we were going for a 70s Jazz thing with
the electric piano but we're not musical
enough
to pull that sort of thing off so it's a
pop song talk about humble well if this
is a pop song then it's the best pop
song ever written
in this video I'm breaking down the
composition of Subterranean Homesick
alien from radiohead's amazing album OK
Computer and that title is a reference
to the Bob Dylan track Subterranean
Homesick Blues hi this is ixy from the
future
I'm here to tell you that I've spent way
way way too many hours on this video
already
every single time I listen to the song I
hear something new or different or like
a note I heard wrong like a little
higher than it is or realizing this part
is played by a guitar but that part
later on is played by the roads and then
also every repetition is
uh let's just enjoy the song together
okay I'm gonna maybe get some stuff
wrong or I'm gonna miss some parts and
it's okay this is a masterpiece of
arranging and layering let's continue
I love this track I feel like this is a
very magical light-hearted dreamy track
it really pulls you into its world and
there's something a little bit innocent
about it and also a little bit
self-assured I have a few facts that
I'll share with you at the end of the
video about what the band member said
about you know making the track and
what's really about but I know you're
here for the analysis so let's get to it
so the intro three beautiful chords with
a Melody woven between them Johnny's
playing this lead and Colin supporting
with the bass
the chords are D minor
a flat major
and then D major
and they're all inverted with the fifth
on the bottom
so there's a resonance to the way they
sound
[Music]
it's the D minor
the magic
This Is Us opening the book
and then going
wow right
and then
come hither child I've always loved that
second chord especially
so dramatic and the reason is because
it's very much unrelated to the D minor
chord
they don't come from the same key at all
and the a flat major chord is starting
on possibly the most unstable part of
any scale the flat five or the tried
like if we had D minor
then
that's a flat you hear how tense
and unstable it sounds like you couldn't
just you couldn't end a song like that
like
well you can actually if you're Trent
wrestler but instead of this chord being
like a key change it just shoots us
right back down to D you walk through
one door and then you're like oh where
the F am I this is like a storybook to
me this is it feels like opening a Tome
you know and the light shines in your
face when you open it and it's just so
full of wonder every note that Johnny
lands on
foreign
our notes in those chords but what's
really satisfying about them is they're
approached so chromatically
a little bit of just half step motion
[Music]
in here
[Music]
so the curtain lifts and the bass has
come in on the a flat weights I love
that
[Music]
oh
this chugging and then both Johnny and
Colin kind of tumble down and it does
feel like you just tumbled into some
Wormhole and then you're in a whole
other world and then we land in the key
of G mixolydian where all your dreams
come true
[Music]
also known as rock major it's like G
major but it has
edgy cord the verse has always felt very
gentle to me part of that is just the
tone of all the guitars and the roads
which is what Tom's playing also has an
incredible aqueous nature to it it
sounds like light you know kind of
reflecting in the water wow
Johnny's guitars and also Ed's sound so
much like
uh Rockets or shooting stars maybe bird
calls as well but there's just these
these little Dives that they do right or
even going up
and then
so evocative I I kind of feel like
they're describing like a starry night
sky or the universe right all the little
lights and twinkles and then this gentle
drum Groove that feels like it's
soothing you know it's so tasteful and
Colin is like the warm blanket around
you holding down this G
on every chord
okay then this top note goes down
[Music]
it's called a G6
and it goes down again
to this chord we'll talk about that one
a lot and then it resolves
to G major
so you can see this line goes
chromatically walking down and that's
probably how it was composed
foreign
[Music]
so incredible
okay this is the chord that I've heard
other musicians refer to as the
Nostalgia chord and I definitely think
it fits the bill in this case
this is called the minor four chord this
is the chord that starts on the fourth
note in a scale and it's a minor chord
so mine are not major which is brighter
more confident fragile so in the context
of a very major sounding song right all
of this
this
minor chord is such a
icy cold breeze from the past and you'll
see them kind of take advantage of that
moment in multiple ways throughout the
song oops the sun came out the way Tom
is playing these chords is a little hard
to pin down because they're so watery
and there's so much delay and they're
going wow
they're just swimming it's just not very
clear but something like
and sometimes he kind of does this like
[Music]
kind of all the way walking down
if you recognize that sound
that's the sound of another scale it's
related mixed lydian flat six which is
what airbag is in
[Music]
right before Tom starts singing he does
a little foreshadowing of a little bit
[Music]
perhaps the unexpected hero of this song
is Colin the bassist so first Colin very
Tastefully holds down giving
[Music]
foreign
[Music]
this also matches up with a drum Groove
accents as well which is what a good
bassist does well not always but I mean
like when the bassist and a drummer in a
band are really in sync with each other
they because they're the support right
for everything then really great stuff
happens would you like to go
g in them so Collins holding down the G
as a pedal point
[Music]
[Laughter]
this really grounds Johnny's
soaring Melodies right because otherwise
it feels like you could literally just
fly away but I would say that Colin's
base sticks firmly to G mixolydian and
utilizes it very melodically so
sometimes he's got like
[Music]
stuff like that
but then the end of phrases he'll often
do a run so the first one goes
and the second one goes
and sometimes it goes down and sometimes
it jumps up it's incredible that there's
so much space though for that to come
through with all of the layering but if
you think about the density of these
layers right they're very thin the roads
the watery roads The Soaring upper
guitar parts with the with the phaser or
flanger on them and then Ed and Colin
have a lot of room to work with and boy
do they work with it in the chorus but
we're not there yet and now to Johnny's
part he's so many parts in this song but
the first one
[Music]
foreign
[Music]
[Applause]
[Laughter]
[Music]
do you recognize this
that's right it sounds a lot like airbag
which could have been a total
coincidence or maybe it's just a little
musical Easter egg Johnny is outlining
the chords at first so remember those
chords are
she dominant seventh he goes
so look he's just playing three out of
four of those
and he's landing on the third which is a
very vulnerable I think part it's like
the heart of the chord
then it changes to the G6 and he instead
of going
again which would have created some
clashing
it doesn't sound terrible but it just
moves the F down to the E so there's a
little note change
then we go here breaks the pattern
at that resolution
rhythmically it's really beautiful too
because it has this sort of outside the
box Rhythm it sort of sometimes sounds
like
but a lot of times it sounds like
triplets like
[Music]
[Applause]
now what's Ed doing here well I've
watched several live performances and
not being a guitarist and not being able
to interpret the visual and also the
fact that they don't focus on you know
anyone but Tom as much as they probably
should
I just can't confirm what he's doing but
it sounds a little bit like he's kind of
doing like a
just a little kind of moments and then
at the very end he does a suspension
but it's up here sorry
and then uh
like that so this suspension is going to
come back a lot this sound
there's one more element to go over
before we start talking about Tom who's
about to sing and that's Phil on the
drums so this song is in six eight which
has this really nice lilt to it it's
groupings of three which have I don't
know a bit more of an organic feeling
it's almost like the most natural thing
to dance to in the world one two three
one two two main beats divided by three
one one and two I am a huge fan of these
drums and just fill in general I feel
like he doesn't get enough recognition
but that's true for a lot of drummers
that aren't like flashy this is such a
great Groove and I know this groove well
because in my 30s I decided I'm Gonna
Learn drums I've always wanted to I'm
just gonna do it it was really hard but
two weeks into learning drums I was like
I'm gonna learn this song and talk about
running before you can walk
it's not that difficult of a Groove but
it has a lot of syncopation and it has a
bit of a shuffle feel which is when
you've got Ghost Notes just little Taps
on the snare excuse me interplaying with
the hi-hat
[Music]
so the snare plays off of that last kick
hi-hats are just on the eighth notes
and then what happens with the ghost
notes I love so much he plays the ghost
notes in between the hi-hats and trails
them off dynamically
like why do I like that so much I think
it just makes it feel more
three-dimensional or something right
almost like a built-in delay effect and
then he does this fill at the end of
every eight bar phrase it's a little bit
different pretty much every time but he
does have one classic kind of
then he has that
[Music]
foreign
[Music]
but it starts to feel comforting because
it happens every time okay so now Tom
Tom's still playing the roads uh the
other guitars kind of take a back seat a
bit it's mostly just bass drums and the
roads with those sort of soaring accents
from Johnny and Ed
Tom sings
the breath of the morning that I keep
forgetting the smell of the warm summer
so this melody sounds so floaty and
dreamy to me
mostly on the third
neighbor town there
[Music]
has this push-pull feeling right
[Music]
there's some really nice Harmony going
on between those
a ninth
now this smells
can you hear that it's tense so there's
like this incredibly beautiful Clash
that reminds me so much of like the
clashes and Pyramid Song and some others
it's kind of clash that they're not
afraid of which I really appreciate
you can feel the tension release so it
makes this note so much more delicious
to be preceded by the Tense one which is
the
leading tone of C okay
[Music]
somewhere
[Music]
yeah very this melody just kind of
hovers a little bit it's not moving much
you watch your feet now that is so
pretty
we're gonna hear that later right
my software says that that's a C minor
six
the chord's not even more nostalgic to
me doesn't it
foreign
[Music]
Ed below it and this delivery feels so
folky to me like you live in a town
I can't smell a thing kind of the
Cadence of it's kind of funky
you watch your feet
[Music]
more speech-like than like musically
rhythmic there's a little space created
by these interludes in between verses
and choruses where we just hear these
chords and all the little touches that
they add around them
then the second verse we have the up
above now there's a new note that Tom's
singing and this whole Melody moves more
and up above is so great because he goes
up above where he used to go like the
highest note he was singing he goes up
to this one so
above tension but pretty
I love hearing the word hover on a
suspension it's perfect because it's
hovering making all movies so they
really like Hammer home The Nostalgia on
this particular instance on home movies
which I think is such a great
expression of the meaning and the lyrics
right there
but he goes um
making home movies a hold making home
movies that push up is kind of
theatrical for the folks back home and
this time he ends on a tense note this
is called the ninth and it makes this
chord what's called an ad
way beautiful
like if you ever want to make your major
chord even more beautiful add a ninth
whether it's right in there or it's up
here
just do it
for the folks back home so pretty
[Music]
all right then there's another interlude
before our very first chorus right
they're really
building this up for us and we get this
gorgeous line from Johnny
[Music]
the last note of each of those groupings
lines up with the chords
suspension
[Music]
right there see move to the E he lands
on E then
uh
it moved to E flat so did he then he
comes down in the way
that he has been on that beautiful G
major chord I'm pretty sure I made this
comment on airbag and also Paranoid
Android but I'll probably just keep
saying it at every video the amount of
fantastic melodic lines that Johnny
comes up with in one song
is
mind expanding to me it's really cool
because they're all so good and
memorable and I've been analyzing lots
of music over the past two and a half
years that I've had this Channel and I
don't recall myself thinking this before
all right we made it to the chorus so
there are three chords in the chorus
F major
C major
and then to G
so this is a classic solid mixolydian
chord progression the flat seven to the
four chord major IV chord and back to
our home base which is G what I like
about this chord progression is it
emphasizes the edgy part of the key
which is the F chord and it's the first
chord and anytime you start a chord
progression away from your home base
I feel like it's just a little bit more
interesting or emotionally compelling
just a little bit so we got
up tight
up tight and then on this G chord so
many things are happening and I will
break it all down he sings they're just
uptight uptight
I really like this for a couple reasons
one is that it the way it follows the
chords is really beautiful
up tight he goes up tight and this note
is the note that fits most harmoniously
with the next chord
up tight and then this one also fits
more harmoniously with this chord so
it's sort of like he's going to the next
note early like preceding the chord it
belongs to
so it's got this feeling of
forward momentum but if he didn't do
that it would sound a little bit more
wooden so you'd have
time
see what we got
uptight
way cooler the music sounds really
uh liberated and happy here so I always
thought it was weird almost to hear him
singing the words uptight but I think
the music is more about how he feels
right and not about describing them the
uptight people
he is confident he knows himself right
this believer
they're just uptight
[Music]
thank you
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
I'm outside
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
and this
somehow reminds me of like 60s or 70s
psychedelic Rock like
organ lines like something that yes
would have written so this is very
pattern based
it's the same exact note grouping just
starting a different place in the scale
[Music]
rhythmically this is creating a
polyrhythm with the time signature so
you've got this three against two
situation
one two one two one two one two one two
three one two three one two three two
three well I think I just realized that
I can really only count whatever my
right hand is doing that's weird Johnny
live is playing this very high shimmery
G major chord and it's one of my
favorite Parts it's like up here
[Applause]
I'm sorry
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
so while this is all going down
[Music]
and it kind of releases when we get to
the G so it builds kind of from nothing
and really comes to life on the C chord
and I was like okay why am I so in love
with this G major chord well the tone of
it is really just gorgeous it's like
light bursting through the clouds or the
spaceship coming through the clouds I
don't know there's some just total like
wow feeling but also harmonically this G
chord over the C
that is just a beautiful sound
like damn
if I take this G major chord and kind of
re-invert it down here then you see
seventh ninth
okay so nice again but this voicing is
even better because you can hear the
separation
this major chord over this major chord
and it just feels like it's pulling you
to this but
preemptively right you're still here and
it's like come with me
then the bass now this is the real
Clincher right okay so at first
Colin is holding down the roots of the
chords until you get to G and then
something start to happen so he's gonna
go f
C
then to G
and every time he does something a
little different here are some of the
things he does
oh
[Music]
[Applause]
root
[Music]
they are utilizing the scale so
beautifully and musically right because
this is all just a scale too
and this is also literally
we're on G so you go
by the time you get up to the F it's the
F chord it's just it's so uh gratifying
to listen to it also sounds a little
innocent though that this this
contributes that feeling of like this is
maybe like a child's fantasy or or a
childlike fantasy perhaps
so it's just got this
[Music]
so the first time Ed does the root of
the F chord the root of the C chord and
then G
d
[Music]
second time he does the same walk up the
scale but just slower so f
see
[Music]
what a variation right then the third
time he goes and harmonizes with one of
the guitars which I just think is really
cool I don't hear that very often you
know the bass guitar like in lockstep
parallel harmony with a guitar line that
should happen more so that goes
[Music]
foreign
this chorus is phrased in three and we
we saw that happening in airbag
especially but they do this a lot they
kind of have a regular phrasing when
it's appropriate they don't draw out
phrases just so that they're four or
something even you know if if the time
is come to move on they just move on so
in this case you get three sections of
uptights before we get up tight so
that's just lovely you know it kind of
matches the sort of organic but sort of
unpredictable nature of
anything grouped or phrased in three and
then the drums okay so the original drum
pattern from the verse is just made
bigger here in the chorus at first and
then we get these really nice fills from
Phil at first Phil is just playing the
hi-hat and he opens it a little bit so
that it has a little bit more Sizzle and
energy and he opens it wider and wider
at least that's how it kind of sounds to
me which also sort of feels like the
opposite of the trailing Ghost Notes but
it creates Dimension it's a big
Crescendo the first one goes
which is just like the verse drums but
with the hi-hat open so it's bigger
and he goes
so he will sometimes play that
fill on just the snare and sometimes he
will spread it between the snare and a
Tom
right
and then the second one the Rhythm
changes where it's sort of like he just
dropped a couple of those 30 second
notes out
which has all this like
syncopation and it's so much more um
this kind of Rhythm you can sink your
teeth into it's very memorable it's a
little bit more playful right
[Music]
you know what it is
kind of sounds like a Gallop right
all right now we're back to an interlude
before our final verse in chorus
and some really beautiful stuff happens
that hasn't happened before imagine that
[Music]
so this is the first chord of the song
right
G dominant seventh major chord with a
edgy minor seventh on top and it just
happens to go past the bottom and down
to the other F so
leaving you on the tense part of the
Court
and though the court is
got the E not the F so then we have e
[Music]
same pattern you see just applied to the
two different chords
sorry
then this I love so much
we have to figure out why why is that so
good so first of all I can definitely
tell that there's some notes in there
that aren't in this C minor chord so
first we have the C flat and the I mean
the E flat and the C but then there's an
a
g f so that a and the F don't belong
[Music]
it sounds so mystical Johnny comes in to
sort of echo just a few of those notes
so
[Music]
so basically it's a call and response
Tom starts
then Johnny Goes
second chord
again and then
[Music]
which is really really beautiful because
we have a
[Music]
we got some really beautiful
permutations of the guitar lines to look
at one is the soaring shooting stars
that Johnny's doing as he hits an F
sharp
for the first time and it's really
really pretty listen
[Music]
this is called a leading tone in a major
scale so
it's
it's one task
it's one purpose in life is to go up to
the G to the tonal Center number one
it's so close and it creates all this
tension it just needs to go there
[Music]
right
this F sharp doesn't belong in G
mixolydian though we've had an F natural
so let me get this
super major Sweet Sound I just really
like that one little touch of the major
scale just a little droplet
[Music]
s
then
and then high up Johnny
[Applause]
such a great line who doesn't sing along
to that one right
[Music]
wow that feels extra nostalgic doesn't
it
[Music]
like it wants to go down
to this one which is also tense but
[Music]
then we get to the section where Tom is
saying you know I tell all my friends
but they'd never believe me it gets a
little bit agitated right imagining like
well if I did get abducted you know no
one would believe me and they would
think I'm crazy right
so everything gets a little bit more
agitated the tone of Johnny's guitar at
least in the recording it gets a little
bit more like it has a bite to it and
Phil starts playing with a little bit
more fills and a little bit more of a
robust sound so we get this great guitar
line playing at the same time as Tom
which really hasn't happened before
right where like Tom is contending with
another guitar line
so it goes
[Music]
it has a feeling of a suspension
even though it's not because it has this
little wiggle
but you still get the that sound
even prettier and then
like just listen to me right and then
[Music]
and I love the way he comes down and
back up when he goes down
guess what Colin goes up not exactly
sure all the notes he hits but he
definitely goes
so you get this
[Music]
the end of this show them the stars and
the meaning of life
[Music]
and then we wait it shut me away
which is such an open-ended musical
sentence essentially So you you're just
hanging you're hanging it shut me away
but I'd be
okay I mean all right and that
moment that feeling of Abandonment is
highlighted as like everything abandons
him right he's just left alone and
slowly it all comes back when you create
this kind of contrast in music you are
inviting The Listener to just
sit there with you in that moment right
there's nothing else to do I think This
Moment's beautiful because it's
basically like he's saying like well
everyone could think something horrible
about me but it doesn't matter you know
everyone could abandon me and it doesn't
matter because
I know myself or I know it's true or
I would have had the best experience you
know of my life like there's just
something so self-assured about it I
would always experience a bit of like
I'm thrown off the Rhythm here like I'm
not quite sure of my footing until
all right there's so much syncopation in
his vocal line and in the guitar and the
bass that it's kind of ambiguous what's
going on exactly you should watch me
when I was drumming I wouldn't count and
so I'd be like
oh and by the way when the drums come
back in for the last interlude before
the last chorus
Phil switches to the ride symbol
which just has a little bit more of a
like
cool sound right like would I be all
right
[Music]
in the last chorus there's more power
behind Tom's vocals and the bass is
doing what it does best it's just
slamming on those root chords at first
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
just like so heavy on the G but then we
get a completely different Melody from
him that we haven't heard before this is
kind of a bluesier version
[Music]
before
I think
he's all over the place and every one of
them sounds amazing at one point he goes
down
just like the ultra satisfying way to go
to that sea is to go to G first because
she is the of the C chord so it's like
very leading
strong sounding
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
and just like the beginning
the story ends
beautiful atmosphere there's an element
from the very beginning the uh
it's played even octave higher
and literally it is bookended by the
exact same three chords that we heard at
the very beginning in the actual intro
while the bass guitar continued to do
what they were doing
Tom on the roads goes up those chords
and he adds a little bit of melodic
connective tissue between them kind of
like the guitar is and they really
really sparkle so that's why the ending
is extra shiny as he goes
[Music]
it really does feel like we just shut
the book on this magical Adventure we
were just on and all the magic and all
the light goes into the book and
and then you know the shot drift back
and it's like nothing ever happened
thank you so much for watching and thank
you so much for being patient if you
want to support what I'm doing do the
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and maybe leave a super thanks in the
comment do you have that if you have the
means I also have a patreon and that is
my emotional and financial lifeblood we
have a really great community so that's
an awesome way to make sure that I
continue to do this and finish this
project you have access to a Discord and
musical challenges every month and
listening parties it's really really fun
I appreciate you so much thank you to my
patrons here are a couple fun facts I
stumbled across on my research about the
meaning of the song the original title
was called uptight
and the Sonic palette of the song was
inspired by Brew which is a
Miles Davis record Tom said the first
essay I ever wrote in school was you are
an alien from another planet you have
landed and you are standing in the
middle of Oxford and write an essay
about what you see if you're an alien
from another planet how would you see
these people and that's where a lot of
it came from really
and another interview John uh he said
Johnny's in the basement mixing up the
medicine I'm on the pavement thinking
about the government do I really hope to
be on a spaceship why not I believe
there are aliens under the ground I want
to see them I want to see ghosts I want
to walk on the streets smiling knowing
that there are little green creatures
with Incredible large brains and big
beautiful black eyes that are filming us
with their video cameras
and then Johnny said to him it's just
about Hope and Faith I think more than
aliens