Echo Beach | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: N.C | N.C :|| x4 keys
||: Am9 | D5 Cmaj7 | Am9 | D5 C :|| x4 riff
||: Am | G | Em | F G :||
Verse 1
||: Am | D C | Am | D E5 :||
I know it’s out of fashion, and a trifle uncool.
But I can’t help it, I’m a romantic fool.
It’s a habit of mine, to watch the sun go down.
On Echo Beach, I watch the sun go down.
Chorus 1
| G | D5 |
From nine to five, I have to spend my time at work.
| G | D5 |
My job is very boring, I’m an office clerk.
| Am | Em |
The only thing that helps me pass the time away.
| Am | Em |
Is knowing I’ll be back at Echo Beach someday.
Instrumental 1
| F | G5 | Am | G |
| Em | F G5 | Am | G |
| Em | F G5 | Am | Am (drum fill) |
| Am9 | D5 Cmaj7 | Am9 | D5 C |
Verse 2
On a silent summer evening, the sky’s alive with lights.
A building in the distance, surrealistic sight.
On Echo Beach, waves make the only sound.
On Echo Beach, there’s not a soul around.
Chorus 2
From nine to five, I have to spend my time at work.
My job is very boring, I’m an office clerk.
The only thing that helps me pass the time away.
Is knowing I’ll be back at Echo Beach someday.
Instrumental 2
||: F | G5 | Bb | C :||
Solo
||: Am | G | Em | F G :||
Outro
||: Am | G | Em | F G :||
||: Echo Beach, far away in time :|| x16 to fade
Echo Beach Chords: Learn the progressions
Plenty is going on in Echo Beach, the chords are more intricate than one may first suspect!
If we start with the intro riff which later comes back at the end of the instrumental section, we get a few extensions.
The initial Am chord finds the m3rd, 9, and b7, making it an Am9. The D chord doesn’t have a 3rd so that’s a D5. The C chord is the first time a maj7, the second time just a C.
These chords could be either from the key of C or the key of G (more on this later).
Played like a riff, this is best described using TAB, so here’s a link to that part of the lesson: Echo Beach – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
After playing Echo Beach’s intro riff four times, we go to the next set of chords which will also be the solo and outro. The chord progression movement here is:
||: Am (VI) | G (V) | Em (III) | F (IV) G (V) :||
This was in the key of C and is followed by a verse. We’re still focusing on the Am as home, although the other chords are new, and now from the key of G, like this:
||: Am (II) | D (V) C (IV) | Am (II) | D (V) E5 (VI) :||
Having the Am as at home in Aeolian, then Dorian is a common songwriting trick. Notice that the E5 sounds awful if turned into an E, it’s kind of OK as an Em but best as an E5.
The chorus is simpler moving G – D, then Am – Em. We’re still in the key of G, so I – V, II – VI.
For the instrumental section, we’re back in the key of C again as we start on chord IV, the one that sets the two keys apart, like this:
| F (IV) | G5 (V) | Am (VI) | G (V) |
||: Em (III) | F (IV) G5 (V) | Am (VI) |1 G (V) :|| 2 Am (drum fill) |
| Am9 | D5 Cmaj7 | Am9 | D5 C | (intro riff)
It’s very clever how the last line (intro riff) could be in either G or C, especially after we’ve been in C, and then going to G for the next verse.
There is one more chord progression to look at for Echo Beach, the second instrumental. It goes to yet another key, like this:
||: F | G5 | Bb | C :||
That G5 is cleverly disguising that it’s a minor chord, at first, our brain thinks we’re in the key of C as this F – G has happened before but then we get a Bb – C, IV – V in the key of F.
Having studied the TAB, digested this chord analysis and played along to the original recording, this chord chart is a good plan to bring along to the gig.
Echo Beach Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Echo Beach Chord Chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Echo Beach iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key.
Echo Beach was Martha and the Muffins’ only hit!
Released in 1980, Echo Beach was Martha and the Muffins‘ only big hit. It reached #5 in their native Canada selling 75.000 copies and #10 in the U.K. selling 250.000.
It bagged the Juno Award for Single of the Year in Canada where the band did have other popular songs although this was their only international hit.
Written by band member Mark Gane, he got inspiration from working a dull job checking wallpaper prints and the tune Hiroshima Mon Amour by Ultravox.
The late ’70s and early ’80s had an interesting connection between commonwealth countries like Canada, U.K. and Australia. Bands like Katrina & The Waves, The Police and Men At Work all played what became known as New Wave.
Post the millennium, some bands and artists have taken inspiration from this era like MGMT, Empire Of The Sun, Florence + the Machine, and Franz Ferdinand.
One trick all these bands seem to use is to have simple chords from neighbouring keys, Echo Beach is a great example of this.
Echo Beach Chords | Related Pages
Echo Beach | Guitar Lesson + TAB
With this guitar lesson, you can learn how to play Echo Beach by Martha and the Muffins using a chord analysis and TAB.
||: Am | D C | Am | D E5 :||
I know it’s out of fashion, and a trifle uncool…
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
- Message In A Bottle chords by The Police
- Roxanne chords by The Police
- That’s Entertainment chords by The Jam
- Town Called Malice chords by The Jam
- Walking On Sunshine chords by Katrina and the Waves
Martha and the Muffins tunes
Best known for the international New Wave hit Echo Beach, Martha and the Muffins also handed Daniel Lanois his debut as a producer.
Apart from Echo Beach, the band also had some success with the anti-racist single WhiteStation/Black Station in 1984.
Martha and the Muffins on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Echo Beach chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
