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34 - My Sweet Lord (George Harrison) · Barracuda Breakdowns

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I can't wait to dive into this song.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: My Sweet Lord by George Harrison, probably his most popular song.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: As I was learning it, I was just like dumbfounded at just the harmony and everything he's doing in junction, in conjunction with the lyrics.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't wait to I can't wait to show you guys.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm also gonna get to the similarities between the chiffons and the song He's so fine.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because he got in some trouble for unconscious plagiarism.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: And uh we'll talk about the similarities.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: But for now, let's just talk about the musicality of this song uh just right now.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: So KO 2 E minor.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna call this E minor because it's E minor shape, right?
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna do the guitar talk.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: So it's actually F sharp minor, but E minor, and then right now here's the thing.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't the key of the song.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Neither is that and that's part of what makes the song so beautiful.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like the song is like a spiritual journey, right?
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, my sweet lord, like I really want to see you, I really want to be with you, I really want to see you, but it takes so long, my lord.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Hallelujah, hallelujah.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like I really want to go with you, right?
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I love the way that the tonic, the root chord, like the key of the song, I love the way that it's treated.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's so beautiful.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: So we got so this chord is the minor two chord, E minor, okay?
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it goes to the five, that's A.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a two-five one, but we haven't hit one yet, right?
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally oh my god.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: So that's like now obviously it's a slide part, and I got a little slide here.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's so iconic.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then oh man.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my sweet lord.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my lord.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Just like surrender, it's like a lot of surrender.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my lord.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: He only sings it three times, and he goes, I really wanna see you.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: So right there, he's like saying see you, he hits the tonic.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's like when I see you, right?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: But it's so short-lived because it quickly goes to the relative minor.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like a sad fall.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: I really wanna see you.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: I really wanna be with you.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: I really wanna be with you.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Sad again.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Really wanna see you low, but it takes so long.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Back to the loop, the 251.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, my sweet lord.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now that part is so beautiful.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Really wanna see you low, but it takes that's F sharp diminished to B7 to E minor, back to E minor.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now that's so nice because he's like, Really wanna see you, Lord.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's the key of the song, but then he begins this like travel, and that's the minor two chord.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like it's short-lived, but then he quickly bridges back to like the never-ending, like kind of like the loop of life, like kind of some sorrow, right?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: See you low, but it takes so long my it's a secondary dominant, okay?
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's the five of two.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: So long, my lord.
• 3:58
  unknown: Oh my lord.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: I just like I just love it, man.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: I really wanna know you again D major, quick relative minor.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: I really wanna go with you, I really wanna show you, Lord, that it won't take a long Lord.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Man, that's uh one, two, one, two, and then like a B7 chord.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: God, it's like the harmony, like the chords are always striving to be home, and but it's always like very fleeting.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like the song is like about a spiritual journey.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: It just kind of like makes sense in my head, and it's uh it's just like very spiritual, and I love it.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: So you lord that it won't take, that it won't take it's like we're bridging away from home.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and then when it goes haleluya, like that's so like spiritual too.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because he's going just like very like mystical intervals over this.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: So we got that's e minor, that's e minor, right?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: But it got the minor seventh, making it a E minor seventh chord.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Look at that.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, E minor seven, add nine.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then here's like A6.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Back to A major.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: It gets like very mystical and like so sophisticated, like very quickly.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: And uh it's just a really beautiful touch.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then watch this key change, like the drums haven't even joined yet.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: But I just want to stop and say, like, I love the production, like the wall of sound guitars.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Phil Spector produced this, right?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: The wall of sound sounds like a bunch of acoustics.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um and uh Harrison's vocal is just like so like authentic and raw.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now, as it's going, like what this is like a big change in the song.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: It goes, like my sweet lord.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Right here.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Right here.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: I really wanna see you.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: So right here is the longest that we hold in the tonic.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Really wanna see you.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: I really wanna see you.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: So we know something's coming.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: We got D7 now.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: We make it a dominant seven chord.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of bluesy.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: See you, and then I really wanna see Lord.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: No, this is B7 before we've done this chord before, but it just led right back to take so long, my right?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: It like brought us back into that loop, that like samsara loop, just like everyday life.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Just but we wanna find that home, that centers.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: So again, here's I'm gonna re- I'm gonna start that again.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really wanna see.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now this B7 is being treated differently.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Really wanna see Lord.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now it does go to E again, but it's E major, and it's not the minor two chord of D anymore.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's the new one chord.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Really wanna see Lord! That's the new key.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're in E major.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's like such a nice modulation, it's beautiful.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: But it goes back to that weird thing.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: See low, but it won't take a long.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's the same pattern.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so it's like wanna see Lord, Lord, again, really wanna see low but it rare.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's G sharp diminished to C sharp seven the five chord of the minor two chord of the new key.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Really wanna know you Again same thing, it's like major one, the relative minor.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Really wanna go with you.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Really wanna show you that it won't take a long hello but it goes my low.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Oh like it's so ascending, right?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like the music has ascended, it has lifted into this new key.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: It went up a full step, and then we get like the thickened vocal harmonies.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: It could just go on forever, and it does, and then finally when it goes, now it does that slide thing, but a full step higher.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: So now it's like they add those two notes.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: I just love how Harrison like found notes to like go over like that beautiful passage.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: And he's adding all these names at the end, right?
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: He's like Hare Rama, Guru Saksha, Maheshwara, Guru Devo, Parabrahama.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's like he's saying a lot of names at the end there.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Such sophisticated songwriting by George Harrison.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: So just to recap the song Minor two to five, it's a two-five-one progression.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, major one to the sixth, a relative minor.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: D to B minor.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: And now we're crawling our way back to the two chord, okay?
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the major one, and then F sharp diminished.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: So we're like.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: But before we go, before we do that, we go to the fifth.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's how we're gonna crawl back, right?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: F sharp diminished to B7, and then all, which is back to that loop, the never-ending loop.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then you really wanna know you.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Really wanna show you love that it won't take long.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: For me, the moment that hits the hardest in conjunction with the harmony with the chords is when he goes, Really wanna see you.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: To the minor six, to the to the minor sixth chord, really wanna be with you right here.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: Really wanna see you low, but it He's getting like pulled away from like the tonal center.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Really wanna see you lower, but it takes so long, but it takes so long.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's like I can't get enough of that.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's like so nice.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and then later, like, but when the drums enter, it's like I really wanna see you.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: I really wanna see you.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's the major tonic, but a dominant seven.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: We're adding the flat seven.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Bluesy.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Really wanna see Lord.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's like secondary dominant, right?
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: But that's acting as the five chord of the new key, because now instead of going back to E minor, it goes to E major.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's the new major one chord.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: So back to the pattern.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: If he wanted to, he could have kept like repeating that pattern and always modulating up a full step.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like that would have been cool to do too.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but I think it's just showing that it's like always ascending, it's so nice.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: And now let's do the let's talk about the comparisons between this song and He's So Fine by the Chiffons.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, the Chiffons, it's in a different key, but it's the same core progression.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just gonna play it in the exact same key.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: He's so fine.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Wish he were mine.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: The handsome boy over there.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know the way she sings it.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: The one with the wavy hair.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Again, then it goes, it does go to the relative major, like it goes, I don't know how I'm gonna do it.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't go, it just stays there.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: But at the end of the song, because it's a very short song, it's only a minute 52, He's So Fine by the Chiffons.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, at the end of the song, it does go, which is the exact same chord progression as My Sweet Lord.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, George Harrison does adds the does like very sophisticated stuff that the chiffons does not do, that the chiffons do not do.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then George Harrison changes keys, like he modulates, and the He's So Fine by the Chiffons does not do that.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: But it does do the dun dun dun.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: Wish you would mind.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Same kind of vibe, definitely the same harmonic vibe.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then at one point it's like it goes to the four chord, and that does not do that at all in my sweet lord.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it goes back to the one, it goes back to the four.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it might even go to the to the five.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: So that B section in the He So Fine, or it's like the middle eight, that doesn't that that chord progression does not happen at all, my sweet lord.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: And like I just said, my sweet lord has like the crazy modulation, like the key change, the more sophisticated chords.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it is pretty damn close, like with just like the two five one.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Just and the the looping the two of the two five, you know, and then bursting, bursting into the major one.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: And at the end it does do other chiffon song.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: Very cool.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, I just I love my sweet lord so much.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like again, it's like the lyrics and working in harmony with the chords and the melodies, you just glue it all together.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I just love Harrison's voice.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope you got a lot out of this breakdown.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: I really enjoyed diving into the song.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for tuning in, guys.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want to work together on a music production level where you work with me directly to really shape your sound and bring your songs to life, just check out learn.dambarracuda.com slash own your sound.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's my new program I'm rolling out.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: And um I only have limited spots available, but you can check out that site and uh fill out this quick questionnaire so I can see what you're working on.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Again, that's learn.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: And uh thank you guys so much.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see you in the next episode.