revolver - every sound there is chap4

Chapter 4

Revolver as a pivotal art work:structure, harmony, and vocal

harmonizationStephen Valdez

In 1965 and 1966, rock music was undergoing significant changes, turning awayfrom the typical teen-oriented love song to a more refined commentary of thetime. Many popular musicians were at the forefront of this change: Bob Dylan,the Byrds, and the Grateful Dead were all leaders in their styles. Practically every-one looked to the Beatles as leaders of this trend, and, whether they wanted to beor not, they were leaders. The music of the Beatles had been growing and chang-ing like a living entity since their first release in 1962. The growth was gradual:non-rock instruments were introduced into rock music, song structures graduallychanged the shape of popular song, and lyrics grew in sophistication to becomedescriptive poems set to music.

Revolver is the pivotal album of the Beatles career, and, consequently, it is thepivotal album, or one of them, in the history of rock music. Although they playedtheir last concert at the end of August 1966, the recording sessions for Revolver,beginning in April 1966, demonstrate that the Beatles were concerned withcreating studio art works rather than the dance-oriented pop songs that couldreadily be reproduced live. Many of the sounds on Revolver could not havebeen reproduced in their concerts, yet in many ways the Beatles retained a meas-ure of their early musical style in the songs that appear on the album. Revolverevenly balances conservative, traditional rock musical practice with progressive,experimental techniques. All musical elements sound, structure, time, melody,and harmony are treated both traditionally and experimentally at some point onthe album, and this is what makes Revolver such a fascinating work of art andwhy the album has stood so well for almost forty years. We immediately recog-nize the overall sound of the Beatles, the unique tone colors of their voices, andthe artistic quality of their work. While every musical element is interesting towork with, in this study I will concentrate on the elements of structure and har-mony in order to present an understanding of some of the parts that make up thewhole.

ch004.qxd 13/3/02 9:19 am Page 89

Structure

All of the songs on Revolver are either strophic song forms, with alternating vers-es and choruses, or standard (AABA) song forms, consisting of a verse (A) andcontrasting bridge (B). The strophic form is common to folk music styles, includ-ing the blues that is the primary basis of rock music. Of course, standard songform, a more contrived song structure common in American popular music (par-ticularly ballads), also influenced the development of rock. The legacy of standardsong form especially the compositions of popular songwriters like GeorgeGershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, among others generally dictates a bal-anced structure in which the length of the A section is equal to the length of theB section. This frequently resulted, during the golden age of American popularsong (roughly 1925 through 1950), in a song structure in which each section con-sisted of eight measures, yielding a thirty-two-measure form.1

Examples of strophic song form on Revolver are Eleanor Rigby, Love YouTo, Yellow Submarine, Good Day Sunshine, For No One, Got To Get YouInto My Life and Tomorrow Never Knows. Of these, the songs Love You To,Yellow Submarine and Good Day Sunshine alternate verses with a recurringchorus, although the last song begins with the chorus while the first two bothbegin with the verse; Tomorrow Never Knows consists of a series of verses withno recurring choruses. These three songs represent the traditional aspect ofstrophic form on the album.

The other three strophic songs incorporate aspects of experimentation. EleanorRigby begins with an introduction that recurs as an interlude between the secondchorus and the third verse, and then appears again as a countermelody against thefinal chorus. McCartneys For No One presents the strophic song form in anoth-er experimental way. Upon the return of the verse after the first chorus, symphon-ic hornist Alan Civil performs a solo, which later turns out to be a countermelodyto the final verse. The chorus is repeated followed by two statements of the verseand a final presentation of the chorus ends the song. The harmony at the end of thechorus is constructed as a turnaround, that is, it harmonically sets up a return ofthe verse progression. However, with the song ending on the turnaround, we arepresented with a feeling of unfinished business not only harmonically but struc-turally as well. The unfinished character of the harmony and the structure leavesthe listener expecting more. Harmonically, the 4-3 suspension F-sharp chorddemands a resolution to the tonic chord, but the harmony is left unresolved. Theopen-ended feeling of the bridge suggests a return of the verse, which harmoni-cally closes on the tonic, but the song denies us this closure as well. These musi-cal representations of non-resolution heighten the understanding of McCartneyslyrics: the music tells us that there are unresolved matters in the relationship, atleast in the narrators point of view.

Got To Get You Into My Life presents a strophic structure and recurringrefrain cleverly constructed so as to blur the distinction between strophic and

90 EVERY SOUND THERE IS

ch004.qxd 13/3/02 9:19 am Page 90

standard forms. Sixteen measures long, the verse consists of two eight-measureperiods. The first period alternates the tonic G chord with the subtonic F chord;to the ear, this harmony is clearly unfinished, ending as it does on the weaksubtonic, so it cannot be considered a complete verse. The second period beginson the mediant B minor chord supported by a bass line that descends chromati-cally from B to A-flat. This phrase is repeated, followed by a third phrase that har-monically closes the verse with a subdominant gesture (C, E minor7, and Aminor7) to the dominant (D7) to tonic (G) cadence. At this point the listener hasa feeling of closure; the verse is complete.

The verse is repeated but this time leads to the refrain. Six measures long, therefrain consists of the title phrase sung as a hook for two measures followed byan instrumental fill played by the horn and rhythm sections. The brevity of therefrain creates a striking imbalance against the sixteen-measure verse. Too shortto be considered a chorus, it is also too short to be considered a bridge. Yet theway in which McCartney uses the refrain implies the AABA structure of standardsong form: verse one, verse two, refrain, verse 3, refrain, refrain, coda. This struc-ture of the song, in conjunction with the harmonic progression, shows a strophicform, but the clever application of the refrain causes one to wonder whether it isa standard song form the distinction is effectively blurred.

The other seven songs on the album are examples of standard song form. Thesongs that exhibit conservative or traditional traits of standard song form are Here,There, and Everywhere, She Said She Said, And Your Bird Can Sing and IWant To Tell You. However, even in these songs we encounter various degrees ofimbalance: She Said She Said features ten-measure verses against an eleven-measure bridge, I Want To Tell You has eleven-measure verses countered by aneight-measure bridge, and Here, There, and Everywhere presents eight-measureverses with a four-measure bridge. Only And Your Bird Can Sing follows the tra-ditional standard song structure of thirty-two measures, with verse and bridge sec-tions balanced at eight measures each. This asymmetry of sections is of course notnew to the Beatles or to popular music; there are many previous examples, both bythe Beatles and their predecessors, in which the bridge is shorter or longer than theverse. My point is that these songs, imbalanced as they are, still represent the moretraditional aspects of standard song form on Revolver. Other songs on the album aremore radically imbalanced between sections, for instance Doctor Robert in whicheighteen-measure verses are countered by a ten-measure bridge.

The most progressive examples of song form on Revolver occur in the songsTaxman and Im Only Sleeping. Hybrids of both strophic and standard forms,these songs have the clearly defined verses and choruses of the strophic, yet theyalso have the bridge sections characteristic of standard form. Both songs are rep-resented in the form:

[verse/chorus] [verse/chorus] bridge [verse/chorus]A A B A

REVOLVER AS A PIVOTAL ART WORK 91

ch004.qxd 13/3/02 9:19 am Page 91

so that, if the verse and chorus are considered together as a unit, the form resem-bles the AABA structure of standard song form. Yet, because of the clear delin-eation between the verse and the chorus, the songs depart from the traditionalstandard song form.

Hybrid strophic/standard song forms were not the norm in the mid-1960s,although the Beatles and others had certainly experimented with them earlier.Already in their debut album Please Please Me (1963), the song I Saw HerStanding There is a standard song form in which the verse section presents arecurring chorus-like segment that contains the hook of the song and soundsessentially like a chorus, though it is not a chorus. After Revolver, hybrid stroph-ic/standard song forms appear more frequently in the Beatles corpus, for exam-ple With a Little Help From My Friends on Sgt Pepper (1967). By the 1970s,most rock groups had adopted this structure, and today practically every rock andpop song on commercial radio and recordings take this form.

Many songs in standard form repeat both the bridge and the final verse, result-ing in an overall form of AABABA. This brief repetition is present in most of thestandard songs on Revolver. Again the Beatles take some liberties with this basicformat: Harrison, in Taxman, presents the bridge only once in the song butrepeats the verse and chorus segments twice after the bridge, resulting in an over-all form of AABAA. In Doctor Robert, Lennon repeats the bridge and goesimmediately into the coda of the song, creating an overall form of AABAB(coda). However, since the coda is derived from the guitar riff and lyrics of thefirst part of the verse, it sounds as if the form of the song follows the conventionalAABABA structure; not until the coda begins to fade do we realize that the songform proper ended with the bridge.

The introductions and/or codas of some songs also contribute to the successfulpresentation of structure. Most of the songs on Revolver feature a brief two- orfour-measure introduction, for example Taxman and Doctor Robert, in whichthe basic accompanimental riff sets the stage for the rest of the song. Many songshave a coda derived from either verse or chorus material. Some songs, like ForNo One, have neither introductions nor codas. Others feature an innovative useof introductory material, such as Eleanor Rigbys use of its introduction as bothinterlude and countermelody. One such interesting introduction appears inHarrisons song Love You To.

The unique Love You To represents Harrisons first real excursion into NorthIndian music. Having been introduced to the sound of the sitar by Byrd guitaristDavid Crosby, Harrison had first used the instrument in the accompaniment ofNorwegian Wood on Rubber Soul (1965). However, the use of the sitar onNorwegian Wood was more in the way of a western instrument, in that it wasused to double Lennons vocal melody. With Love You To Harrison makes awhole-hearted attempt to reproduce the Indian style of music which he had beenstudying since June 1966 with Ravi Shankar (Everett, 1999, p. 40). He stated that[Love You To] was the first song where I consciously tried to use the sitar and


ch004.qxd 13/3/02 9:19 am Page 92

tabla on the basic track (Harrison, 1980, p. 102). This is the only song onRevolver in which none of the other three Beatles takes part, either as vocalists orinstrumentalists.

Based on Indian practice, the introduction of Love You Tobegins with two upwardstrokes of the plectrum on the svaramandal, from high to low pitches. This is followedby a brief, free-metered section, called alap, in which the sitar outlines the raga, ormode, of the piece. This improvised melody gradually rises and falls in pitch andincreases the rhythmic intensity before ending on the tonic note, or sa in the Indiansystem. At this point the tabla enters to establish the tala, or rhythm, while a tambouraestablishes the key by droning the sa and pa, the tonic and dominant pitches, of theraga. This introduction effectively sets up the Indian mood of the song.

The creativity that the Beatles employ in regard to song structure demonstratesthe pivotal nature of these songs, and thus the pivotal nature of Revolver as awhole. Most of the Beatles earlier songs remained true to traditional strophic andstandard forms. The structural experimentation on Revolver led to further exper-imentation on a larger scale, including the conceptual structures of Sgt PeppersLonely Hearts Club Band and the second side of Abbey Road. Occurring con-temporaneously with works by Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, Mick Jagger and KeithRichards, and Brian Wilson, the Beatles conceptions of structure changed forev-er from the simple strophic and standard pop formats to more original structuresdefined by the design of the lyrics.

Harmony

Two aspects of harmony on Revolver should be considered: the overall chord pro-gressions of the songs and the manner in which the lead and supporting vocals areharmonized above the chord progressions. As with structural concerns, the songsof Revolver provide examples of traditional and experimental harmony. Althoughthe chord progressions are not thoroughly traditional, often employing seventhchords in non-dominant functions, many progressions function traditionally rela-tive to the blues foundation of rock. This discussion explores the Beatles approachto harmony, illustrating both traditional and experimental aspects of harmony.

Many songs on Revolver are written in basic diatonic harmony. Their classicchildrens song, Yellow Submarine, is a well-known example of the Beatlesmore traditional harmonic writing. Everything about the song presents an idea ofsimplicity: the words are immediately intelligible, the rhythms easy to sing, andthe melody, with its small range, easy to remember. Perhaps the most traditionalharmonic progression on the album, the diatonic progression of the verse in Gmajor also depicts simplicity:

I V7 IV I vi ii VG D C G E minor A minor D7


ch004.qxd 13/3/02 9:19 am Page 93

The opening phrase of the verse presents a traditional harmonic departure fromtonic to dominant (G to D7) immediately followed by a soft plagal return fromsubdominant to tonic (C to G) two different traditional harmonic motions meld-ed together in an opening gesture. The remaining half of the verse progressionflows easily to the half cadence, the dominant D7 approached by the relativeminor of the key (E minor) and the minor supertonic (A minor) a very tradi-tional progression leading to the chorus.

In Harrisons song I Want To Tell You, the harmonic progression of the verseis also traditional, a three-chord structure in A major:

I V7/V V7 IA B7 E7 A

However, as basic as the chord progression is in this song, the application of dis-sonances in the accompaniment brings out an experimental character of this song.The presence of the tritone F-natural/B in the piano part on the E7 chord inten-tionally upsets the traditional aspect of the harmony:

Figure 4.1 I Want To Tell You, verse 1, m. 6, accompaniment

The harmonic progression of the bridge is interesting in that the chord progres-sion is the result of a chromatically descending inner voice. The bridge progres-sion remains essentially in A major, although the emphasis on B (major, minor,and diminished chords) presents a briefly contrasting harmony, a common featureof the bridge:

Figure 4.2 I Want To Tell You, bridge, mm. 14, harmony

While the fundamental harmony of I Want To Tell You is traditional, the


ch004.qxd 13/3/02 9:19 am Page 94

chromatic motion of the inner lines, particularly in the bridge, moves the songcloser to an experimental application of harmony.

Another song by Harrison, the album opener Taxman, presents a relativelytraditional approach to harmony as well. The song is based on a repetitive guitarriff on a D7 chord; the harmony of the verse and refrain appears to be a simpleprogression in the D Mixolydian mode; however, the lowered third scale degree(F natural), used as the seventh of the subdominant G7 chord, acts as a blue crossrelation with the F-sharp of the key:

I7 VII IV7 I7D7 C G7 D7

The harmony of the bridge shifts between the tonic D7 and the subtonic C7, con-tributing to the modal, rather than tonal, harmonic tendencies of Taxman.

Harmonies and melodies on Revolver frequently exploit modal tendencies.Modality can be said to have existed in rock music since its inception because ofthe strong influence of the blues on the music. Blues harmony and melody aremodal rather than tonal through the use of the blue, or slightly lowered, third andseventh scale degrees. Since the earliest rock n roll developed from the blues,and the Beatles were influenced by those early forms, it stands to reason that bluesmodality is present in their compositions. In addition, the folk music of GreatBritain and the US with which the Beatles were also familiar (and by which theywere influenced) is often modal as well. And, of course, their experimentationwith Indian music led them to explore eastern modalities. The Beatles had earli-er used non-blues modality, for example in Lennons Norwegian Wood; in thissong the verse is written in E Mixolydian while the bridge is written in E Dorian.They experimented with non-blues modality even further on Revolver.

Tomorrow Never Knows is another such modal piece, not quite a western modebut not quite an eastern mode either. The foundation of the song is a bass guitar riffthat emphasizes a pedal C with a brief, syncopated B-flat on the upbeat of beat three:

Figure 4.3 Tomorrow Never Knows, introduction, m. 3, bass riff

The bass riff is strongly supported by the drum rhythm. In addition to the C riff,the tamboura, the first instrument heard on the track, drones the pitch C through-out the piece and the organ fills in block chords on C7 and B-flat. TomorrowNever Knows is based on the C mixolydian mode (a C major scale with a B-flatrather than a B natural) with the solo melody, sung by Lennon, outlining a C7chord (C-E-G-B-flat). Oddly, this same tonic to subtonic motion when used in


ch004.qxd 13/3/02 9:19 am Page 95

Taxman is perceived as a western modality because of the vocal harmonizationthat works with the chord progression. The lack of other pitches from the modein Tomorrow Never Knows emphasizes the mysterious quality of the sound,while the stark, almost chant-like melody is a perfect vehicle for the philosophi-cally serious content of the lyrics.

Eleanor Rigby also experiments with mode, though more of an English folk-like approach to modality than an eastern approach. The harmony of the songproper is essentially in E minor following the C major introduction; the chorus,while still based on an E minor mode, features a chromatically descending innerpart played by the first viola, resulting in the chromatic harmony E minor-Eminor7-C6-E minor. The melody of the verse fluctuates between E Dorian (withthe use of C-sharp) and E aeolian (with a C natural).2

In Harrisons song Love You To, the modal basis of the raga is the Indian kafithat in C, which corresponds to the western C Dorian mode. Dorian melodies andharmonies frequently occur in rock music, due in part to the ease in which theDorian mode fits the hand and the guitar fretboard. Furthermore, the mode closelyapproximates the blues mode, with lowered third and lowered seventh scaledegrees, but a natural sixth degree. At any rate, the harmonic and melodic structureof Love You To is clearly based on Indian modal practice: the tamboura drones saand pa (tonic and dominant notes of the mode), the tabla sets forth a sixteen-beattala (rhythm), the introductory improvisation in the alap follows Indian melodicpractice, and as Harrison stated, he was trying to express himself in Hindu terms.This is a new turn for the Beatles and for rock music in general; the culmination ofHindu-based rock appears in the so-called raga rock of the late 1960s.Practitioners of raga rock, besides the Beatles, include the Byrds, the RollingStones, the Buffalo Springfield, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and the Yardbirds.3

In McCartneys Good Day Sunshine we have a song that clearly straddles theBeatles old and new styles. The harmony, which on a local level makes tonalsense, is ambiguous when seen in the light of the actual key in which the song waswritten. The chorus clearly tonicizes B major:

I V IVB F-sharp E

However, the verse is written in A major and follows the progression A-F-sharp7-B7-E7, incorporating a secondary dominant of the secondary dominant as a sub-dominant substitution:

I V7/V7/V7 V7/V V7A F-sharp7 B7 E7

This results in a progression that is tonally ambiguous: it is unclear if the harmo-ny is in A major or B major.


ch004.qxd 13/3/02 9:19 am Page 96

Doctor Robert features another variety of ambiguous harmony. On the surface,the song seems to be traditional, but hidden eccentricities demonstrate how experi-mental the Beatles were becoming. The harmony of Doctor Robert is in A majorand stresses the tonic with a flattened seventh from the country-like introductionthrough the first nine measures of the verse. The last half of the verse tonicizes thesupertonic B with the use of major submediant (F-sharp7) as a secondary dominant.The further stress on B major in the bridge, which shifts from B major to E majorover a pedal B in the bass and guitar parts, also seems to point to a tonic on B major.However, suddenly the harmony shifts to an A7 chord as the introductory riff reap-pears to bring about a return to the verse. The harmonic ambiguity of DoctorRobert has been suggested to be an aural depiction of mind expansion; thesong is notoriously known as one of Lennons drug songs with various explanationsfor its origins given. As Walter Everett points out, such irregular tonal contrastswill be exercised more often in the psychedelic songs of 1967 (Everett, 1999,p. 46).

One of the most experimental endeavors on Revolver is Lennons Im OnlySleeping. The recording quality evokes the hazy, sleep-like quality associatedwith hallucinogens, a fitting atmospheric effect for one of Lennons first drugsongs. Shifting between E-flat minor and G-flat major, the harmony gives thesong a dark tone color that fits the dream-oriented ambiance. An interestingexperimental touch is presented with a guitar solo that is recorded backwards,also contributing to the dream-like effect of the song.

On the hook phrase Im only sleeping the three voices (Lennon,McCartney, and Harrison) harmonize sleeping on a tonic triad. The voicing ofthe vocal harmony B-flat, E-flat, and G-flat, lowest to highest pitch adds to themodal sonority and is reminiscent of the English Renaissance technique of vocalpolyphony known as faburden.4 This harmony, however, is supported very softlyby the bass guitar on a C-flat, turning the actual chord into a C-flat major 7 chord,the subdominant of the relative G-flat, thereby anticipating the tonic harmony afull measure before the accompanying instruments reach the chord:

Figure 4.4 Im Only Sleeping, refrain, m. 5

The comparatively low volume of the bass tone against the force of the vocal har-mony creates a harmonic ambiguity that is nearly negated in favor of the minortonic triad.


ch004.qxd 13/3/02 9:19 am Page 97

The songs on Revolver present the listener with a variety of chord progressions.Like the song structures on the album, the chord progressions explore a spectrumfrom traditional, rock-based harmonies to experimental chord structures that in1966 were generally atypical in rock. The Beatles experiments with harmony onRevolver are not without precedence; similar experimental harmonies are foundin songs from the album and single releases leading up to Revolver. These chordprogressions clearly influenced the harmonic language of many songs that fol-lowed. However, on Revolver there is an aesthetic balance between traditional andprogressive chord progressions that emphasizes the pivotal quality of the album.

Vocal harmonization

One of the most individual characteristics of the Beatles recordings was the man-ner in which they harmonized their melody lines. Their vocal harmonizations,series of parallel dyads and triads, work with and against the basic harmonicstructure supplied by the accompanying instruments. The result is an interestingfabric of consonant chord harmonies mixed with dissonant passing and neighborharmonies over triadic and seventh-chord accompaniments.

The Beatles developed their style of harmonized singing from a number ofinfluences. The full three-part harmonization of such Beatles songs as Here,There, and Everywhere, for example, is influenced by the harmonizing styles ofSoul and Motown vocal groups such as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles (theBeatles had covered the Miracles Youve Really Got A Hold On Me on With theBeatles) and especially the girl groups like the Shirelles (Baby Its You) and theMarvelettes (Please Mr Postman). Another source of the Beatles vocal harmo-nization was the dual-harmony style of the Everly Brothers (Wake Up, LittleSusie and All I Have To Do Is Dream), particularly influential on the singingstyles of Lennon and McCartney, and the solo call/harmonized response style ofBuddy Holly and the Crickets (Oh Boy), sometimes reversed by the Beatles tobe a harmonized call and solo response.

From their earliest singles to their final albums, the Beatles style of vocal har-monizing was unique for example, the parallel open fifths that predominate inLove Me Do or the parallel chord voicings that open Eleanor Rigby and it isthis trait that so strongly influenced contemporary and later performers. In theinstances of songs featuring full three-part harmony, Lennon, McCartney, andHarrison tend to sing in block chords, typically root position chords but alsochord voicings as dictated by voice leading. This style of vocal harmonization isderived mostly from the cover songs that the Beatles recorded, but, in part, theirharmonizations are derived from the chords played on their accompanyinginstruments. Because they principally used guitars to accompany themselves, theresulting harmonies the Beatles sing are often based on the tunings of thoseinstruments fourths, fifths, and thirds. The dual harmonizations of Lennon and


ch004.qxd 13/3/02 9:19 am Page 98

McCartney (sometimes Lennon or McCartney and Harrison) in imitation of theEverly Brothers are also often based on the tunings of their guitars as well as theparallel thirds and sixths common in the Everlys songs.

From their earliest recordings, the Beatles use of vocal harmony often definedthe structure of their songs. The Beatles use vocal harmonization in three impor-tant structural ways: (1) to reinforce or emphasize the hook or to emphasize theclimactic point of a song, (2) to contrast or differentiate the various song sections(such as the verse from the chorus or the verse from the bridge), and (3) to under-score the importance of certain lyrics or help describe the lyrics and relate the nar-rative. Sometimes vocal harmony is used throughout a song in conjunction withchanges in vocalizing techniques, such as changing from harmonized words toharmonized oohs and aahs. A fourth use of vocal harmonization could be saidto exist in a very few instances throughout the Beatles career in which harmo-nization is completely absent in favor of a solo melody supported by instruments:Harrisons Dont Bother Me, McCartneys Yesterday, and Lennons Any TimeAt All are notable examples of Beatles songs that do not use harmonized vocals.As with other musical elements on Revolver, the use of vocal harmonies is some-times traditional and sometimes experimental.

The more traditionally harmonized songs are Eleanor Rigby, Here, There,and Everywhere, Yellow Submarine, She Said She Said, Good DaySunshine, and I Want To Tell You. In a more experimental vein are Taxman,Im Only Sleeping, Love You To, And Your Bird Can Sing, and DoctorRobert. The songs For No One, Got To Get You Into My Life, and TomorrowNever Knows do not use harmony vocals.

Just as its standard song form is traditional, the vocal harmony of McCartneysHere, There, and Everywhere is likewise traditional. The harmonic progressionis an ascending diatonic harmony in the verse:

I ii iii IVG A minor B minor C

and an even more traditional G minor progression in the bridge:

V7/III III i iv V7F7 B-flat G minor C minor D7

The vocal harmony is a three-part harmonization overdubbed onto McCartneyslead vocal in the verses; the bridge is sung as a solo melody with instrumentalaccompaniment. The use of harmonization in the verse contrasted with the lackof vocal harmony in the bridge defines the structure of the song.

The vocal harmony in the verses consists of simple root position triads that fol-low the basic diatonic harmony. The only change in this chord structure occurswith a ii/vi chord (F-sharp minor) in measures 5 and 6 and the vi chord (E minor)


ch004.qxd 13/3/02 9:19 am Page 99

of measure 7 where, because of voice-leading, the chord structure becomesinverted:

Figure 4.5 Here, There, and Everywhere, verse 1, mm. 38, vocalharmony

An interesting touch to the vocal harmony occurs in measures 5 and 6 of the finalverse where a bit of counterpoint has been added to the main melody. A counter-melody sung by Lennon is overdubbed onto McCartneys melody and the accom-panying triadic vocal harmonization. The oblique motion of Lennons descendingline creates passing consonances and dissonances (unison, major second, majorthird, perfect fourth) with McCartneys static melody:

Figure 4.6 Here, There, and Everywhere, final verse, m. 5, lead andharmony vocal

In all, the harmony vocals in Here, There, and Everywhere represent a look backto where the Beatles had been, reminiscent especially of the harmonization usedin the Beatles first number one hit single, Please Please Me, in 1963.

The vocal harmony in Eleanor Rigby can also be considered traditional in thatthe harmonized vocals differentiate the introduction from the verse/chorus unit.The three-part harmonized introduction recurs as an interlude after the secondchorus and the top-line melody of the introduction is presented as a harmonizedcounterpoint to the final chorus. This harmony from lowest to highest, Harrison,Lennon, McCartney begins on a second inversion of a C major triad andascends and descends diatonically in parallel motion until the final syllable of theword lonely. At this point, Harrison drops out of the harmony leaving a duet inthirds between Lennon and McCartney:

Figure 4.7 Eleanor Rigby, introduction, mm. 13, lead and harmonyvocals


ch004.qxd 13/3/02 9:19 am Page 100

The descending harmonized melody leads into the stark solo melody of the verseand contributes dramatically to the songs lyrical themes of loneliness and alien-ation.

The use of harmonized vocals on the introduction/interlude not only sets thissection apart from the verse and chorus, the harmonization also emphasizes theunderlying theme of McCartneys lyrics. The song is not just about a lonely oldwoman and her lonely pastor; rather, it is about all the lonely people in the world.George Martins stark, Bernard Herrmann-inspired string accompaniment and theharmonic shift from C major to E minor in the introduction emphasizes the angstthat comes with loneliness. As Tim Riley states, the opening ahs are not sooth-ing, theyre aching (Riley, 1988, p. 184). This theme is further emphasized in thefinal chorus in which the upper line of the introduction (McCartneys part) isoverdubbed on top of McCartneys solo melody:

Figure 4.8 Eleanor Rigby, final chorus, mm. 18

Vocal harmonization is used in She Said She Said to help relate the narrative ofthe song. Solo melody indicates the narrator (She said) while harmonizedvocals are used to indicate that characters statements (I know what its like ... ).The harmony, sung by Harrison beneath Lennons melody, is performed primari-ly in parallel thirds. The only non-tertian vocal harmony in the song occurs inmeasure 5 of the verses, when Harrison sings a perfect fourth below Lennon onthe words be sad (verse 1), Im mad (verse 2) and to leave (verses 3 and 4).Non-tertian intervals also appear in measures 78 and 1011 of the bridge on theopening syllable (perfect fifth) and the final syllable (perfect fourth) of the phraseEverythings alright:


ch004.qxd 13/3/02 9:19 am Page 101

Figure 4.9 She Said She Said, bridge, mm. 78

The coda of the song fades with a unison echo performance between Lennon andHarrison, almost, but not quite, suggesting a resolution to the songs drama of bat-tling personas.

The use of vocal harmony in Good Day Sunshine is also traditional: it is usedin the chorus, which sets the chorus apart from the solo vocal line of the verse,and since the chorus is also the hook of the song, the vocal harmony also empha-sizes the hook:

Figure 4.10 Good Day Sunshine, chorus, mm. 36

The emphasis of the hook by means of vocal harmonization in Good DaySunshine is especially brought out in the pseudocounterpoint of the coda as thesong fades out.

Unlike the harmonic ambiguity of the song, the vocal harmony in DoctorRobert appears to be more traditional in style. The first verse is sung by Lennonas a solo melody with accompaniment. From the start of the second verse through the rest of the song, McCartney harmonizes Lennons melody. For thefirst part of the verse (measures 17), McCartney sings diatonically a third aboveLennon over the tonic seventh chord. With the ambiguous tonal shift toward thesupertonic in the last half of the verse (measures 1018), the interval of the vocalharmony widens to emphasize perfect fourths and fifths on sustained notes:

Figure 4.11 Doctor Robert, verse 2, mm. 1013

The use of perfect intervals at this point heightens the tension of the song afterthe more smoothly presented parallel thirds.

The bridge, which harmonically settles on B major, also features total harmo-nization between the vocal parts. Here, Lennon and McCartney sing ascendingand descending contrapuntal lines against sustained chords in the harmonium andpedal notes (B) in the bass guitar and lead guitar. On the first phrase, the vocalharmony begins on a third and widens to a tenth at the end of the phrase:


ch004.qxd 13/3/02 9:19 am Page 102

Figure 4.12 Doctor Robert, bridge, mm. 14

The second phrase repeats this figure but concludes on a third, leading back to arepetition of the opening guitar riff on the tonic A7 and a return of the verse har-monized in thirds. Although vocal harmony is used throughout Doctor Robertfrom the second verse on, the form of the song is defined by the way in which theBeatles utilize vocal harmony: homorhythmically with flowing parallel thirds inthe first part of the verse, homorhythmically with increased tension introducedthrough the use of perfect fourths and fifths in the second part of the verse, andcontrapuntally against the sustained chords of the accompaniment in the bridge.

In Lennons song And Your Bird Can Sing, vocal harmonization is used pri-marily to emphasize the hook of the song. The title is first harmonized in meas-ure 3 of the first verse as McCartney sings a perfect fourth above Lennons leadmelody for two beats before converging on parallel thirds:

Figure 4.13 And Your Bird Can Sing, verse 1, mm. 34

The song suddenly reverts to a solo melody for the next phrase on the supertonic(F-sharp minor), and McCartney returns with a major third above on the last syl-lable of the verse, emphasizing the statement you dont get me.

The sporadic use of harmony vocal on the hook is not as traditional as with ear-lier songs, which brings out an experimental aspect of Revolver. Yet the lack ofharmonized vocals in the bridge, contrasting with the slight harmonization of theverse, is a more traditional and structural use of vocals. This traditional feeling isfurther accentuated with the three-part harmonization of the last verse, on thephrase You tell me that youve heard every sound there is ... The phrase is har-monized by McCartney and Harrison, respectively an octave and a sixth higherthan Lennon. The harmony lines gradually descend diatonically until the threesingers form root position triads:

Figure 4.14 And Your Bird Can Sing, verse 4, mm. 14


ch004.qxd 13/3/02 9:19 am Page 103

With this traditional use of vocal harmony, we have perhaps heard every soundthere is, though considering the sparse harmonization of the earlier verses,Lennon implies that we have not heard everything the Beatles have to say, a per-fect statement for the blending of traditional and experimental characteristics thatpermeate Revolver.

More experimental in application of vocal harmony is the opener of the album,Harrisons Taxman. Used sparingly at the outset of the song, vocal harmonygradually increases as the song progresses. The first two verses are sung solo tothe accompaniment of the D7 riff; in the refrains the hook of the song, yeah, Imthe Taxman, is harmonized by McCartney a third above Harrisons lead vocal,with additional dissonant seconds, ending on a perfect fourth:

Figure 4.15 Taxman, refrain, mm. 24

Vocal harmony is used more extensively in the bridge. In this section, performedas call and response, Lennon and McCartney sing a harmonized call that statesthe situation (If you drive a car) which is followed by Harrisons response overtheir sustained harmony, which indicates the resulting action (Ill tax the street)from the Taxman. Presented as two sets of antecedent and consequent phrasesbased on the D7 and C7 chords, both phrases begin with a perfect fourth that con-verges to a major third. The antecedent phrase sustains a major third aboveHarrisons descending melody while the consequent phrase sustains a perfectfourth above Harrisons descending line, ending with a root position tonic triad onthe word Taxman:

Figure 4.16 Taxman, bridge, mm. 411


ch004.qxd 13/3/02 9:19 am Page 104

The use of vocal harmony is increased in the subsequent verses: as call andresponse in perfect fifths (Ah ah, Mr Wilson) in verse three and as call andresponse on a perfect fifth (Taxman) in verse four. This last harmonization infifths is also used in the coda.

An experimental use of vocal harmony also characterizes both the verse andthe refrain of Lennons Im Only Sleeping. In the verse, the vocal harmonyoccurs as call and response in which McCartney and Harrison sing in descendingparallel thirds, reinforcing the idea of the text, but melodically in opposition toLennons ascending phrase:

Figure 4.17 Im Only Sleeping, verse 1, mm. 89

But, in the refrain, which contains the songs hook, Harrison and McCartneysing wordless vocalizations in thirds and fourths against Lennons rising andfalling, sing-songlike melody. The harmony vocals end in fourths on a harmoniccross-relation to Lennons melody, creating an uncomfortable dissonance thatcontributes to the dream-like quality:

Figure 4.18 Im Only Sleeping, refrain, mm. 34

On the hook phrase Im only sleeping the three voices harmonize sleepingon a tonic triad, as discussed above.

The truncated bridge is double-tracked by Lennon when he sings the melodyin unison until he reaches the phrase going by my window. At this point, he har-monizes his melody in seconds that suddenly open to an augmented fifth beforesettling on a perfect fifth and finally descending in parallel thirds that lead to thesolo line taking my time:

Figure 4.19 Im Only Sleeping, bridge (Lennon double-tracked)


ch004.qxd 13/3/02 9:20 am Page 105

This brief dissonance is just enough to pique the narrators attention, to perhapsmake John look and see what of interest is going on elsewhere in the world. Thesudden reversion to the solo vocal, however, indicates the singers original torpor he will check on how the world is functioning in his own good time.

The use of vocal harmony in Love You To is not like that of other songs; har-mony is not used to differentiate the verse from the chorus or to emphasize ahook, nor is it used to help relate the narrative. Instead, the harmony vocal func-tions descriptively and atmospherically, to help evoke the sense of Indian musicalpractice. Vocal harmony is used briefly at the end of each verse before moving tothe chorus. The Beatles double-track Harrisons voice throughout the song, apractice that was becoming more common with the group. While Harrison mostoften doubles his voice at the unison, his double-tracking also provides a vocalharmonization at the end of the verse where one voice track sustains the sa (tonic)and the other track decorates the tone with a descending melody in imitation ofIndian vocal practice:

Figure 4.20 Love You To, verse 1, mm. 78

The practice of the Beatles, and especially of Harrison, of double-tracking theirown harmony points to future recording sessions in which the group will becomeless dependent on each other to complete their album tracks. The ultimate in dou-ble-tracking ones own harmony comes in Harrisons choir with producer PhilSpector as the George OHara-Smith Singers of the hit single My SweetLord from his first solo album All Things Must Pass (1970).

The songs For No One, Got To Get You Into My Life, and Tomorrow NeverKnows are all recorded without any vocal harmony, yet in each song, the lack ofvocal harmony contributes to the total understanding of that song. McCartneyssolo melody in For No One is a stark statement of finding oneself suddenlyalone after the demise of a relationship, a different feeling from the aching lone-liness presented in Eleanor Rigby. McCartneys soul-influenced Got To GetYou Into My Life is more effective as a solo-vocal arrangement, modeled afterperformances by soul singers like James Brown, Wilson Pickett, and OtisRedding, in which the horn section, rather than backup singers, is used to supplythe harmonized call and response. And Lennons masterpiece, Tomorrow NeverKnows, is so over-layered with sounds that harmonized vocals would eitherdetract from the overall texture of the song or be lost in the mix.5


ch004.qxd 13/3/02 9:20 am Page 106

Conclusion

You tell me that youve heard every sound there is ... Lennon sings in the finalverse of And Your Bird Can Sing, and this is exactly what the Beatles have successfully achieved with Revolver. More importantly, we find on Revolver anintegration of conservative and progressive musical elements. This balance ofconservative and traditional is especially notable in regard to song structure, har-monic structure, and vocal harmonization. These three elements work togetherwith and counter to each other, achieving a subtle aesthetic expression that per-meates Revolver.

In traditional songwriting, the choruses of strophic forms and the bridges ofstandard forms are composed so as to provide contrast to the verse both harmon-ically and melodically. The contrasting sections often briefly tonicize a differentkey, traditionally going to the subdominant and returning to the tonic for the finalverse. On Revolver, the Beatles sometimes tonicize new keys in the bridge, a tra-ditional approach to form; however, they often move to obscure keys: to B majorfrom A major in Doctor Robert, from E-flat minor to C-flat major in Im OnlySleeping, and retaining the tonic D7 to subtonic C7 movement of the verse in thebridge of Taxman. The structure of these songs is essentially traditional, but thecorresponding harmony is progressive.

The application of vocal harmony often functions in a traditional manner onRevolver, used structurally to contrast sections. However, the manner in which theBeatles harmonize their vocals provides a progressive contrast to the structuralusage, for example the triadic inversions of the vocal harmony over the funda-mental bass as heard in the introduction of Eleanor Rigby and the bridge of ImOnly Sleeping. Besides harmonizing with parallel thirds and block root positiontriads in the manner of their influences, the Beatles also make use of vocal har-monizations that exploit the open, modal sound of parallel fourths and fifths. Inthese ways, the music on Revolver is constantly in flux, constantly revolving fromthe traditional to the progressive and back again.

There is always something new to hear on Revolver; no matter how many timesone has heard the album, a new turn of a melodic phrase or a new combination ofinstrumental sounds, a different perception of a chord progression or a harmo-nized vocal passage, or a new feel for a syncopation all may lend a new appreci-ation for the artistic genius that permeates the album. Sgt Pepper, MagicalMystery Tour, The Beatles, Let It Be, and Abbey Road all follow suit and contin-ue the Beatles penchant for blending the traditional with the progressive. Andcertainly Rubber Soul, Help!, Beatles for Sale, and A Hard Days Night, whichprecede Revolver, all have elements of experimentation that lead to the progres-sive quality of Revolver. However, it is the unique and balanced blend of the con-servative and the progressive, of the traditional and the experimental on Revolverthat places the album at an important juncture in both the Beatles career and thehistory of rock music.


ch004.qxd 13/3/02 9:20 am Page 107

Notes

1. See Forte (1995), The American Popular Ballad of the Golden Era 1924-1950, Princeton, NJ:Princeton University Press.

2. It is interesting to note that according to the Baroque Doctrine of Affections, the key of E minoris considered to be suitable for music that is pensive and grieving, by the German theoristJohann Georg Mattheson (1739). According to Plato, the Dorian mode (though not the same inter-vallic pattern as the Medieval Dorian mode), while considered suitable for warriors, was also rec-ognized as being suitable for helping one accept and cope with setbacks. Both of these descrip-tions seem to fit both characters Eleanor Rigby and Father Mackenzie. See James (1995), Musicof the Spheres, New York: Copernicus, p. 57. Were the Beatles aware of these philosophies? It isdoubtful, though they seem to feel the affect instinctively.

3. This should perhaps be interpreted as groups that played around with sitar sounds and modesrather than an independent rock substyle.

4. Faburden is the technique of improvising harmony around a given pitch or melody. InRenaissance practice, the melody would be the middle voice and the harmony was improvised athird below and a fourth above it. The Beatles technique is not true faburden technique, as themain melody (sung by John) is the lowest pitch and George and Paul harmonize a fourth and asixth, respectively, above John. However, the sound of the parallel fourths and sixths adds a dis-tinctive modal flavor to the hook of Im Only Sleeping and, even more noticeably, to the intro-duction of Eleanor Rigby. This style of harmonization was not in 1966, nor is it today, typicalof rock music. See Randel (1986), Faburden in The New Harvard Dictionary of Music,Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, p. 297.

5. It could be said, however, that Lennons double-tracked voice, fed through a Leslie speaker of aHammond organ, on Tomorrow Never Knows is a sort of harmony vocal. Lennon had original-ly wanted the sound of a thousand Tibetan monks chanting as the background to this song, buthad to settle for George Martins solution of using the Leslie speaker. See MacDonald (1994), pp.152153, Dowlding (1989) p. 146, Everett (1999), p. 36, and others.


ch004.qxd 13/3/02 9:20 am Page 108

revolver - every sound there is chap4

Documents