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What qualifies as an "unusual" chord change? In simple terms, we're talking about chords that don't belong together
in the same key. The technical name for this is "non-diatonic" or ''chromatic". In C major, this could mean changing
from C to:
bIImaj/min C#/Db major or minor
bIIImin D#/Eb minor
bVmaj/min F#/Gb major or minor
bVImin G#/Ab minor
VImaj A major
bVIImin A#/Bb minor
VIImaj/min B major or minorThe verse of 'Light My Fire' is haunting because of its harmonic ambiguity. We think at first the key must be A
minor, but the F#m immediately confuses the ear. Because F#m is not in A minor, we decide F# minor is the "true"
key. The return to Am is equally confusing because you can't have Am in F# minor either. The ear gives up trying to
fix the key and accepts this strange movement. The same change occurs in 'Edge Of Darkness' (Em-Gm) without
going back to Em, and under the guitar solo in Queen's 'Tenement Funster' (G#m-Bm); there's a Gm-Bm change in
'Stone Cold Crazy'.
Contexts for Unusual Chord Changes
Some themes demand strange changes. Songs about madness often use peculiar progressions to mimic the mental
displacement of the subject. Bowie's 'The Bewlay Brothers' has a coda that juxtaposes Bm with F. This is another
change that cannot be reconciled with either chord being the key chord. (In F you would have Bb; in Bm you would
have F#.) Bowie used unrelated chords for a similar reason on the coda of 'Ashes To Ashes'. In 'I Want You' Costello
communicates the deranged jealousy of the speaker not only through the lyric but through the D#m chord which
keeps interrupting the Em G C B turnaround. D#m is completely unrelated to E minor. The coda of 'I Want You
(She's So Heavy)' is worth careful examination not only for the unusual chord changes (a five-chord turnaround) and
6/8 time but also for its asymmetry.
Strange chord changes sometimes suit comic songs. UK singles outfit Madness scored a string of hits in the 1980s
with a wacky mix of ska, new-wave, and pop. The slightly bittersweet flavour of their songs partly arises from the
music's frequent use of minor chords and keys, and unusual changes. 'Night Boat To Cairo' features a C-Bbm change
and a sequence that moves from Fm-G#m-Fm-Db (twice) before Eb and C. 'The chorus of 'Baggy Trousers' uses
repeated changes from a major chord to a minor on the same note (IV IVm I Im). Few bands have created such a
distinctive musical world through such specific harmonic means.
Non-Diatonic Chords
Other ways of using odd chords include putting an unrelated chord between two diatonic ones: C F# Am; G C# D. In
the verse of 'Do You Want To Know A Secret?', we get III bIIIm II. If you extend this as IIIm7 bIIIm7 IIm7 V7 I,
you get a popular sequence from the 1920s. In 'Pump It Up', the chords are B Bb A for the main verse; the Bb is a
passing chord. The movement of major chords a semitone (half-step) apart is a classic rock'n'roll trick that goes back
to 1950s rockers like Eddie Cochran and was revived in both glam and punk rock. Semitone shifts also occur in 'I'm
So Tired' and 'Sexy Sadie', where Lennon moves from I to VII7 before landing on IV or III. In G this would be G
F#7 C or G F#7 Bm.