Song: Lydia

Artist: Fur Patrol

Album: Pet

Songwriter: Julia Deans

Release date: 2000

Genre: Soft Rock

Key: E Major

Chords in Key: 

Lydia is written primarily for vocals, guitar, organ, bass and drums. 

Intro/Verse/Chorus

The intro begins initially on the tonic root note before playing the root notes from a four-chord pattern, which creates a plagal cadence when it restarts. This pattern continues throughout the song. To maintain interest the song begins with only drums, bass, and vocals, meaning the chords are implied by the bass line and vocal line. The guitar doesn’t enter until the second verse with arpeggios of the chords, followed by the organ entering as a pad near the end of the second verse. The timbre of the song continues to evolve, including percussion samples replacing the snare in the third verse and a more rhythmic organ part. The vocals also become louder and more intense as the song pushes through the final choruses, creating a feeling of a gradual crescendo throughout the song.

The only harmonic change in the song is a mixture chord (Am) on the dominant chord near the end of the second chorus. This is used to extend the chorus and create tension just before the guitar solo. This is used again at the end of the fourth verse/ breakdown, before returning to the original chord pattern in the repeated choruses which follow.

The song ends on a deceptive cadence, leaving the song feeling unresolved. This is likely to mirror the lyrical content of unresolved feelings towards a partner who has moved on.

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This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence. To view a copy of this licence, visit: creativecommons.org/licenses

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