Song With The Most Chords ?

Rex Thomas · Post by **Rex Thomas** » 31 Aug 2004 5:55 pm

Anything David T. Clydesdale arranges... or writes.

Rick McDuffie · Post by **Rick McDuffie** » 31 Aug 2004 5:58 pm

"Lullaby Of The Leaves"

"Oleo"

You guys are right about "Lush Life". Wow. And where's the tonal center? Do you ever play the root chord? I haven't looked at it, I'm just hearing it in my head.

Mike Hoover · Post by **Mike Hoover** » 31 Aug 2004 6:40 pm

No wonder I could not figure out "Prelude to a Kiss" any way I am only a bass player

Mike

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 31 Aug 2004 7:40 pm

Rex, you are correct about that Clydesdale guy!!

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 31 Aug 2004 7:44 pm

I thought "Birdland" had more than a few...

Then again, some of those old standards had a bunch in the "intros".

EJL

John Steele · Post by **John Steele** » 31 Aug 2004 8:26 pm

My nomination for most chords within a 32 bar form would go to "The Song Is You", with 26 chords, according to my rough calculations. Never really counted before, but noticed it was rather centre-heavy. Not surprisingly, one of my favs.
The tonal centre of Lush Life is different for the Vest or Intro than it is for the rest of the head. I would agree it is the most chord-heavy tune on the list so far. It is rather a work of art in different segments which differentiate it from other less extended forms mentioned here.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>
Funny thing about the musical logic of these old chestnuts. You can really get a feel for how passing chord theory works in practice.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
There's the crux of the thread, if you ask me. Although a tune like "the Song is You" has a mittful of chords, they're all perfectly logical in sequence, as most of the above-mentioned tunes are (Oleo is a catchy melody written over the basic chord changes of "I've got Rhythm"). Everything adds up.
Now, take a tune like Coltrane's "Moments Notice", and you'll see an extension of the concept of changes, and related melody notes. Then he wrote "Giant Steps" which, as beautiful as it was, did not follow conventional chord progression theory. (have you met miss jones notwithstanding). It also didn't contain as many different chords as some mentioned on the list. It was the relationship of the chords that mattered.
But I digress.... so many chords, so little time.
-John

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www.ottawajazz.com [This message was edited by John Steele on 31 August 2004 at 09:27 PM.]

John Steele · Post by **John Steele** » 31 Aug 2004 8:29 pm

By the way, the only correct answer to the question is:
Buddy Emmons' version of "Gonna Build A Mountain", which moves through all 12 keys.

-John

Tracy Sheehan · Post by **Tracy Sheehan** » 31 Aug 2004 10:12 pm

My choice for werid chords would be Color MY World.Played in the key of F maj 7th, after the first chord change to B flat it is then all major 7ths,9ths and 7ths and does not got back to F maj 7th until the last chord of the song.My faforite 2nd is Tenderley adding more passing chords that are not written in the song like Chalker played it.

Tracy Sheehan · Post by **Tracy Sheehan** » 1 Sep 2004 7:49 pm

OOOPS. first change is A min then B flat in color my world.Tracy

Terry Wood · Post by **Terry Wood** » 1 Sep 2004 8:33 pm

All I can say, is what a real thought provoking question! You got a good one going here, and a Hillbilly's getting an education.

El Woodrow Meister!
From the Sadhills!
Just a Joke!

Jerry Gleason · Post by **Jerry Gleason** » 1 Sep 2004 9:46 pm

I'm not counting chords here, but a couple of other jazz ballads that have a ton of chord changes are "A Nightingale Sang in Berkely Square", and "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most". " 'Round Midnight" is right up there, too.

Someone else can do the math.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 2 Sep 2004 1:49 am

well the song that I think has the most chords and has my vote to never play again is "The Christmas Song" ..

t

pdl20 · Post by **pdl20** » 2 Sep 2004 8:34 am

What chords i can't even spell cords.David tell your dad hello from me. Rudy

Steve Knight · Post by **Steve Knight** » 2 Sep 2004 9:09 am

If you're counting intros with the song, then "Embraceable You" & a lot of other Gershwin tunes have extensive changes before the "song" (as most people think of it) even starts.

BTW, have you seen Al Marcus' old setlists on his webpage? They went a lot some changes then! I would love to have heard that.

SK

Nate LaPointe · Post by **Nate LaPointe** » 2 Sep 2004 11:58 am

"Joy Spring" by Cllifford Brown only has about 20 different chords but man, they more all over the place, and quickly!

Jennings Ward · Post by **Jennings Ward** » 2 Sep 2004 6:13 pm

Sorry, I did not mean to offend anyone,,...Can I vote for A Boy Named Sue. Not nuch of a melody , but you can put as many chords as you want in it and it still sounds bad,,,,,,,Just having fun Guys , Gals.. Jennings

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Garry Vanderlinde · Post by **Garry Vanderlinde** » 2 Sep 2004 10:11 pm

I haven't heard the song "Georgia" mentioned yet. For country (old,like me, that is) this song has it all. Thanks to Jeff Newman for pointing this out to me 20 yrs ago.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 3 Sep 2004 5:28 pm

Some of the old rock-stuff was challenging for me. Let's see..."Aubrey" by Bread had about 12 (some weird) chords. "Alone Again, Naturally" by Gilbert O'Sullivan had 19. "Sunshine Of My Life" by Stevie Wonder had 20, I think.

No wonder I like "Mansion On The Hill" so much!

Terry Edwards · Post by **Terry Edwards** » 10 Sep 2004 9:28 am

John Lennon proved you could write a song with only 1 chord. Paul and John were initially reluctant to approach George Martin with it but they did and it was included on the Revolver album.

Anyone remember the title?

Terry

Roger Edgington · Post by **Roger Edgington** » 10 Sep 2004 1:03 pm

I like songs in general with a lot of chords,but to me how they are put together rather than how many there are is more important. On the other hand, there are songs with only 2 chords that I like to play. I guess it's OK if it's the right two. I often wonder why I like or dislike a particular song.

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 10 Sep 2004 1:50 pm

....and if I remember correctly, didn't Dave Brubeck's "Unsquare Dance" only have one chord?

Jim Peters · Post by **Jim Peters** » 10 Sep 2004 2:03 pm

Our band covers Black Coffee, great song, lotsa chords. JimP

Len Cascia · Post by **Len Cascia** » 10 Sep 2004 3:12 pm

1 chord...Tomorrow Never Knows?
Lotsa chords... Jobim's Wave?[This message was edited by Len Cascia on 10 September 2004 at 04:20 PM.]

Larry Lorows · Post by **Larry Lorows** » 11 Sep 2004 5:51 pm

counting the chords in the intro, I would think "Stardust" would be right up there. Larry

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Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 11 Sep 2004 6:04 pm

Terry E/

I think "Within you and without you" only had one.

Come to think of it, Yoko did a couple....

EJL