| “DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love” by Usher | Aeolian |
| “Wayfaring Stranger” by Jack Black | Aeolian |
| “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye | Aeolian |
| “Counting Stars” by OneRepublic | Aeolian |
| “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana | Aeolian |
| “Boulevard Of Broken Dreams” by Green Day | Dorian |
| “Thriller” by Michael Jackson | Dorian |
| “Mad World” by Tears for Fears/Gary Jules | Dorian |
| “Telephone” by Lady Gaga | Dorian |
| “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)” by Ylvis | Dorian |
| “White Wedding” by Billy Idol | Dorian |
| “Can’t Stop” by Maroon 5 | Dorian |
| “Oye Como Va” by Santana | Dorian |
| “Radioactive” by ImagineDragons | Dorian |
| “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees | Dorian |
| “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis | Dorian |
| “Yorktown” (Hamilton) by Lin-Manuel Miranda | Dorian (with a touch of minor) |
| “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” by Stevie Wonder | Mixolydian |
| “Don’t You Evah” by Spoon | Mixolydian |
| “Sisters” by Bobby McFerrin | Mixolydian |
| “Lady ’95” by Styx | Mixolydian |
| “Porcelain” by Moby | Mixolydian |
| “Only In My Dreams” by Debbie Gibson | Mixolydian |
| “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N Roses | Mixolydian |
| “No Rain” by Blind Melon | Mixolydian |
| “Molly Bán” by the Chieftains & Alison Krauss | Mixolydian |
| “Express Yourself” by Madonna | Mixolydian |
| “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga | Mixolydian |
| “Royals” by Lorde | Mixolydian |
| “Gin and Juice” by Snoop Dogg | Phrygian |
| “Cinq Mélodies Populaires Grecques: No. 2. Là-bas, Vers L’église” by Ravel | Phrygian |
| “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-A-Lot | Phrygian |
| “Mashallah” by Shreya Ghoshal, Sajid–Wajid | Phrygian |
| “Run It!” by Chris Brown | Phrygian |
| “Peer Gynt, Op. 23: No. 8, Dance of the Mountain King’s Daughter” by Grieg | Lydian |
| “Dust to Dust” by John Kirkpatrick | Locrian |
Multitonal Songs
According to Gordon, multitonal music is made up of tonal patterns that seem to suggest more than one tonality at different points in time. Here are some examples of songs that I audiate as multitonal:
| “Hungry Like the Wolf” by Duran Duran | Multitonal (Mixolydian/Major) |
| “Breathe (2 AM)” by Anna Nalick | Multitonal (Mixolydian/Major) |
| “Material Girl” by Madonna | Multitonal (Mixolydian/Major) |
| “Alice’s Theme” by Danny Elfman | Multitonal (Dorian/Minor) |
| “You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morissette | Multitonal (Dorian/Mixolydian) |
| “Love Shack” by the B-52s | Multitonal (Mixolydian/Dorian) |
| “Six Feet Under Title Theme” by Thomas Newman | *Multitonal (Lydian/Mixolydian) |
| “The Simpsons Theme Song” by Danny Elfman | *Multitonal (Lydian/Mixolydian) |
| “Another Place to Fall” by KT Tunstall | Multitonal (Phrygian/Minor) |
| “Hot in Herre” by Nelly | Multitonal (Phrygian/Dorian) |
| “Eleanor Rigby” by the Beatles | Multitonal (Dorian/Aeolian) |
| “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson | Multitonal (Dorian/Aeolian) |
| “Fly Like an Eagle” by Steve Miller Band | Multitonal (Dorian/Aeolian) |
*Note: Some might label these as “polytonal” because multiple simultaneously sounding parts are in multiple tonalities.
Songs with Subjective Tonality
According to Gordon, songs that have objective tonality are those for which the tonality can generally and easily be agreed upon by many persons. However, songs with subjective tonality are not so unanimously agreed upon and tend to be audiated differently by different people. Here are some examples that I feel have subjective tonality, based on my experiences disagreeing with other people. 🙂 How do you audiate them?
Is this in Lydian or Mixolydian? Depends on whether you audiate the A-flat and B-flat chords as I-II in Lydian or VII-I in Mixolydian! (Personally, I hear it as the latter.)
I would love to hear your thoughts! Feel free to add them in the comments…
A
“The song of the golden dragon” by Estas Tonne (Minor/Harmonic minor)