Harmony SpaceAnalysing Songs
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Hey Jude

The Chorus of Hey Jude employs the materials of the three chord trick, perhaps the most common chord sequence in western tonal music. However, by subtley re-ordering and re-timing these common chords, the Beatles yet again pull a rabbit out of a hat and come up with an unusual twist on something very familiar.

Mixolydian cadence

  • The key structural idea is that instead of using the spatially central Bb as the tonal centre, the final of the chord sequence has been shifted to the Mixolydian position at F.
  • This then prompts use of the Mixolydian cadence Eb Bb F.
  • More specifically, the chorus starts and finishes on the mixolydian centre. To move from the start chord to the concluding mixolydian cadence,there is a modal movement down a tone.
Hey Jude small.jpg