Song Analysis - Die With A Smile (Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars)
A jazzy tune with a very cool surprise chord before the chorus...
In this series of posts, I try to analyze a song in terms of songwriting aspects. I can take requests if you so desire, and I will also do these analyses for songs that I enjoy as well.
So I was talking to a subscriber of mine the other day, who is interested in learning about songwriting. Now at this very moment in time, I am not able to create video lessons, so this is the next best thing.
The first song in this series is Die With A Smile by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars:
Key And Tempo
I saw some people on the Internet say this song is in F# minor, but in my mind, it is in A major. There is no distinction between the two in terms of notes.
I say it is in A major because the song starts and ends on an Amaj7 chord, and if there is something I remember vividly from classical music lessons, is that the chord on which the song ends gives you the key of it.
The time signature is 6/8, which is the typical one used for waltz-like songs. As such, the accentuated notes when writing these songs are the first and the fourth. This is evident because, when counting such a time signature, you usually go one-two-three-four-five-six, with a bit of an emphasis on the first and fourth counts.
Its tempo seems to be 158 BPM from what I can gather, so let’s go with that.
Song Structure
The song structure is a pretty common one. You have a short, instrumental intro with some oohs in it, followed by a verse, a pre-chorus and then a chorus.
This particular substructure actually repeats two times, then, after the second time, it’s followed by a short lyrical bridge, then an instrumental interlude. The song ends with a final chorus and, rather than going for the major chord, it ends on an Amaj7 chord. More on that in just a minute.
Chords From This Song
These are the chords from this song, prepped for guitar. The guitar is considered in standard tuning and the fret positions are written, from left to right, to fit your strings from the low E string to the high E string:
Amaj7: x02120
Dmaj7: x57675
C#m7: x46454
F#sus4: 244422
F#: 244422
Bm7: x24232
Bm7/E: 024232
F#m: 244222
A: 577655
E/G#: 422100
E9sus4: 000232
Bm9: x2022x
E13: 02012x
C#7: x46464
B7: x24242
Chords Analysis
Let’s now review each section one by one and see what’s going on there. First up, the intro.
Intro
Amaj7 Dmaj7
Ooh ooh
As you can see, nothing too complicated there. Let’s move on to the verse, which uses the same two chords throughout the lyrics.
Verse 1
Amaj7 Dmaj7
I, I just woke up from a dream
Amaj7
Where you and I had to say goodbye
Dmaj7
And I don't know what it all means
Dmaj7
But since I survived, I realized
You continue playing the Dmaj7 chord throughout the first lyric of the pre-chorus, until the change below.
Pre-Chorus
Amaj7
Wherever you go, that's where I'll follow
C#m7
Nobody's promised tomorrow
F#sus4
So I'mma love you every night like it's the last night
F# N.C. F#
Like it's the last night
N.C. stands for no chord, meaning nothing is played.
And here is where an interesting technique comes into play when it comes to the chords. Normally, given the scale we’re in, you would have expected an F#m chord there, but instead, you find something called a parallel chord.
A parallel chord is a chord with the same name, but a different quality. In our case, the chord is still an F# one, but it’s major instead of minor.
This technique is often used to add an element of surprise to the listener and catch their attention. Another song that uses this technique to great effect is Magnificent by U2, during the verse, where The Edge briefly switched between a B and Bm chord (the song is actually in F#m and the expected chord would have been Bm).
Chorus
Bm7 Bm7/E C#m7 F#m
If the world was ending, I'd wanna be next to you
Bm7 Bm7/E C#m7 F#m
If the party was over and our time on Earth was through
Bm7 Bm7/E A E/G# F#m C#m7
I'd wanna hold you just for a while and die---- with a smile
Bm7 E9sus4 N.C. Amaj7 Dmaj7
If the world was ending, I'd wanna be next to you, ooh ooh
The verse, pre-chorus, and chorus then repeat in an identical manner.
Bridge
The bridge section after the second chorus is quite short and looks like this:
C#m7 F#m
Right next to you
Bm7 Bm7/E
Next to you
C#m7 F#m
Right next to you, oh-oh
Interlude
This is an instrumental section so depending on what instrument you choose to accompany yourself with, it’s up to you to decide what you want to play. However, the chord progression is the following one:
Bm9 E13 C#m7 F#m
Bm9 E13 C#m7 F#m
Final Chorus And Outro
And now we arrive at the final chorus, followed by a short outro:
Bm7 Bm7/E C#m7 F#m
If the world was ending, I'd wanna be next to you
Bm7 Bm7/E C#m7 F#m
If the party was over and our time on Earth was through
Bm7 Bm7/E A E/G# F#m C#m7
I'd wanna hold you just for a while and die---- with a smile
Bm7 C#7 F#m B7
If the world was ending, I'd wanna be next to you
Bm7 E9sus4 N.C. Amaj7 Dmaj7
If the world was ending, I'd wanna be next to you, ooh-ooh
Amaj7
I'd wanna be next to you
Another switch-up there, with two chords this time. The B7 and C#7 chords are used instead of their m7 counterparts.
Conclusion
This is a very fun song to play around with, but it can get tricky, with the complex chords being used throughout it.
It’s going to be a bit of a challenge on guitar especially, since anything above a 9th chord type kinda increases the difficulty in a somewhat exponential manner :)).
Anyway, I hope you found this post insightful. If so, then please re-stack it so it can help others as well.
I am Andrew Milner, signing out. Thank you for reading my story and I will see you in the next one.
If you enjoyed this text and want to support my work, you can do so by donating on Buy Me A Coffee (or rather, beer in my case). Just click the button below to get started!
Hi Andrew, thank you so much for responding to my request! This is excellent. I can play some of the chords on my Bandoneon for my daughters to sing along.
It definitely helps in terms of learning to write a song. You've made a nice template for us.😃