Richard

A guest contribution from our Twitter follower Richard Alan Searle (@richardalansear):

“‘Bluebird Wine’ kicks off Emmylou Harris’s 1975 album Pieces of the Sky. The song was written by Rodney Crowell, who went on to become a member of Harris’s band and a long-time collaborator.

The tune’s harmony could hardly be simpler. The verse chugs along over C major, then breaks out in a chorus which alternates F major and C. The magic happens at the end of the second chorus: Emmylou and her backing singers extend and embellish the final line ‘drunk on bluebird wine,’ and the last syllable lands on a Bb major chord over a held C in the bass (2:11). Immediately, the voices begin to slide the whole Bb chord up to the home key of C for a satisfying ending…

…except they don’t stop when they hit C. They pass though it and keep going up until they hit D, at which point the band joins them for a coda in the new key of D (2:15). For added surprise value, the modulation takes place over the course of three bars, breaking the song’s pattern of four-bar phrases.”