Night and Day (song)

"Night and Day" is a song written by Cole Porter for the 1932 musical play The Gay Divorce. It was also featured in the 1933 film version, The Gay Divorcee. Fred Astaire sang it in both the stage and film versions. The song subsequently became an American standard and has been performed and recorded by dozens of artists, notably Frank Sinatra.

Harmonic structure

This song is well known for having unusual chord changes (the underlying harmony.)

Related Topics:
Chord changes - Harmony

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The tune begins with a pedal (repeated) dominant with a major seventh chord built on the flattened sixth of the key, which then resolves to the dominant seventh in the next bar. If performed in the key of Bb, the first chord is therefore Gb major seventh, with an F (the major seventh above the harmonic root) in the melody, before resolving to F7 and eventually Bb maj7.

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This section repeats and is followed by a descending harmonic sequence starting with a -7b5 (half diminshed or Ø) built on the augmented fourth of the key, and descending by semitones - with changes in the chord quality - to the supertonic minor seventh which forms the beginning of a more standard II-V-I progression. In Bb, this sequence begins with an EØ, follwed by an EbØ, D-7 and Db dim, before resolving onto C-7 (the supertonic minor seventh) and cadencing onto Bb.

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The bridge is also unusual, with an immediate, fleeting and often (depending on the version) unprepared key change up a minor third, before an equally transient and unexpected return to the key centre. In Bb, the bridge begins with a Db major seventh, wthen moves back to Bb with a Bb major seventh chord. This repeats, and is followed by a recapitulation of the second section outlined above.

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The vocal verse is also unusual in that the melody consists entirely of a single note - the same dominant pedal that begins the body of the song - with rather inconclusive and unusual harmonies underneath.

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