Pop songs with major key verses and minor key choruses

huh, I guess not!

lol ran it by a friend whose response was "while the chorus does end on C, which makes it officially C, it has a very strong Amin connotation."

The first chord in the chorus is an Am chord (with C in the melody!) that moves to C on the second half of the bar. He also jumps up to a high A on the weak part of a weak beat. That is the closest thing I see to an "A minor connotation". The melodic movement is typically C major, the cadence is plagal in C, and the last two bars of the chorus are pretty much identical to the last two bars of each phrase in the verse. Using vi as a substitute for I is pretty normal practice.

Thanks for that, I'm not really good with that stuff. Though I do know the Beatles were pretty ingenious about finding ways to substitute for familiar progressions, like, say, the doo wop progression.

"Rocket Man" I guess qualifies, but I feel that "the verse is in the relative minor" isn't really the purpose of this thread

Also I think this thread is specifically about the chorus being in minor, not the verse

Talk Talk - It's My Life, maybe? I can't figure out the chorus, but it sounds more minor than major to me.

10cc - The Wall Street Shuffle kind of does this, but the arrangement has so many sections it's a little difficult to say what the 'verse' actually is. Seems like an art-pop thing though, are there no Steely Dan songs with this technique?

Yeah lots of these examples don't sound like key changes to me. The songwriter just chose to use minor chords that are available in the overall key: usually the vi or ii.

If I'm playing a song that is in the key of C, I will expect an A minor to crop up somewhere, just for variety's sake, whether it's in the verse, bridge, or chorus. Like "Let it Be." If in D, I would expect to see a B minor somewhere. Like "I'm on Fire."

I don't think most of these songs are modulating into a different key for their choruses. Normally if there's a mid-song key change (like in "Lodi" or "What's Love Got to Do with it") I expect the key change to last, and be applied to all parts thenceforward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0K2F2DQz_I

Just realized "Beds are Burning" goes from F major in the verse/pre-chorus to F minor for the chorus

For a songwriter I don't respect much, I really do respect the trick Elton pulled off with this song, a lot.

The Who’s “Substitute” is all major apart from the pre-chorus (“But I’m a substitute for another guy/I look pretty tall but my heels are high”) which is in E minor.

they're using Em chords but they're still very much in the key of D major in that part, aren't they?

Fact checking cuz strikes again!

I mean, the chords are Em - Gm - Dsus - DM - (I think?) but I think the overall key has changed in the pre-chorus largely due to whatever the note is on “tute” in “But I’m a substitute for another guy.”

where's the Gm in that part? (and if it is in there, which key is it coming from?)

i hear that pre-chorus as a fairly standard "let's go to the ii for the b-part" songwriting trick, which rock guitarists writing in D are all but required to do. (i really wanted to be able to say the ii is *substituting* for the I here, but sadly that wouldn't be quite right.)

I feel like De-Luxe by Lush could be an example of this, but I could be completely wrong.

where's the Gm in that part? (and if it is in there, which key is it coming from?)

I'm gonna say it's...on the 3 in the first bar of the pre-chorus...? No idea which key it's coming from. My knowledge of Western music theory is very very slightly above zero.

Like "Accidents Will Happen" mentioned upthread, "Home Truth" by Elvis Costello has verses in D major and choruses in F major; but the chorus starts on an A minor and so has a "minor feel".

For a songwriter I don't respect much, I really do respect the trick Elton pulled off with this song, a lot.

― Eggs Benedick (Eric H.)

"I'm the one you need" by the Miracles has the same major to minor key modulation as "I'm still standing"

I'm still Smokey
Yea yea yea

So does "Telegram sam"

Although in that song the chorus starts on F maj so the effect is a little different

I feel like De-Luxe by Lush could be an example of this, but I could be completely wrong

I think it's all in E major, but it does use a G major chord borrowed from the key of E minor throughout the song. And the chorus starts on that G chord, which perhaps is what strikes your ear as a change of tonality.

"Skin Trade", Duran Duran

Kelly Rowland - Stole ?

Madness’s House of Fun, where the minor chorus was recorded on its own and spliced into a major, chorusless track titled Chemist Facade thanks to the miracle of Langer/Winstanley.

Nice one, just heard it the other day and thought of this thread

ctrl+f "the jam" zero results

hmm

"Dangerous Type" by the Cars

Just realized Barry Manilow's "Daybreak" kinda does this?