“Christmas Spirit” is featured on Richard Marx’s eponymous 2012 holiday album. Marx co-wrote the song with Fee Waybill, the former lead singer of The Tubes and frequent collaborator with Marx.
The track begins in G and modulates down to E for the first chorus at 0:49. It returns to G for the verse at 1:25 and again moves to E for the chorus at 1:54. A final modulation up a step to F# occurs at 2:56.
Dubbed by Ryan Scott Oliver as “one of the most gifted up-and-coming composer-lyricists I know,” Ethan Carlson’s music has been performed at iconic NYC venues such as Joe’s Pub, 54 Below, and Don’t Tell Mama. “Jericho” is part of Carlson’s show Her Sound, which was performed at the Public Theater last year, and is sung here by cast member Kerstin Anderson. The song begins in Db and modulates up to Eb at 4:12.
Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist Paul McCandless plays oboe on this arrangement of the Christian hymn “We Gather Together,” originally written in 1597 and often associated with Thanksgiving Day in the United States. The track is the first cut on the 1998 Windham Hill collection Thanksgiving. It begins in G, and modulates up to A at 2:18.
“This single feels like a super-human attempt to re-frame the group’s ending,” critic Robin Murray wrote in Clash magazine. “Instead of rancour, unity. Instead of solo competition, studio unity. Instead of losing his friends, finding their voices once more. Maybe it’s the sentimental Beatle-maniac in us, but ‘Now And Then’ feels like something beautiful, something to cherish.”
The track, originally written by John Lennon in 1977, was finally released earlier this month, with Lennon’s voice extracted from his original demo with audio restoration technology. It quickly shot up the charts in countries across the world, and is accompanied by a music video directed by Peter Jackson featuring never-before-seen footage of the group.
The song subtly switches between A minor on the verses and G major for the choruses, with the relative majors of each key being tonicized occasionally as well.
“Never Gone” is the final track on the Backstreet Boys’ eponymous 2005 album. The record marked a transition for the group from a teen pop style into a more pop/rock, contemporary sound, and is the first album of theirs to exclusively use live instruments. It debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 chart, and has sold over 3 million copies worldwide.
The intro of the track is in D minor but quickly transitions to F, the relative major, when the vocals enter. There is a modulation up a whole step to G following the brief bridge at 2:43.
“I Finally Found Someone,” written by Barbra Streisand, Bryan Adams, Marvin Hamlisch and Robert John Lange, was featured in the 1996 film The Mirror Has Two Faces.
Streisand, who directed and starred in the picture, said in an interview with The Los Angeles Times that “I wrote the love theme, the main love theme, then Marvin wrote a bridge to it, and that was going to be our song. Then David Foster [who produced the track] had the idea that I should sing the duet with Bryan Adams. Bryan played our track and heard me humming and fell in love with this little theme that I wrote, and then he and his producer Mutt Lange wrote a counter melody based on the track that I sent him. And they wrote the lyrics. So that’s how that happened. I don’t think his record company wanted him to sing with me…because I’m more traditional, and I haven’t had a hit since I don’t know when.”
The song was nominated for an Oscar and reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was included on Streisand’s 2002 compilation album Duets. Streisand’s long-awaited memoir, My Name is Barbra, was released last week.
The track contains many modulations. It begins in B and shifts down to Ab at 0:42, and then further down to F for the chorus at 1:10. The second verse moves up to C at 1:58, and then jumps up a tritone to F# for the chorus at 2:26, where it stays until the end.
“What If It’s You,” written by Robert Ellis Orrall and Cathy Majeski, is the third track on American country singer Reba McEntire’s eponymous 1996 album. The album reached the #1 spot on the Billboard Country chart, and is McEntire’s first record to feature her regular touring band instead of session musicians.
The ballad begins in E and modulates up a step to F for the final chorus at 3:07.
“Goodnight My Someone” is from Meredith Willson’s classic 1957 musical The Music Man. The song is our first glimpse in Marian Paroo’s desire to find love. MotD favorite Voctave featured a cover of it on their lullaby album, Goodnight, My Someone, which was released last year.
The track, which features soprano Kate Lott, begins in C and gorgeously modulates up a third to E leading into the last A section at 2:03.
Written by Milton Delugg and Willie Stein in 1950, “Orange Colored Sky” has been covered by Nat King Cole, Natalie Cole, Lady Gaga, Doris Day and others. Michael Bible included the song as a bonus track on his 2007 album Call Me Irresponsible.
The track begins in Bb with a slow intro before moving into double time. There is a subtle key change up to C at 2:42.
Bookwriter Winnie Holtzman and composer Stephen Schwartz’s blockbuster 2003 musical Wicked celebrated its 20 year anniversary on Broadway last night. The show, based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, has played in sixteen countries and is one of only three Broadway shows to pass $1 billion in revenue.
“As Long As You’re Mine” is performed here by Jennifer Nettles and Annaleigh Ashford in a slower, reharmonized arrangement that is part of the “Out of Oz” series the show produced for YouTube. The song begins in Db and deceptively modulates down a half step to C at 1:38.
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