I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free.

NylonDave

What a great title eh ?

Seems unforgiveable from a linguistic standpoint until you hear Nina sing the rhythm that ties it all together. Then it seems perfect.

Any way here are the chords for the first four bars.

F
F
Bb
F

Two bars on F seems like a lot, Dm might be nice.

F
Dm
Bb
F

That Dm isn't really speaking maybe add a chord in the middle, A7 should do it. Hold on though I could get smooth bass line if I made that a second inversion A (F-E-D), and a flat nine would be nice to walk the inner voice down from C to A (D-Bb-A) sooooo

F Edim7
Dm
Bb
F

Wait a minute now the Bb chord doesn't seem that special perhaps I could continue the bass line down to the Bb chord and put a chord in between. Well F7 sure is going to make Bb seem like an arrival and F7 has the note C so

F Edim
Dm F7/C
Bb
F

Gee that second half seems kinda dull now. I don't really need a C chord to support the melody there but I guess I could put it in the bass just to lean into the F chord after the Bb sounds. And that slash chord (or C nine eleven if you like) has a kinda nice Gospel sound and it IS a spiritual after all.

F Edim
Dm F7/C
Bb Bb/C
F

---

Anyway, I don't know what miss Simone's thought process actually was but that doesn't matter really. You see I wish I knew how it feels to be free too. If you are studying harmony and would like to be free then try taking a good hard look at a tune that seems complex and work out the three chord version and then try and see if you can put yourself in the composers shoes and solve the problem of getting from one to the other.

Doesn't matter at all if you are wrong about how they saw it.
If you get the answer right then you can do it.


D.

(NB, if you want to improvise long lines over these changes then play sophisticated lines (ie not bare triads thinking of just F and Bb and it will sound real sophisticated and like you are outlining the harmony)

ChrisMartin

There is a nice version of that by the Derek Trucks Band too, but they seem to play it as a straight blues.

NylonDave

I wonder if Nina had been aiming for a classic two five one resolution instead of a IV to IV/V she might have mused along these lines.

The basic.

F
F
Bb
F

So we want to hit Gm in the third bar, that should be a no brainer because it is a tonal song and you can always go down to the relative minor in tonals songs.

F
F
Gm
F

And we will of course put the V in.

F
F
Gm C7
F

So how are we to get to the Gm, well D7 of course but since we have an F in the melody and I checked just now and that makes Am7b5 to C sound pretty unrewarding we will just need to put the D7 at the second half of the bar.

F
F D7
Gm C7
F

Now in order for the changes to have a constant rate of motion we put back the original bass line for the first few bars.

F,A7/E
?/D, D/C

So why the question mark. Well the tune is so well known that hitting the D minor would make anything that deviated afterwards sound like a mistake or mistranscription. Also the effect of a structural minor substitution ( the Dminor ) would ( for me personally and maybe just today) undermine the effect of the Gm and its preceding D7, so to support the F in the melody the obvious answer is to play Bb in first inversion

And then, skipping to the end ,I decided to prolong the tension by holding the Bb (so both dominants in the sequence are sounded in third inversion) and then arriving at the tonic TENSE in first inversion.

F,A7/E
B/D, D/C
Gm(triad)/Bb, C7/Bb .
F/A C7/G to
F for second line.

This sets up the second line nicely... for me .... today.

D.

NylonDave

Chris Martin wrote: »

There is a nice version of that by the Derek Trucks Band too, but they seem to play it as a straight blues.

Just for you Chris.

F7 Eb7
Bb/D Ab/C
Bb7 Bdim
F6/C A7/Csharp to second line on Dm

or

F7 Cm6/Eb
Bb/D Bbm/Db
DbMaj7 C7 (edit C7aug9)
F7

It can support the mixolydian changes because there is no seventh in the melody to make them clash.

Anyone else studying harmony today ?

D.

NylonDave

As a minor blues kinda Bill Withers style

Dm G/D
Dm Am/C
Gm/Bb Am
Dm

Anyone else like how this make them feel the melody different when they sing over it ?

D.

NylonDave

EDIT

The Am isn't as strong for the Dorian feel as a C triad, this is better.

Dm G/D
Dm Am/C
Gm/Bb C
Dm

NylonDave

You can also just walk down D aeolian in triads to the iv and resolve through A7 like this

Dm C
Bb Am
Gm A7
Dm

D.

NylonDave

It is also nice if you do some contrary motion in the bass line.

Dm C/E
Bb/F Am/G
Gm A7
Dm

NylonDave

And you can do that descending triad thing in the original major tonality.

F Em7b5
Dm C
Bb Am (it is a bit tricky vocally to hold the F (b6) over am but if you do you'll see it works by the time you get to...)
Dm

NylonDave

Any one else want to take this phrase for a walk in a different direction and share what they find ?

Its just four bars and the melody aint nothing but an F6 arpeggio with one passing note (G).

(note. I have not written in any colours for chords where the melody is the colour note, I dislike the convention of doing so as it is one of the things that makes the real book unnecessarily intimidating for novices like me).

NylonDave

Here is another way of working these four bars. I am going to break my own rule and put the colour tones in the chord description (because it might seem like I have made an error otherwise ).

Some of the more poignant Swing Tunes substitute IV for the one at the opening, songs like After You've Gone and Stardust.

This tune supports that approach.

I (BbMaj7/F)
Wish I (Bbm6/F)
Knew (Am11/E)
How it would (D7aug9)
Feel (Gm11)
To be (C7b5/Gb)
Free (F6/9)

Anyone got any comments (maybe you object to an f melody note over a Gb bass for example) based on how it felt singing through these options ?

D.