A Day in the Life by The Beatles Analysis

• The guitar is the first instrument to be heard. It is strumming chords of G (chord I), B minor (chord iii), E minor and E minor 7th (chord Vi and Vi7) and C (chord IV).
• The bass and piano play the same basic line throughout the piece. However, the bass has decorations scattered about making the texture of different sections heterophonic (simultaneous variation of a melodic line).
• The melody is diatonic meaning it uses all the notes of the G major scale.
• The melody is disjunctive (leaps about).

• At bar 5, a strong 4/4 pulse is created in the piano part due to the crochet repeating chords.
• The vocal melody follows the chord sequence G (chord I), B minor (iiic as the bass note is an F sharp) to E minor/7th (chord vi/7) which is an upward 3rd, C (chord IV), C7th (chord IV7) and A minor 9 (chord ii9). The melody uses 7th and 9th chords. This chord sequence is taken from the introduction.
• At bar 5, the vocal melody line has the use of ascending 3rds and 4ths from the central B note.
• Bar 7 features a descending triplet for the first time in the song.
• At bar 8, there is a strong upwards lift of a perfect 5th from E to B.
• The base line at bar 5-6 is moving in step or in conjunct.
• At bar 11 and 13, in the F chord, the F has been flattened. This chord doesn’t belong in the key of G major giving us hints of E minor.
• The build up to bar 15 features a plagal cadence from C (IV) to G (I). The is unusual. 

Verse 2

• The bass at bar 16 and 16 has a descending bass line in conjunct motion. 
• The chordal accompaniment is solid throughout. This allows the drummer to considerable freedom in drum fills.
• Idea A is at bar 5, idea B at bar 7 and idea C at bar 8.
• At bar 18, there is the use of a sextuplet (6 notes in the time of 4) in the drum part. 
• Bar 19 is a good example how many of the vocal melodies being on the second quaver of the bar.
• Bar 21 features this time a triplet in the drum part.
• Idea D is introduced at bar 22 using semi-quavers with the spacing of semi tones.
• Idea E is first heard in the transition from bar 22-23. It involves the notes B, E and G where the G is the highest note of the whole song sung. Idea E is an aspirational rising arpeggio figure.

• Bar 24 features a conventional rock rhythm in the drum part.
• Bar 31 revises idea E using the aspirational arpeggio of B, E and G. It is not a complete copy as there are quavers of B and C at the start of the revised idea.
• There is an inversion of idea D at bar 33 and 34 using the notes B and C. This helps to merge verse 3 into the transition.

• The orchestra has a trill on on B. This makes it a dominant trill as E is the dominant of E.
• This is music by chance making the transition have an aleatoric texture.
• The majority of the transition is an orchestral slide.
• The transition finishes with the piano playing semi-quavers of E major for 2 bars starting at bar 45.

• The start of the Bridge features a clear 4/4 pulse from the piano and bass guitars repeated pedalled quaver chords.
• At bar 48, there is a hint of a mixolydian mode (a scale of two sharps) due to the D major chord (F and C sharp).
• Bar 48 in the left hand of the piano and bass guitar has a cross rhythm.
• At bar 49, the time signature changes from 4/4 to 2/4 (two crochet beats to a bar.
• Bar 50 and 51 have repeating chords being E (chord I) and B major 9th (chord V9).
• The time signature changes back to 4/4. This means the piece went from 2/4 to 4/4 to 2/4 etc.. which is a sign of interpolated time signatures.
• Bar 55 in the piano left hand features a cross rhythm.
• At bar 58, there is wordless vocalisation where John Lennon is ‘ah’ing. The orchestra at this time plays octaves in the cycle of fifths (C, G, D, A and then E).

• Texture – Majority is melody dominated homophony. But there is a heterophonic and an aleatoric texture at certain parts.
• Tonality – In G major the whole time with a few hints of E minor (such as the flattened F). The Bridge is in E minor.
• Rhythm – The main rhythm is in the drums because it has been given to produce syncopated drum fills due to the strong 4/4 beat produces from the bass guitar and piano.
• Tempo – The tempo changes once from 77 to 82 beats a minute in the Bridge.
• Harmony – There are five ideas labelled A-E. Each idea has different features: Idea A uses upwards 3rds and 4ths, Idea B uses a descending conjunct melody with the rhythm of a triplet, Idea C has the use of a strong upwards lift of a perfect 5th, Idea D has the trill-like semi-quavers on the notes B and A sharp while Idea E has the B-E-G aspirational rising arpeggio. 
• Structure – The overall structure follows an Intro/ Verse 1/ Verse 2/ Verse 3/ Transition/ Bridge/ Verse 4/ Coda. The verses adopt a strophic structure (same music for each verse).