Reharmonization example of "Jesus Loves Me"

A young student who is serious about music has been corresponding with me over the past year and asking questions.  He sent something over last week that I thought was interesting and would make a good teaching opportunity for everyone. 

What he sent me was a reharmonization of “Jesus Loves Me.”  Here it is:

bV           IV                   iii          ii
Jesus  Loves      Me  This  I know 

IV/I              bVII       vi          V7
For   The   Bible  Tells  Me  So

For anyone that does not know, when he writes bV, he means a flat V7 chord.  In the key of C, it would be a F#7.

I am fond of saying that chords like to move in steps. Note that his chords move in steps.  In fact, every single move is a step.  So far so good.

If you actually play this, you may or may not like it.  Regardless, you are likely to find it interesting and well off the beaten path.  Here’s why: while it moves in steps, it still goes against some rules of functional harmony.

The first thing I want to point out is the first chord (bV7).  When I see this chord, I automatically assume that it is a tritone substitution for a I7 chord.  But I chords almost never are dominants.  They are normally either triads or major 7ths.  When you do see a I7 chord, it is a secondary dominant (V/IV) and practically always resolves down a fifth to the IV chord.

Using this chord here is confusing because it creates a tonal center in the listener’s brain that is not correct.  If you start on the I7, you lead the listener to believe that the key is a fifth below the right one.  For example, if you play this song in the key of C and start with a C7, the listener naturally expects a resolution to F and assumes that you are in the key of F.

Here, the student started on the tritone substitution of C7 (F#7).  When he resolves it to F, the listener is going to decide that the song is in the key of F.  And because there is no other V-I cadence in these two lines, it is highly likely that the listener will never determine that the key is really C.

The second thing I want to point out is that the destination chords are changed.  Every song has destinations (usually at the end of phrases) that everyone expects to hear in a familiar way.  Typically, when you reharmonize, you change the path to the destination but you leave the destination chord intact.  There is no rule that you should never change a destination chord, but it is generally accepted that those changes should be sparse in order to keep the integrity of the song intact.

You could argue that there is only one destination point in the above two lines–at the end of the second line.  However, I would say that the end of the first line is really a destination too. 

Typically, both lines end on a I chord.  Note that he has changed both of them.  These changes also add to the confusion of what key the song is in, and they keep the listener from connecting with the familiarity of the song.

The last thing I want to mention is the movement between the chords themselves.  Some are good and some are not as great.  For example, bV7 to IV is correct because a dominant resolves down a half step just fine.  However, moving from bVII to vi is not great because a bVII should resolve to the I chord.

I am thrilled that this student is experimenting, and his hard work will pay off.  I feel a little bad about this because in my efforts to simplify things, I can oversimplify.  For example, when I say that chords like to move in steps, that is not to say that every step works.  There are specific rules that apply that I usually don’t go into such as the fact that a bVII resolves to I or that a biidim7 resolves up to ii but not down to I.  In such cases, I usually just rely on students to let their ear guide them.

Here is a takeaway that is important.  Just because there are numerous chords that can be used with a certain melody note, there are good reasons why not all of them are good candidates.  Over time, I will develop the rules further.