Songs Beginning with a Half-Diminshed 7th Chord on the Flatted 5th

Mr Charisma,

It's in standard textbooks on Harmony but yes it requires some study to remember the relationships. I was not the best with differential equations so we all have our hours of misspent youth to blame for ignorance.

 

Heh, thought of another example, albeit a somewhat silly one:

Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde begins with a chord that's sometimes described -- rightly or wrongly -- as an enharmonic respelling of a Fø7 (spelled as F-B-D#-G# in this case). The piece's final cadence is in B major, in which F is b5 or #4, and the chord reappears right at the end in its original voicing as part of the concluding cadence (roughly Fø7 > Em > B, very loosely interpreted, and I don't remember whether the F is an F or an E#).

So...it may take 4.5 hours to pay off, but we do get our half-diminished chord on #4 (sort of), and our piece "in" B major!

 

I'm sorry to say I have no idea what you're talking about

 

Good one!

 

Hold on -- did we ever figure out what the "Gloria" chords are?

What are the Gloria chords?

 

That’s easy, just throw a guitar down the stairs.

 

How about the 2nd chord of George Harrison's "Isn't It A Pity":

 

Yes, that is the chord, but here it is the second, not the first.

 

I believe that's a fully diminished 7th, rather than half diminished.

 

@Rose River Bear you are needed!

 

Thought of another one -- the version of "Round Midnight" with the intro heard here:



The first chord is Aø7 to my ears, which makes it a half-diminished seventh on #4 heading for the eventual tonic of Eb minor.

 

Good call, but that is the intro and not the "song" itself, as composed. But yes, that is what you're hearing!

 

I can't remember who wrote that particular intro: was it Monk? If so I'd say it counts, but "Round Midnight" has such a checkered and confusing history, with parts injected by everyone from Dizzy Gillespie to Cootie Williams to...

 

I can think of thousands starting with a half diminished 7th with a sharpened 4th but you've got me with this one.

 

Monk did write the intro. That part is technically not a part of the refrain, but sure, I'll give it to you. I wouldn't have thought of this. Thanks for pointing it out!

 

One hell of a chord to start a song on!

 

I'm just fretted badly.

 

i like to think of my 7th chords as "half full".

 

don't be sorry...be thankful!

 

Dunno about starting, but I often finish a tune on my leccy piano with a two-handed, M7-9

 

I'd have to plumb some transcriptions but I'd bet Jobim uses that in Stone Flower and/or Ligia

 

Do you have a cite about the intro? Wiki says Dizzy Gillespie wrote the "common" intro. But I can't tell if Miles is playing that same thing. Miles and Thelonious had a noteworthy fight over miles round midnight arrangement, IIRC.

 

No, I don't know for sure, but Monk certainly played it. It is possible that he picked it up from Diz.

 

I just tried to audition about 6 versions of it and I don't recognize the intro as being the same on any two of them by Monk, let alone Miles. Maybe it's me.

 

I have a copy of the Monk bio, though it's not at home right now -- I'll check it out when I'm able, as it may address this.