While F# still sounds like the tonic center of gravity, the harmonic axis has shifted slightly and we’re suddenly in what feels like F# Mixolydian mode. The guitars obliquely suggest some manner of F#7 chord, but Williams is clearly singing a sultry A♮ in her melody. If that note sounds alluring to you over the F#7 chord, it’s probably because it’s the “blue note.”
The blue note is the flatted 3rd heard over a Major chord, or the flatted 5th heard over a minor chord. Well, sort of. Using the lexicon of Western music theory to describe the blues is a fraught exercise, as the blues is really more of a microtonal affair. The Western twelve-tone system that we’ve traditionally employed can only approximate Afrodiasporic music concepts. But I think we can still proceed in this way, while recognizing the limitations of our analysis.
It’s important to acknowledge that the blues idiom doesn’t conform to the conventional Major/minor dichotomy that is so central to Western harmonic theory. In some respects, we can think of blues tonality as having its own classification, separate from traditional European-based harmonic language. If we were to follow the rules of Western harmony, the A♮ that Hayley sings over the F#7 chord would produce a dissonant sound. But it doesn’t sound dissonant — in fact, it’s enthralling — because it follows an alternate system of consonance. This alternate system combines elements of both traditional Major and minor intervals, and the rigid line between them is blurred.
Often, in blues-based music you’ll even find what we call a “neutral” third — one that’s neither strictly Major nor minor, but a little of both. A great example is Aretha Franklin’s vocal performance in “Respect.” The song is in C Major (or perhaps C Mixolydian), but when singing the lines, “what you want,” and “what you need,” she played with the intonation of the third by bending it variously up to E♮, down to E♭, and to several points in between. It’s what gave her performance so much vibe. Check it out:
As we can observe in Figure 11 above, Williams sings a bluesy melody that combines with the F#7 chord to create an F#7#11♭13. This is a variation of what’s often called the “Jimi Hendrix chord” (as heard in “Purple Haze” and as implied in “Foxy Lady”). True to the blues, the chord is Major and minor at the same time. This is the first time in the song we hear anything like this, and the sound is riveting. And what happens next is truly unexpected: We hear a GMaj7 chord.
How does the GMaj7 relate to the altered F#7? It’s what we might call a “Neapolitan chord,” and we can trace its roots to 18th-Century Italian Opera. We covered Neapolitan chords in a previous In Theory article (on Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul“), if you’d like more info on it. The GMaj7 is a Major chord built on the lowered 2nd scale degree of F# Major, and it infuses the passage with a surprising, yet gentle, lift. It’s an unexpected chromatic chord to pique your interest while not overtly calling attention to itself. Paramore’s peculiar use of the Neapolitan chord — i.e., immediately after an altered dominant — is not something I had heard before. In fact, I can’t think of any other piece of music that does that. Could it be unique?
Making So Much Out Of So Little
In “Running Out Of Time,” Paramore have managed to squeeze so much creativity and vibrancy out of only a few musical elements, and it’s quite astounding. This is top-level songcraft, which is not unusual for this band. “Ain’t It Fun,” from an earlier release, accomplishes a similar feat, and it’s worth revisiting if you haven’t heard it in a while. The entire This Is Why album, on which “Running Out Of Time” appears, contains inventive, evocative music — so do yourself a favor and dive in if you haven’t already.
And while you’re at it, check out this short video featuring Hayley Williams discussing the lyrical origins of “Running Out Of Time.” In the video, she sings each section of the song a cappella, with no pitch or time reference — and it’s impressive. Her intonation, rhythmic pocket, and overall delivery are studio-perfect. No software trickery needed. Enjoy!
