How Does McCartney Use Diminished Chords?

Diminshed, like augmented chords, have their own particular flavour. If we could describe the sound of diminished in a single word, we might use a word such as “astringent”. Not quite jarring, but definitely a slightly “edgy” sound.

So let’s start off by identifying what diminished chords sound like. The end of Glass Onion on The Beatles’ White Album features the strings playing a diminished chord that then descends and then ascends.

A run of diminished chords like this does sound quite creepy.

However, the odd diminished chord provides two essential functions:

• Voice Leading
• A substitute for a dominant chord

Till There Was You (1962)

In the very early Beatles’ arrangement of Till There Was You from their Decca audition in January 1962 the second chord is diminished, at 0:01:

By the way, the above recording sounds in F# major, which makes me wonder if the tapes were sped up before mastering. It certainly makes McCartney’s vocal seem even more filled with nervous excitement.

But to get back to the function of the diminished chord here, the first two bars of the song are what are known as a I – VI – ii – V turnaround. In the key of F major, this would be:

F major – D7 – G minor – C major.

Instead, The Beatles have used the chords:

F major – F# diminished – G minor – C major

The chord of F# diminished is used instead, or substituted for the chord of D major. This is because it is very similar – but more interesting.

The chord of D7 involves the notes D F# A C, whereas F# diminished is F# A C Eb. Moreover, the note of F# provides a greater “pull” (voice leading function) to the chord of G minor.

Only Love Remains (1986)

Now, fast-forward to 1986 with the release of McCartney’s ballad Only Love Remains from Press to Play. The second chord is C diminished, on the word “love”. Can you hear its astringecy?

So what’s a diminished chord doing here?

Again, it is used as a clever substiution for D7 again, but in a slightly different context (to be technical, in C major, D7 is an altered chord II, in F major, it is an altered chord VI).

The chord sequence could have been:

C major – D7 – G sus4 – F minor

But instead, McCartney opts for the more colourful:

C major – C diminished – G sus4 – F minor

It’s possible to use C diminished instead of D7 because D7 contains the notes D F# A C and C diminished contains C Eb Gb (F#) Bbb (A).

So McCartney is doing what jazz musicians do all the time – swapping or substituting chords to add musical interest and flavour to a song.

If I Take You Home Tonight (2015)

I will end with one more example. McCartney wrote the song If I Take You Home Tonight around the time of Kisses On The Bottom, but ended up giving it to Diana Krall to record. The diminished chord stamps its mark on the song right from the outset. In this case, it is a chord of G diminished that is used as a substitute for Eb7 (chord V) in the key of Ab major:

Can you hear the astringent sound of the diminished chord at 0:08? and then again at 0:20 on the word “I”?

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