The Beatles · from Let It Be (basic take dates to 1968, released 1970) · written by John Lennon
A study in the borrowed minor iv as a spiritual color.
A slow D-major meditation whose bridge reaches into the parallel minor for a Gm, giving the harmony its floating, mantra-like quality.
This is John's dreamy Beatles song, in a home key of D major.
The verse rocks through soft, close chords that feel like waves.
The refrain uses a chord that holds a note it wants to let go of, called a suspension, so the music feels like it is breathing in.
The bridge borrows a sad chord from the matching minor key, which gives the song its floating, meditation feel.
That borrowing move is called modal mixture, the same trick from a lot of the medley songs.
To see the exact chords and key, open Pollack or Isophonics.
The song is in D major with a slow, unrushed harmonic rhythm, letting each chord sustain long enough to feel like a held breath.
That patience is what gives it space for the borrowed color chord in the bridge to register.
The verse runs D, Bm, F#m, Em7, A, then A7, a warm diatonic tour that touches the tonic and each of its close minor relatives.
No chord tries anything unusual, which lets the vocal float freely on top.
The refrain relies on an A7sus4 that resolves to A7, a suspended fourth that hangs and then drops home.
That single suspension is the harmonic gesture the whole mantra rides on, a chord holding its breath before it releases.
The bridge runs D, Bm, F#m, Em7, then a Gm, the minor version of the subdominant borrowed from D minor, before returning through A and A7.
That single minor-iv chord is the emotional heart of the song, the borrowed shadow that makes the whole meditation feel non-diatonic and floating.
The form alternates the diatonic verse with the mantra refrain, breaks once to the modal-mixture bridge, and drifts away on a repeated D.
There is no cadenced close, only a dissolving that matches the “nothing's gonna change my world” message.
| Degree | Chord | Nashville | Roman |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | D | 1 | I |
| 2 | Em (Em7) | 2m / 2m7 | ii |
| 3 | F#m | 3m | iii |
| 4 | G | 4 | IV |
| 4 (minor) | Gm | 4m | iv (borrowed) |
| 5 | A | 5 | V |
| 6 | Bm | 6m | vi |
Chords sourced from a public transcription, in D major.
Reading the numbers: each is a scale degree in D. Plain = major, m = minor, (7) = a seventh added, sus4 = a suspended fourth held before it resolves, b-degrees and 4m are borrowed chords. Here the bridge borrows 4m (Gm) from the parallel minor.
Most chords (D, Bm, F#m, Em, G, A, Gm) are plain open or barre triads. The two flavored chords in the refrain are shown below (low E to high e; x = mute).
Prose analysis of the D-major meditation, the sus4 suspension, and the borrowed minor iv.
Open Pollack mirror →Downloadable chord and key files: the exact chords and where the bridge borrows.
Open Isophonics →Roman-numeral function and melody for the verse and refrain, if a community tab exists.
Open the Beatles index →