Many writers and arrangers feel that when their song is in risk of getting a bit tired, it can be given a fresh lease of life by shifting the whole song up a key, usually in between choruses, towards the beginning of a 'repeat-till-fade' section.
You may have heard this technique informally referred to as 'modulation,' but the correct ethnomusicological term is the truck driver's gear change. Here's a list of artists who used this technique.
3 comment(s):
Just reading the first paragraph has awakened the dreaded "Seasons in the Sun" earworm in my head. Excuse me while I bang my head on the wall...
David Bowie did "Penny Lane"?
OMD's "If You Leave" has eight TDGC's, and ends in the same key it starts in, visiting all the whole-tone keys along the way. This at least ties the world record.
Post a Comment