One held note carries this one too. The singer camps on D through the whole song. Under the verse it is the flat seventh of Em7, and in the chorus it becomes the root of the D chord and then the seventh of the E7 that pulls. Grounded in the transcribed keys and guitar MIDI, a pyin read of the vocal stem, and the Racy chord chart.
Keys · Hooray For Earth
E minor · verse · one held D means four things under four chords
Reading the numbers over each vocal note: 1 root, 3 major third, 5 fifth, 7 major seventh, 9 ninth, 11 the fourth sung as a color tone, 13 thirteenth (the sixth), b7 / b3 the lowered seventh and third, #11 / b9 the raised fourth and lowered ninth. Every label is the interval that sung note makes against the chord sounding beneath it in the staff directly below.
The verse runs Em7 (i), G (III), Bm7 (v), Aadd9 (IV).
The singer camps on D, 53 percent of the sung notes in the verse.
Over Em7 that D is the flat seventh, the note that makes the tonic an Em7 and keeps it from resting.
Over G (III) the same D is the fifth, plain and stable.
Over Bm7 (v) that D is the minor third of the chord.
Over Aadd9 (IV) the D turns into the fourth, a suspension against a major chord.
That IV is A major with a C# in it, a Dorian brightness leaning up against the minor key.
One held D, four chords, four jobs, and the leading tone never shows up.
favorite momentThe held D: flat seventh over Em7, fifth over G, minor third over Bm7, fourth over Aadd9, one note wearing four hats.
The vocal staff carries the engraved lyric (melody from a pyin read of the isolated stem, D dominant); guitar carries rendered tab, bass reads on octave-transposed bass clef in standard tuning (bass tab is 4-string EADG). Chord voicings from the transcribed keys and guitar MIDI plus the Racy chord chart.
E minor · chorus · the held D becomes the root of bVII, then the seventh of E7
The chorus runs Gmaj7 (III), Cmaj7 (♭VI), D (♭VII), E7 (V7).
The singer keeps holding D, 56 percent of the chorus notes.
Over Cmaj7 (♭VI) that D is the ninth, an added-second tension over the borrowed chord.
Over the D chord (♭VII) the note finally becomes the root, the one place it resolves.
Then E7 arrives with a G# in it, the one leading tone in the whole song.
The D in the voice is the seventh of that E7, so the singer sits inside the chord that pulls.
E7 lands under the word answer, and the brightness of the G# is the answer the lyric asks for.
The ♭VI to ♭VII walk, C up to D, is the plain Aeolian lift into the dominant.
favorite momentThe D becoming the seventh of E7 under the word answer, the singer sitting inside the one chord that pulls.
The vocal staff carries the engraved lyric; guitar carries rendered tab, bass reads on octave-transposed bass clef. Vocal line and pitch counts from a pyin read of the isolated stem; chords from the Racy chord chart.
E minor · outro · the singer leaves and the modal loop turns on alone
The outro loops Em7 (i), G (III), D (♭VII), Cmaj7 (♭VI).
The vocals drop out and the band runs the modal loop with no singer on top.
D as ♭VII and C as ♭VI keep the flat side of the key in the front.
Nothing here moves toward the dominant or a real cadence home.
The loop just turns, i to III to ♭VII to ♭VI, and fades on the minor.
The same D that carried the vocal is now only in the chords, holding the color down.
favorite momentThe singer leaving and the modal loop turning on without him, flat sixth and flat seventh holding the color.
Outro is instrumental (the whisper transcript's last sung line lands at 3:17 of 4:08), so the vocal staff rests, marked tacet. Guitar carries a rendered tab staff; bass reads on octave-transposed bass clef. Voicings from the transcribed MIDI and the Racy chord chart.