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The 50s progression is a chord progression
Chord progression

A chord progression is series of chord s played in order. Chord progressions are central to most modern music and the principal study of harmony....
 (ie sequence of chords
Chord (music)

In music and music theory a chord is a set of two or more different note that sound simultaneously. Most often, in European-influenced music, chords are tertian Sonority that can be constructed as stacks of thirds relative to some underlying musical scale....
) used in Western popular music
Popular music

Popular music is music that is accessible to the mainstream and disseminated by one or more of the mass media. It belongs to any of a number of musical genres, and stands in contrast to classical music, which historically was the music of the elite and upper strata of society, and traditional music which was disseminated orally....
. As the name implies, it was common in the 1950s and early 1960s and is particularly associated with doo-wop
Doo-wop

Doo-wop is a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music, which developed in African-American communities in the 1940s and which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s the 1960s....
. Perhaps the first popular song to use them was Heart and Soul
Heart and Soul (song)

"Heart and Soul" is a popular music song, with music by Hoagy Carmichael and lyrics by Frank Loesser, published in 1938 in music. The original 1938 version was performed by Larry Clinton & his Orchestra featuring Bea Wain....
, composed by Hoagy Carmichael
Hoagy Carmichael

Hoagland Howard "Hoagy" Carmichael was an United States composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader. He is best known for writing "Stardust " , and "Heart and Soul ", two of the most-recorded American songs of all time....
 in 1938. They have been called the "ice-cream changes" and the "'Stand by Me' changes" in English and Aku Ankka -kierto (Donald Duck
Donald Duck

Donald Duck is a cartoon fictional character from The Walt Disney Company. Donald is a white anthropomorphism duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet....
 progression) in Finnish
Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by Finnish people outside of Finland. It is one of the official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden....
.

The progression is:

I vi IV V

for example, C Am F G (in C) .






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The 50s progression is a chord progression
Chord progression

A chord progression is series of chord s played in order. Chord progressions are central to most modern music and the principal study of harmony....
 (ie sequence of chords
Chord (music)

In music and music theory a chord is a set of two or more different note that sound simultaneously. Most often, in European-influenced music, chords are tertian Sonority that can be constructed as stacks of thirds relative to some underlying musical scale....
) used in Western popular music
Popular music

Popular music is music that is accessible to the mainstream and disseminated by one or more of the mass media. It belongs to any of a number of musical genres, and stands in contrast to classical music, which historically was the music of the elite and upper strata of society, and traditional music which was disseminated orally....
. As the name implies, it was common in the 1950s and early 1960s and is particularly associated with doo-wop
Doo-wop

Doo-wop is a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music, which developed in African-American communities in the 1940s and which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s the 1960s....
. Perhaps the first popular song to use them was Heart and Soul
Heart and Soul (song)

"Heart and Soul" is a popular music song, with music by Hoagy Carmichael and lyrics by Frank Loesser, published in 1938 in music. The original 1938 version was performed by Larry Clinton & his Orchestra featuring Bea Wain....
, composed by Hoagy Carmichael
Hoagy Carmichael

Hoagland Howard "Hoagy" Carmichael was an United States composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader. He is best known for writing "Stardust " , and "Heart and Soul ", two of the most-recorded American songs of all time....
 in 1938. They have been called the "ice-cream changes" and the "'Stand by Me' changes" in English and Aku Ankka -kierto (Donald Duck
Donald Duck

Donald Duck is a cartoon fictional character from The Walt Disney Company. Donald is a white anthropomorphism duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet....
 progression) in Finnish
Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by Finnish people outside of Finland. It is one of the official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden....
.

The progression is:

I vi IV V

for example, C Am F G (in C) . In this case C is I, the tonic
Tonic (music)

The tonic is the first note of a scale in the tonality method of musical composition. The chord #The Triad formed on the tonic note, the tonic chord, is thus the most significant chord ....
.

Examples include the Penguins
The Penguins

The Penguins were an United States doo-wop group of the 1950s and early 1960s, best remembered for their only Top 40 hit record, "Earth Angel ", which was one of the first rhythm and blues hits to cross over to the Billboard Hot 100....
' "Earth Angel
Earth Angel

"Earth Angel " is an United States popular music song, originally released by The Penguins in 1954 on the Dootone Records label , as the A-side and B-side to "Hey Se?orita"....
" (1954), Ritchie Valens
Ritchie Valens

Ritchie Valens was an singer, songwriter and guitarist of Mexican origin born in the U.S.A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens' recording career lasted only eight months....
' "Donna
Donna (song)

"Donna" is a song written and sung by Ritchie Valens. The song was released in 1958 in music on Del-Fi Records. It reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart the following year, becoming Valens' highest-charting single....
" (1958), Gene Chandler
Gene Chandler

Gene Chandler is an United States singer. He is esteemed by soul music fan as one of the leading exponents of the 1960s Chicago soul scene, along with Curtis Mayfield and Jerry Butler ....
's "Duke of Earl
Duke of Earl

"Duke of Earl" is a 1962 in music chart-topper hit record song, originally by Gene Chandler. It is the best known of Chandler's songs, and he subsequently dubbed himself 'The Duke of Earl'....
" (1962) as well as "Stand by Me
Stand by Me (song)

"Stand by Me" is the title of a song performed by Ben E. King and written by Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. The song is inspired by a traditional Gospel song of the same name, originally composed by Charles A....
" (1961). As with any other chord progression, there are many possible variations, for example turning the dominant or V into a V7, or repeated I vi progression followed by a single IV V progression. A very common variation is having ii substitute for the subdominant
Subdominant

In music, the subdominant is the technical name for the fourth tonal degree of the diatonic scale. It is so called because it is the same distance "below" the Tonic as the dominant is above the tonic - in other words, the tonic is the dominant of the subdominant....
, IV, creating the ii-V-I turnaround.

Songs that use the 50s progression are usually very catchy, so the 50s progression has been used by many songs over the last half century.

Walter Everett argues that "despite the unusual surface harmonic progressions," in The Beatles
The Beatles

The Beatles were a rock music and pop music band from Liverpool, England that formed in 1960. During their career, the group primarily consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr ....
' "Strawberry Fields Forever
Strawberry Fields Forever

"Strawberry Fields Forever" is a song by The Beatles. Recorded at the end of 1966, the song was written by John Lennon during the filming of How I Won The War and is formally credited to the Lennon/McCartney songwriting team....
" (1967), "the structural basis of the song is I-VI-IV-V-I."

In the musical Grease
Grease (musical)

Grease is a musical theater by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey about the way rock and roll changed American sexuality and culture during the pivotal moment when America took its first tentative steps out of the conformity and social/sexual conservatism of the 1950s and toward the individualism and sexual revolution of the 1960s....
, the song "Those Magic Changes" features this progression, and the notes (substituting G7 for G) are sung as part of the chorus.

Well known songs that use the 50s progression

  • Tears On My Pillow
    Tears on My Pillow

    "Tears on My Pillow" is a doo-wop song, written by Sylvester Bradford and Al Lewis in 1958 . The composition was first recorded by Little Anthony & The Imperials on End Records, and was that group's debut recording under that name....
  • Mysterious Girl
    Mysterious Girl

    "Mysterious Girl" is a single by Peter Andre, featuring Bubbler Ranx, released in 1995 from his second album Natural ....
  • Stand By Me
    Stand by Me (song)

    "Stand by Me" is the title of a song performed by Ben E. King and written by Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. The song is inspired by a traditional Gospel song of the same name, originally composed by Charles A....
  • Beautiful Girls
    Beautiful Girls (Sean Kingston song)

    "Beautiful Girls" is a song by reggae-influenced musician Sean Kingston from his eponymy Sean Kingston . The song samples the bassline from Ben E....
  • The Living Daylights
    The Living Daylights (song)

    "The Living Daylights" is the song performed by a-ha for the James Bond film The Living Daylights. It was co-written by guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and Bond composer John Barry ....
  • Those Magic Changes
    Those Magic Changes

    "Those Magic Changes" was song written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, used in both Grease and the Grease ....
  • Beauty School Dropout
    Beauty School Dropout

    Beauty School Dropout were a pop punk band from Glasgow formed in 1995. During their 6 years together, the band toured the UK several times, appeared on various compilations, and released a full-length album entitled Teasing the Fat Kids....
  • Enola Gay
    Enola Gay (song)

    "Enola Gay" is a song by British synthpop band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark . It was written by frontman Andy McCluskey, and appears on the band's second album, Organisation ....
  • Every Breath You Take
    Every Breath You Take

    "Every Breath You Take" is a song written by Sting and originally performed by The Police. It was released on their 1983 album Synchronicity ....
  • Perfidia
    Perfidia

    "Perfidia" is a popular Mexican song written by Alberto Dom?nguez about love and betrayal . Aside from the original Spanish, other renditions exist, including English language and instrumental versions....
  • Blue Moon
    Blue Moon (song)

    "Blue Moon" is a classic Popular music. It was written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart in 1934 in music, and has become a standard ballad....
  • For Sentimental Reasons
    (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons

    " For Sentimental Reasons" is a popular music song. The music was written by The Brown Dots, with lyrics by Deek Watson. The song was published in 1945 in music....
  • Diana
    Diana

    Diana may refer to:*Diana, Princess of Wales, the first wife of Charles, Prince of WalesIn mythology:*Diana , ancient Roman goddess of the moon, the hunt, and chastity...
  • Poor Little Fool
    Poor Little Fool

    "Poor Little Fool" is a pop music/Rock music song written by Sharon Sheeley. It was based on her disappointment following a short-lived relationship with a member of a popular singing duo....
     (Ricky Nelson song)
  • String Along (Ricky Nelson song)
  • Last Kiss
    Last Kiss

    "Last Kiss" is a song that was written by Wayne Cochran in 1962 and originally performed by Wayne Cochran & the C.C. Riders, although their version of the song had little success....
  • Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now
    Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

    "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" is a song co-written by Albert Hammond and Diane Warren, recorded by Starship . Featured as the theme to the romantic comedy film Mannequin , it hit #1 in the Billboard Hot 100 on April 4, 1987 and reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart for four weeks the following month and became the UK's 2nd biggest selling si...


Sources