UPDATE: I can’t quit hearing it. It just keeps coming, like oil to the beaches of the Southeast. Hear what I mean?
This has been an interesting diversion, identifying music featuring the Emin, C, G, D chord pattern or transposition, but it is, like so much these days “unsustainable.” The pattern I’ve collected as “The Chord Progression that Won’t Die” occurs so often it’s like going on a drive from Florida to Maine and deciding to make a game of calling out every foreign-made car. It’s a fun game for about five minutes. Then you go insane.
The Son Unit is actually miffed at me for sharing the prevalence of the chord pattern with him since he now hears it so often. He calls it a “curse.” It’s hard to un-know something; still, we’re going to try.
But I will leave you with more before I kill the blog category, to pass on the curse to you.
Here it is in a trailer for a new Matt Damon flick, “The Adjustment Bureau.” Breath and Life, Audiomachine, I think. Or just hear ithere.
Going back in time, I think I’d forgotten this monster hit. Michelle Branch.
Then there’s Taylor Swift. The Son Unit says she gets credit because this was just a demo and never actually released officially.
Perhaps you’d like the progression with some eyeliner. Here’s Green Day
Let’s genre-hop it with T.I.
Let’s unplug with Damien Rice.
Wait, Damien’s not done emoting, this time with on piano
Did you hear the Fray take a turn at invoking The Chord Progression that Won’t Die?Where were you?
You hear it so often it’s almost a religious experience.
Interestingly, we’re now seeing some exploration, deleting a chord or reversing two. Augustana gets credit for stepping outside the boxwith this..
There’s always more road ahead, and now we’ve noticed variations that really aren’t variations. You’ve heard of the Circle of Fifths? We call this the Circle of Hits. What you do is place Emin, C, G, D end-to-end and draw a circle around any consecutive four chords. It’s the same progression; you’re just starting in different places on the merry-go-round. And it’s a hit machine.
Thanks for visiting. Please comment when you go insane.



The Axis of Awesome has a brilliant take on this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I
(NSFW for language)
Hah!. That was perfect. “Axis of Awesome” lived up to their name with that, and I’m glad they’re helping to raise awareness for the chord progression that won’t die.
“They all sound the same!”
“It’s all one song!”
–Neil Young, on one of his live albums
And similar to the Axis of Awesome, but with ukulele:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTIv8hP-UIA&feature=related
Outstanding! Plus “the warm smell of fajitas.” lol