Lullaby: A work in progress...

Today I'm going to post a small portion of a song I'm working on, so we can analyze its chord progression and discuss the lyrics. Who knows, it might compel me to finish it one of these days...

Anyway, here are the lyrics:

If you are near me and by my side

We'll shut out the cold and turn off the light 

so rest your head and close your eyes 

and I'll sing to you this lullaby 

The sun has faded from the sky

the moon is here to say goodnight 

But slow your heart its not goodbye

I'm right here now everything is all right

I'll never leave you in the dark 

if you need a light I will be your spark

till the light returns in the morn

I'll be right here to keep you safe and warm 

Now the time has come for you to go 

back inside your head where the dreams will glow 

and will light the world we soon will know 

with those dreams you had so long ago

Currently the form of this song is strophic, meaning that it consists of only verses. I used this form because I want the focus of the song to be in the dynamics in each verse, not the distinction between the verses and a possible chorus. This song is written in simple quadruple time.

Next let's look at the chord progressions used in the song: Key Signature: G Major

C       D/F#    G

C       D         G

C       B        Em

C       D         G

Using chord symbols:

IV    V       I

IV    V       I

IV    V/Vi    Vi

IV    V       I

So there's a lot of focus on the IV chord as it starts out each phrase, and each phrase is resolved with a V to I cadence. However, the interesting event occurs in the third part of the verse with the V/Vi chord. Note that B major is not in the key of G Major, and it is a secondary dominant to the Vi chord (Em). This gives the phrase stronger "pull" to the end of the line, and allows more emphasis to be placed on the lyrics in that section.

Alright, I'll post more original songs in the future, but this was meant to give an example of how secondary dominant chords can be used in a piece to provide an interesting variation to a similar chord progression.

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely, ZS