Turnaround
Entry for EPMOW by Philip Tagg
turnaround: 1. (original meaning): a short progression of chords played at the end of one section in a song or instrumental number and whose purpose is to facilitate recapitulation of the complete harmonic sequence of that section; 2. (transferred meaning) any short sequence of chords, usually three or four, recurring consecutively inside the same section of a single piece of music (see changes, vamp).
1. Example 1 shows a typical turnaround for a slow twelve-bar blues in F whose
changes run, for example F | B
| F | F7 | B | B
| F | F | C | B | F | F
. So as to avoid harmonic stasis and in order to lead back into the initial
F chord of bar 1, the final F chord of bars 11 and 12 can be replaced with a
sequence such as the | F F7/a B
Bdim | F/c D 9 C7 | progression
shown below. This turnaround first increases the rate of harmonic change in
motion towards the final C chord (bar 12) which, in its turn, leads back to
the F of bar 1, creating in the process a highlighted V-I cadence and an effect
of continuity over the join between the two periods.
Ex.1 Typical turnaround figure for a slow blues in F [see PDF]
Performance of jazz standards in AABA form feature turnarounds before each recurrence of the A section. Table 1 shows the basic chord changes for the ten-bar ‘A’ section of the chorus of the World War II hit A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square (Maschwitz).
Table 1: Basic changes for ‘A’ section of A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
(slow 4/4) [see PDF]: E
maj7 Cm7 Gm7 E 9 A
maj7 G7 Cm7 D 9 E
maj7 A maj7 E
maj7 A m7 E
maj7 Cm7 F9 B -9 E
6 E 6 E
6 E 6
Vamp turnaround for reprise: Cm7 Fm7 B
7
TRITONE SUBSTITUTION of vamp turnaround for reprise: G
13 Fm9 E9 5
A harmonic rhythm of two chords to the bar is established in the first eight bars of this song. However, harmonic progression stops on E in bars 9-10 and across the join to the reprise from bar 1. To avoid such harmonic stasis, the last two bars can be provided with a simple turnaround consisting of a standard I-vi-ii-V vamp figure, for example || E 6 - Cm7 - | Fm7 - B 7 || or a tritone substitution of those changes (E 6 - G 13 - | Fm9 - E9 5).
2. Since the purpose of a turnaround is, in the sense just described, to maintain harmonic rhythm and direction while at the same time effectuating a return to the first chord in a period, it is by its very nature circular. In fact, one of the most common turnarounds in popular song is the I-vi/IV-ii-V progression (vamp) which was often used as a consecutively repeated two or four bar accompanying figure to provide a sense of movement before the entry of a solo singer or instrumentalist between verses or periods, or at the start of a song (‘vamp until ready’). Moreover, the consecutively repeated I-vi-ii-V vamp and its variant I-vi-IV-V constitute either all or most of the chord changes found in much English-language popular song (see Table 2, row 2). With vamps providing the majority of changes for large parts of many pop songs, it is hardly surprising that ‘turnaround’ came also to denote, especially in pop and rock circles, any short, consecutively repeated sequence of chords.
In this transferred sense of the term, turnarounds usually consist of three or four chords covering a period of two or four bars. A sequence of only two chords constitutes a chord shuttle or pendulum, not a turnaround. Conversely, a harmonic progression occupying a complete period (section) of eight or more bars cannot be a turnaround in itself because a turnaround sequence must, in order to qualify as such, occur consecutively at least twice within one period or section. Turnarounds are extremely common in pop and rock music, often contributing importantly to the particular character and style specificity of individual songs and instrumental numbers. For example, most of the vamp turnaround songs mentioned in row 2 of table 2 were recorded in the USA around 1960. Similarly, most of the songs referenced in row 3 of table 2 are in the rock vein and sport lyrics circumscribing “a relatively uniform field of associations which might be characterised by such concepts as ‘modernity’, ‘uncertainty’, ‘sadness’, ‘stasis’”, etc. (Björnberg, 1984: 382).
Table 2: Some common pop turnarounds [see PDF]
Suggested Name Progression Examples of songs containing turnaround
‘la Bamba’ I-IV-V La bamba (Valens); Do You Love Me (B. Poole); Guantanamera (Martí); Hang On Sloopy (McCoys); chorus of Name of the Game (Abba); Twist and Shout (Isley Brothers, Beatles, Poole); Wild Thing (Troggs).
‘vamp’ I-vii- ii/IV-V Blue Moon (Rodgers); Diana (Anka); Donna (Valens); Ebb Tide (Chacksfield); Hey Paula (Paul & Paula); I Like It (Gerry & the Pacemakers); It’s Only Make Believe (Twitty); Love Hurts (Capaldi); Oh Carol, Happy Birthday Sweet 16, Little Devil (Sedaka); Poetry In Motion (Tillotson); verse of Return to Sender (Presley); Runaway (Shannon); Stand By Me (B.E. King); Stay (M. Williams, Hollies); Teenager In Love (Dion); These Foolish Things (Fields); This Boy (Beatles); Unchained Melody (Liberace); Who Put The Bomp (Mann); Why Do Fools Fall In Love (Lymon).
‘aeolian shuttle’ (I/i-) VI- VII (-I/i) All Along The Watchtower (Dylan, Hendrix); chorus of Flashdance (Cara); In the Air Tonight (Collins); ‘run away’ in Janie’s Got A Gun (Aerosmith); Layla (Derek & the Dominoes); end of Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin); Sultans of Swing (Dire Straits); Wall Street Shuffle (10cc); West End Girls (Pet Shop Boys).
‘mixolydian turnaround’ I- VII- IV-(V) Fortunate Son (Credence Clearwater); end of Hey Jude (Beatles); If I Were A Carpenter (Darin, Four Tops); Soul Finger (Bar Kays); Sweet Home Alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd); Twentieth Century Man (Kinks).
Bibliography
List of musical references
