[Smt-talk] I - II- IV as a progression

[Reed,Smith Alexander]

Dear Collective Wisdom:

Today I heard Donovan's 1968 "Atlantis," which prominently 
features a I - II - IV chord progression, not unlike the verse of 
The Beatles' 1965 "Eight Days A Week."  (I refer to the second 
chord here as II rather than V/V because the dominant never 
figures into the equation, except perhaps as a marked absence.)  
Clearly, part of the interest in such a progression is the 
chromatic descent from scale degree five but I am curious as to 
whether there is a more compelling and complete discussion of this 
harmonic move anywhere, and also whether anyone knows of classical 
precedents for its use.

Thanks,

S. Alexander Reed, Ph.D.
University of Florida