This might look like is just curiosity to know something about one particular song, but is not. I'm hoping it'll help me understand better when I'm doing song analysis.
I keep struggling when analyzing chord progressions. Seems like everything that sounds good is always impossible to fit in the diatonic rules, there's just too many exceptions to consider things as rules I believe.
Anyway, I understand (more or less) the concepts of substitutions and modal interchanges. I have this example, however, in which I just wish to know what is the proper way of referring to this chord progression, and I don't think any of those interchanges is happening.
The tune is "Love Foolosophy" by Jamiroquai, and it goes Bm7 Em7 Cmaj7 Bm7 for the most part.
First thing you'd think is this is in B minor key, but C instead of C#? The progression would be a i iv bII i, and that flat two there, the C that should be a C#, why does it sound so in key when is actually out of the key? And is not even an cool low volume note, the guitar actually plays the same notes from Em, but the bass goes to C making it very obvious. As I said, it sounds great.
I was thinking one option is that the tune is not really in Bm but in Em, and then the progression would be a Vm I VI Vm, but that is too weird, isn't it?
Something else I'm thinking is, could we call that chord Em/C instead of Cmaj7? Then the progression would be i iv ivb9 i?
And to make things even more confusing, when it gets to the chorus, it does actually go B to F# to C# to E, there's the C#, which makes all the sense in Bm, and it sounds good as well.