Great examples, Jon; thank you!
TC

A couple of titles I’d throw out for consideration are “Laughter in the Rain” by Neil Sedaka and “And She Was” by the Talking Heads. They show very different approaches to chorus modulations:

“Laughter in the Rain” is very songwriter/crafty with its surprise shift to to a major key a minor third up from the verse. In effect, from a scalar standpoint, this moves to the parallel minor of the verse key, so that it sounds like a big color change, but it’s really easy to shift back. One could argue that the song is a little hokey, but that modulation is still uplifting for me, every time.

“And She Was” in contrast sounds like it was created almost visually on a guitar neck, rather than by musical craft. The verse is all I IV V type stuff in E Major, until boom, at the B section it capriciously jumps up a half step and plays I IV V type stuff in F Major. Then to go to the chorus, it just as abruptly jumps back down to E. But somehow the entire effect is charming and perfectly in character. The somewhat nonsensical modulations add a big spark of interest and originality to what I suspect would have otherwise been a very middling song all in E Major.

Tom,
Thank you for helping me (and the readers!) by carrying the analysis further and doing it so well.
The Eagles were real craftsmen.
Much appreciated!
Tony

Thanks, Wayne. I believe this works when, as in Penny Lane and Brian Wilson songs, you’re just following the melody and it’s so compelling and convincing that you don’t even notice the key changes.
Best wishes,
Tony

Seth,
Thanks… re: Cheap Trick… Got to have those catchy headlines!… although I don’t disagree with you about ‘device’.
God Only Knows is crazy great and actually is, to use Duke Ellington’s phrase, ‘beyond category’.
TC

Another thing about the song that I’ve always liked, it has what I call a “surprise bridge.” The song starts off like a basic folk tune — verse, chorus, verse, chorus. After the second chorus, the song moves to a guitar solo on the verse, so you feel like another chorus will be coming. But then the song transitions to a bridge out of the solo which is a cool, surprise move. They also do this in “Tequila Sunrise.”

“Penny Lane” is a great example. The best example of a song that moves through keys seamlessly that I can think of is “God Only Knows”. Unlike us mere mortals, Brian Wilson could do magic. The way the bridge wraps around back into the verse is unlike anything else I know of. I think of the song as musical Moebius Strip.