What really gets me, beyond the pretty singing and delicate arrangement, is the third chord. Of course, it is the IV chord. I've gone on at length on why the IV chord is often the most impactful, my theory being that it is between the I and V, where all the drama happens. What really makes it special in this song is how unexpected it is, due to the movement of the bass. The line starts on "do," then "ti", and when you'd expect it to keep moving stepwise to "la" it instead jumps right to "fa."
The root-position IV chord sounds so bold and warm and comes out of nowhere.
The jump from "ti" to "fa" is a tritone interval. This is the interval that most music students are taught to avoid when writing parts in theory and counterpoint classes. These classes typically focus on the choral writing of Bach, and the principles are consistent today. It may no longer be consider the Devil's Tone, but it is still a rare melodic interval. Despite several centuries of composers finding ways to break the "rules," the fact is that they still apply. Tritones don't move as smoothly as seconds, thirds, fourths and fifths. As a practical matter, there just aren't a lot of tritones available to the bassist in diatonic music. "ti" and "fa" are the only tones a tritone apart, so unless IV is going to vii, you won't hear it very often in Western pop music.
Another perfect example is "Take My Breath Away," the 80s ballad from Top Gun:
This song is great because it has both possibilities for contrast. In the verses the synth bass goes to the expected "la," then when they get to the chorus and the lyrics to land harder, it goes to the root position IV chord. (except the middle chorus, for some reason - maybe to build some anticipation for the final chorus) This makes the chorus dramatically prettier and creates contrast with the verse. It's brilliant writing - I could almost do a post on this song by itself.
Wonderful Tonight
That brings me to Eric Clapton's classic Wonderful Tonight. Most young guitar players learn this ballad pretty early on; it has an easy lead riff and the chords are simple enough for most beginners to play. Gigging musicians like myself have probably long since burned out on it, but it is always a reliable way to get people slow dancing.
Its simplicity belies some of the more nuanced brilliance of the song. For example:
- Beginning drummers will often play eighth notes on the hi-hat, but the groove is much busier than that. My friend and drummer Andy Robbins pointed out that, with the ghost notes, almost every 16th note is played in the groove.
- The organ, Rhodes, and rhythm guitar all play busy parts that fill out the song without sounding like they're stepping on each other. That's not easy!
- I love the slight hesitation before the band comes back in at the end of the bridge, as he says "...how much I love you." That kind of thing is less common in the age of computerized click tracks.
And, of course, the chord progression has the wonderful "ti" to "fa" tritone. Although the bassist softens it with an approach note, the chords and effect are almost the same (and in the same key) as the Mindy Gledhill song above.
All theory aside - while I admit that I have burned out on Wonderful Tonight - I appreciate the nuances and, most of all, its simplicity. There are no vocal acrobatics or guitar wizardry. Anyone can sing it. Not lofty metaphors; it reads like a poem some guy wrote on a napkin for his wife one night. Sometimes little things make you happy. In my case, it's an unexpected root-position IV chord.
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