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"Never gonna pick a key...I'm gonna modulate the song forever"

Rick... I was the girl singer on that gig - Beth Russo (now Graham)! What a fun summer gig that was - and I never quite realized then how tricky that tune was for you guys. Terrance Bruce was a wonder. Great vid - I enjoyed listening and remembering all that! @Rick Beato

Rick, I have been playing piano for 40 yrs. I put together a massive 80s playlist, found this song, downloaded the sheet music. I seriously had some wtf moments as I was sight reading. Took me 3 tries to get it down and after watching your video I was dying of laughter. I can’t imagine trying to memorize this song. Thx for the analysis!

You may know Sergio Mendes is brazilian and his major influence is "Bossa Nova" that has a lot of chords like those in its composition; even Mendes has done the arrangement, only. Names like Antonio Carlos Jobim, Carlos Lyra, João Gilberto, among other have been used these kind of sequence since the 60s and 70s. I'm Dilermando Nassif, from Belo Horizonte, MG. Brazil. I like your videos. You are a great musician. Congratulations.

“Ok let’s play this new song tonight” “What are the chords” “All of them”

Back in the day, in our wedding band, we prayed that the bride and groom NEVER requested this to be the song for their first dance!

This video is so epic that it's mentioned in the Wikipedia entry for the song! In a June 2021 video posted on UKposts, record producer Rick Beato called "Never Gonna Let You Go" "the most complex pop song of all time", due to its use of frequent key changes, inverted chords and unusual chord progressions.[4] Beato's discussion includes a detailed harmonic analysis of the Sérgio Mendes arrangement.

Absolutely god-level jazz composition. So complex yet sounds so natural and so beautiful, especially with the male / female duet.

The genius of this song isn’t even the chords, it’s that they wrote a singable, hummable, memorable vocal melody over that!!!

This is how you write a song without getting sued for plagiarism lol.

That's why Sergio Mendes is still making music. Great music.

I love his smile while he's playing along. Every version of the smile as each chord is played represents a new complexity proportional to the obscurity of the chord 😅 Such a musician thing to do.

Am I the only non-musician here understanding like 10% of the technobabble but still enjoying this guy's enthusiasm tremendously?

This song can only be played by Guitar George, cause he knows all the chords.

Sergio Mendes was ruge in brazil at 60s and 70s, and he use to play more bossa nova and MPB, this kind of harmony and progressions are very bossa nova. I would love to see you reacting to some Brazilian songs, I bet you would love!

It’s amazing that the vocal melody is so easy to listen to having such a complex chord structure underneath

The craziest part of the story isn't them butchering the song. Its doing an emotional love song for kids ages 8-10.

Rick: The Wikipedia page for this song already mentions that you analyzed the song and called it the most complex pop song ever, just 4 hours after you posted this video. You've become a cultural icon!

Brasil 66 era was sophisticated jazz/pop/bossa nova that charted all over the planet. His version of The Beatles’ Fool on a Hill is outstanding.

I love it with Rick playing the chords over it. It simplifies the complexity somewhat and hear it as a set of chards rather than listening to all the instruments intertwining. It let's me appreciate its fantastic nature.

As complicated as these progressions are, it never SOUNDS crazy. Just flows. Weird!

There're more chords in this song than in the whole Billboard hot 100.

I remember hearing this song a few times growing up, but hadn't heard it in a really long time before I saw this video recently. This song is phenomenal, and I have an appreciation for it now that I didn't as a kid.

Jazz often runs the circle of fifths descending and modulates to the minor of the tonic as the ii of the new tonic. Pop jazz more so. It seems pretty clear that the clever modulating was done in the Mendes song to accommodate the pitch positioning of the two vocal leads.

This Song has more chords than the entire AC/DC catalogue

Brazilian harmony is otherworldly. Once I asked a Brazilian guitarist where he had learned all those cool chords and progressions. His response: "In the streets"

I absolutely LOVE Dionne Warwick's version of this song. When Cynthia Weil passed a few weeks ago, I went back and looked at her catalogue and there this song was! I always thought Sergio Mendez had written it! And, I hadn't it was originally intended for Earth, Wind, and Fire, but they turned it down. I was like, yeah, that would have worked! It has a sort of "after the love is gone" vibe. This is one of your best videos, Rick. And that's saying something! Keep up the great work!

Leeza Miller recorded the female vocal part on "Never gonna let you go". She was also part of the band on a couple of world tours in the early '80.

"Should we write a chart for this?" "Naw, we can figure this out." Backfires EVERY time.

I don’t understand 95% of what you’re talking about but I find these videos so interesting, intriguing, even often humorous! Thank you for your hard work on these.

When Rick speaks about chords, its like a completely different language. Astounding skill and knowledge.

Wonderful experience watching you play all those chords and having them there to read. Your comments and pleasant pure enjoyment of the complexity is delightful. Thank you Rick Beato. Just heard you for the first time about a week ago. 😊

"Let's write a song!" "Cool, what chord we gonna use?" "Yes..."

This song is legit genius. Coming up with all of those progressions is one thing, but making it into a coherent song with nice singing parts, that's skill, man.

I love how the chord notations keep getting longer and more insane.

Sergio Mendes is one of our treasures from Brazil, representing the MPB and bossa nova at it's finest.

I'm singing like.. "I'm never gonna learn the chords, I'm gonna struggle with these chords forever"

I love that you write out the chord symbols by hand and then import them in

This is spectacularly fantastic this video. I come from a Jazz family and have always loved this song. But your reactions and pure joy about those crazy and numerous key changes, it’s soo refreshing. Thank you for sharing 🍻🍾!

Actually I knew I've heard this somewhere in Spanish, there is a Salsa version of this song and it's pure gold. It's called "Nunca te dejaré ir" by Gustavo Rodriguez. I somehow heard it when I was little and all the changes musically-wise blew my mind... Now I know why. What a masterpiece!

"I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it."

So what you're telling me is, Sergio Mendes enforced copy protection on this song by encrypting the chord progression.

I adore this so much. Thank you for the breakdown, I was smiling from ear to ear. The changes were soooo good to see. Absolutely amazing.

This is my favorite video from you. I only vaguely understand the musicology you describe, based on rudimentary music training in my youth. But your enthusiasm is contagious. Please keep doing what you are doing!

"Which chords should we use for this song?" "All of them!"

When the Sultans of Swing were asked to play this song, Guitar George quit the band.

Great song and Great story. Thankyou for sharing. Stumbled on you back when you did best guitar solo you never heard lol. Your love for music skill and experience has inspired me to learn an instrument starting with drums. Love the stories behind music and different interviews of artist. Hooked now!

Great video Rick. I enjoyed this so much!! 🤩

Producer: So which chords are you thinking for this song? Artist: All of them

Pulling out a song with an impossible to memorise chord progression is such a singer move.

"Never Gonna Get These Chords" 🤣

very VERY impressed with your fretboard skills, Above and Beyond Fabulous Rick. I couldn't do anything like that to save my life but I've always admired the professionals who glide up and down the fretboard with such ease. All Kudos, Peace and Out 🤘

The drummer be like, “This is an easy song for me.”

It's incredible how they managed to make a song so complex which probably appears quite normal to non-musicians ears.

I had no idea it was so complex, just sounded like a normal pop song of the day to me. I was 8 years old when that song came out, a great song, always loved it.

Beautiful theme, and great genius from Sergio Mendez! There is a detail, a small detail to be able to understand and analyze a song like this in particular, that detail is the MELODY, the chords in this case can be anything... because the melody always goes in accordance with the bass and the chord remains as a filler that gives color and this is why many times the bass is not in the tonic, or the chord does not resolve in the tonic, it is simply because it is adding color to a melody that moves stable alongside the bass. A very good example of this is the song "Wave" by Carlos Jobim, in which in the B part of it the bass remains in the third and seventh degree of all the chords... but what's the point? by itself, none, but when analyzing the melody, it is always in a third relationship with respect to the bass, surrounding and accentuating that interval on the downbeats, both above and below the bass note (relative, because the melody always goes on top, but theoretically the melody goes around the bass) All of Bach's music recurrently supports this aspect between the voices, but today we see and analyze music as the chord, arguing that they are simply accompanying a melody... which is in the end the most important thing. Analyze Bach's minuet in G... the simplest of works by (Anna Magdalena) and you will see the relationship of the two notes that are always in counterpoint but coinciding... and so on until you reach the most complex works by Bach.

Frustrated not to be able to press “thumbs up” more than once. Fascinating, as non-musicians don’t realize how much goes on in a song.

This song has more chords than my entire playing-vocabulary

I enjoy watching Rick love the music as much as I enjoy the music itself. Always full of pure joy. I wish I could spend most of my time doing something I truly loved like that.

I remember the song and a friend of mine having to play keyboards and sing it solo at a private party. Even after rehearsing it, he was somewhat frustrated with the song. I remember sending the music for a song called nothing by D Yoakam to a bass player friend to learn for an upcoming country music gig that we’d be working together on. I saw him a few days later for a rehearsal and he said to me: “country songs are only supposed to have 3 chords. Maybe 4. And they shouldn’t be in F#.” He ended up adding that song to his other bands list…lol.

That's why there's no chords left in contemporary pop music. Sérgio stole them all

It's for songs like this that the drummer is happy he's the drummer.

I've known this song for decades. I always remember it being dramatic and different, but had no idea reason was the complexity of the chords and modulation. Just brilliant song writers.

Your channel recently came up on my searches and I am really enjoying your content. Thank you.

A bit of trivia: The (first) studio for Sergio Mendes was built by a then young carpenter that would later become known as Han Solo and Indiana Jones.

"We're jazz guys, we can figure this out." This had me dying!

These chords are beautiful together!! ❤

I love the deceptive cadences and the tonic substitues. The progression starts off normal but then goes into something completely crazy when you expect to go the tonic. Really reminds me of Bach, especially how the bass moves relative to the upper pitches. Like the D/C you really expect to go G/B but it goes to Bb instead.

I feel like many artists/bands in 82/83 were trying to out-modulate each other 😂

Before Beato: throw away pop song After Beato: stunningly complex gem

I watch this video over and over because I had the same experience with this same song. It was many many years later and I was playing for a woman who wanted to do it. I thought I've heard this song a hundred times. I can nail this right now. The guitar player didn't know it so we put the tape on. Suddenly I realised I didn't know it either. Same thing, wait go back, what? Glad someone like Rick had the same problem. This song is all over the place. I laugh so hard every time I watch this.

I got a similar feeling when I was transcribing Earth Wind and Fire’s “After The Love Is Gone”. Just chord changes and extensions EVERYWHERE.

I'm having a HUGE Deja Vu moment here. My sister got married when this song was a big hit, so naturally she asked my wife and I to play and sing it for her wedding. I listened to it a couple of weeks before and thought, "Yeah another syrupy pop love song, I'll write out a chart a few days ahead of the wedding and not worry about it." Three days before the wedding, I suddenly panic because this sucker starts to look like NASA's formula for moon orbit, and that's just the intro and first verse. So I run out and buy the sheet music. Then I woodshed like a mofo for the next two days to even get through it. Day of the wedding… we got through it, but I ain't claiming it was pretty!

I love that his introduction is simply, "Hi, I'm Rick Beato." No wordy preamble, no lengthy intro animation, just straight to the goods.

Hey, I’m not a musician, so I really appreciate your expertise in unpacking this song. You’re a pleasure to watch… Thank you for describing and explaining the complexities of the song. Fascinating!

Just loving Rick's reaction to the chord changes.

song's got more keys than a janitor

I found this absolutely fascinating, even though I didn't understood a single thing

What a great video! I remember this song. I had no idea that it was a number one hit. Like he says, when you listen to it you've noticed there are some unusual chord changes but I had no idea how complex it was! I hope the songwriters see this video and so know that all these years later someone appreciates what a masterpiece this song is!

That you were able to find those chords by ear amazes me. Forget about playing it live same day

To me the craziest part is how natural these changes sound!

Musicians that are getting married from now on will request this song just to witness the pain.

Epic!! Congrats from Brasil, God bless You!

I am not a musician but love the breakdown Rick does for this song, then you had me laughing too. Great video!

"Are we gonna need a chart for this? " Not even a minute later into the video "We're going into unCHARTed territory. " You're a funny man Rick. You didn't even realise

"American musician and UKposts personality Rick Beato has analysed the chord structure of the song in a video titled "The Most COMPLEX Pop Song of All Time".'[4]" someone already edited the song's wiki page saying you've reviewed it

Rick, you are never too old to learn, and am so happy there are still good music writers out there who make beautiful songs.

Great video Rick, so fun to watch 😉😜

I played this song in a wedding band i got hired to play in last minute when the normal guitarist was sick. I was reading it cold and must've said "what!?," with something close to the same surprise and tone as Rick does in this video, every third or fourth bar. It's this light-hearted, airy, little-bit-sappy, emotional thing that is covertly a labyrinth with a freakin-ravenous minotaur on the loose inside. The bass player and keyboard player were laughing at me thru most of it.

He looks so overwhelmingly happy with the complexity of this song. Love it.

The half-step modulations are what kept the song fresh. Its what everybody liked about it. Like it just keeps getting better as the song goes on. Yeah, not a kind of song one can become familiar with easily. Its what Sting was talking about during your interivew. The song kept surprising. Your musical understanding is really unsurpassed in today's world. Carry on Sir Beato. :D

This music is amazing, and you're the best Rick Beato! 😊

As a child/teen of the 80s I’ve heard this song a thousand times....I never realized how intricate it was!

The easiest way to play this song is to pick a different one.

Still one of my favs... the song, the musicianship, Sergio Mendez's production, and the mind-blowing analysis and humerous footnotes by Rick Beato. All excellent and entertaining stuff.👏😊

It is not only complex, it is truly beautiful! Quite an accomplishment! Wow wow wow! Mr. Rick Beato, I just love your analyses! Fantastic! I was (at one time) a pretty good guitarist and vocal performer, grounded in music theory... I once could name the key, given the flats or sharps in the music staff signature. No longer. But... I really do appreciate your marvelous musical knowledge.

Laughing throughout this . . . Must have played this song a hundred times with varying success in different wedding bands in the 80s . . .

Producer: “So what key do you want the song to be in?” Sergio Mendes: “yes.”

I love that song. It pulls at both the heart and the mind. I am not a musician, but I appreciate your pointing out the complexity. As a funny side, one of the commercials stuck into your video seemed to pushing some fret cover to a guitar that would allow you to play the right note without thinking. Myself, I don't have tattoos but I was wondering if you might like to tattoo the inside of your arm with the chord changes but I am not sure there'd be enough room.