Comments on: Thurs AM Musical Interlude http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/thurs-am-musical-interlude/ Facts, Thoughts, and Commentary Sat, 25 May 2013 22:03:30 +0000 hourly 1 By: Allen http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/thurs-am-musical-interlude/#comment-100936 Allen Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:08:26 +0000 http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/?p=3747#comment-100936 Jared — you are a great economist and a sharp musician — I am a musician and almost everything you come up with is in good taste and musically correct! For ‘Borderline’ the verses just vamp (repeat) on D – C – G. This is cycle of fifths stuff and a common progression in all music (not just pop music). Van Morrison’s Gloria uses this (in number notation a musician would call it 1 – b7 – 4) as do lots and lots of other songs. The bass all the through the verse plays D (root note) on the D chord, C (root note) on the C chord, and then, as you point out, B (third of the G chord) on the G chord. Here’s a link to cycle (or circle) of fifths:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fifths (you see these 3 chords in the 12, 1 and 2 o’clock position of the graphic in the article). And here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia’s entry on the Song Borderline: “The song follows in the chord progression of D–C–G in the first verse to Bm–Em–A–F♯ in the pre-chorus, changes to A–F♯–Bm–A–E and G–D–A in the chorus.[9]” Link to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borderline_%28song%29.

Per ‘slash chord’ convention, the third in the bass would be notated G/B — another Wikepedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slash_chord. There are other chords in the song with the third in the bass so you have a good ear!

Thanks for the GREAT economics blogging and tasteful music links!

-Allen

]]> By: Jean http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/thurs-am-musical-interlude/#comment-99869 Jean Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:40:59 +0000 http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/?p=3747#comment-99869 Great song! I’ve always liked Madonna’s voice, and don’t agree with the Minnie Mouse analogy.

You have a good ear if you hear the inverted chords. I would say that they are there due to the ostinato in the bass part.

What’s strange about this song, though is that the key signature is D Major, but the introduction and chorus is in G. The verse is centered around A Major, which is the Dominant of G — something the great composers do all the time. Lucas also goes to the 3 chord instead of 1 or 5 and changes the 2 chord from minor to Major. All in all, pretty clever since he never spends any time on the D Major chord — which is the key its supposed to be in.

And a great song to workout to … the whole CD is.

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