1979 saw the release of the soft rock tune “Sad Eyes,” written and performed by Robert John. It topped the US pop charts and went top 10 on the US Adult Contemporary, Australian pop, and Canadian pop charts. The track was one of only a handful of non-disco tunes to hit #1 on the pop charts that year as the disco mega-trend started to wind down.
Starting off gently in breakup anthem mode, the song jumps into overdrive as John revs up his striking falsetto at 3:32, preparing for a whole-step modulation at 3:36.
“I’ve Been Everywhere” is a song which was originally made popular upon its initial Australian releases (with Aussie place names) in 1959 and 1962. In 1962, the song was also a #1 US country hit by Hank Snow — with multiple half-step modulations at 1:12, 1:37, and 2:03.
More recently, Johnny Cash had another country hit with the tune in 1996, with several TV ad placements; the video is posted second. However, Cash’s version has no modulations.
Weekend bonus: No pure modulations here, but plenty of fun shifting through key(s) of the moment. Software guy Jonathan Coulton became a full-time singer/songwriter in the mid-2000s, releasing several albums since. Recently, he was commissioned to write a series of Schoolhouse Rock!-style short songs for the TV series The Good Fight — detail-packed miniature musical explainers of legal and political terminology.
“NDA,” which describes the ins and outs of Non-Disclosure Agreements, features verses which are solidly in G Major. But the choruses (first at 0:10!) and bridge (0:27 – 0:41) cycle briefly through other keys.
In a catalog replete with minor key paeans to misery, Garbage’s “Cup of Coffee” (2001) might be Exhibit A.
The Guardian calls Garbage’s sound “mongrel pop…(a) smelting-pot studio project cooked up from industrial remix sensibilities.” The focus on production and varying textures is certainly in the forefront here. The repeating triple eighth-note pattern which starts the tune continues throughout the relative hush of the verses — forming an uneven ground in combination with the 4/4 meter. Vocalist Shirley Manson unflinchingly increases the volume, intensity, and narrative on the choruses.
Starting in F# minor, the tune modulates up a whole step at 2:52 — uncharacteristically, during one of the song’s lowest-energy sections. This reverent fan-made video is patched together from various clips, but certainly captures the mood.
Category-transcending artist Mitski spent her childhood living in Turkey, China, Malaysia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and many other countries due to her father’s US State Department job; the family eventually settled in New York City. The Japanese-born American singer/songwriter’s upcoming album 2019 album “Be the Cowboy” features the lead single “Nobody,” apparently reflecting on (lack of) love amongst the ruins.
The tune builds from more introspective verses into disco/funk-driven choruses. The vocal line ascends throughout two modulations at 2:20 and 2:37 before the tempo and energy deflate into the final bars.
Today we mark the MotD debut of acclaimed songwriter/performer Joni Mitchell with her album Court and Spark (1974), which featured the classic tracks “Free Man in Paris,” “Help Me,” “Twisted,” and “Raised on Robbery.” It reached #1 in both the US and Mitchell’s native Canada and was awarded #111 on Rolling Stone magazine’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” AllMusic reviewed the album as “…a remarkably deft fusion of folk, pop, and jazz …(it) moves away from confessional songwriting into evocative character studies.”
“Car on a Hill,” a non-single track, features an intro and verses only loosely centered around F# minor, but grounded with a straightforward rock groove. At 0:53, the groove drops out for an interlude featuring layers of wordless vocals cycling through layers of keys. At 1:32, we’re back on solid 4/4 ground with another F# minor verse; at 2:24, the groove falls away again, leaving a dizzy A minor outro droning and ringing as the song fades.
“LA Devotee,” the lead single from Panic! at the Disco‘s 2015 album, Death of a Bachelor, hit #15 on the Billboard Hot Rock chart. AllMusic calls the band “one of the biggest acts to emerge out of the emo movement of the mid-2000s,” producing a “cross-pollinated brand of pop.” Modulation at 2:39.
Marking Bruce Springsteen‘s debut on MotD, “Hungry Heart” was the lead single on Springsteen’s 1980 album The River and hit #5 on the pop charts. Originally written for The Ramones, the tune ended up becoming a keeper for the Boss instead, winning the Rolling Stone Reader’s Poll for best single of the year.
The early instrumental bridge brings a modulation from C# major to E major at 1:37, and then reverts to the original key at 1:55.
Rising K-Pop stars 레드벨벳 (Red Velvet) are best known for up-tempo dance tracks, but their 2016 R&B-style ballad release “One of These Nights” shows an entirely different side of the vocal quintet. A persistent theory among the group’s fans is that the video’s somber mood and multiple references to water, small life boats, flickering lighting, etc. symbolize a memorial to the victims of the South Korean Sewol ferry tragedy of 2014. The Sewol sank suddenly, killing hundreds of passengers, most of whom were high school students.
The tune is full of modulations, further enhanced by a huge harmonic vocabulary. After the string intro, the verse begins at 0:14, loosely based around G minor; at 1:05, the chorus begins with a devastating downwards modulation to F# minor. The pattern holds for verse 2 and chorus 2. Finally, a bridge shifts briefly to a sunny G major at 3:06, but at 3:20, just where we’d expect a cliche upwards modulation by half-step, we instead get a 4-second pause before falling back down into the plaintive F# minor chorus. The group’s occasional mixing of English with Korean lyrics only adds to the affecting intrigue.
“Have You Met Miss Jones,” an enduring jazz standard, originated in the score of the 1937 musical I’d Rather Be Right, composed by the legendary songwriting team of Rogers and Hart. The tune is a part of the discographies of jazz artists including Stan Getz, Ahmad Jamal, Art Tatum, Kenny Barron (whose live performance we’re featuring), and many others.
The middle eight section of the tune (first heard at 0:17 – 0:25) features several modulations, departing from the overall key throughout.
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