a key change.
One of the best downward key changes is Aerosmith's "What It Takes", written of course by Desmond Child. Verse in G major and chorus in F major. And yet it still ironically sounds uplifting.
Another cool thing about the key change for the bridge of Always, is that the key changes up again for the guitar solo, which makes its introduction sound very beautiful, especially with the guitar playing the major third of the One-Chord.
Such a weird co-incidence. I was tabbing out the chords for "Whistle for the Choir" by The Fratellis yesterday, and they do this.
The whistling solo, near the end of the song, shifts from E Major to D Major and the exact same rhythm pattern can be used on both. It really boosts the ending and feels like a surprise when you are playing it.
Genuinely never noticed this before.
That was the first ad I've actually wanted to watch. You integrated it so nicely, and relevantly.
😍
Another great example is “Everybody Laughed But You” by Sting. It key changes down toward the end, and it complements the song’s story so well.
"If I ever lose the faith in you" by Sting is nicely crafted in that way.
I thought of "How Will I Know" right away. There's also a SATB choir arrangement of Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain" that is mostly in F, then goes to D for the final verse.
One of my favourite types of key change is when the song shifts down for the first couple of choruses (and then back up for the succeeding verses) but then stays in key for the last chorus, making it effectively higher in key than the previous choruses. 2 songs I know that do this are "Absolution Calling" by Incubus and "Bodies" by Robbie Williams.
Very cool video! More recent examples are "Diet Pepsi" by Adison Rae that has a downward keychange in the last chorus and "Please Please Please" by Sabrina Carpenter, that modulates up for the 2nd verse but shifts back down again to the chorus.
To Be With You is such a great downwards key change. Great example of a song going down so the lead singer can go higher. Sacrificing a little energy to immediately get more back.
Thanks David. Another great video!!
😊😊😊
The „Mr Big“ key change up and down is another classic example, very weird! But worthy to be in this list!
Thank you! I've been interested in downwards key changes for a while. Now I can add some new ones to my dedicated playlist! Some of my favorites are 'Sag mir wo die Blumen sind - Marlene Ditrich' and of course 'Our house - Madness'!
"Theme from A Summer Place" - old fashioned but such a tasty downward minor third key change it's worth checking out.
I do love how Scenes from an Italian restaurant does the 12 notes down into the final section, does it suit this video, I’m not sure. But I was reminded of it
I think this is just the song returning to the original key when it goes back to revisit the "Bottle of red..." segment. The faster "Brenda and Eddie..." ssecion in between is in a higher key (G major, IIRC)
The key changes in "Show Must Go On" by Queen are one of the many things that make it a masterpiece: the emotional rollercoaster of facing ones impending death.
Great to see Mr Big getting some love! They are all virtuoso musicians but 'To Be With You' is their biggest global hit!
Which to me is sad. I still loathe this song after all these years. The rest of that album is great, though.
I thought their Wild World's cover was their biggest hit worldwide.
"I can see for miles" by the Who, it changes key a few times and i'm not quite sure if it goes up or down, but the voice clearly sounds less energetic in the last chorus. Great song and very strange harmony. Great video!
My favorite descending key change is probably the one at the end of "Violence I" by They Are Gutting a Body of Water. Something about the "schwing" sound effect that heralds it, combined with the slowdown and the feeling of added heft in the distorted guitars as it returns to a slightly lower version of the original riff, give it this stunning sense of full-circle finality that counteracts any downswing in energy one would usually expect from such a key change. That sense would probably almost entirely disappear if even one of those elements was absent.
one that comes to mind for me is the sweetest condition by depeche mode which i believe changes key downwards a couple of times throughout the song
Our song _Bilateral Flaws_ goes through a few key changes. The verse is in Am, The chorus is in C, but at the end of the chorus, the song shifts down to Am, and the instrumental is in Gm. After the solo, it shifts back up to C for the chorus, Am for the end of the chorus, and finally a Picardy third A to end the song on.
Our song _Speedwell Cavern_ is in Gm for the verse, but shift down to Fm for the chorus. It then shifts down again to Eb for the bridge.
And our song _In Time_ is in G, but shifts to Em. Technically it shifts down, even if they're relative keys.
A song I have been thinking of that hasn't been mentioned in this video is the Davy Jones theme from The Pirates Of The Caribbean by Hans Zimmer. The melody is played in the following keys:
Starting D Minor ->downgrading to B Minor -> downgrading to Ab Minor -> and for the outro shifting back to B Minor.
Get Closer by Seals and Crofts has a descending key change at the coda after the line "I've given you my all, there's no more to borrow" where the key changes from G major to E major. The verses are in A major, then a couple chord changes go back to G major then the last verse has the E major and stays in that key at the end before the fadeaway.
Nightwish do this a lot and it sounds epic. 'Ghost Love Score' is a good example as it contains multiple downward (and upward) key changes.
This. And I wonder how many goth and doom metal (or in this case, heavy mithril) songs do lowered key changes to represent descending into something? I'd guess a lot.
Slaying the Dreamer starts in A phrygian for the first few bars but then modulates down to E phrygian for the first verse
@@johanpeturdam Another great example 🤘🏻
On the previous video I asked if downwards key changes were possible. Thanks for answering!
Modulating 3 semitones down changes a key by the major of its relative minor, so it's a "brighter" key. For example, if you're in C (enharmonic to A minor), and you move to A, it's going to sound brighter since it also feels like a minor-to-major key change.
Here in sweden we have a pretty well known song called "då går jag ner i min källare" (then i go down into my basement) and it has a pretty noticeable decending key change. The artist, pierre Isaksson, did so only to show off how deep his voice could go. He made a big hit and is still regarded as one of, if not the best bass voice in Sweden.
One my favorites is in the song Mit Dir Kann Ich Alleine Sein, by the German band JEREMIAS. The song starts in Db and goes on until the bridge, when it transitions very smoothly to the 5th below and most instruments stop playing and the vocalist switches to a lower register. It really makes the end sound more intimate, but not as low as it would had he just gone down an octave
This was great! Its something rarely discussed and song writer's rarely do drop down keys. Neat. Theres more than a couple of examples of Bon Jovi doing that.
While my guitar gently weeps... Great key changes in that one. Shifts up to the major, then back down to the minor on the verse.
Layla was recorded in D minor but sped up in the studio.
I can’t believe I forgot this one, I literally just watched this movie: “Rose Tint My World” from Rocky Horror. Starts in the key of D for one verse, then shifts down into C.
The last chorus of Kimbra's "Come Into My Head" modulates downwards and it sounds so badass.
I have few songs saved that I liked that have the same method as Whitney’s How Will I Know. I just works for me and feels really good- in a way that makes me feel hopeful and at ease. The Truck Driver Gear Shift key for me seems to be grandiose, which bores me after listening for a while.
And me, What about Goodbye Cincinnati (Closing Theme from Tom Clancys Jack Ryan S1&2) by Ramin Djawadi???????
Wow, I was thinking about a video like this the moment I saw your truck driver shift video. A downward key change always sounds interesting whenever I hear it in songs
Yes’ I’ve Seen All Good People does that! At the end, the song’s chorus descends one semitone each time they complete the chorus. This continues until the song fades out.
I always just assumed "To be with you" key changed up then changed up again. But now I learned it goes up then back down.
There is another example I would have suggested: Heroes live forever from Vanessa Amorosi. The song goes down from D major to C# major, but the key change feels more like an ascending key change because she starts singing in a far higher range. It's a masterpiece used in the Sydney Olympics, so I'd suggest you check it out.
Muse's Survival was my first example that I noticed of a downward key change.
Missed my favorite downwards key change: Up the Junction by Squeeze (E major to D major, then back up)
leeann rimes how do i live has the same key change too
In the Whitney Houston song the D♭ to E♭ chord change is deceptive cadence (V - VI) in G♭, a musical question mark, highlighting the "how will I know?" lyrics.
The bridge of Land Confusion And quote drops down from E-flat minor to C minor, and then to a C-flat lydian interlude.
Nice collection, and great demonstration of how differently (or not) things sound without the key change.
I thought of Idol by Yoasobi which has quite some key changes, but the one in the end of the song really stands out: it goes one semitone downward only to be followed by two semitones up to deliver that extra punch of energy.
"Layla" sounds so much better to me without this strange keychange. 😇
6:55 no, “Always” is in E, the concert performance was probably lower
Morning Had Broken by Cat Stevens. The piano intro starts in D major but modulates down to C major for the first verse. Then at some point it modulates back up to D major before the end.
Never noticed that and we played that at my dad's funeral
How interesting! Thank you for the class.
Cheers 😊😊
I believe that a modulation from a major scale to the major 6 even though it goes downwards as it's moving to a tone that is 3 places to the right in the circle of fifths it gives a powerful sensation. In fact if the modulation is done by having the progression IV - V - VI (as the new I) it has the very powerful bVI - bVII - I cadence. An example is the song by Whitney Houston described in this video that has the sequence Cb - Db - Eb that is IV - V - VI in Gb but is bVI - bVII - I in Eb.
After having written that comment I remembered there's a very well known Beatles' song by George Harrison that also has this kind of downward modulation that I wonder how could you omit mentioning it in the video! A hint, it has almost the same cadence, just that there's an extra chord between the IV and the V.
@@gerardobecher9404 Something
I was waiting for someone to say this.
In Ray Lamontagne's "Step into your power" there's an upward change at the end but when you think the song will end in that key it comes back down to the original key.
"The Eynsham Poacher" by Fairport Convention starts in one key, modulates a semitone down for the second verse then moves around various other keys.
"The moon is a harsh mistress" originally by Jimmy Webb but covered by many people, has a downward key change. It hits especially hard in Radka Toneff and Steve Dobrogosz's version.
Songs that key change by a tritone? Pls pls pls David pls
@@snootdoot3983 oh nice idea! I’ve got a couple in mind already!
@@snootdoot3983 can you think of any examples?
@@DavidBennettPiano I'm pretty sure that Please by nine inch nails has its verse in E and its chorus in Bb
@@snootdoot3983 cool! I’ll check that one out. Thanks!
@@DavidBennettPiano Bohemian Rhapsody? From the solo to the more Operatic section?
You talked about The Youth ❤️ I like to think it may be because I mentioned it in an video earlier, if so I'm glad I helped 👍
Cool!! You got the Whitney Houston one I mentioned! That was the only one I could think of at the time that went down, and to me it made vastly different colours in my head.
I forgot if you did "We've Only Just Begun", from the Carpenters, but whatever that verse/bridge part goes down, then the chorus goes back up to...A major...? I think. LOL
Deceptive Cadence would be awesome to hear, too! These are fun to analyse. :D
Really interesting video. My favorite is Maybe Tomorrow by the Jackson 5. It modulates up, then down, then back up again.
15:16 Whitney starts “How Will I Know” sounding like a starry-eyed girl, and by the end, she’s transformed into a confident woman. The downward key change brings her right into that powerful, sweet spot in her range. It works perfectly because the song is a mix of bubblegum pop and gospel, crafted for an R&B audience. That higher key at the start gives us her playful, excited side, while the lower key at the end brings out a more mature, grounded vibe.
My personal favourite downward key change is Burn It Down by Alter Bridge! It never feels less energetic to me; more nostalgic and warm which I think really works for the last chorus!
The chorus of "To Be With You" also employs the lead-backup swap trick (where the background vocals are suddenly singing the main melody, punctuated by the lead singer) and, in that last chorus, the lead vocal goes higher than in any of the previous choruses (with that "IIIIII'm the oooo-ne"). I wonder if they decided to shift everything else down in key in order to make that high feel higher.
I don't even know how you would qualify it cause it's all over the place, but Queen's Innuendo changes key about every 12 seconds. It's a monster of a song with changes up and down throughout. Structurally like an anti-Bohemian Rhapsody.
muse’s take a bow has loads of key changes, i think he went over it too
How about duets in which the key goes down for the second singer. Country music has several examples; one of my personal favorites is Eddy Arnold remaking his classic hit "Cattle Call" as a duet with LeAnn Rimes on her breakout album, "Blue". LeAnn starts the song in B-flat, then it drops all the way down to D (almost a full octave!) to accommodate Eddy's baritone.
Also in the 80s we had Juice Newton dueting with Eddie Rabbitt on "Both To Each Other (Friends And Lovers)" This one downshifts TWICE, first for the second verse (G to F), and again for the last chorus (F to E flat). Note that in this example, the female singer (Juice Newton in this case) gets the lower key.
Fascinating as always!
The most interesting song I can think of is “I’ve Seen All good People by Yes. The fade-out drops by a tone over and over, because the chorus lends itself well to it
Who else gets chills during every key change?
Fade to black by Metallica goes from Bm to Am in the intro, stays in Am most of the song but takes advantage of the fact that if you count every note in that part of the song you get this sort of ambiguous scale with a natural minor shell and an added Bb (b2) and F# (natural six) to change key to E minor for the bridge and back to Bm for the outro guitar solo.
I was subbing as a music teacher in a primary school and end-of-year ceremony was among my duties. Two girls wanted to sing a song, I forget what song it was. The only problem was that even though they sang the verse in C major, but when the chorus came around they dropped to Bb. I couldn’t get them to stay in the same key, so my accompaniment just had to follow. I’m pretty sure very few of those present noticed, none of them commented.
This is so good ai watched it numerous times.
Yep! Jump goes from C major to Bbm for the solos. Basically going from the white keys on the keyboard to the black keys.
Amazing video! Really interesting. Tina Turner's I Don't Wanna Lose You also goes up in the chorus then goes back down in the verse.