Topic > "Hey Jude" by The Beatles: Song Report

"Hey Jude" is a song by the band The Beatles and was written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. It was first released in August 1968 under the label of the Beatles "Apple Records '. Hey Jude lasts 8 minutes and 10 seconds. The Beatles instead choose an unusual binary form here that uses a fully developed, hymn-like song along with an extended jam over a simple chord progression examination of "Hey Jude" how well the two parts of the song go so well between them, and from what simple musical materials they are constructed. "Hey Jude" is played in the key of F major and in 4/4 time. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay. The genre of the song is Rock, Pop played in ballad style. The structure of the song is not the usual pop structure like Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, chorus but instead is quite different in nature for its genre. The song relies more on subtlety of texture than form as throughout the song texture is also added and builds up until the conclusion of the song. Verse one, like all the verses, follows a simple chord progression using the I, V, V7, V7sus4 and IV chords in the key of F major which creates a truly memorable verse that sets the tone for the song and alludes to the pop genre and rock of the song. The voice never stops on too many unstable notes for too long during the verse, but only passes over the unstable notes and then quickly returns to the diatonic key. The first verse is very subtle in its texture, using just a piano with a single vocal melody line that sets the tone for the song played in a ballad style where the song starts out very subtle with its texture and then really opens up as the song progresses . This single vocal line follows a very macro style structure in that it doesn't really change or differ throughout the song until the outro. In the second verse we hear the addition of a tambourine being played and also an acoustic rhythm guitar which starts to suggest the more pop side of the song and starts to increase the texture and depth of the song. Background vocals were also added in the second half of the verse in the form of simple “ahhhh's” (TheBeatlesVEVO, 2015). It's the same as the first verse. The harmony is purely diatonic in F major and the melody rises and falls evenly, leaving the listener at ease. This however is cut off at the end of this verse as a line has been added. Harmonically to do this, the final verse chord is transformed into a V/IV allowing the chord structure to transition smoothly from the verse to the bridge. As a result of the verse having a bar added at the end, the first phrase of both bridges has five bars thus almost copying the melody from the verse to the bridge making the song stable again. Harmonically, the beginning and end of both bridges are quite tonally unstable. The bridge sees the introduction of a moving bass line and drums with more focus on the touch of the cymbals, again creating a more rock atmosphere that engages the listener. Melodically the lead vocal tends to dip for much of the bridge, barely rising until the swelling major melody that leads into the next verse. Verse three has the addition of backing vocals in the thirds. There is also the introduction of a distant choir. The distant vocal “so let it out and let it in” (TheBeatlesVEVO, 2015) leads to the lyrical ideas found in the next bridge. The tambourine in this verse is more frequent and is now played as semiquavers which creates a feeling of the song becoming thicker and has more texture and adds to the 2017]