Perhaps everyone but me has discovered what I am about to describe.

The first note of several songs I have analyzed starts on the fifth scale degree.

Hey Jude, sang in the key of F by Paul. The first note is C.

Big City, Merle Haggard Key of E. The first note is B.

Star-Spangled Banner, in the key of C. The first note is G

I am sure there must be hundreds of other examples. I just never noticed this before.

"After you’ve been studying music theory, one thing that you’ll start noticing is that the perfect fifth seems to be a recurring theme. This interval is the most consonant of all intervals which can be formed from a different note other than the root. Many people believe this interval is the basis of harmony." a quoit from hubguitar.com

Obviously, songs can start on any scale degree but there does seem to be something special in starting a melody line on the fifth.

As I analyze my own melodies I find I am most often starting on the root and sometimes on the ninth. Starting one phrase on the ninth and the following one on the fifth.

There is this guy Joseph Bologne, Chavalier de Saint-Georges that I like. One of his claims to fame was his ability to create one great melodic line after another in a single work. He is sort of "required" study if you live in Paris...lol

I am slowly beginning to understand the relevance of studying classical music and the use of those ideas in popular song creation.

Feedback?

Billy

“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”