Manmachine201's unseasy guide to Key Changes.

The key change in a song is a long established tool of the songwriters trade. Jim Steinman for example used them in pretty much every song he composed. Total Eclipse of the heart, Making love out of nothing at all, My Heart Will Go On, It's all Coming Back To Me Now, all contain the dreaded key change. If you are unsure of what a key change is, youtube any Backstreet Boys video where they are sitting on stools and the point that they stand up is generally the point where the key change occurs.



It brings out a mixed reaction to say the least Celine Dion fans never fail to be moved by the emotionally intensity and power of the switch between from the key from E to A, and no doubt it is a powerful thing, reducing grown men to tears. Todays generation find it somewhat of a gimmick. Is there a way these cynics can be won around or is the key change to be assigned to the depths of the bargain bins in your local record shops?



Fuck yeah, seriously.

Steinman is an obvious example for his excessive use of the keychange after the middle 8 at the end of the second verse, a rough equivalent of Spinal Tap's use of the 'one louder' tool where they use 11 to push that bit further.



There are times when it can be effective even in a powerballad, with john Farnham's the voice A poignant song about ending apartheid a song with an emotional push at the end of the middle 8 after the second verse. It is in the textbook place that a key change would occur according to the Steinman rulebook. But it works within the context of the song. The only problem is that the songs sentiment is ruined by the fact that Farnham looks like what all men would look like if Nazi Germany won the Second World War. This makes me thing that the whole song is being sung in a sarcastic tone and that he is in fact pro-apartheid. This might be in my head but I can't help but think that farnham is a racist.



The Aryan looking John Farnham.

Songwriters considered the masters of their craft McCartney & Lennon, Benny & Bjorn, Bacharach & David all tended to stay away from the key change fearing that their music might become far too powerful & kill the listener outright, or at the very least make the listener shit themselves. There are rumours that in a drunken rage Lennonhad to be physically restrained by George Martin from employing the use of a key change in an early version of A Day In The Life after having his mind infiltrated by an Islamic militant organisation.



He may be laughing but he could have killed us all.

The natural home of the key change resides within the power ballad at around 3 minutes 40 seconds after the middle 8 at the end of the second verse during the 3rd chorus. Although credited to humans recent studies of birdsong revealed that the magpies version of a key change pre dates humans by some 3000 years, although no magpie has successfully sued Steinman in a court of law.



Other more credible acts have taken on the key change and made it their own using it to spectacular effect. Kate Bush's Wuthering heights wrongfoots everyone with a suprising key change at the end of the first chorus, with no middle 8 to prepare us mentally for what is to come. It completely defies the 'steinman convention'.



Zapping key changery right between the centre of your face.

More recently MGMT brought the key change to the indie kids with youth from their debut album. they do it in at the end of the middle 8 after the 2nd verse but again defy the 'Steinman Convention' by dropping down a key. It is a technique they seem to have picked up from fellow American Indie acid munchers the flaming lips, who use it in their classis Do you realize? This particular varient on the 'Steinman Convention' has an effect on the brain akin to having ketamine blown up your arse by a dwarf hidden inside your underwear as you walk down a step. I would never employ a dwarf to do this to you but sometimes it does work a treat.



Fuckin with ya head yeah?

The Key Change can be overused Oasis All Around The World and Michael Jacksons Man In The Mirror and Earth Song, they destroy the songs cutting them into tiny pieces, overblowing them worse and worse until they are beyond shit.



Jacksons excessive key change usage threatened to unravel the very foundations of the fabric of the universe.

In spite of its bad reputation an effective usage of the key change can provide the kickstart a lagging track might need. It is for the best not to use it in too many songs, or in the same songs too many times. I'm not sure that I could actually convey the effect of a key change in writing but I WILL ATTEMPT TO BY USING THE CAPS LOCK FOR THE REMAINDER JUST TO GIVE IT THAT EXTRA PUSH SAFE IN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT IF THIS WAS A SONG AND IT WAS TOP OF THE POPS PEOPLE WOULD STAND UP AND CHEER!



All hail the Steinman convention!