minor to major??

[stanron]

One of my favourite 'Great American Songbook' songs is 'Every Time You Say Goodbye'. It contains the lines;

How strange the change from Major to Minor,
Every time you say goodbye.

With, if I remember correctly, a change to a minor chord on the word 'Minor'.

Nice.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by stanron

One of my favourite 'Great American Songbook' songs is 'Every Time You Say Goodbye'. It contains the lines;

How strange the change from Major to Minor,
Every time you say goodbye.

With, if I remember correctly, a change to a minor chord on the word 'Minor'.

Nice.

Yes, the famous minor iv chord. In fact the change to the minor chord comes on the word "major".
In key of C, "How strange the change" is C7 to F. Then the whole phrase "major to minor" is on Fm (sometimes with D bass).

In jazz, that chord is often substituted with a bVII7 chord. In C that would be Bb7, or Bb9 (i.e. Fm6 with Bb bass).

I always remember many years ago, watching a jazz performance of this alongside a friend who was a real theory nerd. At that moment in the tune, he muttered to me "how strange the change from minor to dominant 7th on the flat 7..."

[Mr. Jelly]

Wayfaring Stranger and Hesitation Blues come to mind.

[stanron]

Originally Posted by JonPR

In key of C, "How strange the change" is C7 to F. Then the whole phrase "major to minor" is on Fm (sometimes with D bass).

Is that from the original score? I guess I must have changed it then. It was a few years ago now, when I could actually still play. I remember going through lots of online versions and didn't really like any of them enough to use. So I came up with my own, worked up an arrangement I liked and worked on it for a while. I can't actually remember how I did it now but I found this in my files.

Everytime we say goodbye
Cole Porter

C     Am   C  Am      C  Am  Dm7   G7     
Every time we say goodbye, I die a little

C     Dm7  Eb C/E C      C7         Fm
Every time we say goodbye, I wonder why a little

C/E     F#dim  Dm7 G7 (Bb)   C7             F
Why the Gods   above me, who must be in the know

Fm              C           F#dim        Dm7 G7
Think so little of me, they allow you to go


C           Am    C       Am      C      Dm7     G7
When you're near, there's such an air of spring about it

C     Dm7 Eb C/E      C7              Fm  
I can hear a lark somewhere, begin to sing about it

C          F#dim     Dm7  G7        Bb          F           F#dim    Fm
There's no love song finer, but how strange the change from major to Minor

Em7   Ebm7   Dm7  G7 C   
Everytime we say goodbye

I'm not a fan of modern jazz. There is an almost inevitable tendancy to chanege a chord sequence to something more 'interesting'. I would have loved to find the original arrangement by the composer. I like the idea of using a minor chord on the word minor. I wondered if Cole Porter did too.

[6L6]

Whenever I cover "House of the Rising Sun" I always end it with an A Major chord rather than Am. Sounds cool and unexpected!

[Gitfiddlemann]

Originally Posted by 6L6

Whenever I cover "House of the Rising Sun" I always end it with an A Major chord rather than Am. Sounds cool and unexpected!

That's how Mason Williams' Classical Gas piece ends too. The opening riff is centered around Am, but ends in A for a nice contrast in mood.
Another well-known classical piece comes to mind. The oft played Villa-Lobos Prelude #1 is in Em. It then morphs into a more uptempo middle section in E major before transitioning back to its opening Em theme, which is mostly repeated up until the very last measures, when it suddenly re-introduces an E Major chord and tonality to end it. Quite dramatic, and very effective.
A bunch of excellent Beatles examples were given above. I think another famous one, George's "Something", very much works on that minor/major interplay.
Given enough time, we could probably fill a whole book full of tunes that fit the mold. The ear likes it. No matter the genre.

[Bluenose]

Originally Posted by 6L6

Whenever I cover "House of the Rising Sun" I always end it with an A Major chord rather than Am. Sounds cool and unexpected!

Just like the end of Classical Gas which is mostly in A minor ending with an A major chord. I understand from watching a Rick Beato video that it's a fairly common device called a Picardy Third. I don't know why it's called that but it is easy to research if interested.