Police - Murder by Number harmony analysis

[neueliteratur]

Hello people,

I encountered the Police song called Murder by Number.

(Listen to it here: )

I thought the chords were awesome. I didn't find it possible to find out the chords myelf so I googled.

According to some guitar tab site, the chords are:

Verse

| E7(#9) Bbsus2/A | B7(#9) Bb7 |

| Em7 Bbsus2/A | Bm7 Bb7 |

Pre-chorus

| F#7(#9) Fmaj7 | Bm7 |

Chorus

| Em9 Fm7 | Gmaj7 Fm7 |

How would you interpret this? I can't even figure out the tonality.

All I see is:

B7 -> Bb7 and F#7 -> Fmaj7 are substituted up-a-fourth movements.

Appreciate your insight.

[wrench45us]

ok just by looking at the chords I think what's going on is a combination of some half-step changes that sometimes function as tritone substitutions to a chord within 'native' key and just simple halp-step slipping such as was once fairly popular in bebop circles

so e b f# in one key Eb F Bb in another

it doesn't exactly all fit in the ii V I one might hope for, but that's how it goes.
I'm working on Wayne Shorter's 'Delores' and it's a lot more hopelsss than this for analysis -- for purposes of analysis let's just say that 'Delores' is a modal melodic piece that had some chords worked up against the melody. The same sort of thing may be going on with this piece.

someone else may have some other ideas

[egbert]

I heard this tune a while back also and liked the changes and melody a lot. I wondered if anyone had done an instrumental cover of it - eg on sax.

There was a complete book of the Police tunes to match the Police complete CD set called Message in a Box. Seems like it is out of print now. Anyone know where I could get a copy?

[jsp1979]

I heard this tune a while back also and liked the changes and melody a lot. I wondered if anyone had done an instrumental cover of it - eg on sax.

There was a complete book of the Police tunes to match the Police complete CD set called Message in a Box. Seems like it is out of print now. Anyone know where I could get a copy?

I didn't realize it was out of print. I own a copy of this guitar tab box set...I'm not looking to sell (unless the price was *really* good ), but perhaps I can help with the question at hand.

I'll take a look at it when I get home tonight.

[VicDiesel]

I wondered if anyone had done an instrumental cover of it - eg on sax.

Sting guested on this with Zappa on "Broadway the Hard Way". Their interpretation is more mainstream jazz. Might be worth listening to, to see how the chords even out on a larger scale.

Victor.

[jsp1979]

The guitar tab says the following:

Verse:
(new chord every two beats in 4/4)

Em7 Am6 | Bm7 BbMaj7#11 | Em7 Am6| Bm11 Bbmaj7#11

Em7 Am6 | Bm7 Bbmaj7#11

Prechorus (?--just the last line of the verse)

F#7#9 Fmaj7#11 | Bm7 Bbmaj7

Chorus:

Em7 Fm7 | Gmaj7 F#m7 |Em7 Fm#7 |Gmaj7 F#m7

**Note: This is just reading the chord listings above the music. Realistically, looking at the tablature, the Fm7 chord in the chorus should actually be an F#m7 chord. Might be a typo...but I'm not playing along to confirm by ear.

[jancivil]

It should be quite clear from the melody what the tonic of the tune is. Here the first note of the tune is the tonic. 'What's that' in the Police version I heard is E G, and proceeds with that minor pentatonic thingy...

- Here,
"what's that, you've decided on a killing?" =
C Eb C G Bb F Eb G Bb C
C is the tonic.

no matter what you do behind it to dress it up to make it appear smart, it's minor pentatonic and some blues sort of changes. No need for confusion, it's a tune, a simple one. The thing to learn about a tune first, is the tune.

[egbert]

I wondered if anyone had done an instrumental cover of it - eg on sax.

Sting guested on this with Zappa on "Broadway the Hard Way". Their interpretation is more mainstream jazz. Might be worth listening to, to see how the chords even out on a larger scale.

Victor.

Yeah - I had forgotten that - his whole "Mr Sting" intro comes to mind. Some nice stuff on that album with the big band - Stolen Moments etc. It would probably go pretty well on the alto sax or the electric fiddle as a melody. Jazz versions of popular tunes are thin on the ground these days.

[neueliteratur]

Thank you for your replies.

It allows me to have a better perspective.

- Here,

lol, wrong link!

[jancivil]

oops! multitasking while old. MWO.