I1)
This guitar part is loosely in E major, with a borrowed II chord, and a brief
modulation to D major.
ii V IV II iv of D I of D
F#m/C# B A F#/C# Gm/D D
This section is roughly E mixolydian. I believe the guitar is playing power chords
but it may just be octaves sometimes. The bass and guitars here sound a bit
improvised, moving independently but transforming these simple power chords into
more complex harmonies (right):
E D5/G E5/A A5/B => (Gadd9 Aadd9 B7sus)
E D5/B E5/C F5/D => (Bm7 CM7 Dm7)
C/G Bb5/C C/F F5/Eb => (C7sus F F7)
C Bb5/G C5/F D5 => (Gm7 FM7 D)
E D5/G E5/A A5/B => (Gadd9 Aadd9 B7sus)
I2)
At 0:22 a blast of bluesy 7th chords in E, with a temporary dissonant C7#9 chord
(distortion makes this chord hard to identify). These bar lengths are ad-libbed
(31 beats total) and sometimes the chord changes on an eight note:
8 6 7 10
E7 A7 C7#9 F#m7
The guitar falls out and some simple melodies outline E and A chords.
V)
This section is in D dorian, but playfully borrows A and D from mixolydian. The
Cm7 is a bit like a Neapolitan Eb chord (there's a real one later). These "add13"
and "add11" are just B notes. Probably played as 5th fret of the G string and
open B string.
Dm7add13 Cm7 A7 D7add13 Dm7add13 G7add11
Hey mister hey mister out of this picture. I'm only the sister.
Now a long string of secondary dominant resolutions. This section lacks a strong
tonal center, but roughly starts out in E dorian:
V/V V i
F#11 B11 Em7
Royal- ty I learned I will become
Now shifts to G major, though it doesn't fully resolve:
V/V v/V V7
A7 Am7 D13
queen of the cast-offs. I will thrice refuse.
This D13 is a real 13th [D F# A C E G B] (across multiple guitars), not just a D7
with added 13th. I think the F# is only in the vocal.
V2) (same progression)
At 1:27 the bass plays out of sync with the guitars in a wonderful way. Following
a bar of Dm, the guitars play Cm7 and A7 over a full bar, but the bass seems to
hold the Dm and cram the last two chords into the last 2 beats:
guitars: Dm7 Cm7 A7
bass: D D D Eb E C A
Oh lover oh lover, where is the thun- der?
So the bass ends up playing D and E natural under Cm7, and C natural under A7.
Maybe a mistake (?), but sounds amazing, as if those last 3 bass notes are 3
different chords.
B) (1:56)
F#m/C# B A F#/C# Gm/D D
Here the verse progression transposed up a whole step with some small
variations. Before the B chord we have a real F Neapolitan.
Em7 FM7 B E7 Em7 A7
G#11 C#11 F#m B7 Bm7 E7
E)
To end we get the intro guitar, not tuned up, but rather *down* a whole step.
I think this is done for two reasons: So the bridge's E7 can lead into the Em
(this major to minor change is almost thematic to the song), and so that we're
spit out in the key of the verses.:
Em/B A G E/B Fm/C C Dm
I)
See B2 section below. Starts in Eb major, ends in E major.
A vocal melody is interrupted by a A-G-G bassline, making it sound like
A7 harmony, but this is a trick. As the bass continues alone we start to
hear this as what it is: 2-1-1 in G major. The guitars come in with G
chords to confirm.
V)
The verses starts in G mixolydian, with bass as a pedal. You can see the
pattern they're building in the progression:
G C/G
G F/G C/G
G C/G F/G C/G
G C/G F/G C/G
G
A bit of the pattern is then repeated in Eb mixolydian:
Eb Db Ab
Eb
V2) (with vocals)
B1)
A lot happens in these 4 chords. The Bb is the V of Eb (shifting from
mixolydian to ionian). The Db teases that we're back in Eb mixo, but
instead of leading to Ab, we get harmonic planing down to a C major. The
melody still has Eb, giving it a jazzy sharp 9 sound, and makes the
following F chord sound like it functions as the V of Bb. So really the
C is the V/V of Bb.
V VIIb V/V (of Bb) V
Bb Db/Ab C F
A full resolution to Bb is skipped in favor of 2 thrilling modulations:
I I
Db Eb (We get a couple nice pentatonic lines here)
B2)
We start in Eb major, slipping in a borrowed iv chord:
I iv I
Eb Abm/Cb /Ab Eb/Bb
The borrowed Abm is used to modulate to Gb major:
ii V IV V V7 I
Abm7 Dbadd9 Cbadd9/Eb Db Db7/Cb Gb/Bb
A i (Gbm) is used to modulate to E major:
ii I ii I V7 I iv I
Gbm/A E/G# E/F# E B7sus/E E Am6/E E
End)
The G#m chords are dotted with brief A chords then we resolve to E:
iii V I
G#m7 A x4 B E
v/II II
C#m7 F#7add11