We’ve all felt that heartache from a breakup, that feeling like your heart may literally explode from sadness. Sia’s “Death by Chocolate” is clearly written from experience, and the heartfelt expression of these words of advice is beautifully matched by the music/chords she’s chosen to pair it with.
The goosebump-inducing, shiver-producing, tears-in-the-eyes part of this song for me is the…outro, I guess, for lack of a better word. The outro is a good half of the entire song, so I’m not sure “outro” is the right term to use here, but my research couldn’t find a better term.
But first we have to get to that outro…
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F – G – Bb
This song starts right out of the gate, though simply, leaving plenty of room to grow. What makes music interesting to my ears is when it deviates from the norm; having chords that pop out of key are unexpected and delicious – a little treat for the brain. The choice to have the second chord of this progression as non-diatonic adds a bit of colour to this line. When researching this I-II-IV chord progression, I read a most wonderful description: “II and IV can be considered a single unit that comes on pretty strong but is backed off on, like an overly-enthusiastic new valet driver who’s being reminded by his more experienced coworker to chill out and not scare off his customer.” That chromatic bass run leading back into the F major chord each time (the first one at
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C/E – Bb/D – F/A – Gm/D – Am/E – Gm/D – F/A
If you read my analysis of Geoff Castellucci’s “Big Bad John”, you know how I feel about 1st inversion chords. To me, they evoke a feeling of such strong, sweet sadness, which pairs perfectly with the phrase this progression accompanies, of someone who has been there, been through it, imparting words of comfort and wisdom to this girl going through this breakup:
Lay your head in my hands little girl
This is only right now
The second time we hear this amazing 1st inversion progression, it has the addition of transitioning from that F/A to A7, leading us into the chorus
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Bbmaj7 – Em7add4 – A7 – Dm7 – G7 – Cm – F – Gsus4
Bbmaj7 – Em7add4 – A7 – Dm7 – G7 – Cm – F – G
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Okay. Let’s talk about this outro. In fact, let’s take a run into it – do me a favour and start at
Goosebumps, right?? SUCH an amazing emotional journey conveyed in this outro. Let’s see what’s happening here…
At
As you know, because you just listened to it all to experience it as an emotional journey, this whole outro starts out calmly, simply, with only piano and vocals, again leaving lots of room to build just as Sia did at the beginning of the song. Very, very subtlely, a Hammond organ starts at
Let’s get these chords mapped out, before I forget:
G – Ebmaj7 – Bb – C
(I – bVImaj7 – bIII – IV)
At
Right at the end of this phrase as well
Are you getting that full feel of that Hammond organ now? “Hammond organs have a built-in vibrato effect that provides a small variation in pitch while a note is being played, and a chorus effect where a note’s sound is combined with another sound at a slightly different and varying pitch.” It gives such an interesting, swirly texture…such a perfect instrument to use in this section…very gospel-y.
That C major chord at
I am at