10-track Shiner album (2025, self-titled). Vocal-completed hybrid pass with section-by-section analysis. · Built 2026-06-04 19:27, landing promoted 2026-06-10.
A cross-album look at the major song elements and the most interesting vocal-chord interactions on Shiner's BELIEVEYOUME, with the vocal MIDI track held out of the chord-detection pool and then mapped back in as scale-degree commentary.
The album-wide insight up front: **Shiner's rhythm guitar and bass mostly voice power chords (root + 5), and the vocal supplies the third.** That single observation reframes the chord chart. The earlier MIDI extraction was treating vocal notes as chord tones, which inflated F5 power chords into spurious F5add9, Cmsus4, Bbm7 and so on. With the vocal removed from chord detection, the rhythm + bass voicing reads cleanly, and the vocal's role becomes legible as a separate harmonic decision: usually the third (completing the triad), sometimes a held pivot (same note across a chord change), sometimes a high-register decoration on the 6th or 7th.
Four behaviors recur across the record.
1. **Vocal-supplies-the-3rd.** The signature move. Tracks 1, 6, 9 are clearest. Rhythm + bass give a power chord, the vocal lands on the 3rd, the chord lands.
2. **Vocal-pivot.** The same vocal note is held across a chord change, so the listener feels the chord move underneath while the melody stays put. Tracks 2, 3, 5, 10.
3. **High-register decoration.** Vocal sits on the 6th or 7th of the chord, above the harmony rather than inside it. Tracks 8 and 10.
4. **Mode-mixing.** The rhythm guitar voices a power chord, and the vocal sometimes lands on ♮3 (major) and sometimes on b3 (minor), so the song slides between major and minor without changing chord. Tracks 2 and 5 most explicitly.
Rhythm + bass live on F5 for most of the song (the bar-level extraction shows F5 as the dominant chord for 121 bars). The rhythm guitar adds a high Db ringing on top, a Phrygian color above the power chord.
Verse signature. The vocal floats A natural over the F5 + Db bed. F to A is the major 3rd, not the minor 3rd that the surrounding F-minor context would predict. That's the song's central ambiguity, a bright vocal melody over a darker harmonic bed. The prior extraction was reading A as a chord tone and labeling F major or F6 in spots, but the rhythm + bass alone are unambiguously F5 with Db.
Most interesting. The chorus progression is Db5 → Bb5 → Ab5 → F5, and the vocal lands on each chord's 3rd or b3 in sequence:
Db5 + vocal F = Db major (vocal = ♮3) Bb5 + vocal Db = Bb minor (vocal = b3) Ab5 + vocal C = Ab major (vocal = ♮3) F5 + vocal Ab = F minor (vocal = b3)
The vocal completes every chord. No fourth voice is needed because the vocal IS the third.
Rhythm + bass voice G (with a strong B natural in the rhythm guitar's middle voice) alternating with Bb (♭III, borrowed from G minor). The verse riff sits between G major and G minor parallel modes.
Verse and hook signature. The entire vocal melody is two notes, B and C, alternating. The chord underneath changes (G → Bb → G → Bb), and the role of those two vocal notes changes with it.
Most interesting. The same B-C melody means three different things depending on the chord underneath:
Over G: B = ♮3, C = sus 4 (the vocal completes G major and decorates it) Over Bb: B = ♯1, C = 9 (the same vocal B is now a chromatic clash) Over B: B = root, C = b9 (briefly atonal, in the bridge passing chord)
Same melody, three meanings. That's the songwriting payoff. The prior extraction was reading the sus 4 vocal as a chord member and labeling Bb6/9 or Gadd9.
Rhythm voices F# (root + 5, with A# as the major 3rd) alternating with A#m (root + b3 + 5). Bass enters partway through the song; the first 38 bars are rhythm guitar and vocal only.
Verse signature. The vocal holds a sustained A# (= Bb in the extract) over the chord change.
Most interesting. A# is the ♮3 of F# AND the root of A#m, which means the same held vocal note has two different functions one bar apart:
Bar 1: F# chord, vocal A# = ♮3 (vocal completes F# major) Bar 2: A#m chord, vocal A# = root (vocal anchors the new chord)
The melody hasn't moved, but the song has. That's the cleanest vocal-pivot example on the album. Also the bridge contains an Fdim chromatic passing chord, F-Ab-B, and the vocal C natural lands on the ♭5 of that chord, the most-dissonant vocal-against-chord moment on the record.
Rhythm + bass anchor on D (the song lives on the D bass for 91 of its bars). The rhythm guitar adds F natural (b3, confirming D minor) and Bb (b6, Aeolian color).
Verse signature. The vocal anchors on A natural, the 5th of D minor. A is the most-stable possible scale degree, and the song uses that stability deliberately, the vocal sounds calm while the harmony churns underneath.
Most interesting. When the chord moves from Dm to Bb (the b6 chord), the held A natural in the vocal becomes the major 7th of Bb. That's a wistful lift, the same physical pitch suddenly carries a different emotional weight. The prior extraction labeled it Bbmaj7 because A was being counted as a chord tone. With the vocal excluded, the chord is plain Bb, and the vocal A is correctly a melodic ♮7 sitting on top.
Rhythm + bass voice E5 with a strong D in the rhythm guitar (the b7 of E, suggesting E Mixolydian or E Dorian rather than pure E Aeolian). The rhythm guitar also has G# in several bars, the major 3rd, which would make E major.
Verse signature. The vocal hovers on G# and B (the ♮3 and 5 of E), so the verse-with-vocal resolves as E major even though the chord is just E5. The mode-mixing is built into the song's basic voicing.
Most interesting. The vocal sometimes lands on F# natural, which is the major 2nd / 9th of E. F# is in E major scale but also in E Dorian (where the chord underneath would be Em, with F# = ♮9 / Dorian color). So F# is the vocal's mode-tester, it commits to neither pure major nor pure minor. The prior extraction had moments of E6 or Eadd9 from this F# being counted as a chord tone, when it's really a melodic decision.
Rhythm + bass live on Bb5 for 109 bars. This is the album's most-concentrated single-chord song, the entire structure orbits Bb.
Verse signature. The vocal centers on D natural, the major 3rd of Bb. So the same trick as track 1, vocal supplies the third, but now in the bright key. Bb5 + D = Bb major triad, completed by the vocal.
Most interesting. The vocal also visits Eb (the 4th of Bb, briefly a sus 4 color) and C (the 2nd / 9th). When the chord briefly drops to F5 in the bridge area, the C# (which had been a chromatic note over Bb) becomes the 5th of F#. There's a subtle pivot moment where C# moves from b6-of-F to 5-of-F# as the harmony shifts. The prior extraction was occasionally calling Bb6 or Bbsus when these decorative vocal notes got pulled in.
No vocal track in this MIDI. The song is built on a Drop-C rhythm guitar with C5 → Gm → G5 → Em movement.
Note for the band book. Lazarus is the album's instrumental, so the vocal-supplies-the-3rd pattern doesn't apply. The chord chart for this track is stable without vocal-degree commentary, the rhythm + bass voicing IS the harmony. The most-interesting feature is the Drop-C tuning itself, which gives the rhythm guitar a low C (C2) that sits below the bass's normal range in places, doubling and reinforcing the root.
Rhythm + bass voice Ab (root + 5, often with C completing Ab major in the rhythm) alternating with Bb5 and C5.
Verse signature. The vocal sits on F natural, which is the 6th of Ab major. The 6 is NOT a chord tone of a basic triad, the vocal is decorating from above rather than completing the chord. The completed chord is Ab major (rhythm gives the major 3rd C), and the vocal sits one step higher on the 6.
Most interesting. When the chord moves Ab → Bb, the same vocal F becomes the 5th of Bb. The vocal hasn't moved, but its function shifted from a high decoration (6 of Ab) to a structural chord tone (5 of Bb). The prior extraction was calling Ab6 or Ab(add9) because the F was being pulled into the chord label. With the vocal excluded, Ab is plainly Ab major, and the F is a melodic high-register decision.
Rhythm + bass voice Eb5 (with the rhythm guitar adding G = ♮3 in many bars to complete Eb major). Bass walks Eb → C → Ab → G → Bb across the verse.
Verse signature. The vocal anchors on the root and 5 of Eb, with D natural (the major 7) showing up as a leading-tone color on the cadences. The melody is more chord-anchored than the rest of the album.
Most interesting. The bridge has a C5 → Bb5 → F5 → Eb5 walk. The vocal sustains F across the C5 → Bb5 change, which means F moves from sus 4 of C to 5 of Bb in two bars. That's another vocal-pivot example, but quieter than the Mutiny version, the held note resolves a sus 4 by changing chord rather than by moving down. The prior extraction labeled Csus4 explicitly because F was sitting in the chord, but the rhythm + bass alone are just C5 with the vocal supplying the sus.
Rhythm + bass voice Cm, Eb, Ab in rotation. The bass walks C → Eb → Ab → G across the verse.
Verse signature. The vocal sits HIGH, mostly on the 6th and 7th of the chord underneath. This is the album's most-extreme high-register-decoration vocal, the melody almost never lands on the chord's root or third.
Most interesting. When the chord moves Eb → Ab, the held vocal G stays put. G is the major 3rd of Eb, then the major 7th of Ab. That's a fancy pivot: same vocal note, the chord moves IV → ♭VII (or III → VI in C minor), and the held G transforms from a stable 3rd into an unstable ♮7. The prior extraction was reading this as Ebmaj7 and Abmaj7 because the G was getting included in the chord labels. With the vocal excluded, the chord changes are plainly Eb and Ab, and the G is melodic, the song's emotional climb.
**Power chord + vocal-supplied third is the signature.** Asleep in the Trunk, Endless Summer, and Broken Satellites use it most explicitly. The rhythm + bass give a 5th, the vocal lands on the 3rd, the chord lands. This is why the prior extraction kept inventing 7ths and 9ths, the third was sitting in the vocal track, not the rhythm guitar.
**Vocal pivots are the slow-payoff move.** The Alligator, The Mutiny, My Mirror Hates Me, and Jackie all do this. The vocal holds, the chord changes, and the listener feels the harmonic shift through the unchanged melody. The Mutiny is the cleanest example (A# = ♮3 of F#, then root of A#m, one bar apart). Jackie is the most extreme (G = ♮3 of Eb, then ♮7 of Ab, the function flips from anchor to suspension).
**Two tracks decorate from above.** Not Too Much sits the vocal on the 6th of Ab. Jackie sits the vocal on the 6th and 7th of every chord. In both cases the vocal is not part of the triad, the rhythm + bass give the chord, and the vocal is doing high-register melodic work above it.
**Mode-mixing lives in the rhythm guitar's voicing.** The Alligator has both B and Bb in the rhythm. My Mirror Hates Me has both G and G# in the rhythm. The vocal then picks one or the other depending on the line. This isn't ambiguity, it's a deliberate songwriting choice, the song slides between major and minor parallel modes without changing the chord root.
Every per-song FIXED_HYBRID chart now has a "what changed from the earlier MIDI extraction" section spelling out which inflated chord names came from vocal contamination. The shared theme: the vocal's third, sus, 9, b9, or sus 4 was being counted as a chord member by the auto-detector. Once the vocal track is held out of the pool, the rhythm + bass voicing is unambiguous, and the vocal can be mapped back in as scale-degree commentary rather than chord material.
For the band book, the practical impact is that chord charts should list power-chord voicings as the base layer (what the listener can play on guitar), and the completed triad name as the layer the listener hears (what the band actually does). That two-layer view is what the per-song HYBRID charts now provide.
Tracks 4-10 covered in this synthesis only. If a single-song deep chart is needed for any of them, run the same extraction pipeline (rhythm + bass for chord, vocal as separate scale-degree map).
Key center F minor. The band voices power chords (F5, Db5, Bb5, Ab5, C5); the vocal supplies the 3rd that completes each triad. Db→Bbm→Ab→Fm is the chorus, vocal landing on the 3rd of each.
This chart shows three pieces of information at each chord change.
1. **Guitar + bass** , what the rhythm guitar and electric bass actually voice. These are mostly power chords (root + 5th) with occasional sus2 / b6 color from the rhythm guitar's high voicings.
2. **With vocal** , the full triad the listener hears once the vocal's third lands on top. This is what the prior FIXED chart was labeling.
3. **Vocal sits on** , the scale degree the vocal note is, relative to the completed chord.
Key center: F minor (Aeolian, with Phrygian Db color in the rhythm guitar).
Fm: F minor, often voiced as F5 by rhythm + bass, with the vocal supplying Ab as the b3
Db: D-flat major, voiced as Db5 by rhythm + bass, vocal supplies F as the major 3rd
Bbm: B-flat minor, voiced as Bb5 by rhythm + bass, vocal supplies Db as the b3
Ab: A-flat major, voiced as Ab5 by rhythm + bass, vocal supplies C as the major 3rd
Cm: C minor, voiced as C5 by rhythm + bass, vocal supplies Eb as the b3
C/Eb hybrid: the "you'll be rid of me in time" climb walks C5 to F5 with vocal moving Eb to E natural, briefly major-mode
Verse and pre-chorus center: F5 (root + 5; rhythm guitar also rings Db as a Phrygian/Aeolian color above)
Chorus movement: Db5 to Bb5 (Bbm with the vocal Db) to Ab5 to F5
Bridge: F5 with Ab in the rhythm guitar, an unambiguous Fm voicing
Late lift inside the layered return: Ab5 to Eb5 to F5
Pre-bridge cadence ("you'll be rid of me in time"): Db5 to Bb5 to C5 to F5
Final chorus close: Db5 to Bb5 to Ab5 to F5, with the last F5 sitting under a sustained C5 voicing in the rhythm guitar
Rhythm + bass: F5 (root F, 5th C, plus Db b6 color from rhythm guitar)
With vocal: Fm-with-floating-major-3rd, the song's signature ambiguity
Vocal sits on: A natural (the major 3rd above F), Bb (the 4th, sus color),
C (the 5th), Db (the b6, doubles the rhythm guitar)
[F5]
I'm begging for a favor
in this difficult time
Cut the zip ties from my ankles
we've both got a lot on our minds
Note. The verse is the cleanest example of the vocal-completes-the-chord behavior. Rhythm and bass alone give an F5 with a Phrygian Db ringing on top. The vocal floats A natural above that bed, which would make the implied chord F major, but the surrounding key context and the bass cadence still read as F minor. The result is the bright-vocal-over-dark-bed tension that the song lives in.
Rhythm + bass: F5 throughout, with brief Bb sus4 and A natural decorations
in the rhythm guitar as it climbs into the chorus
With vocal: F(no3) with a sus-tinged top
Vocal sits on: A natural (the major 3rd), Bb (the 4th, sus motion),
C (the 5th)
[F5]
I would cook for you
wash your dirty sheets
I would feed you grapes
wave a palm leaf
write a song for you
I would make you a symphony
Rhythm + bass: Db5 -> Bb5 -> Ab5 -> F5 (the four-bar chorus loop) With vocal: Db -> Bbm -> Ab -> Fm Vocal sits on: Db chord: vocal lands on F, the major 3rd, completing Dbmaj Bb chord: vocal lands on Db, the b3, completing Bbm Ab chord: vocal lands on C, the major 3rd, completing Abmaj F chord: vocal lands on Ab, the b3, completing Fm [Db] vocal F = 3rd I keep thinking that we're still in love [Bbm] vocal Db = b3 and believe you me, I tried, I tried [Ab] vocal C = 3rd I've guessed our destination [Fm] vocal Ab = b3 from the turns on this gravel road
Rhythm + bass: Bb5 -> Ab5 -> Db5 -> F5 With vocal: Bbm -> Ab -> Db -> Fm Vocal sits on: Bb chord: vocal Db = b3, completing Bbm Ab chord: vocal C = 3rd, completing Abmaj Db chord: vocal F = 3rd, completing Dbmaj F chord: vocal Ab = b3, completing Fm [Bbm] vocal Db = b3 I'm in love with you [Ab] vocal C = 3rd but you're blind to me [Db] vocal F = 3rd when you go to bed [Fm] vocal Ab = b3 you don't dream of me
Rhythm + bass: Bb5 -> C5 -> F5 (chromatic climb, distinct from the standard chorus loop) With vocal: Bbm-ish -> Cm walking to C major -> Fm Vocal sits on: C5 chord: vocal C (root), then Eb (b3, Cm color), briefly to E natural (the major 3rd of C, a chromatic lift just before the bridge) (F5) I know it's the only way on your way to work I'm not anywhere on your mind you'll be rid of me in time
Same rhythm + bass loop as chorus one. The vocal melody now lands on the chord 3rds and b3rds in the same way, so the completed chord names are the same: Db, Bbm, Ab, Fm. [Db] vocal F = 3rd I keep thinking that we're still in love [Bbm] vocal Db = b3 and believe you me, I tried, I tried [Ab] vocal C = 3rd I've been sleeping in the trunk while you drive [Fm] vocal Ab = b3 I have always been your ride or die
Rhythm + bass: F5 with Ab now sitting clearly in the rhythm guitar
With vocal: Fm, unambiguous (the rhythm guitar supplies the b3 itself
on this section, so the vocal does not need to complete it)
Vocal sits on: F (root), no third needed from the vocal
[Fm]
You love the sound
sound that my beating heart is making just for you
You love the sound
sound of my beating heart, you hold in front of you
Rhythm + bass: F5 (with the rhythm guitar still adding Ab) -> Ab5 -> Eb5 -> F5 With vocal: Fm -> Ab -> Eb -> Fm Vocal sits on: Fm chord: vocal A natural (the major 3rd, the same bright-over-dark color from verse one) and the brothers' Bb (sus color) Ab chord: vocal C = 3rd, completing Abmaj Eb chord: vocal Eb (root), Bb (5th), and a passing G (3rd of Eb) Fm chord: vocal F (root) on the held lyric "symphony" [Fm] I would cook for you wash your dirty sheets (you love the sound) I would feed you grapes wave a palm leaf (sound that my beating heart is making just for you) [Ab] vocal C = 3rd write a song for you, no, a symphony [Eb] vocal Eb = root, G passing I'm in love with you, but you're blind to me (you love the sound) [Fm] when you go to bed, you don't dream of me (sound that my beating heart, you hold it from the view) [Db] vocal F = 3rd on your way to work [Bbm] vocal Db = b3 I'm not anywhere on your mind
Rhythm + bass: Db5 -> Bb5 -> Ab5 -> F5, twice through, the second pass sustains the F5 under a held C5 voicing in the rhythm guitar With vocal: Db -> Bbm -> Ab -> Fm, twice Vocal sits on the same 3rds and b3rds as chorus one. [Db] vocal F = 3rd I keep thinking that we're still in love [Bbm] vocal Db = b3 and believe you me, I tried, I tried [Ab] vocal C = 3rd I've been sleeping in the trunk while you drive [Fm] vocal Ab = b3 I have always been your ride or die [Db] vocal F = 3rd I keep thinking that we're still in love [Bbm] vocal Db = b3 and believe you me, I tried, I tried [Ab] vocal C = 3rd I've been sleeping in the trunk while you drive [Fm] vocal Ab = b3, with the rhythm guitar's sustained C5 voicing on top I have always been your ride or die [Fm] End on F minor, held.
The earlier pass folded the vocal MIDI track into the chord detector. That single inclusion caused:
The verse to read as F-add9 in places, because the vocal A natural got counted as a chord tone over F + Db. With the vocal excluded, the rhythm + bass alone read cleanly as F5 with a Db Phrygian color.
The chorus Db chord to read as Csus4/F or Dbmaj7 in places, because the vocal F sustained over the Db root looked like a chord-tone 3rd, then dropped to Eb which the detector heard as a 9. With the vocal excluded, the rhythm + bass simply give Db5 plus Ab, and the vocal then supplies F as the completing 3rd.
The bridge "you love the sound" to read as F5add9, because the vocal high G (=2 above F) registered as an added 9. With the vocal excluded, the rhythm guitar's Ab is now visible as the actual b3, and the chord is plainly Fm.
The final cadence to read as Csus4/F, because the vocal's sustained C on "ride or die" got pulled in. With the vocal excluded, the bass is on F and the rhythm guitar holds a high C5 voicing, so the structural label is F5 with a C5 voicing on top, and the vocal's Ab completes Fm.
"Cut the zip ties" rather than "take the zip ties," from the more polished lyric source.
"Wash your dirty sheets" rather than "wash your dirty sheet."
"I've been sleeping" rather than "I been sleeping," for singability.
"I'm not anywhere on your mind" resolves the uncertain line near the layered ending.
The Cyrillic look-alike characters in "love" and "me" were normalized to ordinary Latin letters.
Each chord sits above the exact syllable it lands on, reconstructed from the PDF chord chart by x-position. Source, believeyoume-song-pdfs/01-asleep (bass-MIDI transcription, chords above syllables).
Key center E♭ major. Verse prolongs the tonic through vocal-added color: E♭5 + vocal D = E♭maj7, then the 9 (F) drops in for E♭add9, before the relative minor Cm and a suspended Fadd9.
Key center, E♭ major. Tempo 78.3 BPM, the slowest song on the album and the slowest slow-mode track. 24 sections, cold open, late hook (3:00, the latest hook arrival on the album). The chord chart below is bass-MIDI transcription with chord stamps placed above the syllables they land on.
The verse moves through five chord colors before returning to tonic.
| Chord | Notes | Roman | Function |
|---|---|---|---|
| E♭ | E♭, G, B♭ | I | tonic |
| E♭maj7 | E♭, G, B♭, D | I⁷ | tonic with major-7 color |
| E♭add9 | E♭, G, B♭, F | I⁹ | tonic with added 9 |
| Cm | C, E♭, G | vi | relative minor |
| Fadd9 | F, A, C, G | IIadd9 | suspended IV-area |
The progression opens on tonic and prolongs it through two chord colors (maj7, add9) before moving to the relative minor and closing on a suspended IV-area chord. Per Nobile 2020 (Ch. 1), this is an extended tonic prolongation, the section's harmonic motion held inside the I area for most of its length.
Broken Satellites is the album's one major-key track where the flat sixth functions as ornament rather than structural pivot. Every other song uses the ♭6 as a structural wedge or borrowed color that shapes the harmonic direction. Here the ♭6 appears in voice-leading rather than as a chord root. Major is the full commitment for this song.
The intro features a bass-only chromatic descent, B♭ → A → A♭ → G, a four-note falling line that establishes the key's bass register before the full band enters. The bass takes Moore's low-register-melody role literally and carries the formal opening alone (Moore 2001, Ch. 2).
The outro similarly avoids root-position tonic landing, the section closing on a non-root chord rather than the I. Stephenson 2002 (Ch. 3) catalogs this as one of the methods rock songs use to decline full resolution.
The vocal centers on scale degrees 3, 6, 5, 4, and 2 in E♭ major. These are diatonic degrees with no borrowed tones, a relatively clean tonal palette for an album that elsewhere leans heavily on suspended chords and modal colors. Phrase endings land on 4, 5, 3, and 6.
| Transition | Common tones | Motion |
|---|---|---|
| E♭ → E♭maj7 | all of E♭ triad | tonic color shift, D arrives |
| E♭maj7 → E♭add9 | E♭, G, B♭ | D drops to F (the 9) |
| E♭add9 → Cm | C, E♭ | prolong tonic via relative minor |
| Cm → Fadd9 | C | vi to II, suspended subdominant |
| Fadd9 → E♭ | F | IIadd9 to I, soft return |
| Time | Section | Lift | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0:15 | Intro to Chorus (cold open) | ▲▲ | vox +59.99 from silence, keys +9.16 |
| 0:45 | Verse | · | keys +32.73 |
| 1:30 | Verse | · | |
| 1:45 | Keys swell | ▲▲ | keys +46.25 (pad) |
| 2:00 | Guitar entry | ▲▲ | guitar +1.00 |
| 3:00 | HOOK (180s) | ▲▲ | latest hook on the album, earned by length |
This pane follows the PDF chapter for Broken Satellites (BELIEVEYOUME by Shiner, Chapter 9 of 10). Chord stamps below match the PDF's bass-MIDI transcription with chord names above the lyric syllables they land on. Per feedback_two_chord_policies_book_vs_v2 the album book and the v2 charts hold complementary views; this pane aligns the v2 chart to the book's chord vocabulary so a reader can use either source. PDF at believeyoume-song-pdfs/09-broken-satellites.
Key center F Mixolydian. Three power chords, F→E♭→B♭ as I→♭VII→IV. The vocal flickers the major 3rd (A) against the bare-fifth bed, with the blue ♭3 (A♭) as the modal color.
Key center, F Mixolydian. Tempo 143.6 BPM, the fastest song on the album. Three chords, one mode, no exits. The hook rides I to ♭VII. Verse-peak structure with no chorus lifts. Chord chart below is bass-MIDI transcription with chord stamps placed above the lyric syllables they land on.
| Chord | Notes | Roman | Function |
|---|---|---|---|
| F | F, A, C | I | tonic |
| E♭ | E♭, G, B♭ | ♭VII | Mixolydian subtonic, the modal color |
| B♭ | B♭, D, F | IV | plagal anchor |
The whole song lives inside the seven notes of F Mixolydian. The ♭VII (E♭) is the modal color that keeps the brightness from ever fully arriving. The B♭ (IV) is the only chord that pulls toward a plagal close, and even that turns back to the F to E♭ vamp rather than resolving. No chromatic borrowing anywhere in the song.
F Mixolydian scale, 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - ♭7 - 1, the flat-7 (E♭) is the modal signature. The speed forces low-string riffing.
"On these endless summer days" rides the F to E♭ move, the flatted seventh standing in for the leading tone the major scale would supply. The hook never reaches a leading-tone resolution. The ♭VII pulls every phrase a half-step under where a major resolution would sit.
The Ground Never Settles (predecessor study) reads the same song with a different tonic, B♭ major with the outro dissolving onto F (V), placing it in the refrain-on-V cluster with The Mutiny. The 2026-06-04 audio chroma audit favors the predecessor's reading at the section level (bass plants on B♭ across the song, the rhythm-guitar outro flips to F as dominant pitch class). This pane's F-Mixolydian frame is the local view of the same harmonic content from inside the F vamp. Both frames are evidence-grounded. The Roman numerals on this page read from the F-Mixolydian frame.
At 30.0 seconds the bass stem spikes +2218.53 in relative energy. A stem that was nearly silent erupts into a dominant frequency. At the same moment the drums spike +49.15. These two stems are the drivers of the largest energy event in the song, and both happen in a section labeled verse. The chorus that arrives at 90 seconds shows drums -0.09, bass -0.02. The energy flows in the wrong direction for standard rock architecture and the song is comfortable with that.
| Time | Section | Lift | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | Intro | · | |
| 0:15 | Verse (RMS 0.082) | ▲▲ | loudest section in song |
| 0:30 | Verse, bass erupts | ▲▲ | bass +2218.53 (largest album spike) |
| 0:45 | Verse | · | keys +102.49 (pad) |
| 1:30 | Chorus 1 | , | flat / declining |
| 1:45 | Chorus 2 | , | flat / declining |
Kick first four 16ths mostly empty, then a flood mid-bar through positions 5-12, brief gap, return at the end. The bar feels pushed rather than led. This is the album's only fast-and-delayed pattern; other songs at similar densities tend to be front-loaded.
| Transition | Common tones | Motion |
|---|---|---|
| F → E♭ | none | I to ♭VII, the Mixolydian step-down (the hook) |
| E♭ → B♭ | B♭ | ♭VII to IV, flat-side to plagal |
| B♭ → F | F | IV to I, plagal turn back to the vamp |
This pane follows the PDF chapter for Endless Summer (BELIEVEYOUME by Shiner, Chapter 6 of 10). Chord stamps below match the PDF's bass-MIDI transcription with chord names above the lyric syllables they land on. Per feedback_two_chord_policies_book_vs_v2 the album book and the v2 charts hold complementary views; this pane aligns the v2 chart to the book's chord vocabulary so a reader can use either source. PDF at believeyoume-song-pdfs/06-endless-summer.
Key center B♭ Mixolydian. Opens on the vi (Gm) before settling into B♭→A♭→E♭ (I→♭VII→IV). The vocal traces a B♭maj9 outline without sounding the root.
Key center, B♭ Mixolydian. Tempo 95.7 BPM. Album closer, the most compressed structure on the record at 12 sections. Cold-open chorus, vocal enters at 15.1 s with delta +591.63, near-zero to full vocal presence in one section. Chord chart below is bass-MIDI transcription with chord stamps placed above the lyric syllables they land on.
| Chord | Notes | Roman | Function |
|---|---|---|---|
| B♭ | B♭, D, F | I | tonic |
| A♭ | A♭, C, E♭ | ♭VII | Mixolydian subtonic (most frequent borrowing) |
| E♭ | E♭, G, B♭ | IV | plagal anchor |
| Gm | G, B♭, D | vi | the song's opening chord |
| Dm | D, F, A | iii | passing color |
| F | F, A, C | V | appears once, never cadences |
B♭ Mixolydian scale, 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - ♭7 - 1, the flat-7 (A♭) replaces the major 7. The A♭ chord is the song's most frequent borrowing. The song opens on the vi (Gm) before settling into the I to ♭VII to IV vocabulary, so the harmony arrives sideways rather than announcing the tonic. The ♭VII appears more than any chord except the tonic itself, which gives the closer its bright-but-shadowed Mixolydian color without a single chromatic borrowing.
The vocal enters at the intro-chorus boundary at 15.1 seconds with a delta of +591.63. Near-zero to full presence in one section. The bass also moves at that boundary, +0.25, the first stem to show measurable non-vocal energy. Then drums and keys add modest support. Jackie opens with its chorus because the album is ending and there is nothing left to withhold.
The drum pattern is the most saturated on the album. Kick hits 14 of 16 16th-note positions, snare misses only two, hihat is continuous from position 2 onward. At 95.7 BPM the nearly-full grid creates a wall-of-sound drum feel that pushes the song forward without rushing it. Lazarus used dense drumming to sustain a plateau, Jackie uses it to push toward a finish line.
The vocal stays at the lowest density on the record. Voiced ratio 0.074 (present roughly seven percent of the analyzed window), pitch range 19 semitones (second-tightest on the album). The melodic writing is stepwise and narrow, a closing voice that has stopped reaching. The earlier per-song key detection placed this track a fifth away, so the published scale-degree counts for Jackie were measured against the wrong tonic and are omitted here. The smallest vocal footprint on the album rides the densest drum floor.
| Time | Section | Lift | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0:15 | Cold open chorus | ▲▲ | vox +591.63, the album closer's only LIFT |
| 0:30 | Chorus 2 | , | flat |
| 0:45 | Chorus 3 | , | flat |
| 1:00 | Chorus 4 | , | flat |
| 1:30 | Bridge | , | flat |
| 1:45 | Verse | , | flat (near-zero deltas) |
| 2:15 | Verse | , | arrangement locked to the end |
| Transition | Common tones | Motion |
|---|---|---|
| Gm → B♭ | B♭, D | vi to I, the relative-major lift into the tonic |
| B♭ → A♭ | none | Mixolydian step-down, I to ♭VII |
| A♭ → E♭ | E♭ | ♭VII to IV, both flat-side of the tonic |
| E♭ → B♭ | B♭ | IV to I, plagal return |
This pane follows the PDF chapter for Jackie (BELIEVEYOUME by Shiner, Chapter 10 of 10, the album closer). Chord stamps below match the PDF's bass-MIDI transcription with chord names above the lyric syllables they land on. The PDF reading (B♭ Mixolydian) replaces my earlier A♭-tonic-with-cluster-dyad analysis. Per feedback_two_chord_policies_book_vs_v2 the album book and the v2 charts hold complementary views; this pane aligns the v2 chart to the book's chord vocabulary. PDF at believeyoume-song-pdfs/10-jackie.
Key center C minor. One C5 voicing over a walking bass renames the chord each bar; the vocal completes Cm7, A♭, E♭, B♭7, Fadd9, closing on the audio-verified B♭m7.
Key center, C minor. Drop C tuning, 117 BPM, 138 bars (matches the Songsterr 138-measure tab exactly). The album's most harmonically active song in absolute chord count, 283 raw harmonic-change events (predecessor study), against a catalog average closer to 140. The song begins in chorus state from bar 1 and stays there. Seven consecutive non-lifting choruses, the album record. Chord chart below is bass-MIDI transcription with chord stamps placed above the lyric syllables they land on.
The intro states Cm → A♭ → G (i → ♭VI → V), a three-chord frame that establishes the key and its two primary borrowed-major sonorities in the opening bars.
The verse expands to Cm7 → A♭ → E♭ → B♭7 → Gm → Fadd9, a six-chord movement that covers the full tonal range of C natural minor and extends to the subtonic area through Fadd9. The verse returns to Cm at the end of each cycle, a closed loop per Nobile's definition with closure registering as bass-pitch return rather than cadential grammar (Nobile 2020, Ch. 1).
The bridge moves Gm7 → E♭dim → A♭7 → Cm7 → G. The E♭ diminished chord is the most colorful moment harmonically, and the bridge-G functions as Stephenson's temporary dominant, the raised V of C minor signalling energy accumulation without resolving classically (Stephenson 2002, Ch. 4).
| Chord | Notes | Roman | Function |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cm | C, E♭, G | i | tonic minor |
| A♭ | A♭, C, E♭ | ♭VI | borrowed major |
| Gm | G, B♭, D | v | minor dominant (no leading tone) |
| E♭ | E♭, G, B♭ | ♭III | relative major |
| B♭7 | B♭, D, F, A♭ | ♭VII7 | secondary dominant |
| Fadd9 | F, A, C, G | iv-add-9 | modal color |
| B♭m7 | B♭, D♭, F, A♭ | ♭VII (audio-verified terminus) | held across last ~59 of 63 bars, ♭VII of Cm with own ♭7 and ♭9 |
The song closes non-resolving on a B♭m7 / B♭m11 voicing, B♭ in the bass with A♭ and D♭ above (the ♭VII of C minor stating its own ♭7 and ♭9), held across the last ~59 of 63 bars before the audio cuts. The chord-chart sheet labels this terminus "G♯7" with an augmented-sixth-quality reading, but the audio stems do not support that label. The bass plants on B♭ and the rhythm guitar voices A♭ and D♭ above it. The earlier "Cm to G♯7" reading is retained as the chart-side claim; the audio-verified terminus is B♭m7. See audit_lazarus_alligator_audio_2026-06-04.md for the bass and rhythm-guitar chroma analysis.
The chromagram's initial detection locked onto the Drop-C open-string drone in the intro and returned a single repeated chord. That was an analysis artifact, not a description of the song. The composition moves through six chords inside what Stephenson names the chromatic-minor system (i, II, III, iv, V, VI, vii°), the palette that lets a minor-key song carry both the major-V and the natural-minor-v without contradiction.
Kick hits 13 of 16 16th-note positions, snare 10 of 16 in grouped clusters at positions 1, 4-5, 7-9, 11, 14-16. High-information polyrhythmic texture. By Moore's four-layer stratification (Moore 2001, Ch. 2), the drums hold with aggressive density and provide the primary textural energy; the guitar holds with occasional brief building phases; the bass holds beneath without leading; the keys support with sporadic entry moments; the vocal is an intermittent soloist in a 15-semitone window, present 17 percent of the time. No stem leads in the conventional sense of taking the arrangement to a new height. All stems hold.
| Time | Section | Lift | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | Chorus (begins HERE) | ▲▲ | song opens at max, no intro |
| 0:15 | Chorus 2 | , | flat |
| 0:30 | Verse | · | guitar +1.18 |
| 1:15 | Verse build | · | guitar +1.16, keys +0.56 |
| 1:30 | Chorus 3 | , | flat |
| 2:00 | Chorus 4-7 | , | all 4 flat, 7 consecutive non-lifting choruses, album record |
| Transition | Common tones | Motion |
|---|---|---|
| Cm → A♭ | C, E♭ | i to ♭VI, Aeolian descent |
| A♭ → G | none | leading-tone-from-above (chromatic) |
| G → Cm | G | V → i possible, song avoids confirming |
| Cm → B♭m7 | , | flat-side terminus, audio-verified |
Lazarus rose from the dead after being called. The song never rises. It is up. The 117 BPM drive, the six-chord C minor progression, the dense polyrhythmic drums, the song is at maximum activation from the first bar and stays there. This is the album's most committed plateau, a track that defines chorus as a permanent state rather than a dynamic peak.
This pane follows the PDF chapter for Lazarus (BELIEVEYOUME by Shiner, Chapter 7 of 10). Chord stamps below match the PDF's bass-MIDI transcription with chord names above the lyric syllables. The PDF reading (six-chord C minor harmonic movement) replaces my earlier "fixed C5 voicing over six bass roots" analysis. Lazarus has lyrics; my earlier "harmony-only no confirmed vocal" claim was wrong. Per feedback_two_chord_policies_book_vs_v2 the album book and the v2 charts hold complementary views; this pane aligns the v2 chart to the book's chord vocabulary. PDF at believeyoume-song-pdfs/07-lazarus.
Key center E minor (Aeolian). All-minor cycle, Em→D→Bm→Am as i→♭VII→v→iv. The vocal contributes the contested 3rd (G♯ vs G♮) over the E pedal.
Key center, E minor (Aeolian). Tempo 112.3 BPM. Wall-of-snare drum bed with 13/16 snare positions. No confirmed chorus lifts. The intro-to-verse transition at 15 seconds is the loudest single boundary event on the album, with vocal +631.18 RMS from silence. Chord chart below is bass-MIDI transcription with chord stamps placed above the lyric syllables they land on.
| Chord | Notes | Roman | Function |
|---|---|---|---|
| Em | E, G, B | i | tonic minor |
| D | D, F♯, A | ♭VII | subtonic, the one non-minor chord |
| Bm | B, D, F♯ | v | minor dominant (no leading tone) |
| Am | A, C, E | iv | subdominant minor |
E minor scale, 1 - 2 - ♭3 - 4 - 5 - ♭6 - ♭7 - 1. Low E and B open strings ring naturally beneath the i to ♭VII to v cycle. The hook "my mirror hates me today" runs Em to D to Bm (i to ♭VII to v), and the iv (Am) deepens it in the second half.
Every chord except the ♭VII is minor, which is what gives the song its airless quality. There is no major chord to open a window, no borrowed brightness, just the tonic minor and its nearest minor relations turning over. The D (♭VII) is the one chord without a minor third, and even it functions as a subtonic that declines to lead. This is Stephenson's natural-minor system in its purest form, the palette where v stays minor instead of being raised to V, where ♭VII substitutes for the leading-tone V, and where chord motion never carries a tritone toward the tonic (Stephenson 2002, Ch. 4).
The Em to D to Bm to Am cycle reads as a closed loop in Nobile's sense, the section returning to Em by bass-pitch reentry rather than by cadence (Nobile 2020, Ch. 1). The song lives inside the natural minor and never reaches outside it.
The intro-to-verse transition at 15.0 seconds is the loudest single boundary event on the album. Drums arrive at +1.17, bass at +1.04, guitar at +3.17, keys at +0.84, vocals at +631.18. The vocal number is a near-zero to active switch in a previously silent stem. The guitar delta of 3.17 is the largest guitar entry across all intro boundaries on the record. The song announces itself in a single bar and then holds that level for the rest of its runtime.
The drum pattern is the most snare-forward on the album. Kick clustered at the front with a single late hit. Snare hits 13 of 16 16th-note positions, almost continuous from the midpoint through the end of the bar. Hihat irregular and complementary to the snare density. At 112.3 BPM continuous snare pressure generates a wall of high-mid attack. The drums are not driving forward, they are pressing from behind.
Range 38 semitones, voiced ratio 0.08, the vocal is present only about 8 percent of the time, the third-lowest density on the album. The earlier per-song key detection placed this track at a different tonic, so the published scale-degree counts are omitted here rather than restated against E minor without the raw pitch track to recompute. What holds is the texture, a wide, sparse vocal that enters in short phrases over long silences, riding the all-minor cycle below.
| Time | Section | Lift | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0:15 | Wall (intro to verse) | ▲▲ | loudest single boundary on the album: gtr +3.17, vox +631 |
| 0:30 | Chorus 1 | , | drums +0.14, flat after the opening wall |
| 0:45 | Chorus 2 | , | flat |
| 1:00 | Chorus 3 | , | flat |
| 1:45 | Chorus 4 | , | flat (keys read +122, pad only) |
| 2:00 | Chorus 5 | , | flat, song never surpasses its opening |
| Transition | Common tones | Motion |
|---|---|---|
| Em → D | none | i to ♭VII, the hook's opening step-down |
| D → Bm | D, F♯ | ♭VII to v, settling onto the minor dominant |
| Bm → Am | A | v to iv, the second-half deepening |
| Am → Em | E | iv to i, plagal turn back to the tonic |
This pane follows the PDF chapter for My Mirror Hates Me (BELIEVEYOUME by Shiner, Chapter 5 of 10). Chord stamps below match the PDF's bass-MIDI transcription with chord names above the lyric syllables. The PDF reading (Em / D / Bm / Am as i / ♭VII / v / iv in E Aeolian) replaces my earlier "E pedal with contested G♯/G♮ third and chromatic-descent chorus" analysis. Per feedback_two_chord_policies_book_vs_v2 the album book and the v2 charts hold complementary views; this pane aligns the v2 chart to the book's chord vocabulary. PDF at believeyoume-song-pdfs/05-my-mirror.
Key center A♭ major / B♭ Dorian. Rocks ii→I (B♭m↔A♭); the vocal supplies the chord-defining tones while the bass walks the melodic spine, with D♭, Cm, E♭ flickering at phrase edges.
Key center, A♭ major / B♭ Dorian field. Tempo 85 BPM. 23 sections, the most structurally complex song on the album. Late hook at 2:15, vocal RMS 0.038, sustain 0.68 seconds per note. The song spends two minutes and fifteen seconds building the context in which that moment registers. Chord chart below is bass-MIDI transcription with chord stamps placed above the lyric syllables they land on.
| Chord | Notes | Roman | Function |
|---|---|---|---|
| B♭m | B♭, D♭, F | ii | the chord the song dwells on |
| A♭ | A♭, C, E♭ | I | tonic, brushed past not landed on |
| D♭ | D♭, F, A♭ | IV | subdominant, passing |
| Cm | C, E♭, G | iii | passing color |
| E♭ | E♭, G, B♭ | V | dominant, flickers in at phrase edges |
The bass-MIDI transcription reads a near-constant oscillation between B♭m and A♭, the supertonic minor and the tonic, with D♭ (IV), Cm (iii), and E♭ (V) passing through. The ii to I rocking is the song's signature, it rests on B♭m, the most frequent chord on the track, and treats A♭ as the place it keeps brushing past rather than landing on.
Where the other songs reach for borrowed-chord arrivals, Not Too Much finds its identity in refusing to settle. The two adjacent chords trade back and forth as the brighter D♭ and E♭ only flicker in at the edges of phrases. Stephenson lists methods to avoid closure in rock including melodic rest on tonic over non-tonic harmony. The predecessor reads Not Too Much as reversing this, tonic harmony arrives under a bass that immediately begins moving away (Stephenson 2002, Ch. 3).
The Ground Never Settles measures this bass line as 100 percent stepwise motion in the MIDI-side reading, every move between adjacent harmonies by half-step or whole-step. The 2026-06-04 audio audit refines that to stepwise-favored, about 34 percent of actual moves are half or whole step with regular larger leaps, 3rds and 5ths fill another 30 percent, octave doubles and slides account for the rest. The predecessor's MIDI-side reading sees the structural skeleton; the pyin-extracted audio sees the played gestures with grace notes and octave doublings. Both readings agree that the bass is the song's melodic spine, taking Moore's low-register-melody role literally, carrying melodic weight that the guitar harmonics above it only decorate (Moore 2001, Ch. 2).
The hook arrives at 135.1 seconds with vocal RMS 0.038 and sustain 0.68 seconds per note. With 23 sections, Not Too Much earns the late hook by filling the front end with small movements. The pull-back at 2:15 reads drums -0.73, bass -0.75, a deliberate hollowing that creates space for the vocal payoff. The pull-back is the first time the arrangement actively creates space rather than simply holding. That space is where the song's identity lives.
The first 16th is silent. The activity begins at position 2 and runs densely through the center of the bar with brief gaps at positions 9 and 14-15. Kick and snare are offset, snare carrying slightly earlier onsets. This is a moderate groove that holds the tempo without pressing it. At 85 BPM the mid-bar density settles into a comfortable midtempo pocket.
| Time | Section | Lift | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | Intro | · | |
| 0:30 | Chorus 1 | , | flat |
| 1:00 | Chorus 2 | , | flat |
| 1:30 | Chorus 3 | , | flat |
| 2:00 | Chorus 4 | , | flat |
| 2:15 | Pull-back | ▲▲ | drums -0.73, bass -0.75 (deliberate hollowing) |
| 2:15 | Hook | ▲▲ | RMS 0.038, the only earned dynamic event, in the emptied space |
The outro unwinds through D♭maj7, B♭dim, B♭7, E♭sus4, Cm7, E♭, D, ending on a D natural that belongs to no key in the song's stated vocabulary. Resolution feels forgotten rather than denied.
| Transition | Common tones | Motion |
|---|---|---|
| B♭m → A♭ | none | ii to I, the song's constant rocking, a whole-step drop |
| A♭ → B♭m | none | I back up to ii, refusing to settle on the tonic |
| A♭ → D♭ | A♭ | I to IV, the one plagal reach |
| B♭m → E♭ | B♭ | ii to V, the rare push toward a dominant |
This pane follows the PDF chapter for Not Too Much (BELIEVEYOUME by Shiner, Chapter 8 of 10). Chord stamps below match the PDF's bass-MIDI transcription with chord names above the lyric syllables. The PDF reading (B♭m to A♭ as ii-I oscillation in A♭ major / B♭ Dorian) replaces my earlier "first-inversion triads B♭/D, A♭/C with C/E to Cm/E♭ bridge" analysis. Per feedback_two_chord_policies_book_vs_v2 the album book and the v2 charts hold complementary views; this pane aligns the v2 chart to the book's chord vocabulary. PDF at believeyoume-song-pdfs/08-not-too-much.
Key center D major. Verse D→G→B♭→A (I→IV→♭VI→V); the vocal is the only instrument that touches the M3 (F♯) over the withheld-third bed, with the ♭VI (B♭) as the menacing pivot.
Key center, D major. Tempo 129.2 BPM, the fastest track on the album. The song opens on its hook at 0:00 with 1.50 second sustain at 129 BPM. The chord language centers on flat-side borrowing throughout, the ♭VI (B♭) as the structural pivot and the song closing on V (A), an open unresolved dominant. Chord chart below is bass-MIDI transcription with chord stamps placed above the lyric syllables they land on.
Verse loop, D → G → B♭ → A, that is I → IV → ♭VI → V. The ♭VI chord (B♭) is the phrase pivot, arriving on the third beat of the loop and pulling the harmony toward the flat side before the V restores the major pull.
Refrain loop, D → B♭ → F → A, that is I → ♭VI → ♭III → V. This intensifies the flat-side saturation, the ♭VI and ♭III arriving consecutively before the song ends on the dominant A. The B♭ chord (♭VI) is the structural pivot in every section it enters; in D major it falls a half-step above the fifth scale degree, carrying a specifically menacing weight that gives So Far So its forward lean.
| Chord | Notes | Roman | Function |
|---|---|---|---|
| D | D, F♯, A | I | tonic |
| G | G, B, D | IV | subdominant |
| B♭ | B♭, D, F | ♭VI | menacing pivot |
| A | A, C♯, E | V | dominant, the song's terminus |
| F | F, A, C | ♭III | refrain flat-side stack |
At 0.0 to 15.0 seconds, vocal RMS 0.0288, the analysis marks the opening section as the highest-scoring hook window with 1.50 seconds per sustained note. The song moves quickly and the vocal chooses to hold.
The vocal pitch vocabulary runs on scale degrees 4, #4, 1, ♭6, and ♭7. The raised fourth (#4) appearing alongside the natural fourth is the characteristic interval here. In D major those are G (natural 4) and G# (raised #4 or A♭), a half-step apart. When a vocalist moves between these two adjacent notes against the flat-side harmonic environment, the effect is ambiguous, neither fully resolved nor fully tense. The phrase endings fall on 4, #4, ♭3, and 2, none of them the tonic. The pitch range of 41 semitones is the second-widest on the album.
Open design. Kick hits beat one and then is absent for seven consecutive 16ths before clustering at positions 9 to 11. Snare mirrors this, one hit, five silent 16ths, an early eighth-note stab, then the same cluster. Hihat irregular, active early, then leaving the back of the bar open. At 129.2 BPM this creates a groove that surges at the downbeat and again at the midbar cluster, with large holes in between. The effect is propulsive but airy, the holes creating the sense of forward motion rather than density.
| Time | Section | Lift | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | Hook (immediate) | ▲▲ | highest-scoring window, 1.50s sustain at 129 BPM |
| 0:30 | Verse 1 | · | |
| 1:30 | Chorus 1 | ▲▲ | LIFT but quietest on album, collective forward lean (drums +0.08, gtr +0.38, keys +0.25, vox +0.17) |
| 1:45 | Chorus 2 | , | flat |
| 2:00 | Chorus 3 | , | flat |
The predecessor study classifies the refrain as a Nobile continuation chorus rather than a telos chorus. It begins off-tonic, with ♭VI (B♭ major) arriving immediately at the refrain boundary, extending the harmonic motion begun in the verse rather than prolonging tonic. The verse progression I, IV, ♭VI, V is a textbook instance of natural-minor borrowing in a major-mode context per Stephenson. The ♭6 (B♭ in D major) arrives in the bass of the ♭VI chord as a downward pull against the major-key frame. PopMatters called the refrain "the best chorus on the record." The song that sounds most like a resolution in the catalog still refuses to supply one because the outro lands on A (V), placing it in the cross-song refrain-ends-on-V cluster with The Mutiny and Endless Summer.
| Transition | Common tones | Motion |
|---|---|---|
| D → G | D | tonic to subdominant |
| G → B♭ | none | chromatic slip to ♭VI |
| B♭ → A | none | leading-tone-from-above, flat-side descent to V |
| D → B♭ | D | refrain: instant tonic to flat-side |
| F → A | none | ♭III to V, chromatic third |
This pane follows the PDF chapter for So Far So (BELIEVEYOUME by Shiner, Chapter 4 of 10). Chord stamps below match the PDF's bass-MIDI transcription with chord names above the lyric syllables. The PDF reading (D → G → B♭ → A verse, D → B♭ → F → A refrain) replaces my earlier "D5 pedal verse with B♭maj9 chorus pivot" analysis. The verse moves through I → IV → ♭VI → V from the third bar onward rather than holding D5 as a pedal for 20 bars. Per feedback_two_chord_policies_book_vs_v2 the album book and the v2 charts hold complementary views; this pane aligns the v2 chart to the book's chord vocabulary. PDF at believeyoume-song-pdfs/04-so-far-so.
Key center G major / ♭III mix. G with ♭III (B♭) borrowing; the vocal supplies the upper-structure tones over the power-chord bed, the G/B I⁶ cadence the form anchor.
Three pieces of information appear at every chord change.
1. **Guitar + bass** , what the rhythm guitar and electric bass actually voice.
2. **With vocal** , the resulting chord once the vocal lands.
3. **Vocal sits on** , what scale degree the vocal is, relative to the completed chord.
Key center: G, mixed mode. The rhythm guitar oscillates between G (with a clear B natural, Mixolydian / major color) and Bb (♭III, borrowed from the parallel minor). The vocal sits in G Mixolydian / Dorian (B natural and C are the entire hook melody, with D and Eb showing up at the lifts). The FIXED chart's "G minor" label captures the Bb chord-color but understates how major the vocal melody is, the song lives in the gap between G major and G minor.
G: G major. Rhythm + bass voice G + D, with the rhythm guitar also adding B natural (the ♮3). The vocal sometimes adds C as a sus 4 color.
Bb: B-flat major. Rhythm + bass voice Bb + F, with G and D from rhythm filling in. The ♭III chord borrowed from G minor.
B: B major (passing). A chromatic upper-neighbor chord between Bb and G, voiced B + D + F♯ in the rhythm guitar's quick climb.
Cm: C minor. Rhythm + bass voice C + G, vocal supplies Eb as the b3.
Eb: E-flat major. Rhythm + bass voice Eb + Bb, vocal supplies G (the major 3rd) when it lands.
F: F major. Rhythm + bass voice F + C, present in the outro.
Verse pattern: G | Bb | (B passing) | G → G | Bb | (B passing) | G
Pre-chorus pattern ("I can let you see"): Cm Eb Cm G
Bridge pattern ("I can let you know"): B (chromatic) → G
Hook ("I'm an alligator"): G | Bb (two bars)
Outro ("I can eat you whole"): G → Bb → G → Eb → G → F → G → Eb → G
Rhythm + bass: G (with B natural and D in rhythm) → Bb → B passing → G With vocal: instrumental, no vocal yet Vocal sits on: silent
Rhythm + bass: G | Bb | B passing | G (repeats) With vocal: G(maj) | Bb | B | G(maj), the vocal anchors the major mode Vocal sits on: B natural (the ♮3 of G) and C natural (the 4 of G), a two-note hook that alternates B and C. The songwriting payoff is that the SAME two vocal notes mean different things over each chord underneath. Over G: B = ♮3, C = sus 4 Over Bb: B = ♯1 (chromatic clash, creates the unease), C = 9th Over B: B = root, C = b9 (briefly atonal, resolves down to Bb) [G] vocal B = ♮3 of G What is that you say? [Bb] vocal C = 9 of Bb What is it you think you have to say? [G] vocal B = ♮3 I know what you need. [Bb] vocal C = 9 I know what you love and where you've been. [B → G] vocal B over B = root, returning to ♮3 over G What is that you say? [G] vocal B = ♮3 I know what you think before you say it.
Rhythm + bass: G | Bb With vocal: Gmaj | Bb, the vocal completes G major on the title line Vocal sits on: B = ♮3 of G, C = 9 of Bb [G] vocal B = ♮3 I'm an alligator. [Bb] vocal C = 9 I'm an alligator.
Rhythm + bass: G | Eb | Cm | Eb | Cm | G With vocal: Gmaj | Eb (with vocal lift to D, the 7th of Eb) | Cm | Eb | Cm | Gmaj Vocal sits on: G chord: B = ♮3 Eb chord: D = ♮7 (a wistful lifted color), Eb = root Cm chord: D = 9 of Cm, Eb = b3 (completes Cm) [G] vocal B = ♮3 I know what you need. [Eb] vocal D = ♮7 of Eb (the lift) I know what you need and where to get it. [Cm] vocal Eb = b3 of Cm I can let you see. [Eb] vocal Eb = root, D leans down a half-step I won't leave you cold in stormy weather. [Cm] vocal Eb = b3 [G] vocal D resolves down to B = ♮3
Rhythm + bass: B (chromatic) → G → B → G With vocal: B (briefly) → Gmaj → B → Gmaj Vocal sits on: B chord: B = root, C = b9 (the chromatic anguish) G chord: B = ♮3, C = 4 [B] vocal B = root, C = b9 (chromatic tension) I can let you know. [B] vocal stays on B/C while the chord lingers I can keep you deep inside a hole. [G] vocal B = ♮3 I know what you need. [B → G] vocal pivots back to ♮3 of G I know what you need and where to get it.
Rhythm + bass: G | Bb | G | Bb | G (the hook extended) With vocal: same two-note hook (B and C) over the alternation Vocal sits on: B and C, exactly as before [G] vocal B = ♮3 I'm an alligator. [Bb] vocal C = 9 I'm an alligator. [G] vocal B = ♮3 I'm an alligator. (I can let you know) (I can let you know) [Bb] vocal C = 9 I'm an alligator. (I can let you know) [G] (I can eat you whole)
Rhythm + bass: G | Bb | G | Eb | G | F | G | Eb | G With vocal: G | Bb | G | Eb | G | F | G | Eb | G Vocal sits on: G chord: A = 9 (the new note, replacing B for the outro lift), G = root Eb chord: Bb = 5th, A = ♮7 (briefly, a pulled-up leading tone), D = 7th F chord: D = 6th of F, A = ♮3 (completes F major) [G] vocal A = 9 of G (new outro color, no longer the B-C hook) I can eat you whole. [Bb] vocal D = ♮3 of Bb I won't let you go. [G] vocal A = 9 I can eat you whole. [Eb] vocal Bb = 5, D = ♮7 lift, Eb = root I won't let you go. [G] vocal A = 9 I can eat you whole. (I am an alligator) [F] vocal A = ♮3 of F I can eat you whole. [G] vocal A = 9 I won't let you go. (I am an alligator) [Eb] vocal D = ♮7, then to A which is the ♯4 (Lydian color, briefly) [G] vocal G = root, A = 9 (the song settles) I can eat you whole. I won't let you go.
The earlier pass folded the vocal MIDI track into the chord detector. The most visible distortions:
The verse chord on bar 2 read as G6 or Gadd9, because the vocal C was counted as a chord tone (sus 4) over G + D + B in rhythm. With the vocal excluded, the rhythm + bass alone read as a plain G with its ♮3 in the rhythm guitar, and the vocal C is correctly identified as a top-line sus tone rather than a chord member.
The Bb chord at bar 4 read as Bb6/9, because the vocal C (9 of Bb) and the rhythm's G note (which is the 6 of Bb) both got pulled into the label. With the vocal excluded, the chord is plainly Bb with a high G ringing on top (Bb + D + F + G, a common Shiner voicing where the high G is structural to the chord shape), and the vocal C is the top-line 9.
The bridge "B" chord read as Bdim or Bm7 in the prior pass, because the vocal C against B in the rhythm read as a b9. With the vocal excluded, the rhythm + bass alone give a B major triad (B + D♯ + F♯ in the rhythm guitar's voicing), and the vocal C is correctly identified as a chromatic b9 melody note, not a chord tone.
The outro F chord read as F6/9, because the vocal A (♮3) and D (6) were both melodic, not chordal. With the vocal excluded, the chord is plainly F major (F + A from rhythm guitar, C in rhythm), and the vocal degrees stand out as melodic decisions rather than chord-spelling.
"Where you've been" rather than "where you been," for grammatical consistency.
"I won't let you go" (not "let you know"), the title-line cadence everywhere else in the outro.
"I won't leave you cold" left intact, that phrase reads correctly against the bass and the imagery.
The glued "EbGm" pair was separated into "Eb G" for readability.
Confirm the bridge chord is genuinely B major rather than the F♯aug voicing (F♯-A♯-D), the bass extraction can read either depending on inversion.
Confirm the outro "Eb G" is two distinct bars or a single Eb to G slide inside one bar.
Count the "I'm an alligator" hook repetitions, the chart prints three or four, the recording may have a fourth pass before the (I can let you know) parenthetical.
Each chord sits above the exact syllable it lands on, reconstructed from the PDF chord chart by x-position. Source, believeyoume-song-pdfs/02-the-alligator (bass-MIDI transcription, chords above syllables).
Key center G♯ minor. Held vocal B♭ switches between the root of B♭5 and the M3 of G♭5; the song pivots I↔♭VI with the vocal as the reframing through-line.
Three pieces of information appear at every chord change.
1. **Guitar + bass** , what the rhythm guitar and electric bass actually voice. Note that the bass enters partway through the song (around bar 39); the early verses are rhythm-guitar-and-vocal only.
2. **With vocal** , the chord that lands once the vocal is in.
3. **Vocal sits on** , the scale degree the vocal note is, relative to the completed chord.
Key center: F# major, with A#m as the minor-iii lift and G#m as the minor-ii lift. A diminished F (Fdim) appears as a chromatic passing chord at the bridge.
F#: F# major. Rhythm voices F# + C# (root + 5), the rhythm guitar also adds A# (the major 3rd) in many bars. The bass enters on F# from bar 43 onward.
A#m: A# minor (= Bb minor enharmonically). Rhythm voices A# + F (= E#, the 5th of A#m, written as F natural in the extract), and adds C# as the b3. Bass on A# (= Bb).
G#m: G# minor (= Ab minor). Rhythm voices G# + D# (= Ab + Eb), and the vocal supplies the b3 (B natural) when it lands.
Fdim: F diminished. A chromatic passing chord between G#m and F#. Rhythm voices F + Ab + B briefly.
Verse 1: F# | A#m | F# | A#m
Verse 2: A#m | F# | G#m | G#m
Bridge: G#m → Fdim → G#m (the Fdim is the song's most-arresting chromatic moment)
Refrain: G#m | F# | A#m
Final verse: F# (held)
Closing couplet: G#m | A#m | F#
Rhythm + bass: F# alternating with A#m, instrumental, no bass yet With vocal: instrumental Vocal sits on: silent until bar 19
Rhythm + bass: F# | A#m | F# | A#m (rhythm guitar only, bass not in yet) With vocal: F# | A#m | F# | A#m, the vocal anchors on A# = Bb Vocal sits on: F# chord: vocal A# = ♮3, completes F# major A#m chord: vocal A# = root, anchors the new chord The same vocal note A# (= Bb in the extract notation) means two different things over the two chords. This is the song's central pivot: A# is the 3rd of F# AND the root of A#m, so the chord changes underneath the held vocal and the listener feels the shift even though the melody hasn't moved. [F#] vocal A# = ♮3 of F# Captain, I believe we've sprung a leak. [A#m] vocal A# = root of A#m Captain, I believe we're lost at sea. [F#] vocal A# = ♮3 All the men are at their stations, [A#m] vocal A# = root but now they're at the end of their patience.
Rhythm + bass: A#m | F# | G#m | G#m With vocal: A#m | F# | G#m | G#m, the vocal now adds G# and F# to the two-note hook, opening the melody up Vocal sits on: A#m chord: vocal A# = root, F# = b6, G# = ♮7 lift F# chord: vocal F# = root (the melody briefly settles) G#m chord: vocal A# = ♮9, G# = root [A#m] vocal A# = root Captain, I believe we've sprung a leak. [F#] vocal F# = root Portside breach and taking on the sea. [G#m] vocal A# = ♮9 of G#m, G# = root Now the men abandoned stations. [G#m] vocal A# = ♮9, G# = root, with Eb (= D# = the 5th) coming in Our destiny has finally found us.
Rhythm + bass: G#m → Fdim (chromatic passing) → G#m With vocal: Eb-centered melody pivots into the Fdim and lands back on G#m Vocal sits on: G#m chord: vocal Eb (= D#) = 5th, vocal C natural (= the b3 of Ab major read as 2-against-G#m) acts as a leading tone into Db Fdim chord: vocal C (= the ♭5 of F diminished, F-Ab-Cb), the most-dissonant vocal-against-chord moment in the song [G#m] vocal Eb (= D#) = 5th, vocal C natural creating tension Soon the men will come to hang us. [Fdim] vocal C natural = the ♭5 of F dim (F-Ab-Cb), then resolving down The dawn will come and they won't find us in the waves.
Rhythm + bass: G#m → F# → A#m With vocal: G#m → F# → A#m, the vocal carries the A held over the bar change, the same pivot trick from verse 1 but at higher altitude Vocal sits on: G#m chord: vocal A natural (= the ♮9 / 2nd, briefly a Dorian color) then to Bb / A#, then back to G# / Ab F# chord: vocal A# = ♮3 of F# (the song settles), G = ♭2 chromatic A#m chord: vocal D = ♭4 of A#m, briefly atonal then resolving [G#m] vocal A = ♮9, then Bb = b3 of G#m completing the triad Who would think I'd die with you tonight? [Fdim] vocal C# = the 5th of F# (or read as the b5 of F dim) Set the sails ablaze and partied, they drank a toast to their mutiny. [A#m] vocal D = b4 (briefly atonal), then to Bb = root Then they danced and rowed away and left us in the waves.
Rhythm + bass: F# (held, with the bass also on F#) With vocal: F# major, the vocal A# is now back in its ♮3-of-F# role Vocal sits on: A# = ♮3, F = E# = ♭9 / leading tone color, A = ♭3 (briefly, a mode-mixture lift before settling) [F#] Captain, our ship is almost gone. Listing badly, waiting for the dawn. [F#] I can't say I ever really knew who you were and why I died with you.
Rhythm + bass: G#m → A#m → F# With vocal: G#m → A#m → F#, the same pivot song closing arc Vocal sits on: G#m chord: vocal D = b5 (briefly), F = b7 / Aeolian color, Eb = 5th A#m chord: vocal Eb = ♭4, D = b3, both leaning into F# resolution F# chord: vocal F = E# / leading tone resolving up, then to A# = ♮3 [G#m] vocal D = b5 of G#m (dissonant), Eb = 5th, F = b7 Captain, I believe I see it clear. [A#m] vocal D = b3, Eb = ♭4 [F#] vocal A# = ♮3, the song settles back on F# major The sun is rising as we disappear.
The earlier pass folded the vocal MIDI track into the chord detector. The most visible distortions:
The verse-1 F# chord read as F#6 or F#add6 in places, because the vocal A# was right there in the chord-detector's pitch pool. Without the vocal, the rhythm guitar voices F# + C# as a clear root-and-5th, and the vocal's A# is correctly understood as the melodic 3rd that completes the triad. The pivot to A#m on the second half of the line happens entirely in the bass (and in the rhythm guitar adding F = E# as the 5th of A#m), with the vocal note unchanged.
The A#m chord read as A#m(add9) in spots, because the vocal G# (= Ab) was being counted as a chord tone. Without the vocal, the rhythm-and-bass voicing is plainly A# + F + C# (root + 5 + b3), and the vocal G# is correctly the melodic 9th, a leading-tone color rather than a chord member.
The bridge Fdim read as F7♭5 or Bdim in alternate passes, because the vocal C natural (the b5 of F dim) was getting included as a chord tone but also clashing with other expectations. Without the vocal, the rhythm guitar's F + Ab + B (the triadic Fdim voicing) is unambiguous, and the vocal C natural is correctly the dissonant b5 melody note that walks into Db on the next bar.
The refrain G#m read as G#m(add9) or A♭6, because the vocal A natural (= the ♮9 of G#m) was creating a phantom 9-note chord. Without the vocal, the rhythm + bass is clear G# + D# (root + 5), and the vocal A natural sits on top as a Dorian-ish 2nd that resolves down to G# on the next phrase.
"At the end of their patience" rather than "at the end of the patience," the cleaner published lyric is possessive.
Added the verse-1 chords (F# and A#m) that the prior MIDI extract omitted, the MIDI bass under those lines reads as F# and A# alternating.
Restored the comma after "Captain" in each address line for singing clarity.
Comma after "Listing badly," to mark the natural breath.
Confirm the bridge Fdim is a true F diminished or the bass briefly outlining a passing F♯-to-G♯m run. The MIDI reads Fdim; some live versions blur it into the G♯m landing.
Confirm the cadence of "in the waves" / "who would think" between the bridge and the refrain, the chart treats them as one continuous arc but the recording may insert a half-bar rest.
Confirm the final couplet's bar count: G♯m and A♯m may share a bar with F♯ rather than each occupying a full bar.
Each chord sits above the exact syllable it lands on, reconstructed from the PDF chord chart by x-position. Source, believeyoume-song-pdfs/03-the-mutiny (bass-MIDI transcription, chords above syllables).