Chord Connections

"Long Time Gone" by David Crosby (Stephen Stills helped arrange) (and Nash sang harmony)


== even more chordal/harmonic connections ==

The famous "Long Time Gone" , written by David Crosby
and arrangement (on the first CSN album) by Stephen Stills,
the vocal hook/refrain ("appears to be a long"):

bass: A, to G, to F

right hand: C Maj.7 , b min. 7 , a min. 7 (down to F Maj. 7 ) -- see the stacked 3rds?

That b minor (7) has an F# , but otherwise, all white keys.


Then, that goes to 'D' for root (harmonic bass)
What chord, exactly? I dunno, D5 (D+A) ,
Maybe D Major. D Major + minor-7th (C-natural) , meaning: D dominant 7th -- i.e.: simply notated as: "D7") (not a MINOR-7th nor a MAJor-7th chord, just "seventh chord"). D+F#+A+C-natural.

F#+A+C  to  _G_ Maj. to _a_ minor kinda harmonically spells out what Stephen Stills sings in that phrase "a long, long time"


The verses are "A" dorian:
i7 (a minor 7) to IV (D Major). Is that harmonic/chord progression familiar to you?


In fact, a vocal line (layer) , at one point, is descending:
C Maj. 7 , b min. 7 , a min. 7 |


demo version

In 1968, Stephen Stills and David Crosby (as a duo - Nash wasn't involved yet) went into a studio and recorded a demo. Stephen actually played drums (right?). (Dallas Taylor wasn't in the picture yet, either.) bass line outlines 'A' minor pentatonic. High (8va octave above tonic/root) A, C, D , A , and then, D# (Tritone -- middle of 'A' octave?) or just 'D'_natural again? last two notes: 'E' G A dorian (more-or-less?) of verses. The chorus is different from the more famous version on the first C.S.N. album: Perhaps the chords there are (contrast with above) : simply: a minor, G Major, F Major, David sings (no harmony vocals) : "It appears to be a-long" (time) ends on e min. 7 maybe take those first three triads of the chours and make them into 7th chords?: a min.7 (in 3rd inversion : G+A + C + E ) to: G Maj. 7 (nah: b min. 7 in 2nd inversion : F# + A+B + D ) then, F Maj. 7 ? resolves to: e min. (7??) Say, that's similar to a line in "High Flyin' Bird" (that the Jefferson Airplane did at the Monterey Pop Festival in June of 1967). Actually, that's a typical descending chord progression, found in blues and folk music.

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