Comments on: The Early Genius of Brian Wilson

By: Tony Conniff

Tony Conniff — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 04:42:14 +0000

Paul,
Great to hear from you and thanks for responding. Glad you enjoyed it!
Have a good holiday,
Tony

By: Tony Conniff

Tony Conniff — Mon, 25 Nov 2019 20:18:24 +0000

In reply to tjs.

Great point. There’s a video on YouTube by David Bennett called ‘Songs with a Downwards Key Change’ that explores songs that do just that.
Thanks for reading and responding!
Tony

By: paul ossola

paul ossola — Sat, 23 Nov 2019 22:32:53 +0000

Thanks Tony, for pointing out the many details in both tunes that go by, I didn’t even realize they are strange-even more proof how brilliant these are harmonically as well as melodically. I already knew ‘Don’t Worry Baby” was a wonderful melody- never really thought much about how or why…cool.

By: tjs

tjs — Sat, 23 Nov 2019 21:03:28 +0000

Great post, Tony. Thinking about “Penny Lane,” the unusual — amazing — thing about the modulation to the chorus is it goes “down” a key, from G to F. Yet the melody feels as if the song has lifted. Then, at the end of the chorus, you get the lift back up to G. This gives the song a spiral feel, as if it keeps going up and up. Not sure I know of any other song that does this.

By: Tony Conniff

Tony Conniff — Sat, 23 Nov 2019 17:37:22 +0000

In reply to Annie Dinerman. Thank you, Annie! Tony

By: Annie Dinerman

Annie Dinerman — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 22:10:31 +0000

This was great! These melodies are so satisfying. I loved looking at the progressions while listening to them. Your admiration for the writer and your love of this music made the blog even more fun to read. Thanks, Tony!