"Kind of Girl"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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Because "Kind of Girl" and "Sometimes" were recorded fifty years ago this week (the backing tracks on 31 August and the vocal tracks on 5 September) but I don't know any parts of either, I've felt bad and have recently been trying to learn the chords for "Kind of Girl."  I have only one part left before I know at least a rough version of the whole song, but I noticed something interesting about it.

As far as I've figured out, it starts with a descending progression - Em D C B.  And a similar sort of progression is at the very end - Em D C Em (with the second E minor lower than the first).  What's interesting is that these two chord progressions both contain the same descending diatonic phrase (E D C B).  In the opening progression, that phrase is the root of each of the chords.  In the progression at the end, that descending phrase is still present, but the B note is present as the fifth in E minor (E, G, B) instead of the root in B major (B, D#, F#).

It's an interesting way to retain that phrase yet still return to the tonic in order to signal the end of the song.