If the Galaxy runs anything like in Close Encounters, then the above chord will function diplomatically. I’m sure it already has, here on Earth.

If Lewis Carrol were to develop a portmanteau word for this chord, it would be a superduperimposition of “brr’ling”, “brr’lang”, and “cha-aa-a-aa-a-nng”.

This type of chord is known as a Thunderchord for obvious reasons: it splits the heavens in halves.

It takes all of the Beatles and their producer to play this one chord. Paul is hitting a high D on his Hofner bass, George is playing an F9 chord on his 12-string Rickenbacker, as is John on his acoustic Gibson. Meanwhile, George Martin is striking a G power-chord thang on his Grand Piano, and Ringo taps a single snare. There is much dispute over the true nature of this chord, and there seem to be at least 20 different possibilities. For more interpretations, read this article.

However, George stated in an online chat, that he definitely played an F9 (the top of the chord). He also picks this chord during the outro.

This is one of them 60′s style lickety-split fade-outs. You can hear this on a lot of Beatles’ tunes (See “Good Day Sunshine”).

You can clearly hear the D bass note dominating the “A Hard Day’s Chord”, making the most sensible interpretation some form of the D Dominant chord. I prefer to call it a “D Minor 7th Suspended 4th”, though really it just sounds like the entire G Mixolydian scale (GABCDEF) played at once, excluding the B. “A Hard Day’s Night” is in the key of G Mixolydian.

The 7 frequencies of the G Mixolydian scale when converted into light, correspond to the 7 colors. A good mnemonic to remember this photosonic relationship is “GAB C. DEF, meet ROY G. BIV”.

Read more about the Diatonic Rainbow.

Unfortunately, the Goldie Hawn version misses a golden opportunity to jazz the shit out of this thunderchord. Instead, it begins with a crummy ol’ bass triplet.

It’s called the Chord of Love. To understand why, let’s take a look at the 4 beautiful notes that form a Major Seventh.

The Major Chord alone is a happy fellow – triumphant, righteous, but add the Major Seventh on top, and what have you got? A sad, sad little heartbroken chord.

The Seventh is eternally seeking resolution to the Root. By suspending the Seventh on top of the Root, nothing will ever be resolved. In this way, you can fuck with your listener’s desires!
Los Doggies uses buttloads of major seventh chords. So do the Beatles.

                                                  

These two measures show off the Major Seventh as a means of simple harmonic progression, but check out this earlier Beatles example…

Just like in “Something”, the Seventh is accentuated in the melody, but here, the Major Seventh acts as a resolution, albeit a dreamy resolve to the subdominant (IV Degree). Everything in this chorus is a perfect fit – the lyrics, harmony, and movement are all of one sleepy psychedelic mind.

Sean Lennon is also a Major Seventh enthusiast. Listen to the song “Bathtub”. Right before the second chorus, there is an acoustic guitar breakdown bridge section that goes – C#maj7 Amaj7 Dmaj7 Bmin7. It don’t get lovelier than that.

The band Hum also uses Major Sevenths in totally original ways.
Check out the song “If You Are to Bloom”. The little segue riff (when everything kicks in), modulates through weird Major Sevenths – Dmaj7(add 9) Bmaj7(add 9) F#maj7(add 9) and on to the Emaj7. This type of harmony, (along with the thousand tracks of guitars) gave Hum their unique outerspacious sound.

Finally, here’s a beautiful song by America, chock full of Major Sevenths sung and strummed.
Tinman