So Happy Together

A verse in F# minor and flips to F# major for the chorus. Simple.
-Vivas

Please Don't Go

"Please Don't Go" from the album "Fulfillingness' First Finale." The key change is at 2:26 and is easily one of the most powerful musical moments I've ever experienced.
-Mike Oxman

Coming Home

Just cause I have to get a KISS one in.
-detorn



Half step up on the sing along chorus at the end.

Surrender

Immediate key change before the lyrics even hit!
-DeFran

The Thong Song

"The thing you have to remember about the Thong Song is that the basic loop starts with a dissonant chord. (i.e. the music for "Baby make your booty go/ Baby make your booty goooo" sounds much more anxious than the music for "Baby make your booty show/ that thong, tha-thong thong thong.") So the key change is from C# minor to D minor, but the actual cadence moves from C# minor to a G minor 9th, or something like that, which is crunchy as hell."
From a larger article over at
-OverThinkingIt.Com

You Never Give Me Your Money

..cause why settle for only 1 or 2 key changes like a chump?
-The Rahzzah



Starts in Am, then goes to it's parallel key, A major on "One sweet dream, pick up the bags and get in the limousine..". Followed by a jump up to C major on "One, two,three, four, five, six, seven, all good children go to heaven."

Love Will Keep Us Together

Love Will Keep Us Together goes up a full step after the third chorus, repeating it once again but a key higher. In this video, the key change follows the chorus after The Captain's wicked solo.
-Al Bruno

Man in the Mirror

My favorite MJ song has the half step key change on the last round of the chorus. It's awesome because they do it on the word "Change" too.
-Tony Trov



G Dsus4/B Csus2 C/D
I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to ....
G Dsus4/B C C#dim
And no message could have ...
C5+/D
If you wanna make ....
Take a look at yourself....
G#
CHANGE!
Then play the chorus up a half step: G# D#sus4/C C# C#/D#

Can't Take My Eyes Off of You

The song starts in E, after the first (explosively awesome) chorus resolves on D, the song moves to G. But only for one quick verse. The 2nd pre-chorus drops back to E via F#m before returning to one more (explosively awesome) chorus. This song also has a sweet major to minor 4th in the verse, but I suppose that's for a different blog.
-Mike Vivas

Bohemian Rhapsody

The transition from the guitar solo back to the slow section. There are a few other cool chord changes in other parts of the song as well.
-Joe Smith

Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds

Starting on a descending motif in A, John moves the bridge into Bb and winds through a sequence to a chorus in G. The clever bit is how he finishes the chorus on an A chord; and here we are, coolly back in the original key.
-Nick Anastasi

Then She Did

I've always loved the change in Jane's Addiction's "Then She Did" that comes in for the first time at about 3:01
-Rahzzah Wunderbar




..always sounded like planets coming together to me...

Dreadlock Holiday

I first heard this song by 10cc on the soundtrack of Snatch. Love the half step key change half way through. And this video is way hilarious.
-Tony Trov



Gm F, Cm Dm
Instrumental

G#m F# C#m D#m
I hurried back to the swimming pool,

My Generation

What’s Pete Townshend thinking here? My Generation moves through three key changes from G, up a tone to A, then - and this is the weird bit - up a semitone to Bb, before jumping another tone to finish in C.
-Nick Anastasi

Giant Steps

(from Wikipedia) "Giant Steps" is a jazz recording by John Coltrane, on tenor saxophone, which is the first track on the album of the same name and is 4 minutes and 49 seconds long. The composition is a milestone for jazz musicians' progress, given the difficulty of improvising its rapid progression of chord changes that progress through three keys shifted by major thirds, creating an augmented triad.
-Nick Anastasi

Still Crazy After All These Years

Up a full step from G to A, but subtly mid-way through the third verse. Progression goes from E > F > G > A instead of going only to G as in the first and second verses.
-Al Bruno

I Wanna Be Sedated

The reason why I love the Ramones is this key change. Starts in E major and goes up a full step after the guitar solo to F#.
-Tony Trov



Solo: E A B E

Then to E for 2 measures then slides into D#. Then up a full step to:

F# B F#
Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go

Mandy

Mandy by Barry Manilow has the most epic modulations in music. For extra fun, I suggest that when the song is over, people keep modulating until they return to the original key with the melody an octave higher.
-David Timony

My Girl

Classic Smokey Robinson key change. Going up a whole step from the key of C to D on the line "I don't need no money." that comes right out of the instrumental.
-Tony Trov





C F C
Hey, Hey, Hey

C F Dm G Em F#m7
Hey, Hey, Hey

D G D G
I don't need no money, fortune or fame

D G D G
I've got all the riches, baby, one man can claim