3 Comments
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Simon Betts's avatar

Some really nice observations on a song I like just fine but have maybe a bit overlooked.

Your comments on the mood and lyrics of the bridge are really astute. The music totally backs you up here as it twists and turns: it sets up a shift to the relative minor, confounds it by hitting the major instead (on "I" both times: "realise that I" and "lies that I"), sets up a perfect cadence and then confounds it by hitting the 4th instead of the 5th chord. Slightly clumsy false optimism is exactly what the harmony is delivering.

Charles Olney's avatar

This is a great example of a bit of (what I assume to be pretty straightforward) music theory that I can't quite hear or see on my own, but which I can grasp a bit of once someone else lays it out for me. And which then helps me to gain a bit more of a language for describing what makes music so interesting to me. Much appreciated.

Sam B.'s avatar

This is a good look at what makes this song work so well. It's an underrated gem. To me, the one-two punch of No Reply and I'm a Loser makes up one of the best beginnings to any Beatles album.