a functional analysis of “any day now” by kate bollinger

Kate Bollinger  seems to just love laying the softest vocals over the crunchiest harmonies—and I eat it up every time.

“Any Day Now,” off Bollginer’s 2024 album Songs From A Thousand Frames Of Mind and cowritten with Mattew E. White, is no exception! Every couple of lines is at a new, surprising tonal center . It’s especially impressive considering that the song was recorded with one day of practice and produced without comping , as Bollinger states in the album’s songbook  (punctuation tweaked):

I recorded the song at Sam [Burton]’s place in upstate New York with a band we put together. We spent the first day practicing the songs. The next day we recorded the first two songs, “Any Day Now” being the second one. We did it all live in the room, no headphones or click, done in the spirit of most of my favorite music from the late 60s.

The music video for “Any Day Now.”

I’ll be using functional  analysis to discuss where Bollinger leads listeners over the course of the song.

structure

The song is in A-B-A form, where B is identical to A apart from key and B’s one extra ending measure.

AIEVC♯V/viF♯-viF♯°vioB-iiBV/VD-ii/♯I​IGV/♯I​IC7I7/♯I​IC7I7/♯I​IFI​V/♯I​IF♯°♯ivo/♯I​IGV/♯I​IC7I7/♯I​IC7I7/♯I​IFI​V/♯I​IF♯°♯ivo/♯I​IGV/♯I​I (♭V​I​I)
abc notation 
X: 1
M: 4/4
L: 1
I: linebreak !
"A""^I"z | "E""^V"z | "C#""^V/vi"z | "F#-""^vi"z/2 "F#o""^vio"z/2 |!\
"B-""^ii"z | "B""^V/V"z | "D-""^ii/\#I​I"z | "G""^V/\#I​I"z |!\
"C7""^I7/\#I​I"z | "C7""^I7/\#I​I"z | "F""^I​V/\#I​I" z/2 "F#o""^\#ivo/\#I​I"z/2 | "G""^V/\#I​I"z |!\
"C7""^I7/\#I​I"z | "C7""^I7/\#I​I"z | "F""^I​V/\#I​I" z/2 "F#o""^\#ivo/\#I​I"z/2 | "G""^V/\#I​I (\bV​I​I)"z | x

commentary

within sections: spicy sharpness & deceptive resolutions

In measure three: Bollinger uses the major dominant of the relative minor, ()—instead of the in-key minor dominant, (). This adds color (introducing the sharp fifth degree ) without being too surprising just yet; the secondary dominant  chain, , is a common jazz turnaround  lending a bluesy sound to music.

The song goes on to follow a roughly reminiscent progression—the move from to adding color as before. Then, where it should resolve to , it promptly slaps us using a two-five cadence  to modulate to .

between A & B: deceptive… lack of resolution?

Instead of returning to from (or even to to start the whole progression over), the B section stays on A’s last chord, (), and treats it as the new tonic. This effectively modulates B a whole step down from A.

from B back to A: more deception, more drama!

B hangs on its last chord, (AKA , , or ), for one extra measure. We’re really drawing out our dominant, giving us a cliffhanger perfect for returning to . But we resolve to… ? We end up right back at the start of A with no warning!

When I first listened to this song, sleepy on the train back home from work, I couldn’t help but crack a smile.

End of B SectionB♭7I7/♯I​I/♭V​I​IB♭7I7/♯I​I/♭V​I​IE♭I​V/♯I​I/♭V​I​IE°♯ivo/♯I​I/♭V​I​IFV/♯I​I/♭V​I​I (V/♯I)FV/♯I​I/♭V​I​IA SectionAIEVC♯V/viF♯-viF♯°vio
abc notation 
%%annotationfont X 10
X: 1
M: 4/4
L: 1
I: linebreak !
[T: "End of B Section\n\n"] "Bb7""^I7/\#I​I/\bV​I​I"z | "Bb7""^I7/\#I​I/\bV​I​I"z | "Eb""^I​V/\#I​I/\bV​I​I"z/2 "Eo""^\#ivo/\#I​I/\bV​I​I"z/2 | "F""^V/\#I​I/\bV​I​I (V/\#I)"z | "F""^V/\#I​I/\bV​I​I"z |!\
[T: "A Section"] "A""^I"z | "E""^V"z | "C#""^V/vi"z | "F#-""^vi"z/2 "F#o""^vio"z/2 | x

bonus: chords to the whole song

I did omit some chord details like added sixths; I might add those in at a later date!

IntroAAA SectionAE/G♯C♯/G♯F♯-F♯°B-BD-GC7C7FF♯°GC7C7FF♯°GB SectionGD/F♯B/F♯E-E°A-AC-FB♭7B♭7E♭E°FB♭7B♭7E♭E°FFA SectionAE/G♯C♯/G♯F♯-F♯°B-BD-GC7C7FF♯°GC7C7FF♯°GOutroG
abc notation 
X: 1
M: 4/4
L: 1
K: A
I: linebreak !
[T: "Intro"] "A"z | "A"z |!\
[T: "A Section"] "A"z | "E/G#"z | "C#/G#"z | "F#-"z/2 "F#o"z/2 |!\
"B-"z | "B"z | [K: C] "D-"z | "G"z |!\
"C7"z | "C7"z | "F"z/2 "F#o"z/2 | "G"z |!\
"C7"z | "C7"z | "F"z/2 "F#o"z/2 | "G"z |!\
[K: G][T: "B Section"] "G"z | "D/F#"z | "B/F#"z | "E-"z/2 "Eo"z/2 |!\
[K: G] "A-"z | "A"z | [K: Bb] "C-"z | "F"z |!\
"Bb7"z | "Bb7"z | "Eb"z/2 "Eo"z/2 | "F"z |!\
"Bb7"z | "Bb7"z | "Eb"z/2 "Eo"z/2 | "F"z | "F"z |!\
[K: A][T: "A Section"] "A"z | "E/G#"z | "C#/G#"z | "F#-"z/2 "F#o"z/2 |!\
"B-"z | "B"z | [K: C] "D-"z | "G"z |!\
"C7"z | "C7"z | "F"z/2 "F#o"z/2 | "G"z |!\
"C7"z | "C7"z | "F"z/2 "F#o"z/2 | "G"z |!\
[T: "Outro"] "G"z | x