# Tonic triad lead-in to the minor submediant - What song does this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [March 22, 2025, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962 "2025-03-22T20:38:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962/1 "2025-03-22T20:38:17Z")
I got this progression stuck in my head, stuck in my soul. When jamming at the keyboard I sometimes feel an urge to play this. I know I heard it in a song. Probably a '60s soul tune. It plays the arpeggiated tonic triad (no chord) in double eighth notes, leading into the minor submediant chord. For example, C major (C C, E E, G G, A) going to A minor. Probably used as a lead-in to the bridge in the relative minor. [[Album] Tonic triad to submediant - Album on Imgur ![](https://i.imgur.com/Jxt7I47.jpeg?fb "Tonic triad to submediant - Album on Imgur") ](https://imgur.com/a/SWbAHN3) What song(s) has that? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962/2 "2025-03-22T20:58:37Z")
I don’t know exactly, but it made me think of the Beatles’ song “All I’ve Got To Do”—specifically, the “And the same goes for me” part. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962/3 "2025-03-22T21:04:34Z")
That’s _close_—but there the tonic triad of E major leads into the subdominant (IV) of A major. _Really_ close, in that the verses alternate between E major and C-sharp minor. ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962/4 "2025-03-22T21:53:12Z")
“Stand by Me” by Ben E. King? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962/5 "2025-03-22T21:57:12Z")
That isn’t it, sorry. It has I going to VI minor, but that is the familiar 1950s I-VI-IV-V progression from hundreds of songs. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962/6 "2025-03-22T22:14:25Z")
Could you give us a sound example for those of us who aren’t fluent music readers? ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962/7 "2025-03-22T22:29:22Z")
I know the fragment you’re talking about, I can hear it in my head, but I can’t put it to a song. The way my brain works with these things, it’ll haunt my dreams for the next 5-15 days. I’ll come up with it eventually, and then it’ll run nonstop for the next 3 months. I do very much feel like it’s early Beatles, but not the one already mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962/8 "2025-03-28T15:52:34Z")
It resembles The Sound of Silence, is that what you are thinking of? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962/9 "2025-03-28T17:09:10Z")
I’ve… never learned how to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962/10 "2025-03-28T17:10:33Z")
Ah yes, “And the sign said…”—but again, like the Beatles song cited above, it leads to the subdominant, not the VI. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962/11 "2025-03-28T19:12:38Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > I’ve… never learned how to do that. Well, obviously you can play a keyboard. Couldn’t you record an example of the chord progression and post it? I’m not sure if you are playing on an acoustic piano or an electronic keyboard, but either way it shouldn’t be difficult. I (and probably several other members) do quite a lot of recording work and would be happy to help. Recording music is a lot of fun! ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962/12 "2025-03-28T19:14:33Z")
I’ve wasted all this time learning how to read and write music when I could have been learning audio tech. Priorities. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962/13 "2025-03-28T19:37:47Z")
Why not do both? I can sort-of read music, but not fast enough to really play from most scores in real time. But I would claim that I’m a pretty good ear player and recording engineer. You don’t have to try to be George Martin… the audio tools these days are quite easy to use 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2025, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962/14 "2025-03-29T15:40:26Z")
Oh, stewardess, I can speak [jive](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3snd308sg9cf4vn8hbp99/Tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant.mp3?rlkey=4vled6qo944tn468pfx727c14&st=lqa568b5&dl=0). ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2025, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962/15 "2025-03-29T16:18:08Z")
I tried to put this in Musescore, the resulting WAV is [here](https://jumpshare.com/s/7NmZ7184FoaTDF8nim5N). ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2025, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962/16 "2025-03-29T18:25:15Z")
Excellent, thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2025, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962/17 "2025-03-30T15:41:54Z")
Asked hubby and he mentioned Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors, “but I see your true colors”. [Link](https://youtu.be/LPn0KFlbqX8?si=iTVvnF9wNwYiKRpK&t=42) ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2025, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962/18 "2025-03-30T15:50:46Z")
It does have that “I’m sure I’ve heard that somewhere before” feel. The first 6 notes sound like ‘Sealed with a kiss’ but the final chord dispels the similarity… ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2025, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962/19 "2025-03-30T15:56:57Z")
Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” is in a different key, but it sounds a bit like the 3rd line: [https://youtu.be/4fWyzwo1xg0?t=11](https://youtu.be/4fWyzwo1xg0?t=11), 11 seconds into the video ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2025, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962/20 "2025-03-30T16:03:22Z")
I’m almost positive I’ve heard that as part of a Booker T. organ melody but I can’t pinpoint it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonic-triad-lead-in-to-the-minor-submediant-what-song-does-this/1015962.md?page=2)