Thinking About the Music Theory Behind Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” #MusicMonday

Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature on the strength of his lyrics, not the sound of his voice. But some might say that the sound of Dylan’s voice contributes an essential element to his body of work. Who wants to hear a cover of “It’s Alright Ma, I’m Only Bleeding?” But what about the music of Bob Dylan? Music theory can help us understand the intricacies of jazz and the enormous architecture of a classical symphony, but could music theory help us understand a guy with a guitar and a harmonica? Here’s one exploration form Ethan Hein on Music Radar:

All of the chords are from the key of C major except for the D chords – and those are interesting. The first time you hear a D, under the line “it’ll never do somehow”, it’s a secondary dominant, the V chord in the key of G. This then resolves to G7, the V chord in the home key of C. That is standard Western tonal harmony; Mozart would approve.

The second D chord, under the line “I’ll be gone”, is harder to interpret. Once again, it takes you outside the key of C, and conventionally it should be setting us up for another G chord. But no, Dylan just goes straight back to the C chord. You could hear the D as a secondary dominant that fails to resolve, or you could hear it as a moment of interchange with parallel C Lydian mode.

Hear and learn more!


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