Really, Really Fast Key Changes

changes key each line of the verse

• Beach Boys / Girls on the Beach- it shifts from one key to another halfway throught the second line of the verse, then shift back on the fourth line!!!!! The final verse is even wierder, as they do a corny key change upwards on the second line, then go back down on the third line, thus turning every line into a wacky key change!!!!!!
• Kylie Minogue / I Should Be So Lucky - The chorus is a pretty standard Stock Aitken & Waterman tune, but the actual verse is key-change-tastic!! First two line are in one key, the next line shifts it up, then the next one shifts down at the start *and* again halfway through the line, then shifts up on *one note*, and then again for the chorus!!!! It's like an acceleration ziz-zag towards the chorus!!!!!

A few examples of really fast, frequent and great key changes

Nik Kershaw: The Riddle
Stevie Wonder: Too High
Gangway: My Girl And Me
Steely Dan: Babylon Sisters
Prefab Sprout: Lions In My Own Garden (Exit Someone)

And there are of course also thousands and thousands of jazz records....

I would also like to mention the completely bonkers key changes in the verse parts of Manchild by Neneh Cherry, apparently produced by accident when she was fiddling around with the chord setting on her keyboard.

And loads of early Genesis, esp. Harold The Barrel.

Whatever, I'l oviously always love these scandanavian pransters. They got pop in a huge way. amazing stuff,,,

"Dem Dry Bones" moves up a half-step with the addition of each higher bone then changes direction and shifts down a half-step each time they descend a bone.

"Too High" by Stevie Wonder changes in almost every chord.

(And I now realize I have already mentioned it upthread. Damn recycled threads!)

"Salamander" by Scarlet's Well modulates into a different key every two chords during the verse. It's pretty cool.

In terms of compression Giant Steps kinda owns, here's an explanation from SongTrellis:

Giant Steps has been used as a vehicle by improvisors to demonstrate technical proficiency because it requires the improvisor to handle 10 key changes within a 16 bar form, usually at a tempo above 200 beats per minute. Coltrane made the game a little easier by ensuring that only 3 keys falling on a particular cycle of major 3rds are visted throughout the form.