Deconstructing the music of the Velvet Underground: Candy Says.

A deep dive into the music of The Velvet Underground.

Background

• ‘Candy Says’ is the 1st song on their 3rd album ‘The Velvet Underground’.
• John Cale left the band in September 1968.
• Doug Yule took his place.
• It was recorded during November & December 1968 at “‘TTG Studios” in Hollywood, California.
• MGM Records released it in March 1969.

Personnel

• ‘Candy Says’ was written by Lou Reed who also played lead guitar, rhythm guitar, and piano on the song.
• Doug Yule sang the song & played bass guitar & organ.
• Sterling Morrison played rhythm & lead guitar.
• Maureen Tucker played percussion.

What’s it about

It’s about Candy Darling, a transgender American actress, dealing with her desire to escape her birth gender.

Metrics

• Key: D major
• Meter: 4/4
• Tempo: 79 BPM
• Length: 4:04 ok
• It has 1 chord per bar.
• It has 4 beats per bar.

The chords of the D major scale

• Chord name, Chord notation, Roman numeral, and Scale Degree name
• D major, D, I, Tonic
• E minor, Em, ii, Supertonic
• F# minor, F#m, iii, Mediant
• G major, G, IV, Subdominant
• A major, A, V, Dominant
• B minor, Bm, vi, Submediant
• C# minor flat fifth, C#mb5, vii, (Leading Tone / Super Tonic)

Form

• Verse — (16 bars )
• Chorus — (12 bars)
• Pause — (1 bar)
• Verse — (16 bars)
• Chorus — (12 bars)
• Pause — (1 bar)
• Outro — (44 bars)

The total number of bars = 102 bars

Breakdown of form

The song has no Intro & starts with the Verse instead.

Verse

• The Verse is 16-bars long.
• It’s an 8-bar phrase played twice.
• The chord symbols are:
• D — F#m — F — B— Em — A — D — A
• The Roman numerals are:
• I — iii — bIII — VI — ii — V — I — V

Notes on the verse

• The F major chord is not natural to the D major scale. The chord is a flat major Mediant chord (bIII).
• The Submediant chord (vi) has its minor third interval raised by a semitone. This changes the B minor chord to a B major chord.
• The verse contains a Cycle of Fifths progression starting on B major, moving to E minor, to A major, and ending on D major.
• The verse ends with an imperfect cadence which is the Tonic (I) to Dominant (V).
• The Subdominant chord (IV) isn’t played at all in the verse. It is kept back for the chorus and outro.

Chorus

• The chorus is 12 bars long.
• It starts with a 4-bar phrase played twice.
• The 1st phrase is: D — G — E — A
• The Roman numerals are I — IV — II —V
• It ends with a 2nd 4-bar phrase played once.
• The 2nd phrase is: C — G — A — C
• The Roman numerals are: bVII — IV — V — bVII

Notes on the chorus

• The chorus also starts on the Tonic chord, D major (I).
• It contains all 3 primary chords of the D Major Scale which are D Major, G Major, and A Major. These are the Tonic chord (I), the Subdominant chord (IV), and the Dominant chord (V).
• The Subdominant chord (IV), which was held back, is now played for the first time in the song. It is only played in the chorus.
• The Super Tonic chord (ii) has its minor third interval raised by a semitone. This changes the E minor chord to an E Major chord.
• The chorus also features a C Major chord

Pause

The pause is 1 bar long (4 beats long).

Outro

• The Outro is 20 bars long
• It uses the first 2 chords of the chorus but is played twice as long.
• It's a 4-bar phrase played 5 times
• The phrase is: D — D —G — G
• The Roman numerals are: I — I — IV — IV
• The song then fades out on a final D major chord.

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