Mod of the Day

The Delfonics | Didn’t I Blow Your Mind This Time

“The sound that producer Thom Bell created for the Delfonics was the antithesis of the soul sound that came from Stax in Memphis and Muscle Shoals in Alabama,” according to AllMusic. “He sandpapered away the grit, lightened up on the backbeat, brought in string sections, and created a smooth, airy sound…a different kind of groove where subtlety and nuance reigned.”

“All of the individual elements that helped create the distinctive ‘smooth grooves’ sound synonymous with the Delfonics coalesce with undeniable intensity” on the Delfonics’ fourth LP, 1970’s The Delfonics, AllMusic continues. “Indeed, the material has arguably never been stronger … ideally scored, incorporating string and brass sections without overpowering the vocal blend or seeming pretentious … several sides on this disc are among the group’s best-known works, as well as definitive entries into the distinct Philly-brand soul music scene. The leadoff track, ‘Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time),’ would not only become a staple of Top 40 and R&B radio in 1970, but nearly two decades later inspired the 20-volume soul music compilation Soul Hits of the 70s: Didn’t It Blow Your Mind.“

After an intro in F major, the verses are in A major (for the first time at 0:19); the choruses are in F major, prominently announced by a series of Bb/C kicks (IV/Vs) pushing the door open into the new key (for the first time at 1:01). The opening moments of the intro, 2:29, and a few other spots present prominent features for french horn — not exactly a typical part of most soul horn sections.

The Blues Brothers | Rawhide

“Rawhide” was written by Ned Washington (lyrics) and Dimitri Tiomkin (music) in 1958. “The song was used as the theme to Rawhide, a western television series that ran from 1959 until 1966. According to the Western Writers of America, it was one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.

The tune has been covered by Johnny Cash, The Jackson 5, The Dead Kennedys, Liza Minnelli, Oingo Boingo, Sublime, and many other artists. It was featured prominently in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers, where it saved the day as as a last-second substitute opener for an R&B/Blues band haplessly booked into a Country/Western bar. Fortunately, the band had a lot more chops than luck …

The half-step modulation is at 2:13 at the start of a short guitar feature. The tune itself doesn’t begin until the 1:25 mark. Many thanks to MotD regular Rob Penttinen for this submission!

The Quad | America The Beautiful

Two-time Grammy Award-winning arranger Ben Bram has been featured on MotD previously for his arrangement of “Smile.” Here, Bram’s quartet, The Quad, performs his arrangement of “America The Beautiful,” featuring three downward modulations. Beginning in Bb, the first key change to G comes at 1:06, followed by shifts to D at 1:58 and C at 3:16.

The contemporary update of the lyrics was co-written by Bram and Jonathan Levine.

Dusty Springfield | You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me

A long-overdue debut for UK pop/soul chanteuse Dusty Springfield. “(‘You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me”) is considered one of the greatest songs of heartbreak in the pop music canon,” documents American Songwriter. “That it combined the music of an Italian pop song and lyrics from a pair of songwriting novices also makes it one of the unlikeliest ones. Unlikely, that is, until you consider the staggeringly brilliant performance of the song by Dusty Springfield. Then it all makes sense.

Springfield’s performance manages to evoke pain and pride, hurt and hope, resignation and resilience. The end result was a #1 hit for Springfield (her first) in the UK and a top 5 spot in the US upon the song’s 1966 release. You can also argue that (it) presented a more mature side of her than some of the bubblier pop songs she had recorded had managed to do. This was a path that she would continue to traverse when she made the masterpiece album Dusty In Memphis a few years later. ‘Well, it’s a classic, isn’t it?’ mused the song’s lyricist, Simon Napier-Bell. ‘In its musical style as well as performance. Like a famous piece of opera. Totally out of date, but that’s the way it is. And we all love it.'”

Built on a insistent 12/8 feel, the tune’s intro and verses are in D minor; the choruses shift to D major. At 2:26, a whole-step modulation is the icing on the cake. This classic clearly illustrates the opening words of IMDB’s Springfield bio: “…acknowledged around the world as the best female soul singer that Britain ever produced.”

Judith Hill | Cry, Cry, Cry

“Cry, Cry, Cry” was the single released from American singer-songwriter Judith Hill‘s 2015 debut album Back in Time. The album, co-produced with Prince, marked Hill’s first foray into solo performing after she appeared as a backup singer with Michael Jackson (including as a featured soloist on his This is It tour) Josh Groban, and John Legend. Hill’s story was also featured in the acclaimed 2013 documentary 20 Feet from Stardom, for which she was awarded a Grammy Award. The tune starts in B major, and modulates to C at 3:38.

Squeeze | Last Time Forever

A long-overdue MotD debut today for the utterly unique UK band Squeeze. “As one of the most traditional pop bands of the new wave,” AllMusic details, “Squeeze provided one of the links between classic British guitar pop and post-punk. Inspired heavily by the Beatles and the Kinks, Squeeze were the vehicle for the songwriting of Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, who were hailed as the heirs to Lennon and McCartney‘s throne during their heyday in the early ’80s … Squeeze never came close to matching the popularity of the Beatles, but the reason for that is part of their charm. Difford and Tilbrook were wry, subtle songwriters who subscribed to traditional pop songwriting values, but subverted them with literate lyrics and clever musical references.”

“Last Time Forever” (1985) has an unsettled harmonic setting which fits the film noir mood of the lyrics: although it sounds like an account of a garden variety breakup at first, the eerie midsection takes us somewhere else entirely:

I’ve said goodnight tonight
The last time forever
It all went wrong when I grew jealous
I didn’t realize my strength
Could take the life of one so precious
Together we were known as good friends

Although each verse starts in C major, the harmonic dominoes soon start falling (for the first time at 0:33).

Gnarls Barkley | Going On

Gnarls Barkley’s smash debut hit “Crazy” was considered by many to be 2006’s global song of the summer. Last.FM reports that it was “the first #1 UK single to be obtained solely through Internet downloads.” The band, a duo comprised of producer/multi-instrumentalist Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton and funk/soul vocalist Cee Lo Green, continued to crank out unpredictable tunes until 2010, straddling multiple genres of psychedelia-tinged hiphop, soul, neo-soul, and funk.

Playing up the psychedelic aspect, the video for “Going On,” filmed in Jamaica, centers around “a group of people celebrating the discovery of a door that leads to another dimension,” according to MTV.com. The song garnered a 2009 Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Performance; in 2011, Time Magazine listed the lo-fi, dance-centric video among its 30 All-Time Best Music Videos, calling it a “sucker punch of joy …(a) three-minute piece of percussive pop perfection.”

Featured on the duo’s second album, The Odd Couple (2008), “Going On” alternates between an uptuned Eb minor and F minor throughout. The tune features an intro in Eb minor, verse one in F minor (0:18), chorus in Eb minor (0:47), etc.

Avril Lavigne | Sk8er Boi

Released as the second single from Avril Lavigne‘s debut 2002 album Let Go, “Sk8er Boi” has been featured in every concert and tour Lavigne has performed. The lyrics depict a snobby girl who rejects the skateboarder who has a crush on her, even though she in fact secretly harbors romantic feelings for him as well. The track was nominated for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance at the 2003 Grammy Awards, and charted in the top 10 in more than ten countries including Australia, the UK, and the United States.

The verses, set in D major (with the Bb adding an altered Phrygian vibe), contrast with the choruses, set in F major. The bridge, at 2:12, modulates to D minor, before seamlessly returning to D major for the subsequent verse at 2:38.

Toad the Wet Sprocket | Scenes From a Vinyl Recliner

Many thanks to chronic mod submitter JB for today’s feature: “Scenes from a Vinyl Recliner,” a 1989 release (and MotD debut) by Toad the Wet Sprocket. AllMusic reports that the band was “named in honor of a sketch by the Monty Python comedy troupe … one of the most successful alternative rock bands of the early ’90s, boasting a thoughtful folk-pop sound that wielded enough melody and R.E.M.-styled jangle to straddle both the modern rock and adult contemporary markets. The group broke into the mainstream with the 1991 release of their third album, Fear, and its hits ‘All I Want’ and ‘Walk on the Ocean.'” The tune alternates between C# minor and E minor.

JB writes: “While lots of Toad’s tunes have juicy mods, this is one of their less-known songs. Even though the ‘structure’ of the mods is just the vanilla A/B verse/chorus structure, the subjective tonal quality of each mod is pretty unusual. Some of this is the direction and interval of each mod, but the instrumentation is also critical: The mod into each chorus (0:38, etc.) is very abrupt, and is primarily announced by the vibes (or synth equivalent thereof), striking a note in the new key in relative isolation. Likewise, the mod back to each verse (1:10, etc.) is announced by a single note on the piano, again in relative isolation. These timbres, sounding in isolation, make a nice contrast to the rest of the song, which follows the sort of cliched soft/loud verse/chorus structure that was one of the things that made TTWS alt-rock adjacent, rather than a pure folk-rock sound.”

Faith Hill | That’s How Love Moves

Faith Hill‘s fourth studio album, Breathe, is one of the most successful country/pop albums recorded to date, certified platinum in Australia, Canada, and the United States. It won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album in 2001, and two tracks (“Breathe” and “The Way You Love Me” hit number one on the US Billboard Hot Country chart. “That’s How Love Moves” was originally recorded by Bette Midler in 1998; key change at 2:43.