Music is full of awful chord changes – like the ever-escalating coda of Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called to Say I Love You,” or pretty much the entire Hall and Oates library.
Of course it’s also full of awesome chord changes – like every note that ever flowed from the guitar of Buddy Holly … or this 1982 gem from The Pretenders, which we’re convinced includes the single most mellifluous chord change … maybe ever.
Enjoy … (and be sure to send us your suggestions for “Tomorrow’s Tunage”).
THE PRETENDERS: “BACK ON THE CHAIN GANG”
I found a picture of you, oh oh oh oh
What hijacked my world that night
To a place in the past
We’ve been cast out of? oh oh oh oh
Now we’re back in the fight
We’re back on the train
Oh, back on the chain gang
A circumstance beyond our control, oh oh oh oh
The phone, the tv and the news of the world
Got in the house like a pigeon from hell, oh oh oh oh
Threw sand in our eyes and descended like flies
Put us back on the train
Oh, back on the chain gang
The powers that be
That force us to live like we do
Bring me to my knees
When I see what they’ve done to you
But I’ll die as I stand here today
Knowing that deep in my heart
They’ll fall to ruin one day
For making us part
I found a picture of you, oh oh oh oh
Those were the happiest days of my life
Like a break in the battle was your part, oh oh oh oh
In the wretched life of a lonely heart
Now we’re back on the train
Oh, back on the chain gang
Previously …
Beastie Boys – “Sabotage”
Beck – “Loser”
Ben Folds Five – “Rockin’ The Suburbs”
Billy Ward & The Dominoes – “Sixty Minute Man”
The Black Crowes – “Wiser Time”
B.O.B. – “Nothing On You”
Coolio – “Fantastic Voyage”
Cypress Hill – “Rock Superstar”
The Cure – “Burn”
Eminem (ft. Rihanna) – “Love The Way You Lie”
Filter – “One (Cover)”
Foo Fighters – “Times Like These”
Foo Fighters – “My Hero”
The Fray – “The Great Beyond (Cover)”
James – “Born of Frustration (Live)”
Kesha- “Your Love Is My Drug”
Katie Melua - “Just Like Heaven (Cover)”
Killers – “Shadowplay (Cover)”
Lady Ga Ga/ Beyonce – “Telephone”
Led Zeppelin – “Your Time Is Gonna Come/ Black Mountain Side”
Led Zeppelin – “Misty Mountain Hop”
LL Cool J – “Mama Said Knock You Out”
Metric – “Help I’m Alive”
Midnight Oil – “Dreamworld”
Monster Magnet – “Negasonic Teenage Warhead”
The National – “All The Wine”
Naughty By Nature – “O.P.P.”
Nine Inch Nails – “Piggy”
Nine Inch Nails – “Hand That Feeds”
Outkast – “Rosa Parks”
Owl City – “Hot Air Balloon”
The Outfield – “I Don’t Need Her”
Panic At The Disco! – “Karma Police” (Cover)
Pavement – “Range Life”
Pearl Jam – “Alive”
Queen – “Somebody To Love”
Smashing Pumpkins – “Geek, U.S.A.”
The Spin Doctors – “Jimmy Olsen’s Blues”
Stevie Wonder – “I Believe (When I Fall In Love This Time It Will Last Forever)”
Sting – “Fortress Around Your Heart”
Tom Petty – “The Waiting”
Twilight Singers – “The Twilite Kid”
U2 – “Until The End Of The World”
U2 – “Where The Streets Have No Name”
The Waitresses – “I Know What Boys Like”
Weezer – “Put Me Back Together”
The Who – “Baba O’Riley”
Yeasayer – “Ambling Alp”
