Still, the emotional impact of the blues cliche is very different. The Dm7b5 chord similarly has three notes in common with Fm (F, A-flat and C). The Cdim7 chord has three notes in common with D7 (F-sharp, A, and C). “Way Way Back” is in F, but I’ve transposed the blues riff into C: It features prominently in a Duke Ellington tune called “Way Way Back,” as performed here by Abdullah Ibrahim: The descending chromatic feeling you get from D7 to Fm to C is related to a timeless blues riff. Here’s a mashup of Kalinnikov and Willie: Willie’s tune is in E, but again, I transposed into C for easier comparison. Nevertheless, the emotional effect is the same. The version of the progression in “I’d Have To Be Crazy” uses a different harmonic rhythm, and starts on the I chord instead of vi. I had the pleasure of performing this tune many times back in my country music days, and it makes a great lullaby for my kids. I mentally refer to this progression as the Willie Nelson turnaround, because I first heard it in his classic recording of “I’d Have To Be Crazy”, written by Steven Fromholz. It’s in the key of E-flat, but I transposed it into C for ease of understanding: If you listen to this piece at 6:16, there’s a particularly beautiful and tragic chord progression. The short-lived Russian composer Vasily Kalinnikov is best known (to the extent he’s known at all) for this piece of music: See also the happiest chord progression ever.
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