› ›

Skyfall's Final Chord

Perilagu_KhanPerilagu_Khan
edited September 2013 in Music Posts: 2,483
The Khantessa and I recently had Skyfall playing while we were preparing dinner, and after the song finished she remarked that its final chord was the ultimate Bondian sound. And I agree completely. My question is, is the chord from a previous piece of Bond music, and if so, which piece? And for those who know the technical side of music, which chord is it?

Comments

  • LudovicoLudovico
    edited September 2013 Posts: 15,234
    I used to have the absolute ear, I need to listen to it again and try to remember my old music lessons.
  • Perilagu_KhanPerilagu_Khan
    Posts: 2,483
    Well snap to it!

    ;)
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,234
    Perilagu_Khan wrote:
    Well snap to it!

    ;)

    I used to be able to tell which note was played on a piano or in a song, now I am really rusty. I could tell both You know my name and Skyfall were influenced by old Bond music.
  • saunderssaunders Living in a world of avarice and deceit
    Posts: 987
    If it's any help I could probably hum it! ;)
  • StirredNotShakenStirredNotShaken Toronto
    edited September 2013 Posts: 2,402
    It's a C minor 9th. Figured it out on the keyboard. You're all welcome. :D
  • Perilagu_KhanPerilagu_Khan
    Posts: 2,483
    StirredNotShaken wrote:
    It's a C minor 9th. Figured it out on the keyboard. You're all welcome. :D

    Cool. Now we need to know what previous Bond music it was lifted from. It sounds so familiar.

  • SoundofthesinnersSoundofthesinners
    Posts: 3,236
    Perilagu_Khan wrote:
    StirredNotShaken wrote:
    It's a C minor 9th. Figured it out on the keyboard. You're all welcome. :D

    Cool. Now we need to know what previous Bond music it was lifted from. It sounds so familiar.

    All three of the Craig themes hint extensively at the opening and climax of the Bond theme. The scores do as well, generally because they refuse to use the actual Bond theme itself.
  • Perilagu_KhanPerilagu_Khan
    Posts: 2,483
    Soundofthesinners wrote:
    Perilagu_Khan wrote:
    StirredNotShaken wrote:
    It's a C minor 9th. Figured it out on the keyboard. You're all welcome. :D

    Cool. Now we need to know what previous Bond music it was lifted from. It sounds so familiar.

    All three of the Craig themes hint extensively at the opening and climax of the Bond theme. The scores do as well, generally because they refuse to use the actual Bond theme itself.

    Just read up a bit on Epworth's composition of the song. Apparently he researched the first 13 Bond songs in hopes of finding their tonal essence, and arrived at the C minor 9th. Now whether or not that chord actually appears with any frequency in Bond music, or rather is sort of a composite of Bond musical tones, I do not know.

  • PerdoggPerdogg
    Posts: 686
    I always though it was from OHMSS.
  • Perilagu_KhanPerilagu_Khan
    Posts: 2,483
    The opening instrumental?
  • StirredNotShakenStirredNotShaken Toronto
    Posts: 2,402
    OHMSS isn't in C minor though.
  • PerdoggPerdogg
    Posts: 686
    The beginning of it sounds like it was sampled from “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” and the ending and the Bond theme in the middle of song sounds like it was sampled from David Arnold’s “The World is Not Enough”.

  • minorMajor9thminorMajor9th
    edited October 2013 Posts: 157
    The iconic Bond sonority is the minMaj9th, the final chord of the original '62 Bond theme strummed by Vic Flick on his Clifford Essex Paragon De Luxe. You could argue that this is the harmonic DNA for most of Barry's suspense music for Bond. If you happen to have a piano lying around somewhere, play it as E-B-G (top to bottom) on the left hand, then an octave higher - G-B-D#-F# on the right hand.

    Skyfall's opening/final chord (CmAdd9) is similar, but missing the crucial major 7th. You can hear the CmAdd9 and CmM9 extensively in Barry's DAF (i.e. at 0:47 in Bond Meets Bambi and Thumper there's a brooding Cm chord with solo trumpet, first violins, flutes and oboes and playing off the 9th (D)).

    FWIW, Major 7ths, Minor Add 9s or Minor Major 9ths, Minor 6/9s (probably the quintessential film noir chord) and their relatives are usually heard in the keys of Em, Fm and Gm. C minor can be a very dark almost funeral tonality. Lets not forget Mahler's Symphony No. 2 'Resurrection' is in that key. Consciously or not, Paul Epworth was certainly channelling that spirit.

    - An Old Friend

  • Perilagu_KhanPerilagu_Khan
    edited October 2013 Posts: 2,483
    Thanks mM9 for the very useful post. Some of the musical esoterica is beyond me, but I get your gist.

    PS--I believe Beethoven's 5th is in C moll.
Sign In or Register to comment.