OPO: songs with the G-Em-C-D progression, or some variant

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i love love love that progression. the minor fall and major lift, etc. anyway:

"love hurts"

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Sunday, 19 March 2006 01:05 (twenty years ago)

"unchained melody"

― s/c johnson wax (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 19 March 2006 01:16 (twenty years ago)

neutral milk hotel - "in the aeroplane over the sea" is a good example of G-Em-C-D used to great effect. the entire song is only that chord progression, repeated over and over. it's not my favorite tune, though--i'll think of more examples.

― geeta (geeta), Sunday, 19 March 2006 01:19 (twenty years ago)

i'm especially partial to it with a D7 subbing for the D. an Am7 instead of the C is a nice touch too. (i think "blue moon" uses that, or at least that's how it was taught to me.)

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Sunday, 19 March 2006 01:29 (twenty years ago)

Heart of Gold--Neil Young

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Sunday, 19 March 2006 01:42 (twenty years ago)

Sweet Virginia - Rolling Stones

― Good Dog (Good Dog), Sunday, 19 March 2006 01:47 (twenty years ago)

the police - every breath you take!

i think this counts. G - Em - C - D, but instead of resolving on an uplifting D they jump back to Em for the creepy 'i'll be watching you' bit!

― geeta (geeta), Sunday, 19 March 2006 02:09 (twenty years ago)

EARTH ANGEL
LAST KISS

― Keith C (lync0), Sunday, 19 March 2006 04:32 (twenty years ago)

If we can transpose, "Hungry Heart" by Springsteen or the second half of the verse of "Total Eclipse of the Heart."

For variants, "Bad Reputation" by Freedy johnston. The verse is Em-G-C-Em-D.

― phil d. (Phil D.), Sunday, 19 March 2006 04:35 (twenty years ago)

"Always Look On the Bright Side of Life"...!

― Douglas (Douglas), Sunday, 19 March 2006 04:57 (twenty years ago)

Sister Jack!

― gooblar (gooblar), Sunday, 19 March 2006 10:32 (twenty years ago)

Stand by Me is I-VIm-IV-V - can't be bothered to check the original key but I used to play it in C (ie C-Am-F-G)
another nice variation is G-B-C-D

― winter testing (winter testing), Sunday, 19 March 2006 11:46 (twenty years ago)

the minor fall and major lift, etc.

L. Cohen's "Hallelujah" to theard...

― bendy (bendy), Sunday, 19 March 2006 15:06 (twenty years ago)

i think he knows that.

― s/c johnson wax (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 19 March 2006 15:06 (twenty years ago)

"One Fine Day"

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Sunday, 19 March 2006 15:13 (twenty years ago)

Hey, I created a "Rough Guide To G-Em-C-D" on one of the Rough Guide threads! But I was mostly showing off - I actually know very little, and a coupla my choices didn't actually use that precise change, just a similar-sounding one. Someone beat me to "Stand By Me", so I'll say "A Message To You Rudy" instead.

"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" doesn't use that change, does it? It would beat everything else here so far, if it were...

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 20 March 2006 10:04 (twenty years ago)

"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" doesn't use that change, does it? It would beat everything else here so far, if it did...

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 20 March 2006 10:04 (twenty years ago)

(Pay no attention to that copycat)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 20 March 2006 10:05 (twenty years ago)

'Why Do Fools Fall in Love?' by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers is I-vi-ii7-V7, if that counts. includes marvellous sax solo. It was used extensively in doo-wop. The Beatles' This Boy has the same sequence and is also delightful. A lot of Van Morrison stuff like Bright Side of the Road too.

― Craig Kenny (Dr X O'Skeleton), Monday, 20 March 2006 10:27 (twenty years ago)

I believe some people refer to this sequence of chords as the "doo wop progression" as it was widely used on many of the "oldies" so beloved by Little Steven. See the ironic use of it at the end of "Happiness Is A Warm Gun."

Another place it pops up: The chorus of "Can't Explain."

(xpost0

― The Day The World Turned Dayglo Redd (Ken L), Monday, 20 March 2006 10:38 (twenty years ago)

I think I just heard another usage in quotation marks of this at the end of Love's "7 and 7 is."

― The Day The World Turned Dayglo Redd (Ken L), Monday, 20 March 2006 12:09 (twenty years ago)

"You Don't Know" Helen Shapiro.

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 20 March 2006 12:12 (twenty years ago)

Oh and there's an amazing bootmix of "Stand By Me" into "Every breath you take"

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 20 March 2006 12:13 (twenty years ago)

Another place it pops up: The chorus of "Can't Explain."

I just heard this on the radio this morning and thought of this thread!

― phil d. (Phil D.), Monday, 20 March 2006 13:05 (twenty years ago)

"Breaking Up is Hard to Do"

or that piano song in Big

― Dominique (dleone), Monday, 20 March 2006 13:14 (twenty years ago)

On the variant tip: Trash Can Sinatras "Hayfever" drops the G and just does Em-Em-C-D, then through the chorus moves into the shinier C-D-G-Em.

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 20 March 2006 18:14 (twenty years ago)

(Not strictly a variant, that, but I get the feeling it kind of stemmed from that progression and then wanted to complicate itself.)

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 20 March 2006 18:17 (twenty years ago)

Jonathan Richman to thread!!! (probably more than 50% of his songs).

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Monday, 20 March 2006 18:17 (twenty years ago)

or that piano song in Big

"heart and soul"?

― stockholm cindy is a guy with a belly button piercing (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 20 March 2006 18:18 (twenty years ago)

NB I think I prefer this progression in C (C-Am-F-G) because that way it's easier to throw in major 7ths on guitar.

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 20 March 2006 18:18 (twenty years ago)

I don't actually know the name (amazingly enough), but it's the easiest thing I can always think to tell people when explaining I vi IV V I. And by tell people, I mean tell myself whenever I hear another song with that progression. In other words, I have developed the world's laziest case of OCD.

x-post

― Dominique (dleone), Monday, 20 March 2006 18:22 (twenty years ago)

NB I think I prefer this progression in C (C-Am-F-G) because that way it's easier to throw in major 7ths on guitar.
-- nabisco (--...), Today 10:18 AM. (nabisco)

and with piano you have the all-too-convenient white keys...

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Monday, 20 March 2006 18:29 (twenty years ago)

chorus of "Walking in the Rain" (by the Ronettes, etc.)
"Go Cry on Somebody Else's Shoulder" by Zappa & Mothers

― Joe (Joe), Monday, 20 March 2006 18:34 (twenty years ago)

And "Be My Baby" (The Ronettes) too

― Joe (Joe), Monday, 20 March 2006 18:35 (twenty years ago)

"Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young" and "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" by Jim Steinman

― Joe (Joe), Monday, 20 March 2006 18:40 (twenty years ago)

"There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" by The Smiths, though not in the conventional way (the "C" part of the progression is elongated and the "D" part shortened)

― Joe (Joe), Monday, 20 March 2006 18:44 (twenty years ago)

"Kid" by The Pretenders

― Joe (Joe), Monday, 20 March 2006 18:47 (twenty years ago)

NB I think I prefer this progression in C (C-Am-F-G) because that way it's easier to throw in major 7ths on guitar.

??? The voicings for any maj7 chords in that progression in first position in G are no more difficult than they are in C!

Good call on "Hayfever," though. Haven't heard that one in a while.

― phil d. (Phil D.), Monday, 20 March 2006 19:04 (twenty years ago)

I think I prefer this progression in C (C-Am-F-G) because that way it's easier to throw in major 7ths on guitar.

also, those letters sound better when you're singing them in "these magic changes" (which advertises that 7th in the lyric, but not a major 7th).

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 20 March 2006 23:00 (twenty years ago)

THOSE magic changes, that is. d'oh.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 20 March 2006 23:01 (twenty years ago)

I-vi-IV-V

― Dan (FWIW) Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 20 March 2006 23:07 (twenty years ago)

Actually, "This Boy" has some weird D chords at the intro, then goes through the cycle starting with a regular D, which changes to a DMaj7 for the vocal. Which doesn't seem too hard to play - just stick your index finger on the second fret on the bottom three strings!*

*Subject to correction by actual guitar players

― The Day The World Turned Dayglo Redd (Ken L), Monday, 20 March 2006 23:07 (twenty years ago)

And here I was thinking that I don't really like anything based on these changes when I hadn't even thought of "Can't Explain" - and "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" would have never occurred to me but it's there in the chorus! I guess "D'yer Maker" is an obvious example of this too, right?

― Sundar (sundar), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 02:46 (twenty years ago)

a nice, simple variant is "you're going to lose that girl," one of my fave beatles songs, whose chorus is C-Am-Dm-G7, with the Dm being the relative minor of the F that would have been expected in that spot.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 02:58 (twenty years ago)

??? The voicings for any maj7 chords in that progression in first position in G are no more difficult than they are in C!

Yeah but in C the first seventh is the open B string, so you get to play with the open string (plus open E) versus first-fret (plus open E). Which has nice effects for the C and F both, and can be fooled with on the Am. The Smiths' "Back to the Old House" is largely built on that B-string stuff.

― nabiscothingy, Tuesday, 21 March 2006 03:08 (twenty years ago)

In other words, I guess I don't just mean switching the chords to 7ths -- I mean taking the 7th from the C-major key and winding it through the other chords and the melody. (Which is exactly what "Back to the Old House" does, along with that helpful open E.) And really, the open chords are all pretty simple, but Cmaj7 is still demonstrably easier than Gmaj7 -- and leaves a whole extra finger free for embellishments!

― nabiscothingy, Tuesday, 21 March 2006 03:12 (twenty years ago)

OPO = "Walk Away Renee" (check chorus for chord progression)

― doug watson (solid air), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 03:35 (twenty years ago)

In this progression, you can substitute ii for IV. One reason is that Dm7 is pretty much the same chord as F6.
A jazz player once told me that Charlie Mingus used to run classes on songwriting, which the Beatles attended. He basically taught them that every song should progress through ii-V-I.

― dr x o'skeleton, Tuesday, 21 March 2006 10:52 (twenty years ago)

In ke, it's actually E- C#m-F#m-B7. And the verse changes only one chord, substituting G# for F#m. Brilliant stuff.

nabisco, OK, I see what you're saying, but I don't find Gmaj7 particularly harder, I guess. And if you want to get funky, you can keep the top note on the vi change, making it an Em9. Quelle Steely Dan!

― phil d. (Phil D.), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 12:59 (twenty years ago)

thanks for the key correction, phil d. and just to set the record straight for future musicologists reading this thread, they substitute the G# for the second chord, the C#m, not the third. and it is indeed brilliant stuff.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 04:55 (twenty years ago)

"Maybe" covered by Dave Edmonds
"Freedom" upchucked by Macca
The middle eight of Bowie's "Time", but being a clever lad, throwing in a passing third from an available II chord.

― Grey, Ian (IanBrooklyn), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 07:04 (twenty years ago)

See the ironic use of it at the end of "Happiness Is A Warm Gun..."

...then, flip the record over to Side Two, skip past "Martha My Dear" (yuk) straight through to "I'm So Tired", and there it is AGAIN! (Sorta.) Two consecutive Lennon/White Album offerings, and they BOTH have that doo-wop change. Strange...

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 07:30 (twenty years ago)

And, of colurse, Lindsey Lohan's "I Want You to Want Me."

― Grey, Ian (IanBrooklyn), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 07:36 (twenty years ago)

Wasn't Zappa & The Mothers' Ruben and the Jets album supposed to be subverting the doo-wop form at least in part by replacing the expected progressions of the genre like I-vi-IV-V with really fucked up ones instead?

― Joe (Joe), Wednesday, 22 March 2006 13:18 (twenty years ago)

Julee Cruise - The Nightingale

Along similar lines, is this a common chord progression in the 50s?

― ajlee, Wednesday, 22 March 2006 23:52 (twenty years ago)

OMD - "Enola Gay"

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Tuesday, 28 March 2006 00:25 (twenty years ago)

The verses of Photobooth by Death Cab For Cutie, but the C and D switched places (G-Em-D-C).

― Melson (ArchCarrier), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 00:46 (twenty years ago)

The Jam's Strange Town (verses)

― dr x o'skeleton, Tuesday, 28 March 2006 07:34 (twenty years ago)

Pwnage: "Red Cadillac And A Black Moustache"- Warren Smith
Uberpwnage: "Shaggs' Own Thing"- The Shaggs

― The Day The World Turned Dayglo Redd (Ken L), Saturday, 8 April 2006 00:42 (twenty years ago)

It's so rich and thick
And chocolate
That you can't
Drink it slow
If it's Quik
Doh Doh Dee Oh Doh

(I think I may have the last line wrong)

― The Day The World Turned Dayglo Redd (Ken L), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 00:18 (twenty years ago)

i think the very first song i wrote used these chords

― electric sound of jim (and why not) (electricsound), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 00:45 (twenty years ago)

Teenage Kicks

― lemin (lemin), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 03:16 (twenty years ago)

"all the umbrellas in london" by the magnetic fields

― s blaze (conrad), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 03:31 (twenty years ago)

http://faculty-web.at.northwestern.edu/music/lipscomb/dossier/I-vi-IV-VProgression.htm

― tristanolas, Saturday, 15 April 2006 20:43 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

What's a matter baby?, b-side of the Small Faces first single. Not a Marriott-Lane original, but atmospheric early 60s pop that perfectly showcases Steve M's incredible voice.

― dr x o'skeleton, Monday, 15 May 2006 08:36 (twenty years ago)

neutral milk hotel - "in the aeroplane over the sea" is a good example of G-Em-C-D used to great effect. the entire song is only that chord progression, repeated over and over.

Obviously this is the correct answer. Although the solo and the bridge change the chord progression to Em C G D.

Also, my brand new tune Julia uses this progression.

― Steve Goldberg (Steve Goldberg), Monday, 15 May 2006 10:52 (twenty years ago)

I just listened to 4Him's brilliant gnostic celebration "I Know You Now," which employs these changes while walking through the chords in between. It picked me up when I was feeling blue!

― dr. phil (josh langhoff), Monday, 15 May 2006 13:07 (twenty years ago)

Interesting that many examples on this page consist of tunes that just cycle round this chord progression ad infinitum, with only minor variations, like it's complete in itself.

― dr x o'skeleton, Monday, 15 May 2006 13:44 (twenty years ago)

Most Brill Building songs had kind of this build.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 15 May 2006 14:00 (twenty years ago)

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