Music Analysis - the Beatles
Musical example of the Beatles
"I Feel Fine"
John Lennon (although credited to Lennon/McCartney) and released in 1964
Duration: 2:18
KEY G Major
METER 4/4
FORM Intro -> Verse -> Verse -> Bridge -> Verse -> Verse (guitar solo) ->
Verse -> Bridge -> Verse -> Outro (fadeout)
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Style and Form
- The form of this song is unusually bulky because of the individual sections themselves being rather short. Note especially the unusual series of three verse sections in the middle, one of which is for solo guitar.
- The alternation found here in the penultimate phrase of the verses between "I'm" and "She's" might be described, at this stage of their career, as almost equally nostalgic as it is characteristic.
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Melody and Harmony
- The entire song stays firmly rooted in the home key of G Major, and the harmonic diet is limited to only four chords; with the bluesy triumverate of I, IV, and V sufficing for the verses, and the iii chord being thrown in for the bridges. The only harmonic feature here that is even slightly unusual is the use of iii to bridge the gap between I and IV; i.e. iii more often than not is generally followed by vi.
- The verse sports a number of other kinds of trademarks -- the melodic doodling on just a couple or three notes in a narrow range; the bluesy flat sevenths found in the early part of the section followed by the flat third only near the end of it; and the static harmonic rhythm in the opening phrase.
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Arrangement
- The guitar feedback at the very opening is much celebrated for its serendipitous, experimental origin. It's worth emphasizing though that this effect is not random "noise", but rather a clever isolation of the naturally occurring harmonic resonance one octave above the original note that was plucked. Furthermore, the specific choice of note plucked was far from random
- The lead guitar
"I Feel Fine"
John Lennon (although credited to Lennon/McCartney) and released in 1964
Duration: 2:18
KEY G Major
METER 4/4
FORM Intro -> Verse -> Verse -> Bridge -> Verse -> Verse (guitar solo) ->
Verse -> Bridge -> Verse -> Outro (fadeout)
________________________________________
Style and Form
- The form of this song is unusually bulky because of the individual sections themselves being rather short. Note especially the unusual series of three verse sections in the middle, one of which is for solo guitar.
- The alternation found here in the penultimate phrase of the verses between "I'm" and "She's" might be described, at this stage of their career, as almost equally nostalgic as it is characteristic.
________________________________________
Melody and Harmony
- The entire song stays firmly rooted in the home key of G Major, and the harmonic diet is limited to only four chords; with the bluesy triumverate of I, IV, and V sufficing for the verses, and the iii chord being thrown in for the bridges. The only harmonic feature here that is even slightly unusual is the use of iii to bridge the gap between I and IV; i.e. iii more often than not is generally followed by vi.
- The verse sports a number of other kinds of trademarks -- the melodic doodling on just a couple or three notes in a narrow range; the bluesy flat sevenths found in the early part of the section followed by the flat third only near the end of it; and the static harmonic rhythm in the opening phrase.
________________________________________
Arrangement
- The guitar feedback at the very opening is much celebrated for its serendipitous, experimental origin. It's worth emphasizing though that this effect is not random "noise", but rather a clever isolation of the naturally occurring harmonic resonance one octave above the original note that was plucked. Furthermore, the specific choice of note plucked was far from random
- The lead guitar