This wonderful and dramatic 70 bpm song begins with a verse that establishes some clever melodic patterns over a harmony turnaround that uses just the primary triads I, IV, and V. The pre-chorus and chorus together form a lengthy and beautifully-crafted period of suspense. During that time, the song rings the changes on the patterns established in the verse and simultaneously flexes its muscles in avoiding the powerful attraction of the tonic. Just when we can stand no more suspense, on the border of the chorus and the section that follows it, the stars align and we enjoy the conjunction of I and 1 accompanied by the title lyric.
PRE-VERSE #1 (two two-bar phrases)
1 [I V][IV]
3 [I V][IV]
VERSE #1 (four two-bar phrases)
1 [I V][IV V]
3 [I V][IV V]
5 [I V][IV V]
7 [I V][IV V]
PRE-CHORUS #1 (four one-bar phrases)
1 [vi I]
2 [ii IV]
3 [V V]
4 [IV V]
CHORUS #1 (three two-bar phrases, and two one-bar phrases)
1 [I V][IV V]
3 [I V][IV V]
5 [I V][vi IV]
7 [I V]
8 [IV]
PRE-VERSE #2 (one two-bar phrase)
1 [*I+1* V][IV IV]
VERSE #2 same as VERSE #1
PRE-CHORUS #2 same as PRE-CHORUS #1
CHORUS #2 same as CHORUS #1, except that bar 8 is [IV . . V]
BRIDGE (two two-bar phrases)
1 [*I+1* V][IV IV]
3 [I V][IV IV]
PRE-CHORUS #3 same as PRE-CHORUS #1, except with 2 extra beats in the middle of bar 4.
CHORUS #3 (three two-bar phrases, and nine or ten one-bar phrases)
1 [I V][IV V]
3 [I V][IV V]
5 [I V][vi IV]
7 [I V]
8 [IV V]
9 [*I+1* V]
10 [IV V]
11 [*I+1* V]
12 [IV V]
13 [*I+1* V]
14 [IV V]
15 [*I+1*]
16 [.]
Now, let's take a line-by-line look at the song.
PRE-VERSE
The pre-verse phrases establish the key. The phrase is repeated twice, and it consists of I-V in the first bar, followed by an interrupted cadence to IV, which lasts for a bar. The guitar figure helps to bind each pair of bars together into what feels like one phrase. Harmonic movement is essentially stilled in that second bar, and that gives a nice feeling of calm for half of each phrase. There's certainly little, if any, sense of a turnaround here in the pre-verse; just a nice, easy, interesting intro to what's to come.
VERSE
The verse has four two-bar phrases; each phrase is a [I V][IV V] turnaround. So, the harmonic tempo is a constant two-chords-per-bar that swings like a pendulum around the fixed center of V. This gives a never-ending swing and motion to the verse that really does feel like it's "strutting" around, like the song's antagonist is. Here's the first half (bar 1) of the first phrase of the verse.
[I V]
1 1 6 2 6 1
I 1 3 5 5 3 5 5 3 5 5 3 6 6 5
You're strutt-in' in-to town like you're sling-in' a gun, just a
Most of the melody here is spelling out a I triad, although it's very heavy on 5. The first three beats are all agreement, and then the 5 feels especially nice against that V when it comes with its root-agreement. Then, on beat 4 ("gun"), 6 shows up with its pleasant disagreement. It sounds tense against the V, relative to which the 6 is 2. On the word "gun", you can actually play any triad that contains 6, and that sounds less tense (and therefore less interesting). Against that 6, agreement is restored by the IV that we see below. Here's the rest of the first phrase.
[IV V]
3 3 3 3 2 2 IV 1 1 6 6 5-4
6 6 6 6 5 6 I 5 5 3 3 2-1
small-town dude with a big ci- ty att-i-tude.
So, for the first two beats, there's agreement again, with 6 over IV (4-6-2). Then, on "big", we return to V while still harping (although, this is the very last note of that harping) on that 6, which we've emphasized for about four beats in total. That means we've swung back to the same tension that ended bar 1. But the melody is on the move again, briefly breaking the tension by dropping to 5 (and a lovely root-agreement for "city"), and then going on to spell out a descending I (actually, it's 5-3-2-1) while the V is still sounding. That final 1 is now the 4 of V; a classic sus4 effect. For this first phrase, the melody has followed a somewhat symmetrical arc, having moved up to emphasize 5, and then 6, and then moved back down, spelling out a Iadd6. So, now, what's to be done to resolve this sus4 effect?
[I V] [IV V]
I6 3 2 1 6 1 1 6 3 3 5 2-1
1 1 1 1 7 6 5 3 5 5 3 6 6 1 6-5
Hon-ey are you look-in' for some trou-ble to-night? Well al-right
Phrase 2 begins with the harmony bending again in order to keep the peace as a new turnaround begins. A I+1 resolution, but very much on-the-move, and passing through; this is certainly no place to stop. In this phrase, the melody is much more in sympathy with the harmony, the notable exception being the 3 (V+6) on "some". While composing this, I imagine that it took some discipline to keep that 3 from dropping down to the less interesting 2 (V+5). But both the 7 and the 3 in this melody sound nice and bluesy. This time, the 6 on "night" fits nicely with the IV. "Alright" drops us to 5 over V (V+1), so we end this turnaround a lot more settled than we did the first. But, even so, the V still (as settled as it can be) leads the way to the I that begins the next turnaround.
The same pattern as phrases 1 and 2 now repeats with phrases 3 (the melody causes discord, and emphasizes I, while the harmony follows along and makes amends) and 4 (the melody gets with the program, and emphasizes V).
PRE-CHORUS
As I mentioned, at the end of phrases 2 and 4, that restful V+1 means that the reason to return to I is far less pressing than it is at the end of phrases 1 and 3 with their pesky V+4. So, at the end of phrase 4, we actually don't return to I. Instead, we enter the pre-chorus with a maj2 step up to vi, which contrasts very markedly with the fourth/fifth movements we've seen prior to it, and gives a distinct sense that something very different is happening.
IV 4 6 1
I 1 3 5
...you think you'll
[vi I]
1 1 1 b7 1 1 b7
6 6 6 5 6 6 5 6 5 5 3 1 1
knock me off my feet 'til I'm flat on the floor, 'til my
The V-vi (instead of V-I) move that brings us here is interesting in itself. vi is a member of the tonic family, so it's arguably substituting for I here, anyway. Then, that vi goes to I, so we get there in the end. The melody cooperates with the harmony here, droning on 6 (vi+1, then I+6) (very similarly to how phrases 1 and 3 of the verse droned on 5), and then being led by the harmony down to 5, then 3, over I. You feel a little bit of resolution in what turns out to be an indirect V(-vi)-I move, but happening at bar.beat 1.3 means that it's no place for rest; nor does the melody root-agree, except late, briefly, and on a weak beat on "'til my".
[ii IV]
1 1 1 b7 1 1 1 b7 6 5 5 2-3 3
2 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 1 1 5-6 6
heart is cry-in' Ind-ian and I'm begg-in' for more. So
This bar begins with another maj2 step up in both harmony and melody, which again really draws attention to itself, and doubles the phrase frequency to per-bar. The melody cooperates in exactly the same ways that it did in the previous phrase: droning on 2 (ii+1) now (a fifth lower than 6). Instead of the V-vi-I pattern we had in the previous phrase, we now go I-ii-IV. Those two patterns have the following features in common: the interval from the first chord to the second chord is an interesting maj2 step up; the second chord is a substitute for the third chord; the second chord to the third chord is a min3 step up; the first chord to the third chord is a root movement down of a per5. But, more importantly, the first chord of the bar is moving down in fifths, too: vi to ii (continuing on to V next).
[V V]
4 4 2-1 1 4 4 2-1 1
1 1 6-5 5 1 1 6-5 5
come on, Ba- by, come on, Ba- by
Down another fifth from ii to V to start a new one-bar phrase. The melody stresses 1, really focusing the tension, and urging that V to move to I (which, of course, resists) with its lyric as well as with its note. This continues for a bold four beats: we're accustomed to a harmonic tempo of per-half-bar, and here it's the slowest it's been all song. Just for fun, try "Come on, Baby, come on, Baby. Yeah!" over V-V-I while sticking with that 1 note. It works, of course, but it's boring and feels like a premature finish. The melody for "Baby" drops down 6-5 (V+2-1), so it capitulates to the V. It seems unnecessary to rigidly stick to 1 on every word, although that works, too.
[IV V]
bVII 7 7 6 5 5 5 3 2 I 6 6 5 4 4 1 1 6
V 3 3 2 1 1 1 6 5 V 3 3 2 1 1 5 5 3
come on, Ba-by show me what that load-ed gun is for. If you can
Instead of the I that the melody wants, by an act of will we move instead to IV before returning again to V; still determined to go nowhere near the I that we've created such a demand for. In fact, the melody now increases that demand by running down most of the scale of V twice in a row, putting some emphasis on 3 (which is a bluesy-sounding 7 of IV, and 6 of V) but at least as much on the 5 (IV+2, V+1) that it's running towards. These last two bars very closely resemble the verse's turnaround and that's what we now slip back into, with the phrase frequency returning to per-two-bars.
CHORUS
[I V]
2 1 1 1 6
6 5 5 3 6 5 5 5 3
give it, I can take it, 'cause if this
The beginning of a new series of I-IV-V-IV turnarounds. But the melody's 6 is not cooperating with either the I or the V. The melody here is similar to that of the verse, except here there's a lot more emphasis on 6. That would have sounded okay in the verse, too, but instead we've saved it for the place where we want tension, which is right here. There's also a lot of emphasis on 5, though (in part, V+1), here and in the next bar, which calls for resolution.
[IV V]
3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 IV 1 1 6 5-4
6 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 I 5 5 3 2-1
heart is gon-na break it's gon-na take a lot to break it
The 6 is now redeemed by IV, but only for an instant. The droned 5 then makes a sus4 of the IV. As the IV becomes V, the melody immediately shifts to 6 to maintain suspense, then passes momentarily through a root-agreement, and finally drops down to spell out I in an echo of the method used in lines 1 and 3 of the verse to hook into the next turnaround. Every two beats the melody has been harping on 6-5 and, in the process, it's really moved quickly and unpredictably (and artfully) between agreement and disagreement.
[I V]
1 6
V 1 1 7-6-5 3
'cause I know to-
[IV V]
3 2 3 5 4 4 4 4 2 1 1 6
6 5 6 1 1 1 1 1 6 5 5 3
night some-bo-dy's gon-na win the fight so if you're
The pace of the melody relaxes for over half of this phrase (which is more or less the same as lines 2 and 4 of the verse), and then speeds up ready for the next.
[I V]
2 1 1 2 4
6 5 5 5 3 6 5 5 6 1
so tough, come on and prove it. Your heart is
This begins with a repeat of the first line of the chorus, but on "is" we do something different: we're at 1 over V.
[vi IV]
b3 b3 b3 b3 b3 b3 5-7 7 6 5 5 6-5
1 1 1 1 1 1 1-3 3 2 1 1 2-1
down for the count and you know you're gon-na lose it.
Here, instead of V-IV-V, we go V-vi-IV. It feels like a detour, but it doesn't insert any time (an aside, then, perhaps, rather than a detour). Last time vi appeared, we were root-agreeing with it with lots of 6s. This time we're agreeing again by droning on 1 (vi+b3). vi is a substitute for I, but the +b3s create a strangely suspenseful effect. It's as if the 3 in vi (vi is 6-1-3) is functioning as the 7 in IV, and wanting to pop 3-4 (or 7-1' in IV), so that the vi+b3 can become a IV+5. And that's exactly what happens, 6-1-3 does become 6-1-4. And then the melody immediately turns that IV into a IVM7. We end this line with even more 1. 1 has been in agreement for the whole bar, but it's still not accompanied by the I that we'd like it to be. By this stage, if we'd forgotten about the demand for I that we created in the pre-chorus, all this 1 probably reminds us.
[I V]
5 4 3 5
5 3 3 3 3 2 1 7 2
To-night you're gon-na go down in fla-
As usual, another I at the beginning of a new turnaround. But, while the preceding melody may have primed us for it, the preceding harmony didn't put us in quite the right mood to settle here. The bar begins with a drone on 3, and the melody continues to be sympathetic to the harmony for the whole bar (ending with a 2 and a 7, which agree with V). The melody also teases 1 while playing I-V which is just asking to resolve to I+1.
[IV] (sustained IV the first time; V other times)
5 7 7 5 2 6
1 3 3 1 5 2
mes. Just like Jes-se Ja-
On the first syllable of this bar, we have the ideal opportunity for a I+1. That would be a perfectly good end-resolution. Instead, we have IV+5 for a false resolution (the 2-1 that carries us over from the previous bar to this bar is 6-5 relative to that IV). Not all the resolutions in the song are preceded by a false resolution: see the repeated resolutions at the end of the song. But we get one here, and that (as well as the sudden half of harmonic tempo in the first chorus) effectively doubles the phrase frequency to per-bar. Whether it's over the sustained IV, or over a swing back to V, we repeat enough of the melody from the previous bar for it to "rhyme" (the melody spells out a I, but that includes a 2 and a 5, which agree with V). And that musical rhyme reinforces the sense that each of these last two bars is its own phrase.
[I]
1
mes.
And now, after the false resolution, we have our true I+1 end-resolution, and everything makes wonderful sense (this time, the 2-1 really is 2-1). The false resolution, and its rhyme in the true resolution, were pleasant in themselves, but they caused the cadence to detour from a potential [I-V][I] to the actual [I-V][IV-V][I]. And that's the genesis of the turnaround that the song has featured from the beginning. But we had to get here to see its origins. The I here would be a great place to stop, but instead we use it to begin a [I-V][IV-V] turnaround that forms a new pre-verse, and off we go again.