I Knew It Was You
by Stephen Bennett

First, thanks for taking an interest in this tune! It is one of my more easily accessible tunes – so if you want to learn it, it’s not too difficult.

Musically, the tune came about from my experimentation some years ago with using the capo on only some of the 6 strings of the guitar. In this case, I was using a banjo capo that would only cover 5 strings. I wrote a bunch of tunes using the more obvious way to place this capo – leaving the 6th string open. I’d put the capo on the 2nd fret and write in the key of D (thereby sounding in E, of course). Examples of this would be my tunes Adirondack Lullaby or Col De Lauteret.

And some tunes where the capo was on the 4th fret, leaving the 6th string open and I’d compose in C (sounding in E again). An example of this would be my tune Via Cammuzoni.

Tunes where the capo was at the 3rd fret, with the 6th string open and dropped to D (thereby sounding in Bb), etc. Alpine and Coco would be an example of this.

A tune of mine where the capo was on the 5th fret with the 6th string open is talked about a bit in the September issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine; that tune being titled - Linda.

Each one of these gave me different opportunities of sound, as well as challenges of fingering. It was the balancing of these two things – opportunities and challenges, in part, that led me to uncover melodies and chord voicings, and ultimately, whole new tunes.

I Knew It Was You used the banjo capo a little differently; this time the 1st string was left open and the other 5 strings were covered, in this case at the 2nd fret. I remember putting the capo on this way and doing what I always do with any new tuning or capo arrangement on guitar: looking around for the basic chords in the first key that presented itself to me in the new configuration. In this case, I played a G chord (now sounding as an A) and left the first string open, thereby doubling the 3rd fret of the 2nd string with the open 1st.

This doubling sounded good to me and so I looked for the other basic chords of the key of G (again – sounding in the key of A because of the capo). E minor (sounding as F# minor) is the vi chord in the key of G (A) and with the open first string making it a very pleasing minor 7th chord, I was liking the sounds I was getting and I’d only just started to explore. If I fretted the 1st and 2nd strings both at the 3rd fret, I got another interesting Em7. If I played harmonics 12 frets above the capo on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th strings, I got yet another Em7.

The IV chord is C (sounding as D) and the basic 1st position C chord with the open 1st also ringing gave me a C add 9 (sounding, of course, as a D add 9). I looked for another option for the IV chord and found it with the chord shape you find in measure 4, again with the 1st string ringing open.

The V chord in G is D and when I played the basic first position D shape and did a pull-off on the 1st string down to the open string, I loved the sound.

And so it went. If you were to analyze this tune, despite some fingerings that are perhaps not what you’d ordinarily choose, you’d find that it consists of nothing more than the basic chords of the key. This tune is shaped in the key of G and sounds – because of the capo – in A. So here’s how it shakes out in its most basic chordal analysis (in G):

First section:
Em7 D/F# G
Em7 D/F# C add 9
Em7 D/F# G C add 9
Em7 D//F# G

Second section:
D D/F# G G/B 3 times
Am7 Am7/G D/F#

Third section:
D/A C D Em
D/A C D/F# Em7
D C D Em7
D/A C D/F# G

So – hopefully you see that there’s nothing too intimidating about the chords. Sure, there are some shapes that are probably new to your fingers. Just deal with them, ok – quit your complaining; I’ve about had it with you people...

In fact, try this: put a regular capo on your guitar at the 2nd fret and play along with me. Identify the sections of the tune and use the above chord info accordingly (no pun intended).

OK, I lied – the pun was intended!

Accordingly / acchordingly – do I have to explain EVERYTHING to you?

OK, where was I before I so rudely interrupted myself? Right – you were trying to match up the chords with the various sections of the tune. Think of this as musical broccoli; maybe you don’t like it so much but you know it’s good for you. And this is good for you: it’s ear training as well as finger training...

Further rambling thoughts: I employed one of my standard compositional tools in this tune, that being to find a melody in a different octave than it was presented initially. So – you will hear that happening at the end of measure 41. It’s obviously the same melody that you heard at the beginning of the piece, yet slightly different. That’s because the melody sits a little differently on the strings in this octave and the slight variation tickles the ear. At least it tickles my ear. Hey, who asked you?

I hope you enjoy listening to I Knew It Was You and further, that you make an attempt at playing it. It’s really not that difficult.

Beyond that, I hope that you share it with a thousand of your closest friends. Maybe one of them just happens to be a filmmaker who is looking for the perfect piece of music to go in the way cool movie they just happen to be making. And maybe that film goes on to win all kinds of critical acclaim...

I’d like to thank the Academy -

But, I digress...

Regards from Virginia,

sb

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