'What's my age again' Theory question

[toelessfoot]

I was playing this the other day and realized that the song is actually in B lydian. Is this correct?

 

If it is then it'd be a great way to way to introduce students to the lydian mode.

[jeremy_green]

I was playing this the other day and realized that the song is actually in B lydian. Is this correct? If it is then it'd be a great way to way to introduce students to the lydian mode.

 

 

Sorry bro, not getting who that song is by from the title... maybe post a youtube link to help us help you.

[JonR]

(Blink 182, Jeremy - I just looked it up;))

I'd say it was in plain old F# major (or even plainer G major, if they're tuned down). It does start with a B bass note, and an implied Bmaj7 chord. Here's
the intro guitar pattern (in standard tuning)

--------------------------------------------
------11---------11--------11---------11---
---11----11---11---11---11---11----11--11-
-9------------------------------------------
-------------9-------------------------------
-----------------------9----------11--------

But despite that (minimal) emphasis on B, I hear the key centre as F#. You would need to hear a prominent E# (F) note somewhere, with a definite B tonal centre, to argue for B lydian mode.

As it is, I'd say the verse was IV-I-V-vi in F# major. And the chorus is the trusty old favourite, I-V-vi-IV - tho it does end on a long B to carry it to the next verse.
(Notice what they did there with the sequence: the 4 chords are in the same order, they just begin on a different one. Neat.)

I guess it's debatable. But IMO it's F# major, with not really enough indications of B lydian mode for me to hear it that way.

[toelessfoot]

I see your point, because of the chorus it does sound like F# Ionian at that part. Could you say that it changes for the verse? I mean that last B chord sounds somewhat at rest. What's a song I could listen to that's definitely Lydian for comparison?

[JonR]

I see your point, because of the chorus it does sound like F# Ionian at that part. Could you say that it changes for the verse? I mean that last B chord sounds somewhat at rest. What's a song I could listen to that's definitely Lydian for comparison?

The only two I know are Joe Satriani's "Flying in a Blue Dream" and the Beatles "Blue Jay Way". Both of these highlight the #4 in the scale - and both, incidentally are in C lydian. (And the use of "Blue" in the title of both may be coincidence, or an acknowledgement of the "blue sky" effect many people associate with lydian mode.)

Listen to the chord riff in the opening to FIABD, from around 0:15:

 

 

In this one -

- you hear the #4 on the word "said" - "we'll be over soon they said." He does resolve the melody on the following line to the relative major key tonic of G (the word "instead"); but the bass drone remains C.

In the chorus, he sings the #4 again on the last word "a-slee-eep".

 

Satriani was - it seems - quite consciously working in lydian mode (he moves to other lydian modes later in the tune) - whereas George Harrison was just after an Indian sound, and presumably discovered the #4 effect in a raga, or just by trial and error. (Like most 60s artists, the Beatles would never have heard of modal concepts, even tho they often employed them, particularly mixolydian.)

 

It's very difficult produce a lydian mode sound without it sounding like the IV in a major key (witness the way the verse in Blue Jay Way sounds "finished" when it hits that G note, despite the constant C drone.)

For this reason, lydian mode tunes need to stick with a single major chord, highlighting the #4 in melodies, and ideally avoid phrases ending on the 5th of the chord (because that's the tonic of the relative major).

[kirs]

What's a song I could listen to that's definitely Lydian for comparison?

 

 

 

[JonR]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqog63KOANc

Ah! not necessarily...
It's arguably more lydian dominant than lydian. There's certainly a prominent #4 in the melody - but no B note that I can hear.
At the end of the main melody it resolves via a Bb/A# to B, a typical bII-I move (C7#11-B).
So I'd argue it's more lydian dominant than lydian. Nice example of melodic #4 however.

On the vocal intro there is a B natural along with the F#, resolving upwards - but then there's also a D#, because it's basically a B triad (C bass) resolving up to a C triad.

[Alex_DeLarge]

Hi guys, this is kinda a bit offtopic but I've been always mesmerized by this song. It has a really peculiar sound to it, I was wondering if it was in any special mode that gave it that sound. Hope you guys can help

[YOUTUBE]Y43W5yMaZO0[/YOUTUBE]