Celine Dion’s signature song, the theme of the 1997 film Titanic, is covered here by Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, known for their inventive interpretations of well-known classics. The track, the style of Jackie Wilson and Frank Valli, features singer/songwriter Mykal Kilgore, and modulates at 2:22.
Category: Henry
Taylor Swift | SuperStar
“SuperStar” is featured on the platinum edition of American singer/songwriter Taylor Swift’s 2008 album Fearless, which won Grammy Awards for Best Country Album and Album of the Year and helped Swift become a household name. The version below is included on the re-recorded version of the album, released in 2021, the first of six planned re-recordings that Swift plans to release. Swift began her first tour since before the pandemic last week, highlighting music from her four most recent albums.
The track begins in D, modulates briefly up to E for the bridge at 3:04, and returns to D at 3:29.
All the Wasted Time (from “Parade”)
“All the Wasted Time” is from composer Jason Robert Brown’s 1998 Broadway musical Parade. The show tells the real-life story of Leo Frank, a Jewish man from Atlanta who was wrongfully convicted of the rape and murder of his 13- year-old employee, Mary Phagan, in 1913. Brown’s Tony Award-winning score, the first he wrote for Broadway, is tinged with folk, blues, gospel and musical theater influences.
This song comes near the end of the show; Leo and his wife Lucille are sitting in his cell taking stock of all they have been through over the past two years, and expressing how their love for each other is as deep as it has ever been. Its rolling accompaniment is reminiscent another of Brown’s romantic duets, “I’d Give It All For You,” from the 1995 show Songs For a New World. The first revival of Parade, starring Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond, opened on Broadway last week.
There are three modulations in the tune: at the start of Lucille’s verse at 1:37, leading into the third chorus at 3:10, and at the coda at 3:48.
Pettin’ and Pokin’ (from “Five Guys Named Moe”)
“Five Guys Named Moe” premiered on London’s West End in 1990 and on Broadway in 1992. The musical, with a book by Clarke Peters, features the music of saxophonist and songwriter Louis Jordan, who was known for helping to bridge the transition from jazz to rock ‘n roll in the 1950s. The show has been revived by numerous regional theaters over the last decade. There are modulations at 0:41 and 1:11.
Goodnight Goodbye | Dad Dancing
Goodnight Goodbye is a progressive indie band comprised of three brothers: Sam, Joe and Nate Woollard. The group has over 22K monthly listeners on Spotify, and count The Beatles, ABBA, Fleetwood Mac, and Prince among their influences. “Dad Dancing” is the lead track on their 2020 EP Rose Garden, and modulates from D up to E at 2:53.
Cher | Love and Understanding
“Love and Understanding” was featured on American singer Cher’s 1991 album Love Hurts. Written by MotD regular Diane Warren, the track reached the number 3 spot on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
The song’s intro begins in the key of A minor and 12/8 time before abruptly shifting to a 4/4 rock groove in the relative C major at 0:14. The verse stays in C before pivoting back to A minor through a V7 chord for the chorus at 1:00. A full modulation up a step to B minor occurs at 2:50, leading into the final chorus. Finally, a short outro at 3:54 recalls the opening 12/8 motive.
I’ll Make a Man Out of You (from “Mulan”)
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” is featured in the 1998 Disney film Mulan. Written by composer Matthew Wilder and lyricist David Zippel, it is sung by Donny Osmond in the movie and on the soundtrack.
This track is one of the few well-known Disney favorites that is not a ballad. “We knew it needed to be masculine and muscular and hence the drums, all the military aspects of what were factored into a very odd pop song,” Wilder said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “I knew I wanted it to sound large and I knew what the tempo and the cadence of the piece was,” he continued. “I had a very extensive Asian sample library. I was sort of mixing and matching East meets West where I was taking drum cadences from traditional Chinese drums and then marrying that with military snares, etc. and just kept building and building and building so it became this cacophonous effect of a Chinese marching American band.”
The song begins in E minor and modulates up a whole step to F minor at 2:03.
Barry Manilow | I Write The Songs
“I Write The Songs” was written by Bruce Johnston, a member of the Beach Boys, and released on his 1977 solo album Going Public. Barry Manilow’s cover, recorded in 1976, won Song of the Year at the Grammy Awards and reached the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100. Cash Box, a now-defunct music trade industry magazine, wrote that “the melodic, ballad-like beginning grows into an operatic crescendo, all done in clear production that all age groups will appreciate.”
There is an unusual modulation up a major third from F to A for the penultimate strain of the chorus at 2:34, and then Manilow takes it up one more step to B for the last chorus at 3:00.
T-Pain | Best Love Song
“Best Love Song” was released as the first single from American singer/rapper T-Pain’s 2011 album Revolver. It features singer Chris Brown and the R&B group Once Chance. It reached the 33 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and was used in the premiere of the TV show Hart of Dixie.
Beginning in G, the track shifts up to A at 2:50.
Justin Bieber | That Should Be Me
Canadian singer Justin Bieber makes his MotD debut with “That Should Be Me,” the final track on his first studio album, My World 2.0, released in 2011. The song, which was co-written by Bieber, Nasri Atweh, Luke Boyd, and Adam Messinger, debuted at ninety-two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The lyric portrays the singer pleading with his lover to take him back.
The tune begins in C minor and transitions to the relative major, Eb, for the chorus at 0:41. There is a full modulation, up a half step to E major, coming out of the bridge for the final chorus at 2:34.
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