Whenever someone proclaims in a review of a new single that it is ‘Beatlesque’, my ears prick up. Of course, you’re going to give any song with this kind of press a hard time, but what really bugs me is when lazy reviewers describe as ‘Beatlesque’ any song that features a descending chord progression.
I wondered if there was any truth in the idea. I looked around on a few sites and forums and found nothing on this topic – in fact, I was told it was unquantifiable. I liked the idea of the challenge. So here is my attempt to quantify the Beatles’ use of such figures.
1. Explanation of the term.
2. Reasons why ‘Beatlesque’ label is used.
3. Breakdown of the stats on descending bass lines.
4. Appendices, including a downloadable medley of the relevant sections.
5. The full list of songs featuring the descending chord progression.
6. Beatlesque links.
So let’s be clear: I have no problem with either the particular sorts of descending chord progressions or with tunes that borrow from the Beatles, but with people who lazily conflate the two, which would aid the Beatles’ detractors in seeming to suggest that the band were limited to such devices.
My feeling is that sometimes songs are also called Beatlesque because of the production values (any band using a brass section - from the Boo Radleys to the Polyphonic Spree), close vocal harmonies (The La’s There She Goes), even ascending chord progressions (the Mark Owen song Child was called Beatlesque, presumably because it follows a major chord with a raised fifth and a major sixth (or I-III#5-VIb)).
To determine how true the conflation myth is, I created a spreadsheet to quantify to what extent the Beatles can be associated with the descending chord progression. I was hoping to find it a myth. Surely there are just as many songs that features blues/ascending/other chord sequences?
1. How many songs feature a descending bass line?
Out of the 185 released songs written by one of the Beatles, only 26 feature a descending chord sequence.
Of that 26, all but nine songs feature it as an essential part of the movement of the song. The other nine feature it in what I would call a ‘partial’ form. (It's a moot point, but ask yourself is it essential to the movement of the song? Polythene Pam uses a descending figure only to segue into the next song; in Every Little Thing it is used only briefly and does not ‘drive’ the song; in We Can Work It Out the descending bass merely signals a transition into the next chord.) So only 16 songs use it in its fullest sense. This was a surprise to me. I would point out, however, on a purely anecdotal level, that around 20 of these songs could be described as ‘well-known’ to the non-Beatles fan.
2. Are the songs which feature descending bass lines among the most famous or successful? (This would explain the prevalence of the meme.)
Only 10 of the 26 songs were singles, and one (I Am The Walrus) only in the US. The first Beatles song to feature it was written in 1964 (Every Little Thing). (To digress, there is one example of the descending figure being used on a cover version on their first album, A Taste of Honey, which, incidentally, uses it only in the verse.)
3. Which Beatle was most fond of this technique?
You’d think John (with the songs Lucy in The Sky, I Am The Walrus and Dear Prudence immediately coming to mind), but Paul is a little more fond of it: Out of 70 songs written chiefly by Paul, 14 use a descending bass line (20%), while in the 72 songs written chiefly by John, he uses it 8 times (11%). In fact, even Harrison was more drawn to it than John: he uses it three times out of his 22 songs (13%).
Starr is not used as the lead vocalist, nor did he share writing credits on even one song that features the descending bass line. In fact, he was suspicious of the whole thing, and reputedly called it “Satan’s monstrous hard-on”.1
4. Are the Beatles more fond of the descending scale in a major or minor key?
It’s a dead heat: 13 minor, 13 major.
Out of 13 minor: 7 McCartney, 4 Lennon, and 2 Harrison.
And out of 13 major: 7 McCartney, 5 Lennon and 1 Harrison.
It would perhaps be a mischievous misuse of statistics (not to mention the English language), but it is fair to say that while in the Beatles, Harrison preferred minors.
5. Do any songs feature both a descending bass line in the chorus and the verse?
No. Perhaps they sensed it had more power as a contrast to another harmonic progression.
1Ian MacDonald. (1997) Revolution in the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties.
Illustration A is a medley of the descending bass lines used in the Beatles’ songs.
Here is a full list of the songs I used to compile this page:
I started to make a list of songs that have been described as Beatlesque: ELO’s Mr Blue Sky, Take That's Shine, Oasis’ Don't Look Back in Anger, Mark Owen’s Child. Then I found out that Music For Kids Who Can't Read Good have done a list of Beatlesque songs. I’ve not listened to them all. Any suggestions welcome!
Life After the Beatles has a list of Beatlesque albums from the 1970s to the 2000s. I'm not convinced that they sound much like the Beatles, myself: they just seem to be good rock records.
Are the Rutles Beatlesque? (Oasis were certainly Rutlesque, so maybe.)
I wondered if there was any truth in the idea. I looked around on a few sites and forums and found nothing on this topic – in fact, I was told it was unquantifiable. I liked the idea of the challenge. So here is my attempt to quantify the Beatles’ use of such figures.
OVERVIEW
1. Explanation of the term.
2. Reasons why ‘Beatlesque’ label is used.
3. Breakdown of the stats on descending bass lines.
4. Appendices, including a downloadable medley of the relevant sections.
5. The full list of songs featuring the descending chord progression.
6. Beatlesque links.
What defines the phenomenon is a bass line which travels downwards on a major or minor scale while the chord to which it belongs remains mostly static. For a non-Beatles example in the major key, think Procol Harum’s A Whiter Shade of Pale; for one in the minor key, think Cream’s Tales of Brave Ulysses.
However, because they don’t seem to seem so typically Beatle-esque, I’m ruling out the sort of descending fourth chord sequences which are typical of doo-wop (such as the sequence I-vi-IV-V) below.
So let’s be clear: I have no problem with either the particular sorts of descending chord progressions or with tunes that borrow from the Beatles, but with people who lazily conflate the two, which would aid the Beatles’ detractors in seeming to suggest that the band were limited to such devices.
My feeling is that sometimes songs are also called Beatlesque because of the production values (any band using a brass section - from the Boo Radleys to the Polyphonic Spree), close vocal harmonies (The La’s There She Goes), even ascending chord progressions (the Mark Owen song Child was called Beatlesque, presumably because it follows a major chord with a raised fifth and a major sixth (or I-III#5-VIb)).
To determine how true the conflation myth is, I created a spreadsheet to quantify to what extent the Beatles can be associated with the descending chord progression. I was hoping to find it a myth. Surely there are just as many songs that features blues/ascending/other chord sequences?
1. How many songs feature a descending bass line?
Out of the 185 released songs written by one of the Beatles, only 26 feature a descending chord sequence.
Of that 26, all but nine songs feature it as an essential part of the movement of the song. The other nine feature it in what I would call a ‘partial’ form. (It's a moot point, but ask yourself is it essential to the movement of the song? Polythene Pam uses a descending figure only to segue into the next song; in Every Little Thing it is used only briefly and does not ‘drive’ the song; in We Can Work It Out the descending bass merely signals a transition into the next chord.) So only 16 songs use it in its fullest sense. This was a surprise to me. I would point out, however, on a purely anecdotal level, that around 20 of these songs could be described as ‘well-known’ to the non-Beatles fan.
2. Are the songs which feature descending bass lines among the most famous or successful? (This would explain the prevalence of the meme.)
Only 10 of the 26 songs were singles, and one (I Am The Walrus) only in the US. The first Beatles song to feature it was written in 1964 (Every Little Thing). (To digress, there is one example of the descending figure being used on a cover version on their first album, A Taste of Honey, which, incidentally, uses it only in the verse.)
3. Which Beatle was most fond of this technique?
You’d think John (with the songs Lucy in The Sky, I Am The Walrus and Dear Prudence immediately coming to mind), but Paul is a little more fond of it: Out of 70 songs written chiefly by Paul, 14 use a descending bass line (20%), while in the 72 songs written chiefly by John, he uses it 8 times (11%). In fact, even Harrison was more drawn to it than John: he uses it three times out of his 22 songs (13%).
Starr is not used as the lead vocalist, nor did he share writing credits on even one song that features the descending bass line. In fact, he was suspicious of the whole thing, and reputedly called it “Satan’s monstrous hard-on”.1
4. Are the Beatles more fond of the descending scale in a major or minor key?
It’s a dead heat: 13 minor, 13 major.
Out of 13 minor: 7 McCartney, 4 Lennon, and 2 Harrison.
And out of 13 major: 7 McCartney, 5 Lennon and 1 Harrison.
It would perhaps be a mischievous misuse of statistics (not to mention the English language), but it is fair to say that while in the Beatles, Harrison preferred minors.
5. Do any songs feature both a descending bass line in the chorus and the verse?
No. Perhaps they sensed it had more power as a contrast to another harmonic progression.
1Ian MacDonald. (1997) Revolution in the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties.
Illustration A is a medley of the descending bass lines used in the Beatles’ songs.
Here is a full list of the songs I used to compile this page:
Every Little Thing
I've Just Seen a Face
Yesterday
All You Need Is Love
I Am the Walrus
Strawberry Fields Forever
Penny Lane
Magical Mystery Tour
Michelle
You Won't See Me
And Your Bird Can Sing
Eleanor Rigby
For No One
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Cry Baby Cry
Dear Prudence
Mother Nature's Son
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Hey Bulldog
Her Majesty
Polythene Pam
Something
I Me Mine
Let It Be
Lady Madonna
We Can Work It Out
I started to make a list of songs that have been described as Beatlesque: ELO’s Mr Blue Sky, Take That's Shine, Oasis’ Don't Look Back in Anger, Mark Owen’s Child. Then I found out that Music For Kids Who Can't Read Good have done a list of Beatlesque songs. I’ve not listened to them all. Any suggestions welcome!
Life After the Beatles has a list of Beatlesque albums from the 1970s to the 2000s. I'm not convinced that they sound much like the Beatles, myself: they just seem to be good rock records.
Are the Rutles Beatlesque? (Oasis were certainly Rutlesque, so maybe.)
1 comment:
I'd like to invite any musicologists, whether budding or fully-fledged, to give me their opinions on whether this whole post is trenchant, irrelevant, silly, misguided or even completely inaccurate.
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