Wednesday, August 30, 2017

"Little Town Flirt"

I recently listened to Discovery.  The edition I have has bonus tracks, one of which is a cover of Del Shannon's "Little Town Flirt."  A few months after I'd figured out the chords for ELO's cover, I got a two-disc compilation album of Del Shannon, which I've been listening to fairly regularly this year.  Listening to Discovery reminded me that I'd never gotten around to comparing the two versions of "Little Town Flirt," so I finally did.

The only major difference I noticed is that ELO's version (in C major) is a half-step lower than Del Shannon's original (in C# major).  I went through the chords measure by measure to find that the two versions have the same structure, although the fade-out in ELO's version starts a bit later.

Here are the chords; each instance represents one measure:

Introduction
C major | C major | C major | C major

Verse one
C major | C major | A minor | A minor
F major | F major | G major | G major
E major | F major | F major | F minor
C major | A minor | C major | A minor
F major | G major | C major | A minor

Verse two
C major | C major | A minor | A minor
F major | F major | G major | G major
E major | F major | F major | F minor
C major | A minor | C major | A minor
F major | G major | C major | C7

Bridge
F major | F major | C major | C major
F major | G major | C major | C major
E major | E major | A minor | A minor
F major | F major | G major | G major

Verse three
C major | C major | A minor | A minor
F major | F major | G major | G major
E major | F major | F major | F minor
C major | A minor | C major | A minor
F major | G major

Fade-out
|: C major | A minor :|