Song: Home Again

Artist: Shihad

Songwriters: Jon Toogood, Phil Knight, Karl Kippenberger, Tom Larkin

AlbumShihad

Release date: 1998

Genre: Rock

Key: D Minor

Chords in Key:

i

ii

III

iv

v

VI

VII

Dm

F

Gm

Am

Bb

C

 

Home Again is written for vocals, electric guitars, bass, synthesiser and drums.

Intro

The intro begins with the opening guitar riff on an F Major and F7. This gives the impression of being in F Major, however the second guitar enters after four bars playing a D5 power chord; which makes this a Dm in root position.

Verse

The chords in the verse could be interpreted as tone clusters, since the combinations created between the two guitars are not easily interpretable as traditional chords without stretching the definitions. However, in a rock context, the power chords on Jon Toogood’s guitar are the basis for the harmonic structure in the song.

Chorus

All chords in the chorus are played as power chords. This is very common in rock songs, especially with distorted/overdriven guitars as the inclusion of the third can “muddy” the sound. The vocals go higher and the melody becomes simpler, to emphasise the chorus and make it easy for an audience to sing. The two choruses have different lyrics, which is generally uncommon. There are two chord phrases; both begin on the tonic chord of D and repeat twice, with one moving upwards, and one moving downwards.

Bridge and Outro

The bridge does not, strictly speaking, have chords. Although the guitar does alternate between two notes a perfect 5th apart, and then moves the lower note up a semitone to suggest a diminished chord. The lead guitar plays some brief solo passages over this. The verse part is then used as an outro, which features the repeating line “I’ll be, home again”, until a brief synthesiser riff plays octaves while the song fades out.

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