key: D minor
mode: D minor — D E F G A Bb (B) C (C#) D
melody: l t d r ri m f s
form: chorus – abab; verse – different every time; breakdown – cdc'd'
meter: duple
English function names: tonic dominant
Tagg (modified): home counterpoise (away)
Riemann: t D or D7
Scale degrees: i V or V7
Chords: Dm A or A7
progression for whole song:
Dm A7
|/ / / / |/ / / / |/ / / / |/ / / / |
A chord shuttle! This is a textbook example: two chords, equal air time (and only lasting for the extended present), back and forth. They are far more common with tonic-subdominant combinations, but here is a tonic-dominant one.
I am always excited when I find a recent song that only has two chords in it. As you've seen so far, the songs we've looked at are old. And it can be hard to get students, particularly the middle school ones, interested in things that are old that they did not "discover" themselves or from someone they like/love/respect. Even if they like/love/respect the teacher, they are not about to admit in front of their peers that they dig the old-timey song you are forcing them to learn. I mean, even this song at the time of writing this post is officially old. But there are other issues. Girls like Billie Eilish more than the boys do. Finding recent rap songs that also only have two chords AND are something appropriate for the classroom is even harder. It's tricky.
But after having last year's eighth graders work on this song, I realized that I most likely won't use it again. It's not very…. songy. I started thinking about songs. Songs that "last." Songs last in part because when you strip them of their production, they still sound good when everybody is singing along with the right energy (good intonation not required). This is why people still sing Beatles songs or any of the OLD songs that I have chosen for this crazy two-chord obsession. That said, the Beatles have their share of songs that are super-production heavy that you don't sing around the campfire. That doesn't mean they are not good; it means they don't function as songs. They are more like "pieces." And "Therefore I Am" is more like a piece. I can imagine covers of it, remixes of it, but it's not a song so much as a diary entry that you can dance to. This is not a bad thing! And if a student requests it, I will certainly say yes. But it doesn't quite work with a whole class trying to sing it with ukes and so on.
Lovingly transcribed lead-sheets, courtesy of me and Sheet Music Direct: C instruments Viola Bb instruments (over the break) Bb instruments (under the break) Eb instruments F instruments Bass clef instruments