Alan Aldrigde, The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr en George Harrison Alan Aldrigde, The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics (c) Alan Aldrigde, The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics

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She Loves You

Composer(s) : Lennon and McCartney
Year : 1963

Chords/Tabs: She Loves You

Notes On "She Loves You" (SLY)

Copyright 1989 Alan W. Pollack
All Rights Reserved
As an early work, there are a number of significant ways in which "She Loves You" is *not* particularly adventurous; shades of "let's not pull any strokes or do anything I'll be sorry for."

In particular:

- the form is a rather straightforward intro-verse-verse-refrain-verse- refrain-coda.

- the phrasing throughout is totally four-square; the verse is is four times four, and the refrain is a true middle eight.

- the harmonic rhythm is fairly regular throughout with no extremes.

- the harmonic scheme, in spite of a few localized touches of color, is rather static; the song is firmly in G throughout.

And yet, the song contains a musical vocabulary and arrangement which is shot through with details and nuances that were soon to develop into trademarks; the special "sound" is already apparent.

Rather than try for anything comprehensive this time let's simply examine some of the highlights, roughly in order of their appearance.


Intro

- To borrow a phrase from ancient Greek drama, the song begins "in medias res." We get a little drum roll and the intro starts off as though the song were already in progress. The fact that the intro is actually nothing other than a variation on (an anticipation of ?) the refrain is what creates this effect.

- The feeling of having started in the midst of the action is heightened by the opening chord progression. We're not "in" G as much as we are heading toward it:


		e	->A7	->C	->G (with added 6th!)

	G:	vi	V-of-V	 IV	  I

The use of the V-of-V moving to the IV (with the inevitable cross relation) is an early example of what we hear in EDAW. The opening chord progression which doesn't start on I and takes four somewhat disorienting chords to finally get there shows up again in "Help!".

- And what about that added-sixth chord, eh ? According to Lewisohn, George Martin tried to talk them out of it saying it sounded too much like the Andrews Sisters. Clearly, it's a sound more typical of 40's pop music rather than the 60's but it certainly seems to fit here. Part of what helps make it work is the repeated melodic motive ("yeah, yeah, yeah") ending on the note E; on a more subliminal level that added sixth chord creates a superimposition of the opening vi chord on top of the I.

On a theoretical basis, that added sixth is called a "free" (in the sense of gratuitous, or non-functional) dissonance. In most tonal music until the twentieth century, any note appearing in a chord that was not part of the chord's root triad was considered a dissonance. As such, it was expected to be well behaved by "resolving", typically stepwise downward, to a note that *is* part of the triad either during the current chord or on the very next chord. The most classic example of this is the way in which the "7" of the V7 chord resolves to the "3" of the I chord:

		F	->E
		D	->C
		B	->G
		G	->C

	C:	V	  I

By the end of the 19th century, this strict treatment of dissonance broke down even within the so-called classical domain though not without many raised eyebrows; the free 9 and 11 chords of Debussy for example were quite the talk of music theory classes 80 years ago.

In SLY, that E sitting on top of the G triad serves no structural musical purpose other than to give sensuous delight. Think of it as a spice as opposed to a nutrient.


Verse

- there's another striking free dissonance near the beginning of the verse: the e7 chord formed by the D in the voice part (i.e., it's at the top of the rising scale on the word "love"). In a more straightlaced context, that D would want to get resolved to a C on the next chord. This e7 here is not such a big deal per se, except in consideration of the period and genre in which it appears.

- there's a heavy syncopation that just about pulls us out of our seats at the beginning of the third line of the verse. It comes right after "She said she loves you" and it occurs on the the off beat between the 3rd and 4th beat of the measure; try this -- tap straight 4 with one hand and sneak in a hard whack between 3 and 4 with your other -- you'll see what I mean about falling out of your seat.

The fact that this sort of syncopation is used so sparingly within this song makes this instance the more powerful. Indeed, there are two additional reasons for the powerful effect here yet again teaching us how "less is more":

1. the same syncopation is *not* repeated in the next phrase where (rote) symmetry would have argued for it; play it out in your head -- it's very reasonably symmetrical but overall, it vitiates the power of the first one.

2. the chord for our syncopation is G but the choice for the low note in the bass is B, putting the chord in it's first inversion which carries less weight than the root position. Again, play it out in your head -- the note G in the bass makes for a harder blow, but it's almost too hard and a little difficult to bounce off of; like stamping hard into mud.

- In the second half of the phrase which contains the syncopation we have the lead guitar fill in a space with an anticipation of the "yeah, yeah, yeah" motive of the refrain. It's always been there so you take it for granted but step back and think of the song as a whole; what a unifying impact the use of this motive has on it!

- Then of course there's that c-minor chord which begins the fourth phrase and seems to get people in quite a stir. It's actually not that far out a chord; none other than the iv chord borrowed from the parallel minor of G Major. Huh ?

Not to be confused with the concept of relative major/minor keys, parallel Major/minor (PMM) keys are simply the Major and minor modes of the same tonic root; e.g., G Major and g minor. PMM's posess a paradoxical quality -- they have different key signatures (and hence a slightly different set of chords) yet they don't really sound at all like remote keys from each other because of the common tonic (I). Going way back into the classical period, composers frequently have borrowed chords from the parallel minor when in a major key for effect. The particular favorites choices in this regard are the iv and vi which contain the flattened 6th degree of the scale; that flat 6th has a very strong melodic pull downward toward the 5th degree of the scale.

In spite of all of the scholarly verbiage used here, the minor iv chord is quite a garden variety effect. Think of the line in "Home on the Range" which goes "where seldom is heard a discouraging word"; a typical harmonization of this line puts the Major IV under the word "discouraging" and then changes it to a minor iv for the word "word." If you're in the key of G, you're moving in this example from C Major to c minor and you can hear that E slide down to E flat in the inner voice; you can even hear the E flat slide down to D in the next line of the song. This sort of barbershop harmony is quite sentimental in effect.

In SLY, the effect is more exotic than sentimental mainly because the iv chord is jumped into instead of being set up as it more usually is by the Major IV. But it's nothing to get hung about.

- Speaking of exotic inflections to the Major scale, don't overlook that wonderful guitar lick which introduces each verse like a fanfare. I believe that the lick contains at least F natural and A flat in it, neither of which belongs in G; very piquant.


Refrain

- The verse ends on nice fat V chord which resolves "deceptively" to the vi which starts the refrain. This provides some relief from what otherwise (with the exception of the minor iv) is a very straight harmonic scheme.

- the minor iv makes a second appearance in the refrain. This one sounds even more exotic than the earlier one because of it's juxtaposition to the A7 (V-of-V) chord.


The Vocal Parts

- Have you ever noticed the peculiar property of the voices of John and Paul heard in close harmony ? Sometimes they sound like a third voice which resembles neither of their own, and sometimes they quite simply make vocal "sparks".

For some reason, the sparking variety seems to particularly show when they sing open fifths. It's a wonder that they ever stumbled onto this. Open fifths in most Western music sounds like an archaic allusion to Medieval times; thirds and sixths being the typical means of harmonization.

Nonetheless, they went out of their way to sing open fifths and though it's an incidental detail, it is also a tell tale signature of their early sound. In SLY, there's a sparkling open fifth on every occurrence of the word "bad" as in the phrase "and you know that can't be bad." There's not much more your learned astronomer can say about this one; the theoretician stands in awe of a natural phenomenon. "Sie denkt, ja, nur an dich, und du sollte zu ihr gehen."

Regards,
Alan (awp@mirror.tmc.com)

---
"They tried to fob you off on this musical charlatan,
 but *I* gave him the test."					062889#5


Ook op Past Masters, Vols. 1:

ChordsNotes On
Love Me Do Love Me Do
From Me to You From Me to You
Thank You Girl Thank You Girl
She Loves You She Loves You
I'll Get You I'll Get You
I Want to Hold Your Hand I Want to Hold Your Hand
This Boy This Boy
Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand
Sie Liebt Dich 
Long Tall Sally Long Tall Sally
I Call Your Name I Call Your Name
Slow Down Slow Down
Matchbox Matchbox
I Feel Fine I Feel Fine
She's a Woman She's a Woman
Bad Boy Bad Boy
Yes It Is Yes It Is
I'm Down I'm Down

Ook op 1962-1966:

ChordsNotes On
Love Me Do Love Me Do
Please Please Me Please Please Me
From Me to You From Me to You
She Loves You She Loves You
I Want to Hold Your Hand I Want to Hold Your Hand
All My Loving All My Loving
Can't Buy Me Love Can't Buy Me Love
A Hard Day's Night A Hard Day's Night
And I Love Her And I Love Her
Eight Days a Week Eight Days a Week
I Feel Fine I Feel Fine
Ticket to Ride Ticket to Ride
Yesterday Yesterday
Help! Help!
You've Got to Hide Your Love Away You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
We Can Work It Out We Can Work It Out
Day Tripper Day Tripper
Drive My Car Drive My Car
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
Nowhere Man Nowhere Man
Michelle Michelle
In My Life In My Life
Girl Girl
Paperback Writer Paperback Writer
Eleanor Rigby Eleanor Rigby
Yellow Submarine Yellow Submarine

Ook op On Air - Live At The BBC Vol 2:

ChordsNotes On
And Here We Are Again (speech) 
Words of Love Words of Love
How About It, Gorgeus? (speech) 
Do You Want to Know a Secret Do You Want to Know a Secret
Lucille 
Hey, Paul... (speech) 
Anna (Go to Him) Anna (Go to Him)
Hello! (speech) 
Please Please Me Please Please Me
Misery Misery
I'm Talking About You 
A Real Treat (speech) 
Boys Boys
Absolutely Fab (speech) 
Chains Chains
Ask Me Why Ask Me Why
Till There Was You Till There Was You
Lend Me Your Comb 
Lower 5e (speech) 
The Hippy Hippy Shake 
Roll over Beethoven Roll over Beethoven
There's a Place There's a Place
Bumper Bundle (speech) 
P.S. I Love You P.S. I Love You
Please Mr. Postman Please Mr. Postman
Beautiful Dreamer 
Devil in Her Heart Devil in Her Heart
The 49 Weeks (speech) 
Sure To Fall 
Never Mind, Eh? (speech) 
Twist and Shout Twist and Shout
Bye, Bye (speech) 
John - Pop Profile (speech) 
George - Pop Profile (speech) 
I Saw Her Standing There I Saw Her Standing There
Glad All Over 
Lift Lid Again (speech) 
I'll Get You I'll Get You
She Loves You She Loves You
Memphis, Tennessee 
Happy Birthday, Dear Saturday Club 
Now Hush, Hush (speech) 
From Me to You From Me to You
Money (That's What I Want) Money (That's What I Want)
I Want to Hold Your Hand I Want to Hold Your Hand
Brian Bathtubes 
This Boy This Boy
If I Wasn't In America 
I Got A Woman 
Long Tall Sally Long Tall Sally
If I Fell If I Fell
A Hard Job Writing Them (speech) 
And I Love Her And I Love Her
Oh, Can't We? Yes We Can (speech) 
You Can't Do That You Can't Do That
Honey Don't Honey Don't
I'll Follow the Sun I'll Follow the Sun
Green With Black Shutters (speech) 
Kansas City-Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! [Medley] Kansas City-Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! [Medley]
That's What We're Here For (speech) 
I Feel Fine (Studio Outtake)
Paul - Pop Profile (speech) 
Ringo - Pop Profile (speech) 

Ook op 1:

ChordsNotes On
Love Me Do Love Me Do
From Me to You From Me to You
She Loves You She Loves You
I Want to Hold Your Hand I Want to Hold Your Hand
Can't Buy Me Love Can't Buy Me Love
A Hard Day's Night A Hard Day's Night
I Feel Fine I Feel Fine
Eight Days a Week Eight Days a Week
Ticket to Ride Ticket to Ride
Help! Help!
Yesterday Yesterday
Day Tripper Day Tripper
We Can Work It Out We Can Work It Out
Paperback Writer Paperback Writer
Yellow Submarine Yellow Submarine
Eleanor Rigby Eleanor Rigby
Penny Lane Penny Lane
All You Need Is Love All You Need Is Love
Hello Goodbye Hello Goodbye
Lady Madonna Lady Madonna
Hey Jude Hey Jude
Get Back Get Back
The Ballad of John and Yoko The Ballad of John and Yoko
Something Something
Come Together Come Together
Let It Be Let It Be
The Long and Winding Road The Long and Winding Road

(c) 2024 Serge Girard