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hi everybody my name is ixi and in this
video i'm going to explore the magical
harmony of everything in its right place
from radiohead's kid a
because when i first heard this song 20
years ago it was just instant adoration
and that hasn't changed since
[Music]
there's a part in the song that never
fails to make my eyes well up and i love
to figure out why i cry so in this video
i'm going to talk about the chord
progression and the harmonies and how
they create emotional tension and relief
i'm also going to talk about how without
a very simple but powerful arrangement
choice everything would not be in its
right place and i'm also going to talk
about the ambiguous tonal center or the
key well i am far from being the first
person to analyze the harmony of this
song and one of the hot topics of
discussion is the tonal center or the
key in a lot of mainstream music
it takes mere seconds to figure out what
the key of a song is this one it's
really not clear and i think it's
largely a matter of interpretation it
just depends on what angle you're
looking at it from i think the lyrics
are similar in that way where it sort of
depends on how you interpret them what
their meaning is the key is not just the
sharps and flats the key is the tonal
center of the song this is the note or
the chord where everything sounds
finished and complete like the end of a
sentence it's where everything sounds
the most resolved and the most stable
other chords and notes in the song
create varying levels of tension that
want to pull you back to the tonal
center you can imagine that emotionally
this has an impact on us we get a great
sense of relief and certainty from
hearing something return to the tunnel
center similarly we might feel feelings
of excitement or anxiety or
poignant beauty when we feel tension
pulling us away at first the song sounds
like it's in c something and then it
sounds like it's an f something and then
back to c then back to f the reason i'm
saying something is because it's not
major or minor here's what the chorus
would sound like in c major
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but here's what it really sounds like
[Music]
and there are four chords that are being
used in different combinations to create
three different chord progressions in
the song we have c major
with a c on top
we have a d flat major 7
and we have an e flat at 6.
we also have a f major going to c
to d flat major 7 to e flat at 6.
and lastly my favorite we have a d flat
major seven going to c
to e flat add six and ending on a d flat
major seven there's a c on top of every
single chord and this is the arrangement
choice that i was talking about this c
is what's creating the tension in two
out of the four chords so in the first
chord c is the chord so c fits into the
chord very nicely
it's just an octave above the root of
the chord but in this chord
that would just be a d flat major chord
we have a c on top and that creates
tension and that sounds kind of jazzy
that's because jazz uses a lot of chords
with extensions there's so much tension
in this chord just by itself
it's created by a major seventh sort of
encasing everything then the next chord
is an e flat chord with an added sixth
[Music]
and that creates tension as well because
there's a major second now
which is a very tense interval but very
bright very pleasing
and it also means the sort of the
encasing of this chord is a sixth which
is very consonant but unstable sounding
not like a fifth
doesn't it feel kind of like it's
reaching somewhere it's not sure where
it wants to go
so that is what makes those two chords
so tense
is keeping the c on top and then we have
an f major chord which has really no
tension in fact that feels like the
least tense chord in the bunch
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so there are a few reasons why i think
that the song sounds like it's in c at
first the first chord progression that
we hear only has the c major the d flat
major 7 and the e flat add 6.
out of the bunch the c major chord is
the most resolved it sounds stable it's
a full triad and there's no tension
inside of the chord so that sort of
feels like it has the most gravitational
pull another reason is that c is the
common tone in all the chords right c is
in every single chord not always but for
the most part his melodies are
organizing around c
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that common tone gives us something
consistent to hold on to and the last
reason is that the runs that sort of
happen before we get to the c major
chord
sound like they're taunting sizing c and
that's a process i can explain better in
another video but essentially they're
drawing our ear towards c sounding like
the tunnel center
but how do we reconcile how final and
resolved everything sounds when it goes
up to f major
[Music]
plus this is the part where i would
consider it the refrain the chorus where
he's singing everything
everything
there's a brightness to this there's a
certainty to it there's a strength to it
so that combined with some other things
about functional harmony it really
sounds like f is actually our tunnel
center until we go back down to see
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you could so easily argue that the
entire song is actually in f mixolydian
flat six or some kind of f
mixed modality of both major and minor
chords and that's a really strong
argument in fact i almost went with that
one except i just kept feeling like but
see
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there is a really dramatic sound between
a major five chord and a major flat six
chord there's a half step motion that
happens
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and that gives it kind of this
spanish sound another subject matter for
a different video would be why do
half-step resolutions sound so
satisfying to us so yeah it could be an
f the whole time you could argue that
it's just sort of avoiding the tonic
[Music]
that would make that a five to a four to
a flat six scale degree instead of where
it sounds a lot like a one to a flat
seven to a flat two and that's why i get
this phrygian feeling from it anyway
again it's all up to interpretation
regardless i love the contrast between
how bright it sounds when he's going
everything
[Applause]
versus
in its right place
that feels darker like there's a change
of mood there there's a change of heart
and yet it still does feel like we are
in the right place this feels good to be
here
everything just kind of locks into place
now there are some additional harmonies
that happen in the second half of the
song that i absolutely love as the song
builds progressively these harmonies
start to come in and they come in by way
of the sort of mangled vocal sample of
tom's singing first singing up high with
tom on the f for everything
i messed those chords up but i like them
a lot so i'm going to keep them
so we now have an e flat up top and
that's not creating any sort of new
harmonies
but listen what happens when we resolve
to the f major chord
it's a bold kind of sassy sort of edgy
chord it's usually functioning as a
dominant chord to bring us back to one
but this is one so like i said it's not
functioning as a dominant chord it's
just being dissonant for kicks and i
love the tension created by the minor
seventh from the top to the bottom
[Music]
oh and i forgot to mention that we still
have the
left channel
so we got this major second happening
just crunchy jazzy chords and then this
e flat becomes an e natural right before
we get to the second part of the chorus
which creates sort of this lift
back to sea
and it's very dissonant for just a
moment which i really like and it only
happens once so it's like
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yet another reason why it sounds like
we're in c
that g
is the fifth in the c scale which is a
very stable important gravitationally
strong point in a scale that's the
second degree in f and it doesn't sound
like we're in f because of that
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so during the last verse when he's
singing there are two colors in my head
things start to feel like they're
building to something this chord
progression for this part of the verse
is really tense
there is no
real feeling of resolution in the verse
and i'll tell you why
it's because the chord progression
starts with a d flat major seven chord
and ends with a d flat major seven chord
only briefly going to the c major chord
sort of just on the way
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[Applause]
so it's just cycling endlessly this
verse is twice as long so the tension is
building and building and he's just
leaning on that seventh
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okay so now
is my favorite part we're finally there
and that's when the vocal sample comes
back in hits the e flat and sort of
oscillates between the e flat and the f
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and it's kind of doing its own thing
rhythmically but it doesn't matter we're
hearing both of those pitches it's
really the e flat that's getting to me
and that is creating this chord
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i swear to god that just makes me feel
emotional just hearing the chord all by
itself with nothing else around it
like that makes life worth living that
chord and that is a d flat major nine
chord
basically thirds stacked upon thirds
decked upon thirds just these extensions
and extensions and extensions and it
just feels like it's constantly reaching
for something that it never gets to
so there's that feeling of yearning
that's never resolved so beautiful
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oh my god that is just beautiful too
look at that
oh so yeah when it goes up to the f
that's creating an e flat major nine
chord so we got these nine chords
happening a ninth by itself is an
interval i absolutely love
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it's just so beautiful i can't handle it
and this is the climax of the song
essentially this is building and
building and building tried to say
try to say
and finally we resolve to the f major
and it feels like the end even though
the song continues for a bit and there's
definitely an outro we have
reached the climax and are coming down
from it and that peak is resolving to
what feels like the most strong tonic
the f major and so try to say
cause before it tried to say
it feels pained it feels like he's
getting more and more desperate and more
and more confused and this done
you know it just starts to feel like
chaotic in a beautiful way and then try
to say
tried to say
like it was just too complicated and it
was just too much it was overwhelming
and now it's simple now it's clear and
this gives way to the outro which is
pretty much just thirds for the most
part it sounds like this
[Music]
what i like about this is that we're
left with just the major quality of
these chords so it sounds almost overly
bright and overly cheery a little bit
like a video game
i had to so that's it for this video and
if you'd like to hear my thoughts on the
strange timing of this song you can
click on the video somewhere here on the
screen and as always if you like this
video please like it subscribe and all
that jazz see you next time
[Music]
you