I took part in an interesting experiment today. We had a pickup band (bass, guitar, banjo, fiddle) doing nothing but minor-key songs for two hours. Playing at a farmers’ market, where no one pays attention anyway.
Most of the tunes were bluegrass/country, but we also did Bang Bang, Heart Full of Soul, Love Potion #9, and Paint It Black.
The crowd (what there was of it) commented that things sounded dirge-y (I know, what do you expect?) So, I’m trying to think up some other minor-key songs that might be a bit cheerier.
So far, I have:
And I Love Her - Beatles
It’s a Man’s World, - James Brown
Move On Up - Curtis Mayfield (which we probably couldn’t pull off )
Coconut Grove - Lovin’ Spoonful, and
Moondance (which the whole world is sick of).
Any suggestions? I know I must be missing something.
On second thought, I’m not sure it’s in a minor key, although it’s got a lot of minor chords. Come to think of it, I’m not even sure it’s happy. It’s clearly about a couple who can’t communicate.
Not what you are asking for, but in the jams I frequent folk regularly call the Carter Family tune “Bury Me Beneath the Willow.” Usually they call for it to be played with an upbeat tempo in a key like D or A. Never seems quite right to play bouncy major chords behind cheery lyrics such as:
My heart is sad and I am lonely for the only one I love/When shall I see her, oh no never, 'til we meet in Heaven above
Oh bury me beneath the willow, under the weeping willow tree/So she will know where I am sleeping and perhaps she’ll weep for me.
So my string band has taken to playing it in G minor. Seems much more appropriate.
Again, apologies for not answering your question. Most of the songs we play in minor keys are pretty bleak: Coal Tattoo, Hewed Out of a Mountain; Mama’s Gonna Bargain With the Old Cookpot; Undone in Sorrow; Walk Away; Sixteen Tons…
Most Surf instrumentals are in a minor key. They defy the dirge by being up-tempo. At least, they make me happy. About 90% of the world would probably disagree, though.
“Feeling Good”, from The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd, popularized by Nina Simone and recently re-popularized by Michael Bublé, is in minor.
“Ständchen” (serenade) by Schubert (there are at least two, and I believe more, with that title by Schubert; the one in question is from Schwanengeaang) is also in minor.
“Happy” by Pharrell Williams. Whenever I hear it I think that it’s odd that a happy song is in a minor key, but I never looked it up until now. According to this sheet music site, it’s in F minor.
“California Dreamin’” is in A minor, but I find it a little bittersweet rather than happy.
Another in A minor is "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down ".
Not all “minor” keys are minor keys. With the advent of the blues and its significant incorporation into general pop music, realistically, many songs use an ambiguous key. It can be called major but have minor implications.
Compare the “standard” major key scale with either a minor or blues scale. It’s only a small difference, but that’s what makes the blues. There’s a lot of crossover with 2025 pop music, and it has been that way for the last 50 years.
This dichotomy has made standard (18-century based) written notation less than adequate. It isn’t too bad, since much music information is now transferred thru sound recordings, not written media. Printed music is now only a guide, not a transcription or inviolable blueprint.
Great choice. (Also “Moondance,” in the OP. But why are we sick of it? What did I miss?). Also surf music, and Pharrell Williams’ “Happy.”
As for “And I Love Her,” note it includes the parallel major (i.e., same root note) in the last chord – a “picardy third.” The Beatles were experimenting with parallel major/minor throughout 1964 – “Things We Said Today,” “I’ll Be Back”…
How could I have forgotten Pharrell’s “Happy”?! It’s my favorite new song in the last 15 years. And one of the happiest songs ever.
Regarding “California Dreaming”: a drinking buddy and I have spirited discussions about whether the singer (John Phillips) is getting ready to leavesomeone in the east for California on that winter’s day, or go to be withsomeone in California.
“If I didn’t tell her”. Is he leaving her, or coming to her?
I’ve always thought it was the former, likely because of the minor key melody and chords. My buddy thinks the latter.
In general, in klezmer music the lively bits are called freilach meaning ‘happy, joyous’, and they always seem to be in minor mode. Benny Goodman did a little of that. Squirrel Nut Zippers’ “Ghost of Stephen Foster” although jazzed up is practically pure freilach. So is Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes’ “Cantina Band.”
