The single “Didn’t Want to Be This Lonely” was released in the spring of 2020 as part of the album Hate For Sale, Pretenders’ eleventh studio album. Frontwoman and songwriter Chrissie Hynde co-wrote tracks for the album with guitarist James Walbourne, a first for the Hynde: “I wanted to write with him since day one. James is especially sought after and has recorded with Jerry Lee Lewis, Dave Gahan, and The Rails, to name but a few,” Rockpit reports. The comic book-inspired video for the tune was produced entirely during COVID lockdown.
Starting in C major, the tune features not only the usual I/IV/V rock chords, but also plenty of bVIIs. That addition becomes a fulcrum — the V of the new key — when the tune jumps up to Eb major at 2:02.
Many thanks to our distinguished frequent contributor JB for this submission!
Toussaint McCall, born in 1934 in Monroe, Louisiana, is an American R&B singer and organist. “At times a stirring soul balladeer, organist, and vocalist, Toussaint McCall doesn’t have a lengthy string of hits,”AllMusic reports. “But his 1967 version of ‘Nothing Takes the Place of You’ was among that year’s finest performances. It gave McCall his lone R&B hit, reaching number five … He continued performing and recording for Southern independent labels, and made a cameo in the 1988 John Waters film Hairspray.”
The seminal folk song “If I Had a Hammer” was written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays. According to the site Hymn Wiki,the tune “was written in 1949 in support of the progressive movement, and was first recorded by The Weavers, a folk music quartet composed of Seeger, Hays, Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman, and then by Peter, Paul and Mary.”
McCall’s cover of the tune (date unknown, likely the 1960s) adds an mid-tempo R&B feel to the classic, featuring what is likely his B3 organ playing as well. Half-step modulations hit at 0:44, 1:14, and 1:45. Thanks to our champion guest poster JB for this find!
From Sputnik Music‘s review of “In the Days of the Cavemen,” from Crash Test Dummies‘ 1993 album God Shuffled His Feet: “Oh Canada! Hail to my neighbor to the north. I praise you because not only have you shared with us some major musical talents over the years, like Rush and Joni Mitchell (for which I am eternally grateful), but you’ve also given us a host of quirky smaller bands throughout the last four or five decades, so many of whom I’ve enjoyed: Bands like Klaatu in the seventies, and Martha and the Muffins in the eighties. Oh, and in the nineties — Crash Test Dummies!
Although they made a nice little career for themselves in the great white north, God Shuffled His Feet was this band’s only internationally successful album … (It) took off around the world … powered by the success of one unconventional single, a slow and poignant track about how it feels to be different, the oddly- titled ‘Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm'”.
Brad Roberts’ voice is quite unusual for a frontman, given its edge-of-the-bell-curve bass/baritone range. Adding to his immediately recognizable sound are the relatively slow pace of the lyrics and his habit of over-enunciating: it often seems as if he’s passing on time-sensitive directions on how to diffuse a bomb — over the phone, to a middle school student. Roberts also was central to the band as an instrumentalist. Frequent contributor JB adds: “The bassline is exquisite throughout the whole tune: clean and melodic, but the same can be said of almost every bass part played by Brad Roberts.”
The tune is set in B major for the verses and the chorus; there’s a big jump to G major for a bridge at 1:35 – 1:54 (or rather a bridge-like section, because it happens again at 2:37 – 3:16).
“Orcadian fiddle and mandolin player Graham Rorie is an award-winning folk musician based in Glasgow,” his site reports. “A finalist in the 2021 BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year and graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Traditional Music Degree, Graham has been making a name for himself as a performer, composer, session musician and producer.”
The bio continues: “While still in the early stages of his career, Graham has gained a wealth of performance experience appearing at festivals including Glasgow’s Celtic Connections, Celtic Colours (Canada), Festival Interceltique de Lorient (France) and Celtica Valle D’Aosta (Italy).” The piece “Babiche” is part of “a new suite of music composed by Rorie to tell the story of Orcadians who traveled to Northern Canada between 1600 and 1900 to work for The Hudson’s Bay Company. Orcadians, according to the history website Orkneyjar, are “the indigenous inhabitants of the Orkney islands of Scotland. Historically, they are descended from the Picts, Norse, and Scots.”
Starting in E major, a middle section in an inversion-heavy C# major (2:14) returns triumphantly to the main melody and original key at 2:54. Many thanks to our champion contributor JB for submitting this tune!
From the 1985 movie soundtrack of the same title, John Parr‘s “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)” was co-written by Parr and David Foster. The film starred a group of 20-something actors collectively known in pop culture as “The Brat Pack”: Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, and Andrew McCarthy. The movie focuses on a group of friends as they move into post-college life.
Songfacts reports: “The phrase ‘St. Elmo’s Fire’ refers to the spectral light sometimes seen around a ship’s mast. John Parr didn’t see the movie before he and Foster wrote the song: ‘Fortunately I didn’t see the film, specifically because the phenomenal force of nature known as St. Elmo’s Fire was a metaphor. To me it was the embodiment of a dream, a focus to strive towards as it glows in the sky. In the movie, Rob Lowe pulls out a gas canister and tells Demi Moore not to get too hung up about her problems. He lights the gas and as it ignites he dismisses her plight as no big deal, just like St. Elmo’s Fire. That would have killed it for me.'”
Critical reception of the film was mixed at best. The video echoes the film’s earnest self-congratulation by combining footage from the film, a “club concert” by Parr, a set that’s crumbling and partially on fire, and Parr joining the cast at some sort of event that looks like … a photoshoot? An awkward industry event? It’s anyone’s guess. But the tune hit No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart for two weeks in September 1985 and still remains a staple of many 80s playlists. Starting in A major, the chorus shifts to F# major (for the first time at 1:11); the verse reverts to A major. Many thanks to our faithful mod wrangler JB for this submission!
Chronic MotD contributor JB, in submitting 2018’s “Love You Like the Movies” by Anthem Lights, notes that the tune features some chatter from the band (including a short debate about whether or not to change keys!)
The quartet is best known for its Christian pop, but this track finds the band inhabiting the pop side of the equation. The key change is at 2:58.
“Earth, Wind & Fire were one of the most musically accomplished, critically acclaimed, and commercially popular funk bands of the ’70s,” proclaims AllMusic. “…EWF’s all-encompassing musical vision used funk as its foundation, but also incorporated jazz, smooth soul, gospel, pop, rock & roll, psychedelia, blues, folk, African music, and, later on, disco … More than just versatility for its own sake, EWF’s eclecticism was part of a broader concept informed by a cosmic, mystical spirituality and an uplifting positivity the likes of which hadn’t been seen since the early days of Sly & the Family Stone … at their best, Earth, Wind & Fire seemingly took all that came before them and wrapped it up into one dizzying, spectacular package.”
After several chart-topping albums in the late 70s, in particular the late-70s smashes All ‘n All (triple platinum) and I Am (double platinum), the band released Faces in 1980. “You,” Faces’ fourth single, reached #10 on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart and #30 on the Adult Contemporary Songs chart. Like “After the Love Has Gone,” EWF’s quintessential power ballad, “You” was co-written by David Foster.
After starting in G major, 1:13 brings the chorus in E minor; halfway through the chorus (1:27), the tonality folds in on itself and we’ve landed in G# minor. At 1:45, verse two starts, but we’re now elevated up a whole step (A major) relative to the first verse — likely unnoticed due to the overall harmonic sleight of hand! A 2:40, the chorus arrives again, this time to stay: it morphs into an extended outro. The outro centers around three two-chord pairs (F# minor/B minor; A# minor/D# minor; and D minor/G minor), all compellingly connected by half-steps. The three sets, repeating and fading to the end, essentially form a gigantic hemiola effect over the 4/4 time. Many thanks to our faithful mod sender-inner JB for this tune!
AllMusic details that “gospel singer, composer, and choir leader Hezekiah Walker, known as ‘the hip-hop pastor,’ has brought a lot of young people to gospel and choir music, and has shown that he has no problem using modern vernacular and recording techniques to expand his fan and worship base. A New York native, Walker grew up in the Fort Greene housing projects of Brooklyn. He formed his first gospel group, the Love Fellowship Crusade Choir, when he was in his twenties and serving as a Pentecostal minister.”
Walker has produced and led many top ten Billboard gospel recordings, including Grammy-winning live gospel recordings; he was inducted into the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 2016. Rev. Walker now leads the Kingdom Church in New York and Pennsylvania.
Featuring soloist Timiney Figueroa-Caton, the Love Fellowship Crusade Choir’s live 2008 version of “Calling My Name” was originally released in 1994. Written by the prolific Jules Bartholomew, the track begins in Db major but shifts to Bb major at 4:31. Many thanks to our recurrent contributor JB for submitting this tune!
According to its website, Fourth Moon “were born in 2014 from the meeting between two French musicians (Jean-Christophe Morel, violin; Jean Damei on guitar), an Austrian (Geza Frank, bagpipes and flutes) and a Scot (Mohsen Amini, concertina) … In 2016 the line up changed, introducing David Lombardi from Italy on violin and more recently Andrew Waite from Scotland on accordion.”
The Edinburgh TradFest noted: “The result feels fresh and often exhilarating … showing how traditional musicianship and instruments can be used to produce a truly original sound, Fourth Moon take a mixture of tunes, many of them self penned, and put together sets that play around with styles and tempos and deliver the unexpected.”
The Herald of Scotlandreviewed the Glasgow-based band as giving “thought to texture, tone and tempo that can call to mind a chamber music group in terms of sound quality and tonal range.” The ensemble’s seamless handling of tempo changes is clear on 2018’s “The Vale,” where the band is joined by vocalist Ainsley Hamill, a Scottish singer and songwriter who performs in English, Scots, and Gaelic. There are key changes at 0:54, 1:12, 1:30, 1:49, and 3:17.
Many thanks to our regular contributor JB for this tune!
Expatica.com notes that the French composer and lyricist Hubert Giraud, whose works were recorded by vocalists from Edith Piaf to Tom Jones, “started out as a musician playing with the likes of Django Reinhardt’s jazz group the Quintette du Hot Club de France in the 1930s and on Ray Ventura’s big-band tour of South America.” He also wrote the theme for the 1951 film Sous le Ciel de Paris (Under the Sky of Paris); the song was later recorded by Edith Piaf, Yves Montand, Juliette Greco, and more. Giraud died in 2016 at the age of 95.
Starting in E minor, the waltz progresses to E major at 1:03, reverting back to the original key at 1:49. Utilizing rubato as more of a rule than an occasional flourish, Palma throws in a last-minute whole-step modulation at 2:20 — quickly leading to an unexpected ending.
Many thanks to our frequent contributor JB for this submission!
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