Secondary Dominants in McCartney’s Songs

Posted On April 13, 2020

A little bit of music theory isn’t as scary as you might think.

Yes, McCartney does it all by ear (he doesn’t read music), but that doesn’t mean we have to close all doors on music theory. As Richard Dawkins has argued, understanding how a rainbow is formed doesn’t make it any less beautiful to see – indeed, we might appreciate the beauty of nature even more.

Secondary dominants are what give the music a “lift” – they inject a sense of energy into the middle of a song. You can hear the lift when a song changes key; it’s like opening the window to reveal a new horizon.

Secondary dominants are the same, but more temporary. They are, in essence, a moment where the song changes key for a few seconds and we can hear the sense of “lift” quite clearly.

In The Beatles

Take the George Harrison song I Want to Tell You from Revolver. Can you hear how, at 0:23, the song is given a lift on the words “things to say”? Harrison has thrown in a the chord of B7, followed by that of E7. The chord of B7 is the “secondary dominant” for the chord of E7. The effect is unmistakable. From then on, we feel a sense of tension until 0:32, where we finally return back to the home key of A major.

The tension is made even more apparent by the use of discordant flat-ninth piano chords. By the way, “tension” in music is not necessarily a negative feeling – it just means that we have gone somewhere else and want to return back to the home key.

Songwriters take note: secondary dominants can make a song sound interesting. It’s like throwing an unexpected ingredient into a boring recipe.

Best Friend (1972)

So where can we hear secondary dominants in McCartney’s work after 1970? The answer is – on every single album, and within many songs. Let’s take a very obvious example. The rock and roll pastiche, Best Friend, was recorded live in Antwerp, Belgium in 1972. Can you hear the very clear use of a secondary dominant chord at 1:03 on the words “so bad”? The tension is clearly ratcheted-up here, until it slowly recoils by 1:12.

Mary Had A Little Lamb (1972)

McCartney’s 1972 track Mary Had a Little Lamb is often derided for being trite and simplistic. But this is decidedly not the case on a musical level. It is brimming with twists and surpises. Can you hear the secondary dominant on the words “Mary went” at 0:14? McCartney has thrown in the chord of E7 in the key of G major to give the verse a clear sense of lift.

Every Night (1970)

Now, here’s a little test for you. Can you hear the first verse of Every Night between 0:19 and 0:45 where the music feels a sense of “lift” and McCartney makes use of a secondary dominant chord? Where exactly does this happen?

Please let me know comments below and I’ll tell you if you’re on the right lines.