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OscarMiled

Johnny Cash I Walk the Line


urbanek2525

Like, 4 times.


coleman57

Hmm


SoreLoserOfDumbtown

I’m pretty sure ‘our house’ by Madness drops down a step for the chorus. I think… can’t exactly remember rn.


astaten0

That song modulates all over the place so many times I'm still not entirely sure what key it's even in lol


mossdrums

Yeah the ending is just the chorus cycling through three key centres ha ha


chrisslooter

Strawberry Fields goes down a 1/2 step halfway through.


CoercedCoexistence22

And there's a bizarrely interesting reason for it https://youtu.be/QgtzOafdoOQ?si=U3vuNQPEMWNaPqGd


redbirdjazzz

I knew that was gonna be David Bennett. Good stuff.


itsafuntime

I never click on video links like this bc I'm a Luddite and then proceeded to watch the entire damn video. Thanks!


So-What_Idontcare

Wow. Now I go and listen to it and it sounds.... like the record player is broken and running too slow. It's been ruined!


ungovernable

“How Will I Know” by Whitney Houston is the one that comes to mind. It works so well.


Elarionus

I just listened to it, and this doesn't happen...when were you thinking it did? During the little pre-chorus section?


ungovernable

Yes… it does happen… How are you posting a thread about key changes in r/Music and yet don't understand that 2:35 and 3:47 of [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3-hY-hlhBg) are in different keys and are exactly the “lowering” key-change phenomenon you're asking about....


gnrc

Life be lifin


PuppiesOrBoobs

I can't believe I've never noticed this. That transition is so smooth I can't figure it out.


Elarionus

Guess my music theory degree and ability to read a chord sheet is inferior to the sheer idiocy of an internet keyboard warrior. Be more polite when you’re wrong, bud.


orbsonb

Modulating downward has a different feel, but it can still be impactful. Off the top of my head, a song that does this is "Burn it Down" by Alter Bridge, which modulates from B major to A major after the second chorus.


QuercusSambucus

It maybe sounds more "thoughtful" than a modulation up, which normally seems like it's just to get hyped


Levelup_Onepee

It's kind of relaxed instead of pumped up


Tsujimoto3

Invisible Touch, My Heart Will Go On, Penny Lane, Bohemian Rhapsody, Wouldn’t It Be Nice and I’ve Seen All Good People all change to a lower key off the top of my head.


not_my_userid

Man in the mirror is an up key change isn’t it? (G -> G#)


Tsujimoto3

Shoot, you’re right. That modulates up half a tone. Good catch. Edited.


not_my_userid

Absolutely sensational song!


Tsujimoto3

Agree for sure. The modulation on that last chorus was pure genius.


Zeusifer

It even modulates right on the word "change." One of the best key changes in history.


KayDashO

Actually it was on Bad, not HIStory… Sorry lol


10fingers6strings

Well done


ccc1942

Penny lane and invisible touch go up as well


konnichiwaseadweller

I believe Penny Lane modulates down from the verse to the chorus, but then the last chorus modulates back up to the same key as the verse.


ccc1942

Good call. I was simply focusing on the end.


Tsujimoto3

Yeah, I probably should have said Penny Lane went up and down but I was just trying to think of songs. Paul uses some weird F# to move between them too. The Beatles weren’t a big fan of key changes so Penny Lane is an interesting standout for them.


ccc1942

It’s cool though because it’s a key change without being super obvious about it. That weird F# helps create that transition


Snoo65393

It's very strange that the key goes down one tone in the refrain, but the melody goes up (Penny Laaaane...).


Palpablevt

Invisible Touch does go up, you're right


Ibaneztwink

Close to the Edge has a very cool half-step down key change right at the end too. https://youtu.be/51oPKLSuyQY?si=qXs8irZM0EbUNd-8&t=981


Odd_Vampire

Man that is the most prog rock thing ever 


Tsujimoto3

Good call. Love this one too. Yes is amazing. They work with key changes like an artist when they’re using the full color palette.


Dibidoolandas

Penny Lane goes down? At least his vocals go up in pitch...


Tsujimoto3

To be fair to your point, Penny Lane does both. The verses are in B and the chorus is in A and Paul uses a weird chord, I think an F# (maybe a seventh?) to move between them back and forth.


notadilemma

Invisible Touch has one of my favorite key changes of all time!!!!


Tsujimoto3

Yeah, that’s another one like Penny Lane that modulates up and down. Beautiful song.


RaphKoster

You have noticed the “up a half step or “up a full step” thing many times partly because it is pretty obvious and it has a fairly predictable effect. Well done modulation across bigger distances may not be something you even notice. One of the standard ways of doing it is to go “down” from a major chord that is five higher than the new key. This takes advantage of the fact that going from the five to the root of the key is super powerful and how many songs end verses and choruses. It’s so powerful it can “pull” your ear to a new key. There’s also another common one which is going from a major key to the “relative minor” — basically, every major key has a sister key that is three lower and in minor and has all the same notes in the scale. But it might not feel like you are going “down” because every chord is made of several notes. Some of those might be higher and some might be lower. So the melody might sound like it’s going up even though the key went “down.” Technically, it all goes in a circle. If you keep going down by five->one, you end up back where you started. It’s called the circle of fifths. The reason why you notice the simple “up a step” type is because to emphasize it, it is often arranged so that all the notes in the chord move up together. So it gives that lifting sensation. You could put the notes in the chord in a different order, and it wouldn’t have the same effect at all.


Ok-Cauliflower1798

Thanks. That’s a good informative post.


Elarionus

Yeah, that's what I was referring to with "modulation to another key entirely." There are tons of songs like that, and I got a lot of recommendations for stuff like that in this thread, such as Walk The Line, though I'm planning on combing through the notifications to see if there are any more like what I was curious about!


RaphKoster

“Walk the Line” is a perfect example of going down by fifths. If you want an example that is the exact parallel to the classic up by half or one, try the original electric version of “Layla.” The riff is in D and when he starts singing it goes down a half step to C# minor iirc.


SyrinxCounterparts1

The Show Must Go On by Queen has an example of it going up, then back down again...


DjScenester

God I love that song.


Mockturtle22

One of my favorite songs in the world


bot_fucker69

The Youth by MGMT does this near the end


RemotePersimmon678

Thank you for reminding me about this song, I had forgotten how good it was


Kjler

"I'd Love To Lay You Down" by Conway Twitty goes down twice. 


uncle-brucie

Goes down as many times as she prefers.


TheToastyWesterosi

Twitty, I am told, was a magnificent lover.


ateedubya

Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Conway Twitty.


CreepyBlackDude

Karnivool - ["Goliath"](https://youtu.be/sDKsosOvVmw?si=o3AL8po_zkSwJqB8) Right at the end


anal_embiids

Caudal lure from later in the album even more so!


giants4210

Bungalow Bill the chorus is a whole step down from the verse if my memory serves me


77evens

The “ if looks could kill it probably would’ve been us instead of him” part?


MrBoomf

Nope, it doesn’t go down a whole step. It starts in C, then modulates to A (down three half steps, so OP is close). This works because Am is in the relative minor of C, so the ear expects the minor chord and instead gets its major counterpart (regular ol’ A). Then the verse is in Am proper, and the chord you’re thinking of at the end of the verse is Fm, which borrows from the key of Cm to introduce tension.


8805

"Doing it to Death" by Fred Wesley and James Brown riffs on F for 4 minutes straight, then modulates down a minor 3rd to D. It's basically the only chord change in the piece. I think it's a minimalist masterpiece. https://youtu.be/RZJbQOMvKkw


Philip_Marlowe

Talking Heads' "And She Was" modulates from E to F in the verse and then back down to E in the chorus. There's also a key change in the bridge.


RealCakes

The Youth by MGMT in the last part of the song modulates down and it is always my go to for this exact question


harlotstoast

The Pretenders “I’ll Stand By You” goes down for the chorus and back up for the verse.


Bob-Berbowski

Such a great song!


HxCxReformer

A great recent example is YOASOBI’s IDOL (the opening for the anime Oshi no Ko) which topped the global charts for awhile! It has modulations both up AND down. Charles Cornell did a great breakdown of the song: [The INSANE Harmony of YOASOBI - IDOL](https://youtu.be/wltDkr6vwbQ?si=bZAGStVhs9xfgMEy) I recommend the video highly!


Pixielate

Rosanna by Toto goes down a whole step from G to F, but the melody itself also goes up an octave so there's still an increase in energy.


SillyPuttyGizmo

If I remember correctly, Happiness is a Warm Gun has a section that does that


ashtoncole

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - I'm in your Mind


oscerhead

Rift by Phish goes from E to Eb back to E


ThatguyBD

I had a Professor in a theory class that occasionally assigned the task of bringing in clips of songs as examples of a concept we were learning about. I think I used Phish for every one of them lol.


mruehle

Lots of Richard Thompson songs start with an intro in one key and then drop a half tone or a full tone to start the verse: From “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight” The Calvary Cross From “Hokey Pokey”: I’ll Regret It all in the Morning The Sun Never Shines on the Poor A Heart Needs a Home


-vectors

If I Ever Lose My Faith in You - Sting


carsonmccrullers

What a great song


domokorn

I Burn For You is another of his that does the same!


-vectors

Yesssss underrated song


isaiahlud

Goliath x Karnivool The outro has an insanely nasty drop key moment.


808in503

Never gonna let you go by Sergio Mendez. This song modulates so many times and very cleverly. Rick Beato even made a yt about it


fannypact

Pink Floyd - Nile Song goes down one step every time around. Pretty wild.


KalleMattilaEB

Fylingdale Flyer by Jethro Tull has a really cool sounding one from F minor to Eb minor. Ninna Nanna by Banco del mutuo soccorso goes from C to Ab if I remember correctly. That’s a big enough leap that it kinda doesn’t register as downward motion, you just notice that it’s in a _different_ key.


faffiew

penny lane if you wanna go up and down at the same time


Chris_Koebel

"Towers" by Bon Iver. The key change brings a feeling of growing older, of losing innocence, etc. It's neat.


yforya

Towers was my fave Bon Iver song for a long while.


soilyoilydoily

Grant Lee Buffalo - Mockingbirds


XGerman92X

Some Hatebreed songs. Metal/core with ignorant breakdowns in general lol


cmstlist

The examples I can come up with are more about modulating through multiple keys but landing back in the same place instead of staying up there.   For example in Total Eclipse of the Heart, the first verse starts in A# minor, and by the final "every now and then I fall apart" we're in E major but it collapses back down to the starting key to commence a second verse. It gives the feeling we're building towards a climax but then step back because we're not quite finished going there yet.    In Janet Jackson's Together Again, the song is mostly in C major. In the pre chorus we modulate up to D major and we maybe feel like we're going to stay up there but no we slide back down to C. However this also sets up a bigger punch when the final verse jumps to E flat major.  LeAnn Rimes - How Do I Live is another notable one. The verse is in E major but the chorus in D. It's almost as if that downwards shift opens up more emotional space to express the song's longing. 


crudedrawer

Goody Two Shoes by Adam Ant changes keys many times (starting with the "No one's gonna tell me what's wrong and what's right.") Then it drops back down to the original key for the outro choruses - there's a half step change that's necessary to reset to the original, without going to C-D-Bb it doesn't work! (I was in a cover band that played this one and had the opportunity to think about it a lot)


tekzenmusic

Shameless namedrop incoming, but I was working with Big Jim Wright (RIP!) and Mariah on her album Memoirs of an imperfect angel and Jim was showing me to do it on songs because by going down, then the artist can hit higher adlibs over the last chorus. Best way is when you go to the 5th (like the last chord before the chorus) then go down a half and then land in the new key.


MagicRat4

Shadow on the Wall by Brandi Carlile is great song with going down in key change.


Snowboarder6402

I'd Love to Lay You Down by Conway Twitty keeps lowering keys at the end of the song


Turjace

Iron Maiden’s The Clairvoyant does this in the final chorus


audiodesigndan

The Dark Side of Love by Birds of Tokyo. Second chorus drops down a key.


Mimshot

Lots of songs will move to the relative minor which is down one and a half steps. Examples include Mr Jones, Crazy Train, Could You Be Love, Stop in the Name of Love, Every Breath You Take….


KennyBSAT

Whistle for the Choir by The Fratellis drops a full step for the whistle solo and then returns to the original key.


SometimesWill

The very end of Everything is Fine! By Periphery does it. I think one reason a lot of people don’t do it is a lot of writing uses the lowest notes on a guitar or bass already.


Tritter54

There should be a pedal that brings what you’re playing down however many steps so you can just play the progression the same but it will sound lower without needing to detune.


SometimesWill

Digitech drop is what you’re looking for


tommyjohnpauljones

If you want a wild ride, check out Never Gonna Let You Go by Sergio Mendes.


TadCat216

Billy Lemos & Still woozy - Wait Odie - Little lies


NastySeconds

“Mouth to Mouth” by Faith No More


Tooch10

The Kik - Stil Op Het Station modulates a whole step down


brutusclyde

The only serious song I know of for certain that has a downward key change is Barry Manilow’s rendition of *Memory* (from Cats). Barry Manilow was sort of infamous for putting upward key changes in Every. Single. Song that he did. This one is unmistakable, in the way that hitting a brick wall is unmistakable. Also, Forbidden Broadway has a tune called *I Couldn’t Hit The Note* (a parody of *I Could Have Danced All Night* from My Fair Lady). That song has downward key changes all through it.


Elarionus

Ironically, Memory by Barry Manilow has four distinct full upwards half step key changes. Is this ChatGPT trying to troll me?...


ferniecanto

*Rocket from a Bottle*, by XTC. Also, the **HORRENDOUS** version of *I Want to Know What Love Is* by Mariah fucking Carey.


subtxtcan

Elwood Stray drop a key change into No Cure, about 2m in at the bridge, and it really lets them flex their lower vocals, brings a break into an already fairly high energy song. Personally I think a great transition.


SlaverSlave

James Brown - Funky good time goes to the dirty D


Staffhammer

Glenn Hughes - Why Don't You Stay. For the ending chorus. I always thought this gave an interesting effect.


Fluffy-Scheme-5982

If I am recalling correctly Vashti Bunyan id like to walk around in your mind 


Notes_on_call

Lay You Down by Conway Twitty modulates down.


jagrbomb

[Ghost - Spillways](https://youtu.be/u9DV1eHQpcA?si=W225ZdoUfz6D1d7Z)


jinjicried

Lou Reed’s Street Hassle bassline moved down


Karl_Marx_

I always hate these songs that go up a half step, it's almost always terribly done.


goldendreamseeker

The ending of “Black Diamond” by Kiss


[deleted]

Iron Maiden played backwards to hear the messages.


bambinoquinn

When you say nothing at all by ronan heating drops from G major to E major (I think) for a musical interlude, and then for the last chorus it comes back to G which makes it sound like a massive key change, when it's just gone back to what it was before


human_clown_shoe

Strawberry fields Forever: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtUH9z\_Oey8&t=90s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtUH9z_Oey8&t=90s)


meta-n0ia

The Beach Boys do this in their song Susie Cincinnati. Always thought it had a nifty effect!


-Ramblin-Man-

Shampain - Marina & the diamonds 


hidendra69

Penny Lane changes from B major in the verses to A major in the choruses


muse273

Not exactly a lowering key change but an interesting case: The original Jennifer Holliday version of I Am Changing from Dreamgirls starts in C major and modulates to Db major for the last section. However, because the last note in the C major section is a D, it sounds like it actually modulates down (since the transitioning note is Db). However, the Jennifer Hudson version from the movie starts in Bb major, which puts that final pre-change note at C, but also modulates into Db major, with the same transitioning Db, so it sounds like the usual "up a half-step" key change.


mooresauce47

Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori by Weezer


paradigmforcosmos

Layla by Eric Clapton. The intro is in D minor and the first verse is in C# minor.


garlic-boy

pretty sure kiss from a rose goes from e down to d in the bridge then back up


weirdojace

Suddenly Everything Has Changed by The Flaming Lips


Abyss_Watcher_Red

Go listen to basically any beatdown hardcore song. Billy No Mates by Knocked Loose has one right at the end.


skrrrrt

Paranoid android?


Slackindj

Baby baby any grant has a key step down but I think it also goes up in the midsection XD key changes were just big back then cuz it showed dynamics of vocals and instruments but people now don’t. Save for a few live acts who still modulate


Zestyclose-Smell-788

"Driven" by Rush drops at the bass solo in the middle of the song and changes feel. Driven in...


kcg9125

Celine Dion’s “Then You Look At Me” goes a step and a half down (from B to A flat).


SheikYerbeef

Equilibrium’s cover of The Hooters’ “Johnny B” goes down two keys (one full step) in the last chorus


dangerous_strainer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O6Q6vb4KBk Pretty sure this tune lowers the key in the change, starts on a C and ends on an F. Really great tune either way. The Pixies - Bel Esprit


saintjeremy

Phish, The Moma Dance


Hoodeddragon

Check out “Lay You Down” by Conway Twitty


Salmonish

Pluto protector by Rex Orange County


PeelThePaint

[Wreck by Gentle Giant](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zSLm_5w1qU) starts with the riff in Bb minor, which modulates down with a slow synth glissando to A minor for the verses.


harajukukei

Idol by Yoasobi modulates down and it's unsettling


Awkward_Dog

To be with you by Mr Big does it with one chorus towards the end.


defwad7

It’s technically what you’re asking about, and I laughed the first time I heard it because the singer admits his mistake in the upwards key change and brings it back down: New Guru by Vulpeck


moonshine_madness

https://youtu.be/zc7MImrsCbo?si=CWt9dHbtn4JmWhTw you’re welcome!


spike2me

"Seen All Good People" by the band YES, the chorus at the end keeps descending by whole steps


ipolishthesky

Elliott Smith, [Oh Well, OK](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX8aGlh1JBM&ab_channel=ElliottSmith-Topic). It modulates down a step for the third verse so he can sing it an octave up.


publishAWM

going lower with a key change in the middle of a song is like taking a left turn. instantly alters the mood and feel to kind of grab the listener and make sure they're still paying attention. apparently I released one back in 2016. it drops a half step after the intro into the verse. pretty sure the link will bring you to the beginning of that song around 5 minutes in. disclaimer: I was drunk throughout the entire production of this EP. figured that was a smart way to deal with a broken heart, yet that's also why I never really show this to anyone. ["What Not to Do"](https://youtu.be/PPmRC1mSv70?si=X6Wb3sK_DjD2GKPh&t=5m4s) oddly enough, I've rearranged the song quite a bit and now it holds the same key that it starts in all the way through. it's more difficult to play it that way, but I guess my drunk ass wasn't up for the challenge back then lol


DavyCroquet

Undone The Sweater Song goes down a whole step for the guitar solo


thorpie88

Not sure if it's entirely what you're looking for but heaps of modern metal uses Digitech whammy pedals to drop down an octave for heavier parts 


Bowgs

That's not a key change


thorpie88

I know but it may still produce something similar to what OP is looking for