Pure Imagination - Analysis

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Recently I've been studying one of my favourite movie songs, Pure Imagination from WILLY WONKA. It seems to be constructed from small chains of ii-V-Is - a common jazz cat thing, but here it's to modulate all around the place. There's also a lot of diminished substitution, that is regular secondary dominants being replaced by diminished chords. This is mentioned in The Songwriting Secrets Of The Beatles by Dominic Pedler.

 

Here's a delightfully sleazy/schmaltzy version sung by Newley himself.

 

 

 

Come with me you'll be

                  Em11       Asus9

                   ii11           Vsus9

 

In a world of pure imagination

      DMaj7     Em7  Fdim  DMaj7/F#

          I7         ii7      vii^o/iii     I7

Take a look and you'll see

Bm7   Em11                Asus9

vi7         ii11                 Vsus9

 

(Circle of fourths thing here)

Into your imagination

      Ddim7      DMaj7

        vii^o/iii          I7           

We'll begin with a spin

              Em11       Asus9

               ii11          Vsus9

Travelling in the world of my creation

                 DMaj7 Em7  Fdim  DMaj7/F#

                  I7         ii7     vii^o/iii    I7

What we'll see will defy...

 Bm7        Em11      Asus9

  vi7            ii11         V13

 

Explanation!

         F#add9

         V9/vii ?  

 

If you want to view paradise

GMaj7             F#m7   B7

IV7                    ii7/V7/ii    V7/ii

Simply look around and view it

Em9            A1sus9              DMaj9

ii11                 Vsus9                  I9

 

Anything you want to, do it

 G#m7b5      C#7   F#m11->F#m7

ii^ø7/V7/iii          V7/iii   iii7

                                     ii7/V7/II

Wanta change the world?

B7                          E9

V/II7                         II9

                               V9/V7 

There's  no-thing   to         it

            A7   G/A   Eb7/A Em7/A

            V7 ----------------------->

There is no life I know

To compare with pure imagination
Living there you'll be free

 

Same chords as previous verses

 

If you truly     wish     to    be

         F#add9  C/A    A7  DMaj7

         III9/vi    VII over V?   V7  I7

[A24 4,331]

Beautiful song.

[RedBard 71]

I agree. It is quite the beautiful song.

Just listen to this cover of the song by Mike Stoklasa:

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

What I'm asking is, what do you call this circle of fourths modulation thing?

[Ludwig 1,120]

I think the progression is just what you've called it - circle of 4ths. Or you could say descending 5ths.

As for modulation, I would say the song remains in D major the whole way through but with a few substitute chords thrown in. That vii^o/iii to I7 might also be heard as planed major triads against the C#, so in jazz notation:

C#/D - Dmaj7

In that sense, you could say that the first chord is like an appoggiatura resolving to the Dmaj7. The F#add9 on "Explanation" could be taken as a chromatic substitute for the tonic Dmaj7. And it is itself planed into the next chord, something like the C#/D-Dmaj7 progression, though it doesn't sound like an appoggiatura here, rather more like a dominant of G. Approach chord, I think you said in one of your posts on the Island Fanfare from JP, which does the same thing but in B-flat major.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

I think the progression is just what you've called it - circle of 4ths. Or you could say descending 5ths.

I looked this up the other day, and apparently it has got a cool technical term - interpolation or 'Back Cycling.' It's a really neat way of creating harmonic motion, yet sounding smooth and inevitable.http://www.jazzguitarlessons.net/jazz-chords-1.html

The F#add9 on "Explanation" could be taken as a chromatic substitute for the tonic Dmaj7. And it is itself planed into the next chord, something like the C#/D-Dmaj7 progression, though it doesn't sound like an appoggiatura here, rather more like a dominant of G. Approach chord, I think you said in one of your posts on the Island Fanfare from JP, which does the same thing but in B-flat major.

How about seeing it as a deceptive resolution of a secondary dominant? Our ear expects the the F#add9 to resolve to Bm, but instead resolves to a common tone chord - GMaj7.This use of diminished chords reminds of another Disney song- The Age of Not Believing from BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS. Along with Back Cycling, the Sherman brothers use a #iv diminished chord as a passing tone between subdominant and tonic in second inversion. You see this a lot in tin pan alley and English music hall standards (which both MARY POPPINS and BEDKNOBS are heavily influenced by).