Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol is, apparently, the most-played song on UK radio in the 21st Century. First released in 2006, the song has stood the test of time. I actually first heard it around that time when I saw Snow Patrol performing in Brighton at the Komedia in support of American band Granddaddy. I had no idea at that point who Snow Patrol were but this song stood out.
First of all, here’s a reminder of the song (as though you need one):
Underlying the song is a very simple chord sequence of A major > E major > D major > A major:
A major chord – notes A C# E
E major chord – notes E G# B
D major chord – notes D F# A
However, the stand-out feature of the song is the attention-grabbing and very pleasant dissonance that is created by holding a C# note as the progression moves to the E major and D major chords. The song almost seems to have one note, the C#.
You can see it here:
And just to show what a huge difference this makes, here’s how it would sound without the dissonance:
Doesn’t work, does it? It’s so boring.
So, you don’t need to do a lot to make a song stand out as an all-time hit, but you do need something. Snow Patrol came up with a C#!
