"Hung up on a Dream"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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Yester-day I got to thinking about the bass part in "Hung up on a Dream."  Since 27 January I've been meaning to get around to saying that it changes keys.  It ascends in either E major or B major*, but it descends in G major.

But what I got thinking about yester-day was the shape of the phrase:

It doesn't work out this way in the notation** because visually G# and G natural are on the same line, but audibly, between the key change and the melody itself, there's a sort of hook.  There's the ascending phrase in either E major or B major, and then the next note (G) is the first in G major and a semi-tone lower than the last in the ascending phrase.  Plus, the rhythm changes, so that G note sticks out rhythmically and tonally.  It sounds angular, almost as if it's a hook on which the titular dream is to be hung.

I'm not sure if any of that's making sense, but if nothing else, I finally got around to mentioning that there's a weird key change in "Hung up on a Dream."

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*There are at least four sharps, but the phrase doesn't go high enough to play an A or A#, so I can't tell if it's E major or B major.

**I just used accidentals instead of putting in key changes because I don't know how to use my software and it's intended for programming MIDI, not for notation.