Shortly after Christmas, I set about figuring out some parts to songs by the Buckinghams. While figuring out the bass part to "Don't You Care" (which was a single but was also on the album Time & Charges), I discovered something interesting.
For the second half of the line "Will you ever love me again, or will I find out that this is the end?" in the bridge, the bass plays two measures of D notes while in the string part, the more prominent line moves from F# for the first measure to F for the second and - if my hearing's right - a second string part stays on an A note for both measures. Taken together, this is a modulation from a D major chord (D, F#, A) to a D minor chord (D, F, A).
Since majors chords are usually perceived as happy and minor chords as sad, that major-to-minor modulation is appropriate considering the lyric there: "Will I find out that this is the end?"
