02.07.07 Four Chords

There seems to be a bevy of songs recently hitting the charts using the same chord pattern for both verse and chorus.  This is just one.  The only variation in the pattern I can spot happens on the bridge ("Put Sufjan Stevens on...") where we go from a four chord pattern to just one chord with moving lines overtop alluding to chord changes that don’t really exist.

A composition professor of mine once said that the greatest composer is the one who makes the most from the least.  I don’t know how we judge great from greatest or if we can or if Snow Patrol would make onto my prof’s great list, but it’s always miraculous to me how some people can get so much pop nougatty goodness come from so few chords and so much repetition.  That must be a skill all its own.