Mod of the Day

Talking Heads | And She Was

“According to David Byrne, who is the only writer credited on the track, this was written about a girl he knew who used to take LSD in a field next to the Yoo-Hoo drink factory in Baltimore,” (Songfacts). “‘Somehow that image seemed fitting, the junk food factory and this young girl tripping her brains out gazing at the sky,’ he told Q Magazine in 1992. ‘But it wasn’t a drugs song at all and I don’t think people took it that way. I think it gives the impression of a spiritual or emotional experience, instantaneous and unprovoked. The sublime can come out of the ridiculous.’ Talking Heads never performed this live: They stopped touring in 1984 after their Stop Making Sense concert film was released.”

The video was the first created by Jim Blashfield, who pioneered a collage-animation style with his short film, Suspicious Circumstances. That got the attention of Talking Heads, which wanted a similar motif for their ‘And She Was’ video. The resulting clip earned MTV Video Music Award nominations for Best Group Video and Best Concept Video. Blashfield was commissioned for more videos in this style; his work can be seen in ‘The Boy in the Bubble’ (Paul Simon) (and) ‘Sowing the Seeds of Love’ (Tears For Fears).”

After a start in E major, the pre-chorus shifts into F major (0:29 – 0:44) before a return to E major for the chorus. The bridge (1:53 – 2:08) drops into B minor before returning to the overall pattern.

Teenage Fanclub | I Don’t Want Control of You

“Initially lauded for the sonically dense, guitar-driven anthems that heralded them as unexpected stars of the alternative rock era, the perception of Scotland’s Teenage Fanclub transformed over time, eventually earning the group a reputation as pop craftsmen famous for a distinctive brand of classicist ’60s- and ’70s-style power pop and folk-rock,” (Qobuz). “Originally centered on the talents of three singer/songwriters — Norman Blake, Gerard Love, and Raymond McGinley — Teenage Fanclub emerged in the late ’80s mixing sludgy guitar riffs and memorably hooky choruses that drew inspiration from iconic guitar rock bands like Big Star, Badfinger, and the Byrds.

… The band broke through with its 1991 Geffen major-label debut, Bandwagonesque, which hit #1 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart, and spawned three Top 20 modern rock hits … They eschewed larger pop culture trends like grunge and Brit-pop in favor of further honing their sparkling, guitar-based sound, a choice that only worked to endear them to their loyal cult fan base.” The Glasgow-based band has pursued a “continued dedication to writing heartfelt songs imbued with timeless lyricism, nuanced maturity, and warm vocal harmonies.” In 1991, “they joined Nirvana on tour, after which Kurt Cobain was famously quoted as saying they were the ‘best band in the world.’ By year’s end, Bandwagonesque had landed at the top of Spin Magazine’s Best-Of list, surpassing Nirvana’s Nevermind … and R.E.M.’s Out of Time.” The band has continued to release albums into the 2020s.

Released on the 1997 album Songs From Northern Britain, “I Don’t Want Control of You” features a dense guitar-centric arrangement, a broad harmonic vocabulary, and tight vocal harmonies. The single reached only #43 in the UK, the only place where it hit the charts. An economical guitar solo (1:48 -2:06) doesn’t hit many notes — just the right ones. Some 6/4 measures are mixed in with the otherwise standard-issue 4/4 meter rock feel, including right before the key change. Determining the power pop pedigree of mid-tempo tracks is an inexact science, but the dense tapestry of this track seems to qualify.

The Beatles | If I Fell

“John Lennon wrote this song, which may have been influenced by the ambivalence he felt during his first marriage,” (Songfacts). “Lennon called this song ‘my first attempt at a ballad… it’s semi-autobiographical, but not consciously.’ Lennon and McCartney sang together into the same microphone when recording this song. John sang the lead on the intro, then Paul sang in a higher lead while John sang harmony.” The tune “was used as the B-side of ‘And I Love Her.’

Paul McCartney said of his songwriting partner: ‘People tend to forget that John wrote some pretty nice ballads. People tend to think of him as an acerbic wit and aggressive and abrasive, but he did have a very warm side to him really, which he didn’t like to show too much in case he got rejected. We wrote ‘If I Fell’ together but with the emphasis on John because he sang it. It was a nice harmony number, very much a ballad,'” (BeatlesBible.com).

The intro of the 1964 track, a single from the Hard Days Night album, is largely in C major, but transitions to to C# major at 0:34, where it stays for the balance of the tune.

Art Tatum | Have You Met Miss Jones? (Rogers + Hart)

“From the first moment, there was no doubt that (Dick Rogers and Lorenz Hart) would work together: it was love at first sight,” (The Atlantic). “Larry was twenty-three, Dick not yet seventeen. ‘I left Hart’s house,’ wrote Rodgers a lifetime later, ‘having acquired in one afternoon a career, a partner, a best friend, and a source of permanent irritation.'” The duo wrote over 500 songs together, many from the 28 musicals they on which they collaborated, including “My Funny Valentine,” “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered,” “My Romance,” and “Have You Met Miss Jones?”

“Have You Met Miss Jones” was written by Rogers/Hart for the 1937 musical I’d Rather Be Right. The dizzy middle eight is completely unmoored from the overall key of F major and features the lyric:

And all at once I lost my breath,
And all at once was scared to death
And all at once I owned the earth and sky.

In the hands of legendary pianist Art Tatum, who was famous for his reharmonization and ability to play lightning-fast runs, the tune becomes even more sublimely unhinged from its written tonality as it progresses.

The Cyrkle | Red Rubber Ball

The Cyrkle was a pop band that met as college students at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania in the mid-1960s. Their business manager was Brian Epstein who, of course, also managed the Beatles; the affected spelling of their name was suggested by John Lennon. The group had the opportunity to open for the Beatles for some of their 1966 US tour dates.

“Red Rubber Ball” was their first and biggest hit (Billboard #2 in 1966). The song was written by Paul Simon and Bruce Woodley of the Australian group The Seekers. Simon offered the song to the group during the time they opened for Simon and Garfunkel on tour.

There are several other notable recordings of the song. The Seekers recorded their own version of the song in 1966. Simon and Garfunkel performed the song at Lincoln Center in 1967, the recording of which was released in 1997. The most notorious cover of the song comes from the Canadian punk group The Diodes. In an interview, Paul Simon had made disparaging comments about punk rock, so The Diodes took that as an invitation to record their punk cover.

While none of these covers features a key change, The Cyrkle’s version offers a half-step modulation at 1:21.

BYU Noteworthy | Proud Mary

“Proud Mary,” written by John Fogerty and originally recorded by the American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, was covered by Ike and Tina Turner in 1971 for their album Workin’ Together. Tina also later recorded a solo version, and frequently performed the song live. Turner died today at age 83.

BYU Noteworthy is a female a cappella group affiliated with Brigham Young University. They have released 7 albums and regularly perform across the country. Their arrangement begins in Eb and modulates up half step to E at 2:15.

Michael Bublé | Save the Last Dance For Me

The Ben E. King-era Drifters scored a Billboard #1 in 1960 with their version of “Save The Last Dance For Me,” written by Doc Pomus and Mort Schuman. In that recording, the most prominent instruments are the steady guitar, bass, and light percussion, with a brief string interlude. There’s no modulation on offer.

In 2005, singer Michael Bublé released his version of the song in his album It’s Time. Later that year, he offered several remixes by different producers, for a single release, including the music video below. The tempo is slower than in the Drifters’ version, but with a spicier, syncopated arrangement of prominent Latin-style percussion (claves and timbales!), piano, and horns.

For dramatic purposes in the video, the music comes to a halt at 1:41. The music resumes at 1:44 a half-step up.

Brenna Whitaker | Black and Gold

Brenna Whitaker, an L.A.-based vocalist, released her eponymous debut album in 2015, which features “Black and Gold” as the lead track. Whitaker counts Peggy Lee and Etta James among her influences, and her voice caught the attention of David Foster, who helped her develop her sound and produced her record.

Black and Gold, originally written and recorded in 2008 by Sam Sparro and Jesse Rogg, was a top-20 hit across Europe and was nominated for Best Dance Recording at the Grammy Awards. Whitaker’s cover begins in C minor and shifts up a half step to C# at 3:33.

Nate Wood | Become

“Grammy nominated Nate Wood is a drummer/multi-instrumentalist and mastering engineer based in New York City,” (NateWoodMusic.net). “Nate is a founding member of the Grammy nominated quintet Kneebody, Kneebody released their self-titled debut album in 2005 on trumpeter Dave Douglas’s label Greenleaf Music. In 2007, Kneebody released Low Electrical Worker on Colortone Media. They completed an album of arrangements of Charles Ives compositions with singer Theo Bleckmann and released the recording 12 Songs of Charles Ives, which was nominated “Best Classical Crossover Album” Grammy Award (2009).

Nate has also performed or recorded with many notable artists including … Dave Grohl, Brian May and Roger Taylor (Queen), Chris Squire (Yes), Elliot Easton (The Cars), Chaka Khan, Wayne Krantz, Billy Childs, Tigran Hamasyan, Donny McCaslin, Sting, and many others. Nate was featured in Modern Drummer in March of 2014 and placed in the 2015 Modern Drummer reader’s poll among the top 5 drummers in the fusion category.” He’s since released four of his own albums “and masters records for artists from around the world.”

“Become,” from Wood’s debut solo album Reliving (2003), moves like clockwork through its first two groove-driven verses and choruses. Then 2:10 brings a soft-spoken bridge which pivots down a whole step to Ab major (2:32) as the groove returns and a guitar solo begins. At 2:45, there’s another shift to B major, but at 2:57, we drop back into the slot of the original key as the solo continues to build in advance of the vocal’s return. Wordless vocals and a huge syncopated kick on the fifth degree of the scale bring the tune to its conclusion.

Junior Senior | Take My Time

“Junior Senior were a Danish pop duo. The duo consisted of Jesper ‘Junior’ Mortensen and Jeppe ‘Senior’ Laursen,” (Discogs). “They were well known for their 2002 single ‘Move Your Feet,’ which gained worldwide success in 2003, most notably in the United Kingdom.” The track barely made a scratch in the US, peaking at #45 on the US Dance chart — the band’s most prominent release in the States. But the tune reached #4 in Denmark, #20 in Australia, #11 in France, and #3 in the UK.

The duo’s 2005 release “Take My Time,” from the album Hey Hey My My Yo Yo, sounds like an update on the sound of the US-based band B-52s because … it is: B-52s vocalists Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson are both featured on the track.

Sounding for all the world like a late ’80s/early ’90s B-52s hit with a bit less frenetic energy, a lot less intra-band banter, and a broader harmonic vocabulary, “Take My Time” is a pop/funk fête delivered by a band that brings “joyful energy … mix(ing) all kinds of genres in a melting funky pot with a big smile on their faces,” (MTV). The track features half-step modulations at 2:48 (with an uninterrupted groove) and 3:14 (after what seems like a false ending — until the decrescendo shifts into reverse and the groove returns).