“Cold Heart” pays homage to John’s career by expertly blending together four of John’s previously released singles: “ Rocket Man” originally released in 1972, “Sacrifice” (1989), “Kiss the Bride” (1983), and “Where’s the Shoorah?” (1976). And this time, he produced a truly epic array of collaborations titled The Lockdown Sessions, one of which is the mega-hit single “Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)” featuring Dua Lipa. Fast-forward to 20 when the pandemic shut down the world, and you’ll see where John kept at his craft. After his record debut in 1969 with Empty Sky, John cranked out hit after hit with his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. I don’t know how deliberate this process was musically but it works and, in the end, that’s all that matters.Elton John has more hit singles than most artists would ever dream of obtaining. Cold Heart imposes a minor key and a loop-based structure that takes the melodies into places for which they were never intended. It’s not that it doesn’t work, it’s just unusual.Įlton John’s original songs use major keys, classic harmonies and traditional song structures. However, most people would find the final Fm7 almost completely incompatible with the original melody – it’s really dissonant and creates a palpable tension. Note how the two actually coincide on the third chord, Gb. The original achieves this with the chords Db Db Gb Gb (I’ve transposed this from the original to fit with the new version) whereas, the minor loop is going Bbm7 Ebm7 Gb Fm7, as before. ‘Til touchdown brings me round again to find This shift into a minor key actually works really well and where the melody interacts with the new chords it creates some really nice dissonances.Īnd I think it’s gonna be a long, long time The original chords were Db Gb Ebm Ab whereas in the new version the chords become Bbm7 Ebm7 Gb Fm7. When the scent of her lingers and temptations strong What is also interesting to me is how this Bb minor loop sits behind a selection of Elton John songs that were most definitely major! Let’s take an example of the first verse of Sacrifice, which also starts Cold Heart: Anyway, cool and sophisticated is definitely how the Cold Heart chord progression sounds … Cold Heart chords: Bbm7 Ebm7 Gb and Fm7 For me, the one musician who really brought cool, sophisticated RnB to the public’s attention was Stevie Wonder – of course, you may have other ideas. While minor seventh and major seventh chords (along with 9ths, 11ths and 13ths) have been used extensively in jazz, and some classical music, I mostly associate them with RnB. And in many cases, they use the rich extended chords we see here. The most common use of minor keys is in dance music-influenced tracks like Cold Heart. In February, I analysed the top 20 tracks in the Apple Music Global Top 100. My guess is that in the last 50 years at least 90% of all pop songs have been in major keys but their minor sibling has recently experienced a massive revival. Whether you play this song in Bb minor or A minor, it’s obviously still minor – and that means a more melancholy feel. Drop down a semitone and you have Am7 Dm7 F and Em7. All keys are pretty well equal on a piano (Elton John’s instrument), whereas on a guitar you’d normally choose something easier to play.
Well, the chord sequence itself is not so unusual, even though the key of Bb minor may be unfamiliar to many musicians, particularly guitarists – only keyboard players use keys like this.
Repeating from the beginning to the end of the track are Bbm7, Ebm7, Gb and Fm7 – three rich minor sevenths and a plain vanilla major triad. This new mash-up incorporates elements of four classic Elton John tracks, including Sacrifice (1989), Rocket Man (1972), Kiss the Bride (1983) and Where’s the Shoorah? (1976) – four contrasting themes superimposed on one four-chord loop. This track has been mixed by Australian dance trio PNAU.
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