<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><br></div><div><div><div><div>On Sep 22, 2009, at 10:10 PM, Murphy, Scott Brandon wrote:</div><blockquote type="cite"><div><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size:11pt"> <br> Earlier posts in this thread proposed various rationales for the progression. Here’s another from a film-music perspective: having another chord besides V follow I-#II not only demotes #II from a more “Classical” role of V/V, but also promotes I-#II as a brief but clear token of the “Lydian” sound that plays an important role in many popular film scores. [citations of John Williams' <i>Superman</i> and <i>Star Wars</i> scores, among others].</span></font></div></blockquote><div><br></div>Scott's right--soundtracks are an important source. The "Simpsons" theme opens with a melodic ^1 - ^#4 - ^5 supported by I - II# - I. The beginning of the theme is a quote of "Maria" from *West Side Story*, later corroborated by the trumpet's quote of ^#4 - ^5 - ^8 - ^b7 from "Something's Coming" [see opening and 0:51-52 at <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqog63KOANc&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqog63KOANc&feature=related</a>]. (Hats off also, I suppose, to the Georges Jetson and Antheil.)</div><div><br></div><div>Interestingly, the I - II# - I neighboring idea is often performed over a ^1 pedal (in examples ranging from the last strophe in Schubert's "Gute Nacht" through many Broadway tunes such as "Tonight" in <i>WSS</i>, and in many rock songs such as those mentioned in the section devoted to the Lydian II in my <i>The Foundations of Rock</i>, pp 256-57), but instead of ^1, ^#4 is sustained through this idea early in the Simpsons theme--a signifier of wackiness? I ascribe the sense of boundless wonderment to these I - II# - I examples. What's also interesting is the pop-rock song in which a phrase can cadence on the major II chord (The Vogues' "Five O'Clock World," BS&T's "Sometimes in Winter," both cases leading into wordless fantasy passages).</div><div><br></div><div>Then there are the tons of pop-rock dorian alternations over a ^1 pedal of i - ii - i ("Along Comes Mary") or i - IV - i (I recall John Covach once referring to this as the Santana changes). . . .</div><div><br></div><div>The descending line, ^5 - ^#4 - ^4 - ^3 ("How dry I am"), appears often in the classical literature, but almost always as part of a circle of 5ths, as in the support of Susanna's part in the second-act trio of <i>Figaro</i> (mm 40-45), where the applied leading tone's resolution is elided. The Beatles' first use of II# - IV for this descent comes in "She Loves You," and after "Eight Days a Week" it became a pop mainstay.</div><div><br></div><div><blockquote type="cite"><div><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></font></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div><br></div></blockquote></div><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>Walter Everett</div><div>Professor of Music</div><div>Chair, Department of Theory</div><div>The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance</div><div>1100 Baits Dr.</div><div>Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2085</div><div><br></div><div><a href="mailto:weverett@umich.edu">weverett@umich.edu</a></div><div>voice: 734-763-2039</div><div>fax: 734-763-5097</div></div></div></span> </div><br></div></div></body></html>