Adding Chords, Omitting Chords

The other problem with "Satisfaction" (the one I notice most) is that the bassline is syncopated in the original, but not in most of the cover versions (eg Otis Redding's). That really changes the groove of the song.

"Pleasant Valley Sunday" - "Mothers complain about how hard life is/And the kids just don't understand"

Carole King demo: I - bVII - IV - I - bVII - IV - I
Monkees version: I - IV - bVII - IV - I - (bor)v - IV -bVII - IV - I

She also seems to be keeping a pedal point going the second time through the bVII - IV - I, which is really cool given that there's a pedal in the verses, too.

(A true Monkees recording, by the way, this song. All four of them are on it.)

Don't have unpublished notes handy, but I interviewed Tony Visconti once, and he said remastering Electric Warrior for 5.1 reminded him that people usually play Bang a Gong wrong!

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

Ah I like St Etienne’s cover of N.Young’s « only love can break your heart » but I must confess their choice of chords for the chorus is a bit annoying.

avalanches greatly simplify the chords of belle & sebastian's "i'm a cuckoo" in their remix

I am always noticing this and always keeping it to myself

More than twenty years ago I saw somebody play "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" onstage without ever going to the bVII chord and I still get a ache in my chest. I also agree about the St. Etienne.

The chords added to "City of New Orleans" completely make the song, but I'm highly susceptible to big harmonic swerves at the end of a chorus.

A friend of mine gets very very irritated by Scottish football (and rugby) fans substituting a major for a minor chord in the chorus of "Flower of Scotland". Terrible song though.

also agree about the saint etienne, smoothing over the interesting bass note stuff that neil throws in.

another example: dua lipa and elton re-working "rocket man" to fit the minor key house groove on "cold heart"

avalanches greatly simplify the chords of belle & sebastian's "i'm a cuckoo" in their remix

― is he disgruntled adrian? (voodoo chili), Tuesday, August 22, 2023 8:20 AM (yesterday)

...and interpolate a completely different melody altogether as the kids wanted to sing another song instead.

As much as I respect the deliberately odd choices Shudder To Think makes with their compositions, I'm driven a little crazy by the 2nd more-than-half of X-French Tee Shirt being just one chord the entire time, despite the fact that the lead comes in to support the vocal melody.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eLnhDzf6p8

I love that about "X-French Tee Shirt"! The little semitone hammer-on at the beginning of each repetition is a great musical joke, like "oh, you want some harmonic variety? Here's one E before we play F for 16 more bars".

Isn't that just the bass? Guitar teases nothing!

Pedantic correction: it's a seven-bar pattern, and they do the hammer-on twice, before the third and seventh bars.

If it's just the bass, that's even funnier!