4 Songs you didn't notice change key

📌Due to a couple of my copyright disputes being rejected on this video I had to cut out a couple of clips so sorry if that has resulted in a few weird jump cuts!

Key changes don't have to be in your face! Some of the best key changes are hidden in plain sight, so today we'll take a look at 4 songs that you may not have realised change key!

And, an extra special thanks goes to Douglas Lind, Vidad Flowers, Ivan Pang, Waylon Fairbanks, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channel’s Patreon saints! 😇

0:00 Zephyr Song
1:04 Africa
1:50 Message In A Bottle
4:30 Lovefool

[eriktempelman]

The "Message in a Bottle" example makes me wonder if such key changes are perhaps made to accommodate vocalists' ranges.

[ljmiller]

That chromatic climb in Lovefool is the best part of the song. No wonder they kept the key change!

[alans]

Perhaps the reason for the key change in Africa is that moving it a whole step down made it easier to sing. Repeatedly singing the high B puts too much strain on the voice.

[joedurantguitar]

Until I played it in a covers band once, I never knew the last chorus of 'Stacey's Mom' is a minor third higher than the rest.... really surprised me! I think it's because the key change actually comes in the guitar solo which distracts you, then stays in that key for the last chorus.

[guillelopez]

In my opinion, the smoothest change of key the Red Hot ever did was in Californication's solo: it moved on to the relative minor of the parallel major. It's so brilliant you don't even notice, but hits hard when the solo ends and the song returns to the verse.

[Moises_]

I think for Lovefool it is subtle because the verse, although in C major, is interpreted in A minor. it makes it feel like it's going from A minor to A major playing with the parallel keys

[CarlSong]

8:08 that 3D maze screensaver in the corner brings back some memories!

[PwrTorch]

When it comes to key changes, Nik Kershaw is the first name that immediately springs to mind. Never noticed that the last chorus of "The Riddle" is a semitone higher than the rest of the song until I had to learn it for a wedding gig. Lots of his other songs also have loads of subtle and not-so-subtle key changes.

[amherst]

It wasn't until I listened to '60's music as an adult that I realized virtually every song played on Top 40 radio had a really significant key change -- as you said, it was clearly about injecting energy into songs you would have to get through many minutes of commercials in order to listen to and therefore make it worth the wait -- interesting stuff David, thanks!

[RhymesWithCarbon]

The "Message In A Bottle" key change is really smart, as both C# minor and A major all pivot around E major. Sting is so good at that stuff. Even the really stark key changes in "Fortress Around Your Heart" feel really seamless.

[ellishale]

Another thing about the Zephyr Song is how smooth the key change is BACK to the verse, as the chorus ends on A major then switches to A minor as the tonic chord of the verse. Its like by making the key change to the chorus more stark it allowed them to line up a more smoother transition back to verse again.

[tiestenbosch]

I love the many keychanges in 'Penny Lane' from the beatles. There are a few key changes that are obvious, but others are less obvious. The song sounds like such an innocent simple song, but is so much more complex...

[PavelFomenkov]

I know my channel is extremely Mark Knopfler-oriented, but still, one of my favourite "invisible" key changes is his version of "What A Wonderful World" he did with Chris Botti, with the arrangement coming from his keyboard player and long-time collaborator Jim Cox. While Mark's version is in the key of C Major, for the solo, it returns to the original key of Louis Armstrong and switches back to C. I wonder how many people noticed this.

[sourisvoleur]

TMBG's Birdhouse In Your Soul bounces between two keys through the whole song, but very smoothly and not jarring at all.

[Rene-uzeb]

2:18 Africa: theres actually two key changes: the A chord and melody are consistent with E major scale (and inconsistent with B). So from a key perspective (ignore modes), it's B to E to A, rolling perfectly along the circle of fifths.
So you could argue the subtle key changes are the ones along the circle of fifth, like in scarborough fair

[jyotektosgaimur]

Knights of Cydonia by Muse is also a great example of this, the verse melody changes key at every repeat (Em -> Cm -> Abm -> Em). It's also incredibly smooth in how its done too, especially considering how dissimilar these keys are from each other.

[bettyswunghole]

"Always Look on the Bright Side of Life". The key change is so subtle that Eric Idle has to shout out the words "key change!" to let everyone know it's happening! 😅

[slimkickens]

The Beach Boys are full of them. One of my favorites is the key change in Don't Worry Baby going into each chorus. The ii-V, but resolving to the iii (or ii of the new key), setting up another ii-V to bring us to the new key is probably one of the most clever ways to hide a truck driver key shift. Then the iv-IV7 cadence back down to the verse. So good.

[ActaeaMusic]

Funny because to my ears the key changes are noticeable, and especially the message in a bottle one, even though according to you it is supposed to be the most subtle one. Anyways I think it is a pity that nowadays there doesn't seem to be a lot of key changes in songs anymore.

[BrUh-xpqi]

Those new vocals on the C Major version of Lovefool are wildin