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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!

This video is so epic that it's mentioned in the Wikipedia entry for the song! In a June 2021 video posted on KZfaq, 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.

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!

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

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.

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!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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 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.

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

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

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.

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 🍻🍾!

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

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

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.

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. 😊

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

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

Sérgio Mendes is a giant. One of the greatest Brazilian musicians of all time. I know because I'm Brazilian

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 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.

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

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

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.

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!

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

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!

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 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.

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

Just loving Rick's reaction to the chord changes.

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.

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

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

lol this is classic 😂😂!! Great story Rick.. This is a great, intelligent creation, ive always loved this song, had no idea how complex it was!! it just sounds beautifully melodic to me.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.👏😊

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

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

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!

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.

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

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

I heard this for the first time on the background music in a charity shop ... I had to know what it was ... I love weird and cool chords ... but this one is just extraordinary ... so beautiful how they make it sound so natural when it ISN'T!!!!

I know absolutely nothing about written music, but anyway you are so right; the music of today is much less complex than it use to be, and I hate that!! Getting back to the video, I love the song "Never Gonna Let You Go." I thoroughly enjoyed your explanation of the complexity of this beautiful song. Bravura, bravura, thank you.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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!

I used to wail this song. The complexity of the chords express the emotional investment of the singers. There’s real passion here- “some flicker of love that still shines through”….”let’s talk about second chances…”. The words are as invested as the music.

Be careful, progressions like this can open up a portal.

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.

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!

I’ve watched this video several times since it came out. Each time I think, “How come I loved that song and never noticed all those chord changes?” I still don’t quite get how hard it is musically and yet how natural it feels - it just keeps opening up. Amazing song.

How many chords do you want? Sergio Mendes: Yes.

Years ago I was talking with a friend about playing guitar and he mentioned me the brazilians samba players. He said that they didn't know about music theory but instead they where skillful players who try and invent new sounds on the instrument. So when studied musicians tried to analize that tipes of sounds they discovered that it where the most heterogeneous and extravagant bunch of chords ever played, just like you did in this song. Sergio Mendes is an eminence in Bossa Nova, a mix of samba and jazz. Rick, if you play that progression but with an spanish guitar and in a faster speed simply you will hear the sound of Brazil. Grettings from Uruguay.(and sorry for my english)

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.

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

I had a huge grin on my face this entire video. Totally remember playing this tune with a couple wedding bands around the same time in Boston. Very deceptive. The melodic hooks and strait ahead pop-ballad drum approach make this song sound fairly strait forward. As the drummer, I always wondered why the keys, guitar and bass had their heads buried in the chart, brows furrowed. Now I understand. Brilliant writing.

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

Figuring this out is just beyond me but turning your guitar away from the bassist who helped you out the day before is hilarious !! What a great story inside your memory and musicianship unsurpassed. Rick, you are just a brilliant, funny man. Thank you for sharing.

This is one of your best videos - I love the fun you are having with it and the way you show us the chords.

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

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

Rick, that is just priceless, the way you talk your way through that song, and relate your story. .. It is wonderful to see how special music is to you. Your videos are special to everyone else, for whom music is special too.

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

The secret What Makes This Song Great episode nobody asked for, but everyone appreciates.

I love that you're grinning the whole time you're explaining this. Very entertaining!

I've been p[laying the guitar for 60 years and this turned me into a mouth breather! I listened to this song years ago and never considered all of this!!!

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

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

I love this song, it is one of my favorites. I brings to mind the difficulty of Earth, Wind, and Fire's "After the love is gone."

I absolutely LOVED this deep dive Rick! Awesome breakdown. Had to get my theory notes out as I followed along. They certainly don't write 'em like that anymore. I need to watch this again.

Try and interview the people who wrote this song Rick. Id be intrigued to hear what was on there minds when writing it

Once again Rick takes a song that I've heard a few thousand times over the years without really listening to to it, and made me hear what I've been totally missing. Rick, you're amazing! Thank you!

Mind blown. Although I have to disagree with one point. Even as a kid, I didn’t miss the chord changes. I was just too young to understand what was going on. The complex, nigh uncomfortable chord changes and progression create a lot of tension that emulates a feeling of passion. Even as a kid who didn’t know that kind of love yet, I felt it. Same feeling at 44, but now I know why. Absolutely brilliant.

Absolutely LOVE IT! 🥰fascinating. i will never hear this song the same again.

I’m not the only one who has no freaking clue what Rick’s talking about but thoroughly enjoys watching his videos, right? 🎸✌️

I’m cool with the new series…What makes the song weird.

Never watch Rick without increasing my awe level at his prowess, genius, insight, and craft.

Great to listen to all those chord changes, weired, bizzare, unusual different, unexpected. All contained therein.I was gripping my seat. Love hearing about the fits of laughter when performing to the children. Thank you.

As someone who loves music but is NOT a musician, listening to you speak music like its a native language is just so cool.

Watching Rick geek out over all the crazy chord changes is a joy.

nice, Mr Beato not frazzled or frustrated, rather has a good time with this and enjoys explaining the intricacies of this song, bravo.