Delaying the Tonic – a McCartney Songwriting Trait
In the art of songwriting, it’s often advisable to not show all your cards too early in the game.
This involves concealing the home, or tonic key, until the end of the first verse. When the tonic finally arrives, the listener feels a real sense of arrival, after a number of interesting stops on the road.
If the tonic is revealed early in the verse, it feels less conclusive if the tonic chord is arrived at mid-phrase; or if the vocal lands on the third or fifth of the chord, and not the tonic note.
The Long And Winding Road (1970)
This is almost a literal embodiment of the idea of travel and then arrival – which is why the song is a perfect marriage of words and music.
The song is in the key of Eb major, but McCartney begins on chord vi, C minor. The first phrase ends on the chord of Ab major, to which McCartney promptly adds a bass note of Bb major for the repeated chords, which convey a sense of suspension.
By 0:11 we seem to in the key of Ab major, by means of a cadence of Eb7 – Ab major.
The phrase beginning at 0:23 passes through F minor and Bb7 but ends on the chord of Eb11. A possible ii-V-I in Eb major is thus thwarted.
It is only at the end of the verse at 0:36 that we are finally offered the ii-V-I in Eb major that we have been patiently waiting for.
The sense of arrival is heightened by the fact that McCartney’s vocal rises to the tonic note of Eb4.
Winter Rose (1978)
This track from Back to the Egg begins with an instrumental introduction that is tonally ambiguous. It is based on a falling bass line that seems to be in E minor, but at 0:11 it arrives at B major by means of a perfect cadence of F# major – B major.
The verse is also based on a descending bass line, but begins A major – so we have certainly departed from the key of B major.
The chord of F# major at 0:21 suggests we are now in B minor, but there is no sense of arrival for now – the bar of B minor on the words “bringing a” involves the notes E4 – D4 – C#4, seemingly only passing through the chord tones of B minor.
The true sense of “arrival” at B minor only occurs at the beginning of the chorus at 0:35. This chorus features a number of mournful vocal appoggiaturas of E4 – D4 over the chord of B minor.
Finally, at 0:48, McCartney arrives on the tonic chord of B minor with the tonic note of B3 on the word “air”.
Love Awake (1978)
Winter Rose is paired with Love Awake in a medley.
I want you to compare the opening of Love Awake to see the nature of the contrast between the two songs.
Love Awake begins on the tonic note of D4 on the second syllable of “awake”. McCartney is so keen to offer the tonic; even the dominant chord on the word “love” is a suspension that includes the tonic (a sus4 chord).
From then on, each phrase lands assertively on a chord tone – for example, the note of C#4 on “bell” at 2:09.
The secondary dominant chord of E major at 2:14 further adds to the sense of uplift.
The setting, side by side of two songs – one of which is tonally ambiguous and changeable, and the other tonally assertive right from the get-go, is a masterstroke of considerable proportions.
No More Lonely Nights (1984)
This song conveys the restless mind of somebody missing their loved one.
Like The Long And Winding Road, it is a perfect marriage of music and words. This is partly due to the technique of tonic avoidance.
McCartney can’t settle, and neither can he arrive at the tonic of F major with any clear sense of finality.
The song begins on the extended dominant chord of C11 (C D F G Bb) and then moves to chord vi at on the words “until I call you” at 0:08 (an interrupted cadence). We do hear the tonic of F major at 0:14 on the words “heart”, but it is clear we are only passing through the tonic, as we arrive at the chord of A7 (a secondary dominant) on the word “string”. The final phrase of the verse ends on chord IV (Bb major), with no tonic in sight.
The song’s chorus doesn’t even end on the chord of F major, but forms an imperfect (unfinished-sounding) cadence on the words “always there”.
In fact, we never arrive “home”, as at 3:31 the track side-steps into the obscure tonal territory of Ab minor, over which Dave Gilmour offers a mesmerising guitar solo.
Conclusion
Of course, there are many McCartney songs that state the tonic in no uncertain terms right from the outset. However, the technique of tonic avoidance often conveys in McCartney’s music a sense of restlessness or wandering.
In songs such as The Long And Winding Road, the arrival at the tonic provides a relief from the sense of tonal ambiguity and is a perfect musical metaphor for “arriving back home”. In other songs, such as No More Lonely Nights, a sense of restlessness is never fully resolved and the tonic is studiously avoided, even in the song’s coda. The tonic avoidance of Winter Rose is in strong contrast to the immediate statement of the tonic in Love Awake. This helps to reinforce the mood of assertive optimism in Love Awake.