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The radio show Studio 360 just had a piece on why pop songs seem different (less poppy) these days-- more of them are written in a minor key. Did Brian write a lot of songs in a minor key?

http://www.studio360.org/2012/sep/07/why-pop-music-so-sad/

The majority of Brian's songs are in major.

"Yeah. I like major chords. Each key is a different color. My favorites are D, B, F and F#. A is a good key, too, sometimes. A has a strong vibe, a very powerful vibe." - BW

Hard to think of some off the top of my head, but "Cry" is in a minor key.

Surf's Up is in a mostly minor key.

Thread 7778.

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I HATE YOU.

Good question.

Sweet Mountain (verses)
Country Air (intro, ends of choruses)
Good Vibrations (verses)
Our Prayer
Child Is Father Of The Man (most of it)
Heroes And Villains (bicycle rider section)
Night Bloomin' Jasmine (aside from the boogie woogie section)

That's all I can think of at the moment, but they all flip between minor and major. Honorable mention to We Three Kings, altho BW didn't write it.

Hmm, has he ever written a song only based around a minor key?

My Solution?

Johnny Carson

My Diane is a definite contender.


Actually, I did a quick youtube search to hear it just now, and I found a demo version I don't believe I've heard before.  I like it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN7WFwRFid0

As far as I'm concerned, My Diane is in the key of E with chords C#m (VI), A (IV), E (I) , G#m (III), F#m (II) etc etc.

Summer's Gone....maybe...sounds like it, but I can't look at the chords right now.

Nope, Summer's Gone is a major-key (off the top of my head, I believe F#), just a lot of sixths and sevenths that are probably throwing you off.

You're right...after hearing it in my head all day

She knows me too well
Little bird, verses. I LOVE this Dennis song!!! Bet you too!

The verses of Good Vibrations of course (Eb min)!

Today's music, when it's about dance grooves, R&B type music like Beyonce etc, it's mostly in minor.

Believe it or not, but Caroline, No is the first minor key song Brian put on record.
Here Today, Good Vibrations and Wind Chimes start also in minor key.
Of all songs, it's only 1% minor key?

Well, Let Him Run Wild has quite a bit of minor chords in the verse

Caroline, No isn't in a minor key though.

Could be you're right. mostly the last chord of the song is what counts, and the song fades, so it's difficult to pick one.
I would say it's Pryhgian & Lydian

in original key Em(Phrygian)->F6(Lydian)
Em(Phrygian)->F6(Lydian), etc but then at the end below "Oh Caroline, No", it's Cmajor  Fmaj7 indeed

The last chords of Here Today, Good Vibrations and Let Him Run Wild are also major.

Brian developed a style where you couldn't clearly hear what whas the root chord. You can choose different last chords for God Only Knows.

It's definitely 'modal' as they say.

The opening chord of Caroline, No is a pretty good root for the key of the song. But I've seen it written as Em7 / G and G6 which are both obviously the same chord. As always with Brian, it's all about the bass notes.

One of the great things about Brian's songs is how much they explore harmonic and melodic possibilities while still usually staying anchored in a major key. A musician I know once remarked that it's very easy to write a cool sounding song in a minor key but a far greater challenge to write a cool sounding song in a major key. "Here Today" opens up with and spends a good bit of time around the second chord in the key, which is minor. But if you play out the notes of the melody, you'll notice that it stays in the key of A major throughout, and I would say that the entire song is also in A major, even though all those minor chords in the verse might trick your ear into thinking otherwise.

Of course, starting out in minor keys and ending up in major happens in a lot of great BW songs, as others have mentioned. "Good Vibrations" is probably the best known example. All of the songs mentioned in this thread that I am familiar with end up in major. I thought maybe "Fall Breaks and Back to Winter" ended in minor, but a close listening reveals that just before it fades out completely, it's back to major.

Country Air is definitely my favorite of the ones listed here in terms of how is goes from minor to major and back again.

A ha! That one actually ends in minor. Very rare for a BW song, so far as I can tell.

some cool minor stuff on the Friends album:

the instrumental bit in "Wake the World"

and both "Passing By" and "Busy Doin Nothin" introduce a minor feel toward the end of the song.

I'm trying to think through Brian's last few albums, and I can't think of any minor songs off the top of my head.  That is kind of strange compared to most modern music.  Even stuff like "This isn't Love" I don't believe is in minor... 

How about Brian's version of "Joy to the World" ?   

I took a music theory class once, it was awesome, it was in the round and the prof. had a grand piano in the middle.  So he'd play us pieces all the time.  He played the intro to Beethoven's 5th in Major, and Minor to illustrate the difference.  That was pretty intense. 

I always want to think of God Only Knows as being in D, because the D major chord is used so much in it with different bass notes, but it doesn't work because there's also such a prominent use of D# in that opening French horn phrase that becomes Brian's countermelody at the end.  And I think the only time there's ever a straight D major chord is when the vocal bridge begins after the instrumental break.

God Only Knows is in A major.

Why does it have to be in one key?

Yeah. I'd say it starts in A major, goes to E major until the end of the chorus, and back again.

Then for the bridge it starts in D major and goes to A major.

Really interesting way of building a song, and probably one of the things that separates Brian from his peers. Now that I think about it, a lot of his songs switch keys throughout..

Well it doesn't.  ;D

When Mozart writes a piece in A major, it may change to F#minor or E major. But the bedrock key is A. Every modulation functions within a greater context of the original key.

That was only true until Wagner came along.

Wagner destroyed western music!

I've always thought of "God Only Knows" as being mostly in E, aside from the bridge which is in A.  The cool thing is how he strays just far enough from the "home" key during the verses to sound like he's modulated, but he brings it back so naturally.  "Wonderful" is another tune where Brian works in the modulations masterfully.

haha But BriDub is hardly a Wagnerian.  :lol

Hardly a Mozartian either.  And don't forget Daryl Dragon's rather puzzling insistence that Dennis's music is Wagnerian.

That is puzzling.  :lol

I saw this thread a few days ago and thought "Lonely Sea" is probably in a minor key.  So I just played the song and strummed along on the guitar with it and lo and behold, it's in D flat MAJOR, at least until the bridge where it goes to A flat minor before it changes back again before the next verse.

My point?  I am amazed by Brian's ability to make a major key song "feel" like a minor key song.  And why is Brian Wilson the only musician that ever composed anything that brings tears to my eyes?

I thought he always meant in the gigantic sounding orchestras and bombast rather than, y'know, Dennis studying Tristan und Isolde like Brian and a Freshmen record. People call Spector music 'Wagnerian' for the same reason.

You may be right.  Still seems a bit of a reach to me.

Has the verse of Don't let her know she's an angel been mentioned yet?

Somewhat related: God rest ye merry gentlemen.

And totally related: the verse of Winter Symphony.

Good catches Lenny.

I had the exact same experience and reached the same conclusion. While I hadn't really thought it through before, I think this is an importnat reason that I can tolerate so many repeated listenings of Beach Boys records.