I posted the following on the new VdGG discussion board a few days ago -
The discussion about this song that started with the Hugh Banton radio interview led me to share a few musical insights to this seemingly simple song.
First of all, for the first three and a half minutes, all one hears is a
variety of major chords (I wouldn't be surprised if Peter managed to include
all twelve major chords in the song). It isn't until he hits the words "how
could you let it happen" that the disappointment of the words is matched by
the music, turning into a minor scale. The final verse is a mixture of
optimism ('dreams, hopes and promises') over major chords and disappointment
('but still you don't understand how it feels') over minor chords. The coda
is simply two minor chords repeated.
Secondly, the rhythm at the beginning is somewhat odd: a bar of four beats,
one of two beats and then another two bars, each of four beats each. This
pattern repeats for most of the verse sections. For the discerning, this
same rhythm is used in 'The Sleepwalkers'; it's fairly clear in the final
verse of that song, but it also occurs in the opening verses. This rhythm is
disguised somewhat as the band invoke a fast, ternary, rhythm that masks the
bar lines, but it's the same as the final verse, which is now in a straight
4/4 time signature.
This innocent post that was trying solely to inform received the (IMHO rude) reply Yawn.....sorry, you were saying?
Why bother to post that? As Thumper in the movie 'Bambi' says, "If you've got nothing good to say, then say nothing" (I'm paraphrasing). It's not worth even replying to that post because then it's liable to start a flame war. Obviously that poster is not a musician.
What is clear is that this reaction will deter me from posting anything else of substance there. It's simply not worth the aggravation.
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