Star Wars Main Title A-flat Chord

The Star Wars main title is one of the most familiar pieces of music in the world. But I saw a dopey video that claimed it was not really in B-flat major (of course it is), but in E-flat major. It’s so wrong, I don’t even want to embed it, but it’s here.

The reason is because of the A-flat major chord near the end of the main theme (dah-dah-dah DUN)—look at the top stave below:

A-flat major is not a chord in the B-flat major scale. It’s been a long time since I wrote a music analysis—and I was never good at them to begin with—but it can be considered a “borrowed chord” or an example of “modal interchange.” It’s a flat VII chord which gives it a mixolydian sound, and it’s also derived from all the quartal harmony in the main title.

I wish I could mock up an example, but if this A-flat major chord was not there—and it had the chord that should be there solely based on the scale, which I guess would be an F major chord (?)—it would sound wimpy. I mean, really wrong.

But this doesn’t mean the theme is in a different key, it’s just borrowing a chord from a related mode. And I think mixolydian is the right idea.

Check out the opening of the big space title music that came two years after Star Wars:

It also starts in B-flat major (see bar 9), and what it is doing? Going back and forth between the I and the flat VII from the mixolydian scale. I think it’s the sense of stacked fourths that give it its sense of might and strength?

I am glad there are people way smarter than I am making these analyses.