Here are some songs that really have just ONE chord:
"Bullet The Blue Sky" - U2.
"Chain of Fools" - Aretha Franklin; I play this one at every gig in C minor.
"On The Road Again" - Canned Heat.
"We Will Rock You" - Queen, performed with only vocal and percussion, at first, which makes the change to "We Are The Champions" all that more dramatic.
"The Beat Goes On" - Sonny and Cher. La de dah de de, la de dah de dah.
"Run Through The Jungle" - C. C. Revival.
"Exodus" - Bob Marley.
On many John Lee Hooker songs, he just drives right through the turnaround at the end of a verse. In some songs, the bass changes like in a 12 bar blues progression during the verse, but John Lee's guitar doesn't. Listen to his recording of "I Need Some Money;" he just plays it with only one chord.
When Barrett Strong and The Beatles did the song, as "Money (That's What I Want)," they at least added hints of chord changes.
When Hooker plays "Dimples" his guitar just plays right through, while the bass changes and adds more chordal coloration.
The Allman Brothers covered that one.
And The Animals covered "Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom."
"You Need Love" - written by Willie Dixon and done by Muddy Waters with Dixon on bass. This song either was stolen outright by Led Zeppelin or it inspired them to slightly rewrite it and then record their "Whole Lotta Love" without initial attribution.
"This Old Man (He Played One)" - traditional, recorded by Mitch Miller, charted in the late '50s.
"Little Liza Jane" - traditional, recorded by Vince Gill.
Any more?
"The Windmills of Your Mind," which is the theme song for both versions of the movie "The Thomas Crown Affair" has a subtle melody which was written with many chord changes.
However, if it is played in the key of C for example, all those chords can have a sustained C note (played as a droning bass note or a sustaining string note) during the entire song.
Michael Legrande, Dusty Springfield and Sting have all recorded this one.
"Que Sera, Sera," a multichordal song which won the Oscar for Best Song as featured in the Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Man Who Knew Too Much," is another one that can have a single note sustained during its entire chord structure, if so desired.
A different recorded version of the song, from the flick "In The Cut," does this, making the song eerie and unsettling rather than hopeful and bubbly as the Doris Day version was when it won the Academy Award.
Many, many songs can be arranged to have only one sustaining note for effect (or OK, maybe two): "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd, Rosanne Cash's "Tennessee Flat Top Box" and, except for the bridge, Steely Dan's "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" come to mind.
And, of course, there's Antonio Carlos Jobim's "One Note Samba" that has many chord changes, but the one key signature note could sustain and drone all through it.
Thoughts?
"Bullet The Blue Sky" - U2.
"Chain of Fools" - Aretha Franklin; I play this one at every gig in C minor.
"On The Road Again" - Canned Heat.
"We Will Rock You" - Queen, performed with only vocal and percussion, at first, which makes the change to "We Are The Champions" all that more dramatic.
"The Beat Goes On" - Sonny and Cher. La de dah de de, la de dah de dah.
"Run Through The Jungle" - C. C. Revival.
"Exodus" - Bob Marley.
On many John Lee Hooker songs, he just drives right through the turnaround at the end of a verse. In some songs, the bass changes like in a 12 bar blues progression during the verse, but John Lee's guitar doesn't. Listen to his recording of "I Need Some Money;" he just plays it with only one chord.
When Barrett Strong and The Beatles did the song, as "Money (That's What I Want)," they at least added hints of chord changes.
When Hooker plays "Dimples" his guitar just plays right through, while the bass changes and adds more chordal coloration.
The Allman Brothers covered that one.
And The Animals covered "Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom."
"You Need Love" - written by Willie Dixon and done by Muddy Waters with Dixon on bass. This song either was stolen outright by Led Zeppelin or it inspired them to slightly rewrite it and then record their "Whole Lotta Love" without initial attribution.
"This Old Man (He Played One)" - traditional, recorded by Mitch Miller, charted in the late '50s.
"Little Liza Jane" - traditional, recorded by Vince Gill.
Any more?
"The Windmills of Your Mind," which is the theme song for both versions of the movie "The Thomas Crown Affair" has a subtle melody which was written with many chord changes.
However, if it is played in the key of C for example, all those chords can have a sustained C note (played as a droning bass note or a sustaining string note) during the entire song.
Michael Legrande, Dusty Springfield and Sting have all recorded this one.
"Que Sera, Sera," a multichordal song which won the Oscar for Best Song as featured in the Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Man Who Knew Too Much," is another one that can have a single note sustained during its entire chord structure, if so desired.
A different recorded version of the song, from the flick "In The Cut," does this, making the song eerie and unsettling rather than hopeful and bubbly as the Doris Day version was when it won the Academy Award.
Many, many songs can be arranged to have only one sustaining note for effect (or OK, maybe two): "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd, Rosanne Cash's "Tennessee Flat Top Box" and, except for the bridge, Steely Dan's "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" come to mind.
And, of course, there's Antonio Carlos Jobim's "One Note Samba" that has many chord changes, but the one key signature note could sustain and drone all through it.
Thoughts?
