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Songs In a Minor Key
Suppose you’re a performing songwriter, and you want to distinguish your songs from everyone else’s. Most songwriters write pretty much all of their songs in major keys. So ... why not specialize in writing your songs in minor keys? Even some songs in Church modes?
Minor-key songs can be wickedly effective. Here are a few classic examples:
- “London Calling” (The Clash)
- “Summertime” (words by Du Bose Heyward, music by George Gershwin)
- “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” (words and music by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong)
- “House of the Rising Sun” (traditional)
- “Ghost Riders in the Sky” (words and music by Stan Jones)
- “All Along the Watchtower” (words and music by Bob Dylan)
All of these songs are on the GSSL. A couple of them, “Grapevine” and “Watchtower,” are discussed in detail in Chapter 6.