For my Collection Audit project, I recently listened to the deluxe edition of Kinda Kinks. The opening guitar figure in "Something Better Beginning" (which also recurs later in the song) sounded interesting to me, so I figured out how to play it. I was wondering if it involved an interval of a fourth or a fifth, but it's actually just a second. Simplified, it's a modulation from D major to Dsus2. Specifically, it's this:
E|---2-0-
B|---3---
G|---2---
D|---0---
A|-0-----
E|-------
Once I had that, I started figuring out the rest of the chords and eventually got the whole chord progression:
|: D major / Dsus2 :|
D major / C major
E minor / A major / E minor / A major / D major
D major / D7 / G major
G major / D major / A major / G major
G major / D major / A major
|: D major / Dsus2 :|
Bb major / D major / Bb major / D major
F major / C major / Bb major / A major
D major / C major
E minor / A major / E minor / A major / D major
D major / D7 / G major
G major / D major / A major / G major
G major / D major / A major
|: D major / Dsus2 :|
Where I have "|: D major / Dsus2 :|" in the chord progression, it's more accurately the tab I have written out above.
Once I had the chords, I started thinking about the lyrics, and I found a couple instances where the tonality of the chords emphasizes the lyrics.
While the song's in D major (two sharps), the bridge is (with some accidentals) in F major (one flat). The first two lines in the bridge mirror this unexpected tonality with unexpected love: "I never thought I'd love like this until I met you / I found something I thought I'd never have."
The song ends with that D major to Dsus2 transition, so it doesn't really resolve. Similarly, the singer/speaker's question ("Is this the start of another heartbreaker / Or something better beginning") is left open. There isn't an answer.
