(Side note: it’s unusual to wait a minute and a half before hearing the chorus for the first time with normal songs we would expect to reach the hook sooner, but this is an exceptionally crafted song that has carefully held us back from the full satisfaction of an arrival point for 1 minute and 35 seconds.) There’s a surprise modulation on the first downbeat of the chorus as the song unexpectedly lands in E flat (technically, the II chord if you buy my assumption that this song is in D flat or Bb minor).
Because there is no point of rest, the prechorus is acting as a very effective connection between the verse and the chorus. Interestingly, the high synth line and the vocal line complement each other like two parts of a fugue, giving our ear a lot of interesting things to process in this connecting tissue that is the prechorus. Two, the vocal line, which rests on the downbeat and then sings a phrase following, almost like a question-answer or call-response, but minus the question/call. One, the high synth line that adds a new signature sound (another ostinato pattern) to the song. There’s two more interesting things about the prechorus. This is another subconscious way of continuing the tension of the song our ears haven’t yet heard the I (root) chord even though it’s implied many times.
That’s followed by the prechorus (“all my instincts…” at 1:05) which is a new harmonic progression, yet it’s built very similarly to the intro/verse now it’s V-vi-IV and definitely feels centered on the V chord. Because the background is so repetitive, it gives the foreground (the lead vocal) the freedom to do anything it wants, and indeed, it’s a very interesting verse melody with a nonstandard structure, and he mixes that husky, evocative voice with a surprise moment of falsetto that reminds me he’s taking us places. Once the lead vocal appears to kick off verse 1 (0:22 in the YouTube clip), the band is still patiently looping the same two-measure pattern, which creates a subconscious tension as our ears gets comfortable with the groove but also wonders when it’s going to change up. Finally, there’s a bed of ethnic percussion. The 4-on-the-floor kick drum (played by one of my favorite creative drummers, Manu Katche) pattern is reminiscent of dance music, even though there’s nothing electronic about it. There are a number of additional ostinato elements that I notice in the intro. Gabriel’s use of multiple and layered ostinatos is one of the secrets of why he builds such hypnotic and memorably catchy songs. The piano part in the intro isn’t ornate it’s understated, patiently biding its time until the song can organically grow later. Gabriel is a master of ostinato - of setting up repeating patterns that get layered with other elements to provide groove continuity, There are several key ostinatos in the song that get used multiple times, sometimes in modified ways. This is part of its charm, that we don’t know with full certainty where the home key is.
Is this song in major or minor? It’s ambiguous it’s either in D flat major even though D flat doesn’t appear, or it’s in B flat minor. Even if you’re not into music theory, listen to that intro and notice its unique emotional impact in the hypnotic groove that it sets up, ready for the vocal to begin. It’s evident even in the introduction to the song, a haunting vi-I-IV progression with an inverted I chord and occasional delayed syncopation thrown in there. One thing I’ve always enjoyed about Peter Gabriel’s music is his ability to emotionally connect through each element in the song and in the production. As an ex-member of the British band Genesis from its progressive rock era of the early 1970’s, Gabriel had developed an eclectic background that included the adventurous writing of prog-rock with a longstanding interest in world music, fused with a now mature pop sensibility that, by the mid-80’s, had evolved to the point that Gabriel could assimilate all these diverse elements yet fuse them into an accessible and enjoyable pop song. Today we’ll take a look at one of Peter Gabriel‘s most famous songs, “In Your Eyes,” which appeared on his 1986 album So, and infamously in Cameron Crowe’s 1989 film Say Anything ( the boombox scene). “If the cadence may be regarded as the cradle of tonality, the ostinato patterns can be considered the playground in which it grew strong and self-confident.” -Edward E.