Use V of V & Lydian chord progression: Beatles, Eight Days a Week

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Now, my music theory isn't too hot so I need small words when it comes to explaining this, so be very gentle!

I'm still going thru my Beatles phase and this 'comment' has cropped up in a very deep discussion of Eight Days a week of all things, these Beatle boys composing really does amaze me.

[url="http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/lydianprogression.html"]http://www.angelfire...rogression.html[/url] note they have transposed to C major but it's still a Lydian I,II,IV,I progression.


Ok, so Eight Days a Week goes.. well it's in the key of D major, and chords go:- D major, E major, G major and then D major again & obviously being bassists we play around and do some sort of run over these chords




So I can see why its a lydian mode as the 1st and 2nd are major chords and the 4th is a major too....but why is this called a V on V, or is it a case of it[i] can also be called a V of V[/i] ...?

Hmm, my thinking.....is it because if we took the key to be C major then the D (2nd) should normally be a D minor, but the V of V means we do the following, a 5th of the original 5th fudge- so G being the original 5th of C major, then we take the 5th of this G producing a D major

many thanks for anyone taking the time out to explain this.

Edited December 3, 2012 by iconic

[Doddy]

In the key of D major,the ii chord (diatonically) would usually be an E min and the V chord will be
an A maj. If we think of the key of A major for a second,the V chord would be an E maj. So in the
case of this tune,the E maj is called the 'V of V' because it is the fifth chord based off the fifth chord
of the key (If you get what I mean).
This is also what makes it Lydian-In D major,we have an F# and C#. The E major chord contains
a G# (E,G#, which is the #4 of D major,and as we know the Lydian mode is a major scale with
a #4. In diatonic harmony,the major chords will be the I,IV,V but in a Lydian progression they will
be I,II,V.

I'm pretty sure that The Beatles didn't know any of this though and just played what they liked the
sound of.

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Thanks doddy

[Bilbo]

George Martin was, I understand, also responsible for ironing out a lot of the kinks in Beatles tunes!

[bremen]

[quote name='Doddy' timestamp='1354571377' post='1887651']


I'm pretty sure that The Beatles didn't know any of this though and just played what they liked the
sound of.
[/quote]

Mostly written on a left-handed piano, I'm told.