Considering the music of Bon Jovi’s Livin’ on a Prayer (we already considered the lyrics last week), two issues emerge. First: What’s up with that awesome key change near the end? And second: What the hell key is the song in, anyway? Step into the Think Tank to find out.

This is the passage we're talking about, FYI.

Lee: I read that epic key change as a change from Em to Gm. Is there a harmonic relationship between the two? Most certainly. The relative major scale of Em is  G major, and the parallel minor scale to G major is G minor.

So in other words, Gm is the parallel minor of the relative major of Em.

Also, the chord progression of the key change itself goes from D major (“…all that you got!”) to G minor (“Whoaaaaa…”). Clever in that D major is both the VII chord of the original key of Em and the V chord in the new key of Gm.

Smooth as silk.

Wrather: Mark, doesn’t that depend on whether you hear that last chorus as being in G minor or in B-flat major? That is to say, in “Livin’ on a Prayer,” I hear a strong arrival at the tonic on the second line of the chorus (“Woah…”) which is underscored by the suspended figure in the melody line over a dominant harmony (“…halfway there”).

We're not having a poll this week, but let us know in the comments which of these you prefer.

I think you could argue that there are 3 or 4 key changes in that song—or at least changes of mode—since the verse is in minor and the chorus (as it sounds to me, anyway) is in the relative major.

[This week, the Think Tank tackles a seminal work of 1980's literature: the lyrics to Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer." Stay tuned next week for music theory analysis.]

Literary Theory, Mlawski
Knowing nothing about music theory and unable to come up with anything of note to say about “Living on a Prayer” as poetry, I’ve decided to complete an assignment I once had to do when I was getting my masters in English education.  It’s… the literary theory assignment!  Behold!

Living on a Prayer, the New Criticism reading: The lyrics start with the claim that this story happened “once upon a time, not so long ago,” which is our cue to read the text as a modern day fairytale.  What happens in the text itself, however, is not the stuff of fairytale at all.  “Tommy,” our dock-worker, is no knight in shining armor, though he tries to be by putting his six-string in hock.  But, like Prince Charming in the fairy stories of old, Tommy does represent Everyman, the ideal.  Likewise, “Gina” is no princess, but she is indeed a damsel in distress, the Everywoman in need of protection.  Thus, the “once upon a time” introduction to the song is meant to be a somewhat ironic reference that suggests that “Living on a Prayer” is at once a fairytale and something of a satire of one.

[Today in the Think Tank, we tackle the Monster Ballad, so dubbed by the clever marketers at Time Life or wherever when they were trying to name their compilation CD. Google monster ballads if you want to find it; we're not dignifying it with a link.) You know the think tank drill: read the entries and vote for your favorite below—before Monday night! —Ed.]

“Don’t Know What You’ve Got (‘Til It’s Gone),” Cinderella
by stokes

This is very nearly the platonic monster ballad. It has most of the classic signifiers:  the synth strings, the acoustic piano mixed waaaaay to the front, the guitar solo that’s a little too classy for its environment, the delayed and portentious entrance of the drumset, and a general seriousness of purpose that never quite achieves a corresponding intensity of effect.  It’s missing the all-important “cheese” or “truck driver” modulation, but we’ll let that go in this case because of the music video, which supplies us with the following images: