How The Beatles used Middle 8s

For a limited time, get 20% off select Hooktheory products when you use this link: www.hooktheory.com/davidbennett 🎼
Don't forget to check out @AimeeNolte video as well: • Beatles Bridges - What...
Today I'm taking a look at ten different Beatles songs featuring middle 8 sections to help us get a better idea of what a "middle 8" really is.
Throughout this video I've used recreations/covers of the original Beatles records to avoid the video be demonetised and/or blocked. Check out these talented musicians whose recreations I used...
Ably House: / @ablyhouse
ManWithNoExpression: / @manwithnoexpression
The Beats: • The Beats - Yesterday
Seán McAusland: • Lady Madonna (The Beat...
Michael Sokil: • Nowhere Man - The Beat...
And, an extra special thanks goes to Peter Keller, Douglas Lind, Vidad Flowers, Ivan Pang, Waylon Fairbanks, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channel’s Patreon saints! 😇
SUPPORT ME ON PATREON: / davidbennettpiano 🎹
0:00 Introduction
1:05 From Me To You
2:11 I'll Follow The Sun
3:08 Yesterday
3:49 I Feel Fine
4:27 And I Love Her
5:05 A Hard Day's Night
6:20 Lady Madonna
8:01 Hooktheory
8:52 Norwegian Wood
10:21 Nowhere Man
12:11 Eight Days A Week
14:00 Outro

[@wgrandbois]

The real question is, has ABBA ever used AABA?

[@smithjohn383]

I think that would need Björn again.

[@astroandyborgloh]

Safe to say, they never used a C-Part, though ... ;-)

[@paulembleton1733]

So I read your comment and thought of a double beef burger and two middle eights, and wondered if there are any ABBA songs?

[@spindriftdrinker]

But has Genesis ever used Abacab ?

[@wandajames143]

ba dap tsh

[@christopher19894]

The Beatles were so good at writing melody hooks that every section was effectively a "chorus". It blows my mind.

[@AimeeNolte]

David how crazy is it that we both used Somewhere Over The Rainbow as our classic AABA song?! Thanks again for doing the collab video and to David’s fans who made it over to my video as well! Let’s do it again!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

I think Over The Rainbow is the true archetype 🙌🏻🙌🏻😊 pleasure collaborating with you!

[@georgerussell9525]

@@DavidBennettPiano -- Wonderful song.

[@KentBuchla]

I just checked: not crazy at all, actually. The proper authorities have been informed. 😮

[@joecrowaz]

You think that's crazy? The song almost got canned by a studio head! He said it had no place in the movie! 😮

[@Qboro66]

Great minds think alike?🤷🏽‍♂️

[@G60syncro]

Can we take a moment to appreciate the sheer amount of flawless recreations the Ably House guys have put out that allow genuine sounding audio to be played without striking out on the copyright deal!!

[@jeffh8803]

Ably house is amazing on the instruments but I’m pretty sure David has put the original lyrics over the top.

[@In_Set]

@@jeffh8803 Yes, those sound like the original vocal tracks to me as well. That said, this is a fantastic video, with the concepts once again brilliantly explained by David. This channel is a treasure.

[@marivg8948]

I think that is what made The Beatles stand out from other "British Invasion" or "Mod" acts of the time; those classic American 30s-50s influences makes their work timeless yet familiar and comfy.

[@zzzaphod8507]

Yes, thanks to Macca's dad's influence for one (as mentioned in the video), probably George Martin helping with the structure/arrangement as well

[@peppymartian9382]

daria pfp 👍

[@adamfindlay7091]

Hmm I suppose their neat yet complex chords guess gave them a wider soundscape,?

[@leocomerford]

Those recreated Beatles tracks have got really good. It’s dangerously easy to forget that you’re not listening to the original.

[@allancerf9038]

You understand it's not 'AI' so called? It's a band "Ably House." They've made these recreations for years.

[@danielvillalobos4265]

Came to say exactly this 😊

[@leocomerford]

@@allancerf9038 Yes, I’m aware they’re recreated ‘manually’, I wasn’t thinking about AI.

[@adb012]

Exactly my thought. As I read through the fine print at the bottom that had the name of the performer, I thought how many great Beatles tribute bands out there!!! They are REALLY good.

[@hisham_hm]

I've noticed the Ably House tracks are listed as "recreations" and the other ones as "covers". When I search the Ably House KZbin page I see a lot of instrumental covers of Beatles songs. I think David is taking the Ably House instrumentals and putting the original Beatles isolated vocals on top, hence dubbing them a "recreation" rather than a "cover". For the other credited covers you can clearly tell it's other people singing.

[@JumpingCow]

Hearing these snatches of Beatle songs all together like this from different eras boggles my mind. The Beatles were gods of truly inspired creativity. It never ceases to amaze me how great they are.

[@donweatherwax9318]

Nice to see "I'll Follow the Sun" getting a little love. It's one of Paul's less-acclaimed melodies, perhaps - even by Paul. (On the other hand hand hand, "Follow" was also George Martin's favorite track on _Beatles For Sale._ So it's got that going for it; which is nice.)

[@DenKulesteSomFins]

It's definitely one of my favorites. Very folk. Almost like a great Dylan song, but with actual good vocals

[@bobtaylor170]

I'll Follow the Sun is a GREAT song. It has that quality great songs have, which is that they seem always to have existed. I have heard an audiotape of McCartney which is probably from 1960. He has the idea for the song, but at that point, all he has is singing the line, "I'll follow the sun" over and over. It's fascinating to hear.

[@GBPaddling]

"Things we said today" is a truly outstanding example, a lot of songs slacken off somewhat in the bridge, this one jumps in energy and firms up moving seamlessly in, then back out to the verse.

[@althealligator1467]

My favourite on A Hard Day's Night

[@jeff196330]

From minor to major. Even the teenage girls dug it. Listen to live versions

[@jprg1966]

An underappreciated song all around. I love the 2009 remastered version, which brought out George Martin's menacing, rolling piano underneath Paul's vocal. It adds to the breathtaking tension of that middle eight.

[@prettyshinyspaghetti8332]

"Love is here to stay and that's enough to make you mine" This line blew me away because it so seamlessly ended the middle eight and went into the next verse. Its a complete line in itself but can also be broken into two parts

[@althealligator1467]

@@prettyshinyspaghetti8332 One of my favourite things about lyrics is when each line makes reference to the last in a very concrete way so that the entire text feels like a cohesive web rather than just a bunch of lines that sometimes go together (which is most often how songs are and is completely fine). My go to example is Stromae's ave cesaria, which, I guess if you don't speak French, you won't really get, but every single line just makes me go "ooooh," which is itself my single favourite thing about lyrics. I don't want them to just pass by unnoticed, I want them to catch my interest one way or another - sometimes sheer easy memorability is enough to do that. But yeah that line in Things We Said Today absolutely does that for me.

[@chillmore97]

"Things We Said Today" from A Hard Day's Night is my favorite Beatles middle eight. The tempo picks up and you can practically hear the seams in the production where they dropped it in to the song. It's so good, they ran through it it twice!!

[@blindpink]

My fav Beatles middle 8...."This Boy"....Superb.

[@basstian]

The harmonies there are absolutely gorgeous!

[@jonesybones13]

Dear David- You're a Great music teacher and have re-re-reignited my love and respect for the Beatles. Thank you!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

😊😊😊

[@Lotschi]

Same here! I always get inspired to dive deeper into songwriting myself.

[@basstian]

What I love the most about middle-eights is how they cleverly create contrast with the rest of the piece. I'll add a Beatles example and a Queen one for each element I'm listing: - Change of key (different tonal centre): For No One; The Show Must Go On. - Change of mode (with the same tonal centre): Here, There & Everywhere; I Want It All. - Change of metre: We Can Work It Out; Bicycle Race. - Change of singer: A Hard Day's Night; Sail Away Sweet Sister.

[@cjay2]

I just love hearing all these great Beatles songs one after the other! The older I get, the more I love their music. Thank you David.

[@Lefty7788tinkatolli]

Very interesting about Yesterday having a 7-bar A section rather than 8 bars. I have ALWAYS noticed something was off, like the repeat of the A started too early, but never counted the bars!

[@fabioalbertani945]

Great video as always David. Another peculiarity in Beatles songs is when in the intro they do a shortened version of the chorus like in Help and Can’t Buy Me Love

[@ri3545]

Isn't that pretty common though?

[@fabioalbertani945]

I don’t think it’s so common but I could be wrong

[@gorgolyt]

@@ri3545 I think the Beatles are known for popularising it. "She Loves You" is a famous example of jumping straight into the chorus. How many other famous examples of this can you name? Not too many, I guess.

[@ri3545]

@@fabioalbertani945 I've definitely heard it a lot. Obviously it's not the majority of songs, but I don't think it's that uncommon

[@KlausSgroi]

Trivia: Can't Buy Me Love beginning with the chorus was George Martin's suggestion.

[@neurokodama]

My favourite example would be The Long and Winding Road, and for a personal reason: it was only when I was trying to play it on the piano that I "noticed" that the structure was not the verse-chorus-verse-chorus that I was used to.

[@johnnicholls5344]

And the A section is 12 bars long while the middle 8 is 8 bars long.

[@collinrichardson1184]

Exactly! I noticed this when I learned the long and winding road too!

[@johnmc3862]

Cant believe you missed 'We can work it Out' where it goes from a 4/4 verse to a 3/4 middle 8. Fantastic.

[@-l5905]

The way you used the blocks graphic to show the progression was great! It makes it easy to visualize, I hope you use it again. Thank you

[@paulwood4142]

Can we please get this good man to 1m subscribers? The best song structure analysis to be found on KZbin.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

thank you!!

[@carlospadinmartinez]

@@DavidBennettPiano you'll get there soon, patience master. ;)

[@In_Set]

IMO, it's so good it should be funded by the government as a necessary utility. Not joking.

[@mediatechjohn3088]

Often I love the middle 8's more than the other sections.

[@user-qm7nw7vd5s]

FINALY! A clear, concise explanation of the elusive “middle 8”…

[@northernbrother1258]

I love a good middle 8, like a song within a song, and consider it an art form unto itself.

[@SziontificMystic]

You & Aimee Nolte released a Beatles middle 8 video within like 8 seconds! blew my mind LOL

[@nomnom112]

seems like some sort of weird collaboration / promotion.

[@knonky]

in the first few seconds of the video, he explains that it is indeed a collaboration

[@SeanMcAusland]

Delighted you used my version of “Lady Madonna”, thank you! 🎹

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Your performance was one of the most faithful covers I could find 😀😀🥳🥳

[@DovidM]

Another possible model was Calypso. Calypso started as a 12 bar verse and 8 bar chorus. Aldwyn Roberts (Lord Kitchener) then created songs with 16 bar verses and 16 bar choruses. He later created songs with 32 bar verses and 32 bar choruses. Most calypso songs thereafter followed the 32 bar verse, 32 bar chorus form. Lennon and McCartney in the 50s had a connection to a Liverpudlian Calypso artist, Lord Woodbine (Harold Adolphus Phillip). Woodbine was a performer, and McCartney and Lennon became his drinking buddies. Woodbine arranged their trip to Hamburg. An early effort of Lennon’s was a song called “Calypso Rock.”

[@LuciensMusic]

Something to ponder while working on some new tunes🙂

[@Davysprocket213]

Amy Nolte is fantastic, as you are also. I’m delighted to see any kind of collaboration between the two of you.

[@david.hauksson]

My fav fab4 middle8 is in No Reply… “lf I were you, I’d realize…” Amazing shift which transforms the song and the mood if the song and lyrics. Amazing stuff!

[@olivarionline1]

It's funny because I've always considered these AABA as songs that start with a chorus, as opposed to more usual 'don't bore me get to the chorus' type of songs. It's interesting how they approached songs as well. Can't Buy Me Love started as a 12-bar rock with a middle-8, but George Martin stuck half the middle-8 to the beginning effectively turning the middle-8 into a more recognisable chorus by the time we listen to it after the two 12 bar verses.

[@warrenburroughs3025]

Aimee's video came up on my feed right behind yours. I'm off to watch it now.

[@bellygunnermusic]

I think '8 Days a Week' uses a 'refrain'. so the opening segment is a verse that ends with the songs title ( or a summary line ). or you could say it's when your verses end with the same line throughout the song. so it sort of usurps a chorus. or it combines the verse and chorus into one part. In my mind the other part of the song is a middle 8 or a bridge, a melodic change for contrast, but not quite a chorus. another thing about the song, in regards to the AABA form, is the verse melody itself is actually an AABA. A- ooo I need your love babe, guess you know it's true A-hope you need my love babe, just like I need you B-hold me love me hold me love A- I ain't got nothin' but love babe, 8 days a week. See what I mean? I think 'I'll Follow the Sun' also fits this description. The verses end with the song title.

[@RanLevi]

Fantasticly eye opening video, David! Amazing as always.

[@PlanetoftheDeaf]

Andy Partridge (XTC) has described the A section of the classic AABA song as a "Vhorus" which kind of makes sense, as the verse and chorus (and indeed the main hook) are all in this section. XTC's The Disappointed is in this format.

[@DeSlagen8]

I’ve only just got deep into the Beatles discography, what a treat

[@chasebethersonton5169]

This video was incredibly helpful to me. I know talking about song structures may seem boring / too simplistic for some, but it's often these small decisions that make the biggest difference to a song. Going over these examples helps give me the freedom to make creative choices that I might not have had the confidence to do otherwise. It is a really big deal. I would love to see more stuff exactly like this.

[@hazukilazy]

Great as always🎉 I’m amazed at the visual delivery. I’d like to watch more videos about song structures from you.

[@zzzaphod8507]

Great video! Really helpful to have the blocks showing the bars as they pass by. Did this form including the middle eight get used much in the 70s and 80s or did it die out? I forgot about the cowbell in Hard Day's Night--I guess that's Ringo showing us where the Middle Eight is!

[@JustAFocus]

Nice video -- I always appreciate your analysis and music theory videos. Keep 'em coming!

[@westfield90]

Always look forward to your Beatles videos. Never disappoints

[@-Mark_F]

Great video. From myself being in the graphic design business most of my life I must say that the graphics created in this video to visualize the bars and other musical elements is superb! Bravo!

[@1oolabob]

I was a little kid in 1964, which means I have heard and enjoyed Beatles songs for over 60 years. As a 20-something in the late 1970s/ early 1980s, I hosted singalongs with friends gathered around a Beatles songbook. I'm not a noob...but because of this video, I have a whole new appreciation of the kind of songwriting they did and the musical logic they followed so well that is--I'm sure now--a big part of what make their songs so memorable. Thank you so much, David! It's like learning magic, except that it's not a trick.

[@NinjaMatt2201]

The internet didn't exist back then, so the Beatles pretty much just heard about the middle 8, and learned how use only a middle 8, not the 32 bar in general. So they just applied the middle eight to any format of song. Pretty much, any time they thought a song they were writing was getting too repetitive, they'd throw in a middle 8 at the point the song would start to get too repetitive. Or, during the Get Back documentary, while John was performing the demo version of Don't Let Me Down for the rest of the band to learn it, the rest of the band thought the B part wasn't working as a B part, so Paul suggested they use it as a middle eight instead. Which is what they played on the released version of the song. And sometimes they would have incomplete fragments of songs they were stuck on, so they'd put 2 different pieces together and arrange them into a complete song. Like A Day in the Life. It needed a middle 8 or something, John was out of ideas, and Paul had a song fragment he was stuck on, so they just put the Paul bit in place of the middle 8.

[@pulsarlights2825]

What does the internet have to do with anything? There were no books, libraries, schools, music teachers.? What did Mozart do before there was recording studios?

[@NinjaMatt2201]

@@pulsarlights2825 The Beatles didn't have access to any of that.

[@NinjaMatt2201]

@@pulsarlights2825 Today, people are used to being able to easily look anything up. But I heard Paul talking about how they pretty much had to find someone who knew a certain chord the Beatles didn't know. They'd ask someone tgey know from school, he wouldn't know how to play that chord, but he knows a guy from out of town who does, so they'd have to take to busses to get to that guy's house to ask him to teach them how to play that chord.

[@NinjaMatt2201]

@@pulsarlights2825 They would read any music magazine they could get their hands on, maybe a famous musician they like mentions a middle 8, but doesn't explain it in detail. Maybe there is a library they can get to, but maybe the library just doesn't have the right book in stock. The Beatles didn't have proper music theory education, so some books they just wouldn't understand. George Martin had to translate how the Beatles explained music theory/what they wanted for a music piece into what the orchestra could understand. While the Beatles knew music theory to an extent, they largely developed their own way of talking about it. They didn't know the names of all the chords they learned and would have to come up with some other way of describing which chord they are talking about, for example. So even if they find a book that explains a middle 8, if it's too advanced an explanation, they might not understand it too well. So they had to ask around if anyone knew what a middle eight was.

[@NinjaMatt2201]

@@pulsarlights2825 Oh, we are also talking about things they mostly learned as teens, and they pretty much went from being kids to Beatlemania. By the time they had money and resources, they were rather busy.

[@StephenMarkTurner]

Thanks. I checked Aimee's video as well.

[@urwholefamilydied]

The Beatles are the masters of the "middle eight". Their middle eights often eclipse the actual song. "I should have known better" always breaks my heart. It really gets you in your gut. It's not just pop music. Shit gets real.

[@mikahattunen4502]

Yes, great example of how Lennon made heartbreaking melody line to a middle eight.

[@battyjr]

XTC as well! Have you ever heard the bridge to "No Thugs In Our House"?

[@user-pc4oi2ov7z]

Muting the vocal line when you interject with the voice over is a great new detail! Is it AI that has enabled this?

[@BebopDesigner]

Absolutely brilliant! 🤘🏽✨ I could listen to these Beatles examples for hours 🙏🏽🔥 Love both channels by the way ☺️😊

[@adrianhepton9362]

Somewhere over the aaba. I've just come back onto this channel after having a digital break and what an educational and inspirational treat was awaiting me!

[@leoruizdiaz9478]

Tipazo David! Gracias por tanta data y el amor a los Beatles. ❤

[@Smithy67]

Very interesting and informative David, thank you

[@NomeDeArte]

Thank you for another Beatles video, David! Best regards from Argentina

[@paulcamus8944]

Great stuff. Beautifully explained. The kind f thing I always think of sitting down and getting done and never get around to. Thanks so much!

[@aminahmed2220]

What a fantastic video have a wonderful day David ❤😊

[@MichaelRadi]

As a musical theatre writer I loved seeing this!

[@propfoce7941]

this is my favorite form. i don't even know why but a few of my favorite songs to play use this form

[@TigerRogers0660]

Excellent video again David!! Some of these Beatle middle 8s i've never really thought about. I like how you've used the Ably House backing tracks with the REAL Beatles vocals!!

[@TK-fk4po]

This was a very enlightening video. I never really knew how to categorize these tunes. Versus? Chorus?. This note makes it much clearer. I will say, however, I stand by the fact that nowhere man has a regular verse chorus arrangement.

[@TexRenner]

Thank you for explaining these concepts in words I understand.

[@royalex21]

Thanks for this, both to you and Aimee. This is a topic that always fascinated me. You know, Beatles scholar Aaron Krerowicz has a post on his old blog on the Beatles use of Middle 8s.

[@composer7325]

excellent video, David. Thank you for this upload.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you 😊

[@georgerussell9525]

Mary Wells's "You Beat Me to the Punch" has three verse-chorus sections and a middle eight after the first two. The middle eight drives the story: A - start, A - development, B - conflict, A - resolution.

[@VincentLoraine]

Your videos are so intelligent, so profound, so well made and they show so much passion for music. And they show also, what we can learn from the Beatles and George Martin, which for me is the 5th Beatle. Thank you for your work and your passion!!

[@andrewcrocker9432]

Great video about my favourite band, David. It still amazes what they achieved. It also amazes that there are people out there who consider them overrated!

[@5150show]

Incredible, thanks

[@ryanwells2820]

I gotta say, Middle 8 was definitely one of the best settings for a fantasy novel series

[@bookashkin]

My favourite Beatle middle 8 is on John's demo of Bad To Me

[@johnsosnoski6238]

We Can Work It Out is a good example. No Reply is probably the best middle 8 (or in this case 16) ever.

[@thepostapocalyptictrio4762]

Aimee Nolte is great.. glad to see the collab

[@lisamarieligreci-newton7804]

I just want to chime in about how much I love I'll Follow The Sun. It's always been on eof my favorites, even as a kid....something so sad and melancholy about it even though it wasn't exactly a "sad" song.

[@justin81706]

Thank you so much for this video. I have been wandering forever what the middle 8 is? Thanks!

[@JumperXxXCables]

You saved the best song for last. Eight days a week has got to be my favorite Beatles song with Yellow Submarine a close second.

[@MLFranklin]

Great analysis! As I listen to these, the lyrics of the middle 8 often sound like the introverted introspective view of the overarching theme.

[@giampierogirolamo7134]

Well done❤!

[@ibdense]

I think it is important to remember that all the music theory and analyzation of songs. It’s just a look backwards at the creative process of young (usually… I’m 79, and still writing songs) musicians. I have never once considered that I want to do something in a mode (etc.) when writing; I am just after a sound or feeling. But, I am often surprised or impressed at what music theory road I have gone down.

[@h6rts]

Thanks great video. I now have more understanding of what counts as a middle 8

[@Fred.pSonic]

Among so many other things they did so well the genius of The Beatles is that none of them could read nor write standard notation. So much of their music was literally conjured out of thin air and as such is as pure as music gets. Perhaps that's the true underlying reason they've endured and will continue to do so. The way you broke the four bars into manageable blocks was genius. It made me not only hear but *see* their songwriting craft at work and how even their middle 8's could have developed into separate songs of their own. Thank you for your great analysis David, one of the best I've seen.

[@asdqwe123610]

Great video! Please do more songs about song structure types! There could be a whole series on different common structures like all your videos about common chord progressions.

[@denisecaringer4726]

Very interesting. Thank you.

[@charliejoseph6465]

I liked your videos about the orchestra. Perhaps you could do one about arranging for orchestra. Maybe you could arrange a song for orchestra and explain your process.

[@extremadrummer]

Thanks, David. My favourite song? I love them all

[@EddieReischl]

Watched Aimee's video as well. Like I commented there, "I'll Get You" is a great bridge. It's almost as if they used bridges to introduce more interesting chords into their songs. Lennon not being able to decide between the two bridges for "I'll Be Back", rightly so, because they're both great, kind of hints that they wanted to use those sections of songs to shine and really give the song something people would remember.

[@pantone369c]

Some of these you could say that the 'verses' are the first 4 or 6 bars of the A sections and the 'choruses' would be the last 4 or 2 bars of it with the B section serving as maybe a 'bridge.'

[@jpsilvermusic]

I enjoy your videos thanks mate

[@MarkRidesCoasters]

This is an important video to understand song writing and arrangement!

[@jcxz100]

I must compliment you on a fine explanatory video - as well as extremely good sounding that-can't-be-real-beatles-audio-can-it soundclips 😊

[@Dylanthestudent]

For some reason I thought a middle 8 was a complicated musical device and instead it’s such a simple but effective writing tool! Thanks so much for this informative video! 😊

[@AlexRamirez-fj4dj]

I’ll cry instead has a great middle 8 also things we said brings up the tempo for the middle 8. I’m glad you help decode beatles songs and why they work so well.

[@georgeliv8021]

Most epic bridge in any pop song, which is 16 bars and only used once, is in Harrison's Something - "You're asking me will my love grow? I don't know. I don't know."

[@borisbackup7735]

Eight days a week had alway appeared with a middle eight what you call the bridge.These middle eight seem to appear surprisingly like a contrast and a solution at the same time. The middle eight lift and resolute,something you waited for and something you want to end.

[@WalkingMan66]

I'll answer your request, better late than never. I LOVE the middle 8 in "Taxman." The melody/harmony takes the song to a whole different level.

[@thejimmydanly]

I remember when I was first trying to play music and come up with songs when I was young, two inspirations for me were the bridge of Wolf Like Me and the chorus of Feel Good Inc, where the instrumentation gets lighter and mellower. Though the chorus of Feel Good Inc. isn't a bridge/middle eight, I still always mentally call bridge sections of songs that have lighter instrumentation the "windmill" section.

[@petepande333]

Many great Beatle middle 8s-and even better, they often repeated them to let you enjoy them more than once in a song. One my my faves is from You Won't See Me. Adds energy, emotion and great vocals and harmonies. Thanks for these paired explorations. (Other great middle 8s: Steely Dan-my other favorite band-does not always have them in lieu of a solo following the verse/chorus structure, but still some great examples are in With a Gun and I Got the News.)

[@guilhermetavares1975]

Great topic!! The Moody Blues have some of the most beautiful Middle Eights! Check out Dawn Is a Feeling, So Deep Within You, Dear Diary, For My Lady, etc. Thank you, David!!

[@harvey1954]

Always explained AABA as the first verse is repeated a second time with new lyrics. When you get to B the melody and lyrics both change. The last A is repeating the melody from the beginning and will have new lyrics or sometimes repeat previous lyrics.

[@r.w.bottorff7735]

This is super cool. I am not keen on musical notation but it's exciting to see that I've written a few songs that I thought were especially catchy and now I know why, I was writing my own middle 8s. Thank you!

[@jokermaan1]

Which is why I think it's a mistake to read too much into what the Beatles wrote in musical theory terms. They instinctively wrote catchy songs! They were pretty much musically illiterate in theory terms, but they had a feel for it. They also had help and advice from George Martin who was of course a classically trained musician, steeped in musical theory.

[@jonathanj-g-yyelle6144]

Ahh! Good presentation! When at the conservatory, what differentiated a "Middle 8" from just a B Section, was that it had more "contrasting" elements or modulation. In comparison to the A Section or Chorus/Refrain if there was one, that is. _A modulation to the subdominant minor or major was very common._ "Lady Madonna" by The Beatles is an excellent example! I did my studies in the 1980s. Some successful (pop) composers at the time were Billy Joel, Elton John and David Foster. They used these elements for contrast, building tension and to musically tell a story. And in the process, they expanded and lengthened the song structure. Thank you for this informative video! Cheers!

[@oravlaful]

I always thought of the beatles' middle 8s as bridges like in "from me to you" or pre-choruses like the "hold me, etc" line in "eight days a week". I guess they really differ from B sections to me because they're usually shorter than the A sections, both in terms of bars and repetitions, and because they seem to always add tension and contrast that then resolves as the A sections return. The change in key that they often employed in the middle 8s only reinforces this feeling for me. B sections on the other hand feel way more rested to me.

[@bluestarbear]

Great video

[@spindriftdrinker]

Another thing the Beatles sometimes used that few rock bands ever used was the "verse" - in the lesser-well known meaning of the word - some introductory lines such as in a Broadway show tune before the main sections of the song get started. Songwriters like Gershwin and Cole Porter used the "verse" very frequently to kick off a song. The Beatles did it in songs like "Honey Pie". "If I Fell" has a very elaborate verse. "Here, There and Everywhere" also has a verse to start the song.

[@reverb.deluxe]

The Rain Song's middle 8 is one of my faves -- "I felt the coldness of my winter, I never thought it would ever go..."