Song Analysis for Songwriters: "My Girls" by Animal Collective

This post is the third in a series analyzing songs from the perspective of songwriting craft and technique. Today we’ll be looking in-depth at “My Girls” by Animal Collective↗(opens in a new tab).

They’re a band known for experimental, psychedelic music with a tendency to polarize listeners. But “My Girls”, an avant-garde pop song released in 2009, proved to have an unexpectedly widespread appeal.

“My Girls” hides a number of interesting lessons for songwriters.

It’s written in the most common key at the most common tempo and stays on the most common chord for the first 2 minutes of the song. And it’s pretty catchy (“nothing but hooks” according to NPR↗(opens in a new tab)).

But it’s also very unusual.

Among the ideas we’ll discuss, “My Girls” demonstrates that the chord progression of a song can be standard on paper, but rather surprising in execution.

That’s because the chords are only one tool among many. Unusual rhythms, structure, and textures all play critical roles in this song.

In this post, we’ll look in depth at these ideas and more. And, as always, we’ll derive some practical exercises at the end that you can use to explore your own new sounds.

Themes

On one obvious level, the lyrics of “My Girls” express the narrator’s belief that all he really needs is his own integrity and the roof over his family’s heads.

In a 2009 interview in Clash↗(opens in a new tab), Panda Bear adds that he was writing about “my desire on a basic level to own my own place and kind of provide a safe house for my family and the people I care about. I thought that was at once a kind of weird materialistic thing but at the same time a noble thing.”

But to me, one interesting aspect of the song is how it captures the strange world-within-a-world that exists behind the walls of a family home.

I’m not sure whether this was intentional or a by-product of mixing relatively normal sentiments with an anything-but-normal musical setting. But the effects of a song can always go beyond a songwriter’s intentions.

As we go, we’ll see how these themes are communicated and reinforced through rhythm, harmony, and melody as well as the lyrics.

Structure

Let’s start with a high level look at the structure of the song. I’ve interpreted the sections as falling into the following groupings¹:

• A long introduction
• An initial verse, sung at 80 bpm.
• An instrumental verse section subtly establishing a new tempo of 120 bpm.
• The regular verse, now sung at the faster 120 bpm.
• A pre-chorus section and a chorus section.
• A section I’ve labeled “O” that bridges pre-chorus and chorus. I’m calling it the “Oath” section because the lyrics just consist of a repeating oath: “on my father’s grave”.

I’ve marked the bar count for each section. I’ve left the bar count blank under the intro instrumental part because it’s ambiguous how many bars it contains.

The song begins with a sample of the Cassini Spacecraft’s recordings↗(opens in a new tab) around Saturn.

A rapid JUNO-60 synth arpeggio emerges from the noise. This synth continuously outlines the 3 notes of an inverted C major chord.

In theory, this is pretty simple, but at first it’s unclear where we are rhythmically or harmonically.

We get our first hint of structure when a honking sound emerges from the fog only to disappear again. Then a bassy pulse starts repeating, indicating we are at 160 bpm, and then the pulse fades out.

After the pulse is gone, the first verse begins, sung at half time relative to that pulse (80 bpm). The same arpeggio rapidly repeats underneath. The effect is not unlike a sunrise. Things are coming into view, but still unclear.

The verse then repeats word-for-word with call-and-response-style backing vocals.

When the verse ends, an instrumental 8 bars introduce a shaker pulse at a faster 120 bpm.

When the verse enters again, it’s sung at the new, faster tempo. Things are clicking into place. But the arpeggio, still playing at the same speed as before, sounds like it’s slipping out from underneath the vocal melodies.

Once again, the verse repeats word-for-word, deepening a meditative effect.

Then something new. After over 2 minutes of a single C major chord, we move to an F. Normally a common destination, the effect here is of a whole new world of color.

We are now alternating between chords, our first instance of clear harmonic motion. After this pre-chorus, we drop back to the C major with a constantly repeating lyric: “on my father’s grave”.

Finally, near the 3 minute mark (!), we come to the first chorus. The effect is reflective and colorful. We’re moving between 3 chords now.

After the chorus, we are right back at the verse. But this time the verse is not repeated. It moves right to the pre-chorus. And the pre-chorus also moves right to the next section (the “Oath” section).

In the context of the song, this is a rapid succession, and for the first time we can hear these parts as a more normal verse and pre-chorus. As the Oath part repeats its single line over and over again, we feel a strong anticipation for the chorus to return.

When the chorus does arrive, it repeats four times. And then the arpeggio fades out under ambient sounds and textures.

Staying on one chord without getting boring

As mentioned above, the song stays on the C major chord for over 2 minutes before changing.

Playing the most common chord for so long sounds like the recipe for a very boring tune. But in fact, this is a great illustration that the chord progression is not everything!

“My Girls” barely allows us to notice we’re stuck on a single chord. It does this through a number of techniques: disorienting rhythms and tempos, evolving textures, and implied harmonies.

We go into depth about the shifting tempo and polymeter later on. Some pretty interesting effects are achieved in this regard.

But for the moment, let’s look at the harmonies and melodies of the individual sections.

Sections and chord progressions

“My Girls” is in the key of C major and the whole song sticks to just four of the common major key chords.

Chords used in "My Girls"
-------------------------
    C   Em   F   Am
    I   iii  IV  vi

For a brief review of the standard functions of these chords, feel free to review my quick introduction to chord relationships before going forward.

But I also give context as we go, in case these concepts are new to you.

As we’ll see, two of these chords (Em and Am) are harmonic twins of the I chord (C), and on my interpretation this is how they function in the song. So harmonically, there is very little motion in the chord progressions.

This is a pretty weird song built on a seemingly simple foundation. That simple foundation might be one aspect that helps explain its popularity.

There’s another lesson for songwriters here: keeping one aspect of a song simple creates an opportunity for exploration elsewhere without losing your listeners.

Ok, let’s dive into the sections themselves!

Intro

The intro consists of that constantly repeating C major chord played as a synth arpeggio in second inversion.

Our I chord for this song is C major. The I chord is home base in a song, the core of the key.

I use the label “I/3” below to mean the I chord has its 3rd note (in this case E) in the bass. This is called “second inversion”.

| I/3 | I/3 | I/3 | I/3 |
| C/E | C/E | C/E | C/E |

For the most part, the effect of this introduction is a fog of sound, though we are given small rhythmic hints of what’s to come (discussed later).

But we don’t yet know what any of this means.

Verse

The initial verse emerges from the fog at a contemplative 80 bpm. Its chant-like effect is reinforced when the lyrics are repeated word-for-word after 8 bars.

The chord progression is deceptively simple. But the fact that it’s played in second inversion adds harmonic ambiguity that’s exploited by the vocal melody.

| I/3 | I/3 | I/3 | I/3 |
| C/E | C/E | C/E | C/E |

The vocal melody gravitates first around a D note and then around a C. It goes back and forth in this way over and over.

The D is the 2nd note in the scale and has a tendency to pull down to the 1. The effect is that we are constantly going from a slightly tense moment to its resolution.

Here are those notes on the first two lines of the lyrics (I’m ignoring E and A, the other notes that show up in the melody):

D     D    C    C C      C
Isn't much that I feel I need

C D     D    C   C   C       C
A solid soul and the blood I bleed

After the first verse ends, a new shaker pulse enters that establishes a faster tempo of 120 bpm.

The second verse is sung at this faster tempo, the tempo of the rest of the song. This verse also repeats word-for-word.

Altogether we have remained on the C major chord for 2 minutes and 15 seconds. But rhythmic shifts and the gradual introduction of backup vocals maintain our interest against a seemingly static backdrop.

Verse Lyrics

Let’s look again at the lyrics for the verses:

There isn't much that I feel I need
A solid soul and the blood I bleed
But with a little girl, and by my spouse
I only want a proper house

It’s pretty unusual for a verse to repeat the lyrics word-for-word even twice in a row. But in “My Girls”, we hear those lyrics four times in a row!

This is a strong signal that something is going on. It can be interpreted in a number of ways.

Perhaps this is something he’s telling himself over and over, trying to believe it more strongly.

Perhaps it’s core to his identity, and he repeats it like a maxim.

Perhaps it’s there to reinforce a sense of groundedness in home and family. After all, we are harmonically grounded in the home chord for a striking 2 minutes and 15 seconds before we first depart. This evokes the stability of home, its routines and comforts.

But one thing that stands out is how strange home seems to be, with its liquid textures and shifting rhythms. It might have stability, but it’s also a whole world of its own inside the walls of that “proper house”.

Pre-Chorus

In a standard song, there is nothing particularly interesting about moving to the IV chord (F in the key of C major).

But in “My Girls”, it feels like a large departure.

I sometimes call the IV chord the “neighborhood chord”. That’s because it often moves us away from the home chord, but not too far.

In the context of a song so focused on home, however, stepping outside those walls is actually a pretty big shift.

| IV | I/maj7 | IV | I/maj7 |
| F  | C/B    | F  | C/B    |

Notice that home is seen from a different, even more ambiguous angle, with the major 7th in the bass.

If the verse lyrics focused on what the narrator values, the pre-chorus comes at it from another perspective.

Here are the things of the world that he doesn’t want to take part in (like fancy things). We could read the harmonic departure from home as representing that world beyond the walls.

In light of these worldly things, he takes an oath on his father’s grave to do what he must for his family. And as he repeats that oath over and over, we remain home on the C major chord.

Is he convincing himself? Or is this what he thinks it takes to commit to home?

Chorus

The first time we hear 8 whole bars of that repeating oath, it creates a trance-like effect. And it’s not clear what’s happening structurally.

Are we going back home to the verse? Are we staying here forever?

But instead, we eventually go the chorus for the first time, about 3 minutes into the song!

| I/3 | iii | vi/3 | iii |
| C/E | Em  | Am/C | Em  |

I’ve talked elsewhere about how the iii and vi chords can both act as harmonic twins of the I chord. This means you can substitute them for the I chord. They can also be used to prolong, deepen, or add complexity to it.

Notice that in this chorus we shift repeatedly between these three chords. In the context of “My Girls”, this presents us with a kaleidoscopic reframing of home.

Here I mean “home” both harmonically (the I chord) and thematically (the world between those “four walls”).

The fact that the I and vi chords are played as inversions adds to the blending between these chords.

Since the iii chord shows up the most, in non-inverted from, and on emphasized words, it lends its “moody twin” character to this whole part. But keep in mind the vi and iii only share one note, so together these chords have a tendency to point to the I (or at least remind us of it).

I/3       iii
I don't mean
               vi/3                   iii
To seem like I care about material things
                 I/3
Like a social status
         iii
I just want
                vi/3
Four walls and adobe slats
          iii
For my girls

Often in film, art, and literature, home and family are presented as a boring necessity, something to get away from. In “My Girls”, they are presented as decidedly weird, a hidden world discontinuous with the outside and its superficial trappings.

I’m not sure I’d say there’s a message here about the opposition between the public and private spheres. But we do sometimes forget how strange it is that every family is run by its own private rules, expectations, and conventions.

Rhythms and Tempo

The rhythmic complexity of “My Girls” helps explain how it can stay on a C major chord for 2 minutes and 15 seconds without sounding static.

Let’s start with the tempo. As a whole, the song is at 120 bpm.

120 bpm is very common in popular music↗(opens in a new tab), it’s the default tempo in most recording software, and some have even argued↗(opens in a new tab) it has deeper roots in human movement.

This is one more standard choice to help ground a very non-standard song.

But it’s not at all obvious we’re going to end up at 120 bpm when the song begins. The synth arpeggios rapidly repeat a 3-note phrase, outlining the inverted C major chord.

x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x   etc...
 x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  etc...
  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x etc...

Our first hint of rhythmic structure comes when a honking sound and a bassy tone rise up out of the noise.

We are given a more specific clue when that bassy tone turns into a pulse by hitting regular beats. In fact, this pulse hits every time the dropping arpeggio starts again.

|1  2  3  4  |1  2  3  4  |
|x  x  x  x  |x  x  x  x  |
| x  x  x  x | x  x  x  x |
|  x  x  x  x|  x  x  x  x|

This tells us we’re at a tempo of 160 bpm, and frames the arpeggio notes as triplets. We have 3 triplet notes per beat.

But then the pulse fades out, leaving us in a state of rhythmic ambiguity again.

When the first verse begins, it mirrors the now-absent pulse, but at half time. Apparently the song is 80 bpm!

We stay at this tempo for the 16 bars of the first verse. But then, we are introduced to a new pulse, this time with a shaker sound.

The pulse of this part is at 120 bpm (the tempo for the rest of the song). But notice that the arpeggios are played at the same exact speed as before.

|1   2   3   4   |1   2   3   4   |1   2   3   4   |
|x  x  x  x  x  x|  x  x  x  x  x | x  x  x  x  x  |
| x  x  x  x  x  |x  x  x  x  x  x|  x  x  x  x  x |
|  x  x  x  x  x | x  x  x  x  x  |x  x  x  x  x  x|

We now have 4 triplet notes per beat. This means the placement of the arpeggio shifts with each bar.

This functions like polymeter. Unlike before (with the 160 bpm pulse), the rhythmic structure of the arpeggio does not line up with the structure of the shaker pulse on each bar.

In fact, it takes 3 bars before they line up again. In the meantime, the rhythmic (and possibly harmonic) meaning of the arpeggios seems to constantly shift from under us.

It would take 24 bars for the arpeggios to line up with the beginning of a verse section again.

I could be wrong, but I think they line up at the beginning of the instrumental part with the first shaker pulse. If so, then we have to go through that part plus the 16 bars of the second verse before the arpeggios line up with a section beginning again.

Here’s the larger picture, with the triplets counted within the bars. Here bar 1 is the beginning of the shaker part. Bar 9 is the first 120 bpm verse. Bar 17 is where he starts repeating the lyrics. I’ve marked those with stars.

|*Bar 1   | Bar 2   | Bar 3   | Bar 4   |
| 1 2 3 1 | 2 3 1 2 | 3 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 1 |

| Bar 5   | Bar 6   | Bar 7   | Bar 8   |
| 2 3 1 2 | 3 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 1 | 2 3 1 2 |

|*Bar 9   | Bar 10  | Bar 11  | Bar 12  |
| 3 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 1 | 2 3 1 2 | 3 1 2 3 |

| Bar 13  | Bar 14  | Bar 15  | Bar 16  |
| 1 2 3 1 | 2 3 1 2 | 3 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 1 |

|*Bar 17  | Bar 18  | Bar 19  | Bar 20  |
| 2 3 1 2 | 3 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 1 | 2 3 1 2 |

| Bar 21  | Bar 22  | Bar 23  | Bar 24  |
| 3 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 1 | 2 3 1 2 | 3 1 2 3 |

You can see the 3-note arpeggios line up on bars 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, and 22. And they would line up again on a bar 25.

For the pre-chorus and chorus sections, on the other hand, the arpeggios are forcibly realigned every bar by adding an extra note at the end.

|1   2   3   4   |1   2   3   4   |
|x  x  x  x  x  x|x  x  x  x  x   |
| x  x  x  x  x  | x  x  x  x  x x|
|  x  x  x  x  x |  x  x  x  x  x |

This has at least two effects. First, it creates a more driving feel in contrast to the more floating and rhythmically ambiguous effect of the verse.

Second, it creates a rhythmic stumbling effect at the end of each bar. Interestingly, this stumbling effect already existed in the verse melodies.

Listen again, noticing the moments I’ve marked. “Feel” and “blood” land on the strong beat, so they are most similar to that later stumbling effect.

                 ___________
There isn't much that I feel I need
             _____________
A solid soul and the blood I bleed
         ________
But with a little girl, and by my spouse

I only want a proper house

“My Girls” plays with numerous rhythmic motifs of this kind. See if you can find others.

Exercises

We could keep going, but we’ve already encountered plenty of ideas worth experimenting with. Let’s look at a couple of exercises I’ve derived from them.

As always, the goal of these exercises is not to copy the song, but to use the formal ideas to discover your own sounds. Even if you have no interest in making avant-garde pop, these exercises can help you come up with new ideas that fit your genre.

Exercise 1: One-chord verse, multi-chord chorus

The simplest possible chord progression just stays on one chord. “My Girls” shows that you can do this for most of a song without losing the listener’s interest.

For this exercise, write a verse over a single chord. You don’t need to drag it out nearly as long as Animal Collective does. Just keep playing that chord, and write a melody that lasts until you think a change is called for.

You can try the single chord musical centering exercise if you’re having trouble coming up with a melody.

Now write a second part that uses more than one chord.

In “My Girls”, the second part starts on the IV chord. But if you’re writing in a major key, you can go to any of the common chords. Here’s every major key to give you plenty of options to choose from:

Exercise 2: Polymeter

One of the aspects of “My Girls” that makes it stand out is the polymeter in the faster verses. The 3-note repeating arpeggio does not line up with the 4-beat bars and so they continuously go out of sync.

One way to create this effect is by coming up with an instrumental line that repeats after any odd number (or multiple of an odd number).

Record (or program) that part first in a project set at 4/4 time. Then place some rhythmic element on every beat in 4/4 time. You could start with a hi-hat sound.

If you’re using a repeating 3-note part, it could look like it does “My Girls”:

|1   2   3   4   |1   2   3   4   |1   2   3   4   |
|x  x  x  x  x  x|  x  x  x  x  x | x  x  x  x  x  |
| x  x  x  x  x  |x  x  x  x  x  x|  x  x  x  x  x |
|  x  x  x  x  x | x  x  x  x  x  |x  x  x  x  x  x|

Or you could slow down the repeating part:

|1   2   3   4   |1   2   3   4  |
|x     x     x   |  x     x     x|
|  x     x     x |    x     x    |  etc.
|    x     x     |x     x     x  |

Try this with a 5-note part and a 6-note part as well.

Wrapping Up

We’ve drawn a number of lessons from “My Girls”. Let’s consider a few:

• Even a weird song can be built on pretty standard foundations, if you’re willing to play with other parameters.
• It’s possible to write compelling songs that spend a lot of time on a single chord. Rhythm and texture are two powerful tools to help here.
• The impact of common moves (like going from I to IV) really depends on the larger context of the song.
• The interpretation of a song will be influenced not only by the lyrics, but by the way all of the parts of the song interact.

Hopefully this gives you plenty to work with as you continue to develop your own songwriting practice.