Indeed, those recalcitrant minor key songs that defy generalization about the link between tonality and mood may tell us something more important about music than the ones that conform.ĭon't forget: The main reason 'Happy Birthday' sounds 'upbeat' and 'Eleanor Rigby' sounds 'doleful' is that their composers intended that they should. While there might be a loose correlation-reinforced by our particular musical tradition-between minor scales and 'sadness,' it's a mistake to think that the moods evoked by music can be confidently reduced to tonality in and of itself. MORE ON SONGS THAT MAKE YOU CRY: Eleanor Barkhorn: 10 Songs That Make Men Cry: Tracks by R.E.M., Eric Clapton, Leonard Cohen, and More Dominic Tierney: 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic': America's Song of Itself The Atlantic Glee Panel: 'Glee': The Saddest Thing on Television?
