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arrangement before the snare drum punches in and the ensemble surges at 2:16. The coda itself is a glorious three-
way vocal counterpoint echoed by the swooping horn figure. 'God Only Knows' clocks in at a mere 2:45, but it
makes us feel as though we have just had a week in paradise. No wonder they call Brian Wilson a genius.
5—
The Kinks:
'Waterloo Sunset' (1967)
The Kinks had established themselves by 1967 as a first-class singles group with punchy numbers such as 'You
Really Got Me' and 'All Day And All Of The Night', and satirical songs such as 'Sunny Afternoon' and 'Dedicated
Follower Of Fashion'. Neither type anticipated the ethereal 'Waterloo Sunset'.
Musically, the song uses a descending bass line under a static V chord to create anticipation. Inversions play a
significant part in adding a pastel colour to the I V IV progression, for the bass guitar makes it I iV iIV with
sustained notes. The high melodic motif sung by the female backing vocalists is a striking regeneration of an
arrangement technique that had been used conspicuously in pop in the early 1960s. A second descending sequence
occurs on the F#m chord ("but I don't.. ."). The bridge introduces a more aggressive guitar part for contrast, with
the F# chord implying that it is chord V of a new key, B major. Notice the quick B-E change on "sha-la", which
contrasts with the smoother rate of chord change on the verse. The bridge concludes with the same downward
bassline of the intro, having employed another descending line under the F#-B change. The psychedelic effect of the
coda partly comes from the use of an unresolved A7 chord.
Lyrically, there's a fascinating tension between the detached speaker who, expressly unafraid, is mysteriously
content to simply gaze at the sunset, and the lovers Terry and Julie, who meet each other every Friday night and
"cross over the river". The lyric is deeply consoling because it offers not one but two ways out of loneliness. It is
realistic and other-worldly at the same time. Ray Davies gives us details of London – the dirty river, taxis, the
crowds, the Underground – and yet the city is transformed into something visionary.
6—
The Mamas & The Papas:
'Dedicated to the One I Love' (1967)
In 1966-'68 the airwaves were blessed with the wind-blown harmonies of The Mamas & The Papas' on hit songs
such as 'California Dreamin', 'Monday Monday', 'Dream A Little Dream Of Me' and 'Dedicated To The One I Love'.
One member, John Phillips, also has a claim to fame as the writer of Scott MacKenzie's 'If You're Going To San
Francisco'. So what has 'Dedicated To The One I Love' to teach us about pop songwriting?
Its obvious virtue is that of melody: 'Dedicated' has a beautiful tune and gorgeous harmonies. The arrangement is
blessed by a quirky honky-tonk piano that lends character to what could have been out-and-out MOR. Most
important of all, the song is continually inventive in a manner so different from the lazy mentality of much recent
pop. It bursts with ideas, and you never know what is coming next. The delicate intro is almost a lullaby: a double-
tracked vocal over two acoustic guitars. A D7sus4 chord takes us into the first chorus. Listen to the way the rhythm
plays off four against the triplet swing of the 12/8 before the word "whisper". On the word "all" there's an
unexpected chord, Eb7 (bVI), which suggests a key change that never happens.
The first verse contrasts two bars of melody with two bars that have plenty of blue notes. The lead-in to the second
chorus uses an Am-A7 change that suggests we're going into D, but we actually land on D7sus4. Chorus 2 has a
different last line, musically, than Chorus 1. After a four-bar honky-tonk piano solo, there's a