There is a musical thing sometimes referred to as "truck driver gear change" or "christian key change", where the music is suddenly transposed, most typically by one semitone up.
This page is a crowdsourced list of songs that feature such transpositions, with indications of the number of semitones.
There are many ways to do it: sometimes prepared, sometimes sudden, sometimes several times in a row or moving back and forth, etc.
There is also a blurry line between modulation being part of the base pattern (e.g. parts having distinct harmonic functions or melodies) and acting as a structural shift (e.g. an entire section simply repeated transposed at some point).
Terms like "modulating", "unitonal" or "real/false" are sometimes used to disambiguate when speaking about harmonic marches.
I tried to list many interesting cases in any category, regardless of whether they should be considered "actual" gear changes or not.
| Composer or Performer | Title | Shift (in semitones) | Audio | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Dassin | Mâche ta chique | -5 +5 | ||
| The Beach Boys | Wouldn't It Be Nice | -4 | happens right after the intro | |
| Stan Kenton and His Orchestra | Street of Dreams | -4 | at the solo around 1:00 | |
| John Williams | Indiana Jones 3 Credits | -3 | sudden ostinato shift around 2:10 and many more later | |
| Laurence Frat & Michel Bananes jr | Les portes du Pénitencier | -3 +2 +1 | repeated with some variations transposed midway through the melody | |
| Michel Legrand | Pourquoi ? | -3 +3 | brief temporary modulation right before the end | |
| Melody | Y'a pas que les grands qui rêvent | -3 +3 | sudden modulation as a chorus | |
| Sting | If I Ever Lose My Faith In You | -3 +3 +2 -2 | chorus also uses a sudden -5 +5 modulation intertwined with less predictable changes | |
| Moog Cookbook | Hotel California | -2 | at 3:43 after a wonky section | |
| Helen Reddy | I Am Woman | -2 +2 | sudden temporary modulation as a chorus | |
| Wouter van Veldhoven | Looped overdubbed voices on a pitching tape recorder with Dianne Verdonk | -2 +2 -2 -1 +3 -1 +1 -4 +1.5 -1.5 +3 -1 +1 -3 +1 -1 -∞ | tape pitching as part of the creative process | |
| Toto | Rosanna | -2 +5 -3 | repeated as a base structure | |
| Leonard Bernstein | Tonight | -1 | somehow also features +3 -3 | |
| Forbidden Broadway Cast | I Couldn't Hit The Note | -1 -2 -1 | ||
| Elio e le Storie Tese | La terra dei cachi | +0 | but pretending to be +1 at 4:20 modulations vary depending on version of the song | |
| Domino | Baila Baila Comigo | +1 | around 2:12 verse also has some kind of short transposed section | |
| Ziferblat | Bird of Pray | +1 | around 2:16, unusually soft for a +1 change | |
| Bros | When Will I Be Famous? | +1 | at 3:34 with also rhythm break | |
| Nik Kershaw | The Riddle | +1 | modulates near the end through a complex bridge | |
| Leonard Nimoy | The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins | +1 | ||
| François Imbert & Françoise Moreau | La boum chocolat | +1 | and somehow -3 +3 in the base harmony | |
| Lazy Town | We Are Number One | +1 | ||
| Harry Connick Jr | A Wink and a Smile | +1 | ||
| Jackie DeShannon | What The World Needs Now Is Love | +1 | ||
| Les Avions | Nuit Sauvage | +1 | ||
| Patrick Sébastien | On Est Des Dingues | +1 | ||
| Sacha Distel | Toute la pluie tombe sur moi | +1 | ||
| USA For Africa | We Are The World | +1 | ||
| Da Vinci's Notebook | Title of the Song | +1 | ||
| Sébasto | Fais la poule | +1 | ||
| Tom Cardy | H.Y.C.Y.BH | +1 | ||
| Paul Simon | Silent Eyes | +1 | through intermediary unexpected tonal changes | |
| Michel Legrand | Simplement | +1 -1 | ||
| Bill Wurtz | More than a dream | +1 -1 -4 +4 | ||
| Henri Salvador | Beta Gamma l'ordinateur | +1 +1 | ||
| Frank Sinatra | L.O.V.E. | +1 +1 | ||
| Katia Markosy | Loin du Froid de Décembre | +1 +1 | ||
| Jean-Jacques Goldman | Ensemble | +1 +1 -2 | ||
| Clifford Brown & Max Roach | Joy Spring | +1 | as part of the base standard followed by less trivial +1 -2 -2 +2 | |
| Michel Legrand | Aladin | +1 +1 +1 | ||
| Jimmie Rogers | Kisses Sweeter Than Wine | +1 +1 +1 | ||
| Les Musclés | La fête au village | +1 +1 +1 | ||
| Porest | Yyesterday (traditional) 1977 | +1 +1 +1 +1 -1 -1 -1 | transposed midway through the melody | |
| Delta Rhythm Boys | Dem Bones | +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 | ||
| Alan Silvestri | He Mele No Lilo | +1 +1 +1 +3 | ||
| Eliane Elias | Estate | +1 +1 +5 | ||
| Christmas Songs | Twelve Days of Christmas | +1 +1 +1 | ||
| Namiki Manabu | Marginal Consciousness | +1 (∞) | only available through game sound test mode | |
| The Beatles | Penny Lany | +2 | ||
| Daði Freyr | Think About Things | +2 | ||
| Jean-Jacques Goldman | On ira | +2 | ||
| Les Innocents | L'Autre Finistère | +2 | ||
| Murray Head | Say It Ain't So, Joe | +2 | at 2:45 after a long build-up | |
| Herbert | Moving Like A Train | +2 | ||
| Laurent Voulzy | Le pouvoir des fleurs | +2 | ||
| Joe Dassin | Le Dernier Slow | +2 | ||
| Les Question Marks | Gros jambon | +2 | ||
| Johnny Hallyday | Laura | +2 | ||
| Alan Menken | La Belle et la Bête | +2 | ||
| Allan Theo | Emmène moi | +2 | ||
| Backstreet Boys | I Want It That Way | +2 | ||
| Jean-Jacques Goldman | Tu es de ma famille | +2 | ||
| Status Quo | In The Army Now | +2 | ||
| Lorie | Je serai | +2 | ||
| Mai Lan | Gentiment Je T'immole | +2 | ||
| Matmatah | Lambé An Dro | +2 | ||
| George Duke | I Love You More | +2 | modulation right after the intro debatable since it's not a simple transposed repetition | |
| Geoff Castellucci | Sixteen Tons | +2 -2 | ||
| Jean-Jacques Goldman | Bonne idée | +2 -2 | ||
| Tegan and Sara | Everything Is Awesome | +2 -2 +2 | ||
| Kevin Blechdom | I will always love you | +2 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 | ||
| Michael Jackson | Heal The World | +2 +2 | ||
| Bruno Pelletier | Le Temps des Cathédrales | +2 +2 | ||
| Richard Gotainer | Le Sampa | +2 +3 | ||
| Bevinda | Aqui Em Evora | +3 | at 2:04 | |
| Andréas et Nicolas | Chacun Ses Soucis | +3 | ||
| Gold | Capitaine abandonné | +3 | ||
| Sergei Prokofiev | Pierre et le loup | +3 | as part of the base harmony | |
| Lorie | La positive attitude | +3 | ||
| Jacques Revaux | Les lacs du Connemara | +3 -4 -2 +3 +3 -4 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 | ||
| Keith Jarrett | Danny Boy | +3 -3 | at 1:37 then back to origin at 2:25 also pretending to modulate again at 3:24 | |
| Roger Carel et Jacques Morel | Quand l'appétit va, tout va | +3 -3 +1 +1 | also somehow -5 +4 +5 | |
| Tim Follin | Mission Objective | +3 -2 -1 | ||
| Count Basie | Basie Straight Ahead | +3 +2 | around 0:57 then 2:42, both with transitions | |
| Pierre Billon | La Bamba Triste | +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 | ||
| Darius Milhaud | Le boeuf sur le toit | +3 +6 -2 +3 +3 +3 -2 +3 +3 +3 -2 +1 | covers every key | |
| Susan Aristophe | Perfume of the Lost Days | +4 -4 | between 4:00 and 4:26 | |
| Jack Diéval | En Prenant La Fleche D'or | +4 | at 0:46 | |
| Michel Legrand | Le gang des otages | +4 -4 | harmonic changes happen at rhythmically ambiguous times | |
| Frank Sinatra & Tom Jobim | Baubles, bangles and beads | +4 -4 | as part of the base harmony | |
| Michel Legrand | La ballade de la gente dame | +4 +1 -5 | repeated as part of the base harmony | |
| Dusty Springfield | Son Of A Preacher Man | +5 | after a transition from 1:22 to 1:44 | |
| Jean-Jacques Goldman, Michael Jones | Je te donne | +5 | after a transition around 2:33 | |
| Tadd Dameron | Good Bait | +5 -5 | as part of the base standard, as a B | |
| The Pogues | Dirty Old Town | +5 +5 -5 | at 0:23, 1:24, 1:56 | |
| Bonnie Tyler | Total Eclipse of the Heart | +6 +6 | as part of the base harmony | |
| Michel Prandi | Le sable et l'écume | +6 +6 | as part of the base harmony somehow also features +3 in between | |
| Elis Regina & Tom Jobim | Águas de Março | +6 -3 -3 | as a short bridge at 1:57 |