Harmony SpaceAnalysing Songs
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Heart of Gold Neil Young

"Heart of Gold" is a simple but harmonically astute song that gains emotional effect by contrasting tonal and modal harmonic movement.
  • The verse is a simple four chord trick, a cornerstone tonal progression. The verse is put slightly out of balance by starting on the minor home location, which momentarily hints at a minor home centre, but the following three chord trick ending on the major home location makes the verse solidly a major progression. This has a settled. solid feel.
  • In the chorus, the focus in the verse on major axis motion pivots round to a rocking modal motion, forming an aeolian cadence.
  • The effect is to contrast the confident getting-on-with-it of the verse with a frail yearning contrasting chorus.
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