Song: Sway

Artist: Bic Runga

Album: Drive

Songwriter: Bic Runga

Release date: May 1997

Genre: Pop

Key: A Major

Chords in Key:

I

ii

iii

IV

V

vi

vii

A

Bm

C#m

D

E

F#m

G#°

 

Sway is written for vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, strings (on keyboard), bass, and drums. It was featured in the movie American Pie, which lifted the international profile of Bic Runga.

The intro begins with the subdominant and dominant chords on a guitar, while the lead guitar plays a simple melody with a tremolo effect (when talking about guitar, tremolo has several interpretations: in this case, it means an electronic effect that makes the volume go up and down rapidly to create a stuttering effect, rather than the classical definition which is playing a note or two nnotes repeatedly as fast as possible). This is used for subtle lead breaks in the verse as well.

The vocal starts in the first verse, with a four chord pattern beginning on the tonic. Each verse ends with a refrain, where it goes to the subdominant, giving a feel of switching to the relative minor. A cello playing long, sustained notes is used in this section as well. This section could be called a pre-chorus. This section uses an authentic cadence to announce the chorus, which comes quite late in the song (after the second verse and refrain). The chorus introduces pizzicato strings and a clean electric guitar picking notes from the chords to make an arpeggio. This layering of instruments helps to give the song dynamics by making the chorus feel louder and bigger.

The intro is used as a bridge after the second chorus with the line “It’s all because of you” repeated several times before a brief guitar solo and the final pre-chorus/ chorus of the song. The “It’s all because of you” line is reused for the outro/coda, under a two chord pattern starting on the mediant, and ending with the dominant chord. This is known as a half cadence.

 

For a glossary of terms visit dictionary.onmusic.org

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