# Songs with the 50s progression (I-vi-ii(IV)-V)



## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

It's well known that the chord progression that goes I-vi-IV-V or I-vi-ii-V is a staple of music that gets called "catchy". Songs like Rebecca Black's "Friday", also known as the worst song ever written in the history of music, has this chord progression! But that doesn't mean there isn't some good music with this chord progression; it was especially popular during the 50s with doo-***. Wikipedia calls it the "50s progression" in fact:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50s_progression

I'm sure you like some non-classical (and maybe classical, although it's almost exclusively used at the end of pieces to wrap them up, such as in Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings 2nd mov. or Beethoven's Creatures of Prometheus finale) music that uses this progression.

One example that I love is the doo-*** song "Come Go With Me" by the Del-Vikings:






A later example with almost non-stop 50s progression (although it's a cover of a 50s song):






So what are some examples of songs with the 50s progression that you like? I've always been drawn to it, even as a little kid.


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

Its one of those quintessential chord progressions, like the 12-bar blues, and its extremely versatile like the 12 bar blues.

Here's a totally awesome recent tune that uses it:






And it sounds totally different from a song like:


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

The first song that comes to mind for me when I hear this progression is Roy Orbison's _Pretty Woman_.

Speaking of famous catchy chord progressions here is a bonus question maybe someone here knows the answer to. I've noticed a lot of classic rock songs use (I-IV-bVII) or (I-bVII-IV), such as The Stones _The Last Time_, Led Zeppelin - _How Many More Times_, Neil Diamond's _Cherry_ and The Romantics _What I like About You_ etc. Now because the bVII is major in a major key, does this mean these chord progressions are modal? (mixolydian maybe?)


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Sorry not trying to derail this thread further off the interesting chord progression mentioned in the OP, but can no longer edit my previous post and wanted to add information.



tdc said:


> I've noticed a lot of songs use (I-IV-bVII)... (mixolydian maybe?)


Another way one could look at these chords are the same group of chords used in a I, IV, V but with a different tonic relationship. For example the chords A, D, E are a I, IV, V in A, but the same chords are I, IV, bVII if E is the tonic.

So I guess I'm just confused on whether its correct to look at these chords as being modal music in mixolydian, or closer to a modified 12 bar blues.


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