Santeria - Major III chord in major key?

Question

This may be a simple question for someone versed in theory, but I've been trying to figure it out for several days and don't yet get it.

I'm trying to learn the song Santeria by Sublime and the theory behind it. From what I can tell it is in the key of E major. My understanding is that if it is in E major, I should expect the following chords might show up: E, F# minor, G# minor, A, B, C# minor and D# diminished.

It looks like the song has E, G# major, A, B, C# minor chords (see https://www.e-chords.com/chords/sublime/santeria ). I am trying to figure out what is going on with the G# Major in this song. is this in a different mode or scale than E major? Does the G# major maybe represent some other flavor of chord like a 7th chord for another note? Is there something else going on?

Answer 1

You're right that a G# major triad isn't diatonic to E major; instead the G# in E major is actually G# minor.

Whenever you see a major triad where it isn't expected, it's often functioning as a dominant (V) of another chord. In "Santeria," you can see that the G# major chord is always followed by C# minor; thus we see that G# major is actually functioning as the dominant (V) of C# minor. In Roman numerals, we say that G# major is V/vi (since C# minor is vi in E major).

Answer 2

Yes, G# major isn't diatonic to E major.

And that's fine. It doesn't break any 'rule'. It's common, along with other chromatic chords. Although, as @Richard says, it can be thought of as the dominant of C# minor, it doesn't really indicate any more than the smallest hint of modulation.

Your harmonic language is expanding, beyond simple diatonic chords. Good!

Answer 3

i`ve been studying that chord as well! here is what i noticed; as somebody pointed out, III mayor to IV mayor sounds natural because A shares 2 notes with C# minor. thats true but allow me to expand. the tritone of G#7 leads to c# and e. whilst also the fundamental and third of C#minor they are the 3rd and 5th of A mayor. it is definetly a deceptive cadence but more specifically it one where there is an actual tritone resolution as well. if you come to think about it, the relationship between G#7 and A is not so far off from what happens in the key of C when you go from V7 chord to the VI. the tritone resolves but to the 3rd and 5th instead of going to the fundamental and 3rd of Cmayor. another way of looking at it is by assuming that we have lo lead this new note and continue its natural path; in the E,G#,A we have the notes b giong into b# which should lead chromatically into c#. this allows me to think that this III chord is not so far from playing E, Eaug, A. it seems to be a chord that leads into a subdominant chord. most popular is the IV but the i reckon it could move into the II with no problems. hope this helps