The best evidence for that view would be minor key songs that are stubbornly, ineffably sad despite other song elements-lyrics, arrangements, tempo, etc.-that are emotionally neutral or positive. Take "Eleanor Rigby." It's actually a very bad example of the idea that minor key tonality is inherently sad.
But there's much more than tonality that goes into evoking those moods.
And because that's what their composers obviously intended, that's the way the songs are typically performed. 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?