The coda is the very last hoorah of a song. For example, the classic Beatles Coda from Sgt. Pepper. Click on the sinusoid to play/stop.
The coda lets you know the end of the song is nigh.
Let’s take a look at a couple of Crying Codas. The first one is from MJ’s debut album Off the Wall.
According to Quincy Jones “he cried at the end of every take, you know. We recorded about—I don’t know—8-11 takes, and every one at the end, he just cried, and I said ‘hey – that’s supposed to be, leave it on there.”
Here’s another; a Crying Cocker Coda.
After 3 minutes of passionate manly crooning and screaming on this ballad, Joe goes to falsetto for the final notes. Beautiful.
Codas make heavy use of the Cadence. A Cadence leads to the Resolution, the “doe, a deer” or Root. The cadential chords takes you a home.
Above is the classic cadence that takes you home to C Major. Drag over the noteheads.
Try to spot the Coda in the next song you hear!
