Author: Mod of the Day

Crash Test Dummies | In the Days of the Cavemen

From Sputnik Music‘s review of “In the Days of the Cavemen,” from Crash Test Dummies‘ 1993 album God Shuffled His Feet: “Oh Canada! Hail to my neighbor to the north. I praise you because not only have you shared with us some major musical talents over the years, like Rush and Joni Mitchell (for which I am eternally grateful), but you’ve also given us a host of quirky smaller bands throughout the last four or five decades, so many of whom I’ve enjoyed: Bands like Klaatu in the seventies, and Martha and the Muffins in the eighties. Oh, and in the nineties — Crash Test Dummies!

Although they made a nice little career for themselves in the great white north, God Shuffled His Feet was this band’s only internationally successful album … (It) took off around the world … powered by the success of one unconventional single, a slow and poignant track about how it feels to be different, the oddly- titled ‘Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm'”.

Brad Roberts’ voice is quite unusual for a frontman, given its edge-of-the-bell-curve bass/baritone range. Adding to his immediately recognizable sound are the relatively slow pace of the lyrics and his habit of over-enunciating: it often seems as if he’s passing on time-sensitive directions on how to diffuse a bomb — over the phone, to a middle school student. Roberts also was central to the band as an instrumentalist. Frequent contributor JB adds: “The bassline is exquisite throughout the whole tune: clean and melodic, but the same can be said of almost every bass part played by Brad Roberts.”

The tune is set in B major for the verses and the chorus; there’s a big jump to G major for a bridge at 1:35 – 1:54 (or rather a bridge-like section, because it happens again at 2:37 – 3:16).

Billy Preston + Syreeta | With You I’m Born Again

“With You I’m Born Again” (1979) was “the last Top 10 charting hit of Billy Preston‘s prolific career,” Songfacts reports. “He was active in music from the 1950s into the 2000s, and was then stopped only when he lost his battle with kidney disease. This song was done in duet with Syreeta Wright, a soul and R&B singer best known for working with and being married to Stevie Wonder.”

In addition to his own hits such as “Nothing from Nothing” and “Will It Go Round in Circles,” Billy Preston was also known for playing keyboards as part of the Rolling Stones’ touring band. He was honored with the title “fifth Beatle” for his intermittent work with the Fab Four.

Songfacts continues: “‘With You I’m Born Again’ was written specifically for the film Fast Break, a very routine sports-comedy film at the tail end of the ’70s from producer Stephen J. Friedman, who made a name for himself in comedy flicks, especially sports-related ones. Today, the song is the most notable thing people remember about the film, which tells you something. Songwriting credits here go to singer Carol Connors and songwriter/composer David Shire; Shire also had a hand in the scores to the films Saturday Night Fever and Return to Oz. As for Connors, she … co-wrote the theme to the 1976 film Rocky and several songs from Disney’s the Rescuers film series.”

The 2016 book Dynamic Duets: The Best Pop Collaborations from 1955 to 1999 (Bob Leszczak) recounts a story from songwriter Connors: “The late great Marvin Hamlisch told me that he was in the barber chair when he first heard the song on the radio and stood straight up in amazement, narrowly missing getting his throat cut by the scissors.”

Starting in D minor, the tune begins with a lazy, string-sweetened rubato with a lyrical flute countermelody (0:53 – 1:13). At 1:38, a groove is finally added to the mix for the second verse as the orchestration continues to build. At 2:51, a late modulation to Eb minor crashes down on us; at 3:19, returning to a gentle rubato, we close in Eb major.

Hannah Montana (Miley Cyrus) | The Other Side of Me

If someone asked you to name artists whose repertoire features ingenious modulations, chances are Hannah Montana would not rank high on the list. But the writers of Miley Cyrus’ sensational Disney Channel show’s soundtrack (2006) created some intriguing compositions, especially in the sense of music theory and modulation. Matthew Gerrard and Robbie Nevil formed a partnership around 2006 working for Disney and wrote often for Hannah Montana as well as some other hit Disney Channel productions, including High School Musical. 

These two writers used modulations often in their tunes to create that intense burst of energy we all know and love. However, one tune in particular modulates in an extremely strategic and unique way — something not often done in commercial music, let alone youth television soundtracks. “The Other Side Of Me” is part of Hannah Montana’s first season soundtrack. The song has an extremely uplifting energy, constantly shifting and continuously engaging the listener. This engaging quality is driven by the harmonic contour of the song, which includes four keys in total! Rather than using the classic one-time key change at the end of the song, Gerard and Nevil employ a series of modulations to keep the tune moving forward and evolving harmonically, creating sectional contrast and an elevated sense of passion as Miley Cyrus moves through the song. 

The tune starts out in the key of A major with a rockin’ V – iv – IV – I progression in the intro and first verse. The pre-chorus progression shuffles these chords but maintains a clear tonic of A major. Suddenly, a transition into the chorus brings the tune up a whole step to B major (0:38), where we remain for the chorus until moving back to A major for the second verse and pre-chorus (1:05). From here, the song modulates back to B major and then moves into the bridge, which includes a modulation to G major for the first half (1:54) and E major (2:02) for the second half. The final chorus brings listeners back to the third chorus in B once again, going out with a bang as the hook, “the other side of me,” plays in the chorus’s home key of B major. 

The tune is absolutely genius and well thought out; the transitions among keys are seamless. Miley Cyrus handles the shifting tonality in her stride.

What’s Wrong With Me (from “The Kissing Bandit”)

According to the American Film Institute, 1949’s The Kissing Bandit was a film whose production hit more than a few bumps in the road: The film went through many iterations of casting before the leads Kathryn Grayson and Frank Sinatra were finalized. “The film is set in the early nineteenth century. Ricardo (Frank Sinatra) is the son of a robber known as the Kissing Bandit. He however is a shy, Boston-bred young man who does not know how to sit on a horse … the film became jokingly known as one of MGM’s biggest ‘flops’ and an acknowledged low point in the careers of Sinatra and Grayson.”

The Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television reported that the film was a financial disaster, earning $969,000 in the US and Canada and $412,000 overseas, resulting in a loss to MGM of $2,643,000. This made it one of the least successful musicals in MGM history.

But given its lovely melody, “What’s Wrong With Me” survived as a standout from the production. With music by Nacio Herb Brown and lyrics by Earl K. Brent, the tune provided a good showcase for Grayson and Sinatra. A downward half-step modulation kicks in at 2:22 in the transition between Grayson’s and Sinatra’s respective solo sections.

Many thanks to Jamie A. for this contribution — hopefully the first of many!

Paciencia y Fe (from “In The Heights”)

Before Hamilton, composer/lyricist/actor Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote In The Heights, a musical focused on a group of Hispanic immigrants living in Washington Heights, looking to create a sense of home and belonging while also maintaining a connection to their roots. Miranda began writing the show during his sophomore year at Wesleyan College in 1999, and it opened on Broadway in 2008, winning four of the thirteen Tony Awards it was nominated for. Like Hamilton, the score incorporates rap and hip-hop, and Miranda starred as the lead in the original cast. A film adaptation of In The Heights opened last week.

“Paciencia Y Fe” features two key changes — from D down to C minor at 2:00, and up to C major for the final 8 measures at 4:19.

Franz Schubert | Pause (Die Schöne Müllerin, D 795)

According Dr. Jimbob’s Page, “Franz Peter Schubert lived from 1797 to 1828 in and around the Austrian capital of Vienna. He spent much of his life redefining the art song … Schubert also strove to make the piano part more than a harmonic accompaniment for the singer but rather an independent voice and sometime Greek chorus in its own right … Schubert came across (Wilhelm Müller’s) Schöne Müllerin (The Fair Maid of the Mill) poems in late 1822 …

Schubert spent his brief life making fruitless attempts to create a hit opera. He died disappointed and largely unknown, but posterity would come to recognize that with Die schöne Müllerin, Schubert perfected the genre of song cycle (and may have created its greatest example on his first try). Schubert also created a miracle of collaboration. Poet and composer, text and music, singer and pianist are true equals in the result, each informing the other, each completing the other, indeed each necessary for the other to make any sense. There’s a touching irony that this tale of frustrated love and missed connections has gone on to inspire great partnerships in the time since its creation.”

This version was performed by German tenor Fritz Wunderlich (whose name, according to one translation, means whimsical) and German pianist Hubert Geisen. Wunderlich died from an accident in his 30s, while Geisen was already 65 when the duo began its short but productive partnership. The combination left a huge impression on Geisen, who later wrote in his autobiography:

“Over the last years I often had to think about what made Wunderlich’s voice so unforgettable to his audience – especially in Lieder singing. I have worked with many singers, and I know some of them shared my opinion on how to perform a Schubert Lied, but I also know they thought that our work together was a burden. I was once called a ‘slave-driver’ … I did not ‘teach,’ but tried hard to improve what was already there – which makes quite a difference. That is why I refuse being called a ‘teacher’ of a singer like Wunderlich.”

After a recital together just before Wunderlich’s untimely death, Geisen recalls saying “‘Fritz, you sang so wonderfully, and we formed such an integrated whole – I think you are complete now. I cannot tell you anything anymore.’ He was furious at me and shouted: ‘What are you talking about? I will be your pupil as long as you live! You will tell me everything you know, and every time I sing a little worse, you will have to play even better, so they won’t notice … ‘”

The twelfth of the cycle’s twenty songs, “Pause” starts in Bb major, then transitions through G minor (0:50), F major (1:17), Db major (1:33), F major (1:50), and reverts to Bb major (1:56). There’s a transition to Ab major from 2:38 – 3:22, then an unsettled section until 3:41, where there’s a final return to Bb major.

Childish Gambino | Sober

“Donald Glover doesn’t need your approval. He has always had plenty of admirers, be it through his standup, TV work, or his music, which he makes as Childish Gambino,” Consequence declares in its review of his 2014 EP Kauai. “Fans of his comedy routines and 30 Rock and Community episodes followed him to the mixtape circuit, a world which rewards humor but not necessarily Gambino’s particular brand of pop culture-dissecting kind. In turn, depending on who you ask, he’s one of hip-hop’s smartest MCs or a short-shorts-wearing outsider who’s unable to see why he’s unwelcome.”

Glover’s come a long distance since 2014. As Childish Gambino, he’s been extremely prolific, releasing multiple albums, EPs, and “mixtapes,” growing in prominence as he goes. His track “This is America” (2018), which went to #1 in the US and many other countries, was released with a single-take music video which Time described as “laden with metaphors about race and gun violence in America.”

After starting in a F major, 2014’s “Sober” drops a break (2:50) comprised of only scant background vocals, the buzz of heavily distorted electronic bass, and percussion, which somewhat obscures the whole-step modulation to G major at 3:09. The break’s contorted landscape continues until 3:29, when there’s a return of Glover’s clear, seemingly effortless falsetto over pulsing eighth-note synths and major 7th voicings at just about every opportunity.

Many thanks to Mark L. for this submission — his first!

Sia | Free Me

Australian singer/songwriter Sia released “Free Me” as a single and music video in July 2017. The video, narrated by Julianne Moore, depicts an expecting mother (played by Zoe Saldana) who is told she is HIV-positive after going in for a routine check-up. The mother’s emotional journey is communicated through choreography, set by Ryan Heffington. “The HIV/AIDS epidemic is one that can affect anyone, particularly child-bearing women around the globe,” Sia said upon the song’s release.

“I’ve proudly joined forces with the Abzyme Research Foundation and the #endHIV Campaign for the release of my song, ‘Free Me,’ to help raise funds and awareness for a potential breakthrough cure of the epidemic.” All proceeds of the song support efforts to eliminate HIV/AIDS. A half-step modulation from Eb to E occurs at 4:02.

B.J. Thomas | What’s Forever For

“B.J. Thomas (born Billy Joe Thomas) straddled the line between pop/rock and country, achieving success in both genres in the late ’60s and ’70s,” according to AllMusic’s bio. “At the beginning of his career, he leaned more heavily on rock & roll, but by the mid-’70s, he had turned to country music, becoming one of the most successful country-pop stars of the decade.”

In 1968, his career blossomed with “Hooked on a Feeling” and then Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” from the film Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid. NewsOpener.com adds: ” … no cover versions of ‘Raindrops’ have ever appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 — probably because Thomas’ version was so definitive … the 1998 box set The Look of Love: The Burt Bacharach Collection noted that Raindrops ‘was never really of its time. Mainly everything else was Flower Power, the protest songs, people were taking acid … but that song was a monster.’”

After his signature hit, Thomas then had a string of other soft rock hits in the next two years, including Bacharach’s “Everybody’s Out of Town” (1970). In 2013, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences inducted ‘Raindrops’ into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Thomas died last week at the age of 78.

“What’s Forever For,” written by Rafe Van Hoy, was a late-career cover by Thomas (2000); the tune received its debut in 1980 by Ann Murray and other covers by Johnny Mathis, John Conlee, and several others. Pushed gently into country/pop category by a few expert touches of pedal steel, the understated track modulates up a whole step at 3:03.