What are some well-known pop songs since the birth of rock and roll that don’t end on the “DO” of the scale - that just leave you hanging?
I’m not including songs that fade out into nothingness - I’m talking about songs that have an actual ending.
I’ve been trying since last night, and the only one I’ve come up with so far is Paul McCartney and Wings’ Silly Love Songs, which ends with “and What’s Wrong with That?..”
There must be a bunch more, right?
Les Paul & Mary Ford’s Magic Melody.
Nitpick: Tonic, not root.
It seems what you’re really asking is *not about songs whose melody ends on a note other than the root note of the scale of the key the song is in (this is quite common), but rather about songs which end on a chord that is not the tonic chord of the song’s key – this is quite unusual, as per the example you gave. Especially notable is when the other chord chosen to end the song is one which leaves the listener expecting a harmonic resolution which never arrives. The example you gave is a good one. Another might be Steve Miller’s The Joker, which, like the example you gave, ends in the middle of a verse.
(*Because there are lots of songs which, for example, change key for the last, repeated refrains – typically, they go up a tone or half-tone – e.g., Led Zeppelin’s All My Love – but this isn’t what you’re asking about.)
“Take it Easy” by the Eagles perhaps?
Doesn’t The Joker fade out?
And Labdad, good call. Take It Easy ends on the relative minor, Em in the key of G.
As does the Beatles’ “Cry Baby Cry.”
Oh, and Her Majesty. The [del]root[/del] tonic, excuse me, is over at the beginning of Polythene Pam.
And I guess*** I Want You (She’s So Heavy) ***counts as released, too, but isn’t an example of unusual composition - just literal mid-note cut-the-tape.
At the end of side 2 of Abbey Road, Her Majesty ends on the 5. Sounds like it was supposed to be a quick 5-1 but the 1 got lost. In fact that’s probably exactly what happened.
At the end of side 1, I Want You (She’s So Heavy) ends on 6 but that’s just a random point where they shut off the tape which is probably cheating. Hellbound Train by Savoy Brown does the same thing.
ETA: So I youtubed 2 Savoy Brown songs before posting and … Darn you Bup! Darn you all to heck!
It seems to be a rule in Cafe Society that you get all the Beatles’ examples that fit a particular thread in early. I’m not one to eschew convention.
Jethro Tull’s “Wind-Up” ends on the dominant (A in the key of D).
IIRC, Phil Collins’s “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” ends somewhere weird – I’ve forgotten too much music theory to remember exactly where.
Janis Joplin’s Piece of My Heart ends on the 2 chord, F#m in the key of E.
I’m going to nitpick that one. The song is definitely in e minor, but starts with the chorus and a G major chord.
Anyway, on “Revolver” there are two successive tracks: “For No One” which ends on the V chord, and “And Your Bird Can Sing” which ends on the IV chord.
Another from the Beatles: “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”, which ends on a 5th.
Nothing definite about it. The chorus, which both begins and ends the song, is firmly in G, which is what makes that final E minor chord sound weird. True, the verse melody switches to E minor, but even that resolves to a G chord after each line.
Traffic “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys”
I’ve wondered for ages what the hell is that last chord?
Whatever it is, I defy you to hear it in your head before it is played.
If someone can tell me what it is functionally, I’d appreciate it.
I don’t know. Ending on the dominant is not that uncommon. I noticed a trend in doing it with worship music a few years back. Unfortunately, none of those songs will fit the thread.
I’m not even sure I’d count the verses as being in E minor. There’s an E minor chord throughout, but it always resolves in G major with a plagal cadence.
Plus the version I just listened to resolves on Fm, not Em.
Would Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4” qualify? It ends on a weird chord.
Edit: Same for Cream’s “Badge.”