Originally Posted by
brothadc
Hey jobucats! My man, you're VERY close! Not dead on it, but close enough for me to say "I'm impressed!" What you are absolutely right about is "the astute talent of the songwriting team of H-D-H". I've met, through Mickey Stevenson, Brian Holland, and I've have had the pleasure of working with him, and becoming friends with him, and I'm going to pass your compliment on to him! Now, back to the song.
What H-D-H very cleverly did for the first modulation was while sitting on the dominant chord of the key of Bb, which is F major, they used the melody notes of C, D, Eb as Diana sings "Now no more..." to very smoothly walk us into the new key of Eb. The first chords of the new key are Ab major for two beats then F minor for the third and fourth beats of the measure, BUT, technically the first chord is an Ab 6 because the note being sung in the background vocals is an F, which makes the progression of those first two chords of the new key smooth as silk!
Now we have a beautiful chorus is the key of Eb. The genius of H-D-H really shines here with the use of a minor chord on "long and sleepless..." and major chords on "now that I am in love again". Minor chords generate a feeling of sadness, and major chords generate a feeling of gladness. Also, by having the chorus modulate up the degree of a fourth, it gives the song quite a lift up which adds to the happy feeling of the content of the lyric.
To get us back to the key of Bb, more H-D-H musical genius! At the end of the chorus they sit on an Eb flat major chord, which is the root of the key we're about to leave, and it quickly transitions into the 4th degree of Bb, without even moving, by the use of the very next chords being an F major to an F dominant 7th.
Now I'd also like to add an observation in regards to the brilliant songwriting of Holland-Dozier-Holland. Their use of 1st and 2nd inversions of chords, and major 6 chords to me is unparalleled! Just for an example, since we're talking about "I'm In love Again", the song opens with the chord Bb major over F in the bass, which is a second inversion chord, and in addition to that it subversively moves from Bb major over F, to Bb major 6 over F, back to Bb major over F by having the backgrounds sing the notes F, GF, all in the first measure. Second measure, F major to F major 6 back to F major, also because of the notes being sung in the backgrounds. Wonderful!! The beautiful thing about 1st and 2nd inversion chords is the sonic illusions created by them. As I went about the business of learning to play a lot of Holland-Dozier-Holland songs, once I caught on that they did use a lot of major 6 chords, and 1st and 2nd inversions, two perfect examples being "Bernadette" and "Reflections", it opened up my ears and it started getting easier to learn them.
Bookmarks