Kent

The Belle Stars | Iko Iko

“Offering a self-contained, funkier alternative to early Bananarama, London’s seven-woman Belle Stars played and sang neo-soul and dance-rock,” (TrouserPress). The music “provoke(s) a good time largely through the band’s own evident enjoyment.”

Kent, a MotD regular, submits “Iko Iko” by the UK band The Belle Stars. “It’s been recorded many times, charting three times on the Billboard Hot 100, but only twice in the Top 40. The Dixie Cups’ 1964 version may be the oldest one recognized by most, as it was recorded as a percussive version of a song one member remembered her grandmother singing, not realizing that it had been written in the 1950s as ‘Jack-a-Mo.’ Dr. John recorded another version in 1972, which missed the top 40, but the best chart success came in 1989 when the version by The Belle Stars was featured in the movie Rain Man, scenes of which appear in the video.” The Belle Stars’ 1983 version, which became a top 40 US hit, modulates rather gently from F to F# (1:23); the entire harmonic structure drops away, leaving only the groove still running, and then re-enters in the new key.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7kGTcBw7g8&t=12s

Adam Ant | Goody Two Shoes

The Guardian proclaims that in 1980, Adam and the Ants “were a riot of makeup, feathers, tribal drums and surf guitars – and, for a spectacular moment, they became the biggest band in the UK.” But by 1982, the flashy glam-fueled New Wave band probably best known for 1981’s “Stand and Deliver,” had largely disbanded. Frontman Adam Ant “cast around for a new angle,” reports FreakyTrigger. “It was a moment in pop history when sudden changes of image and sound were respectable – even expected for some stars. Compared to today’s performers who tend to cover bandwagon-jumping with a figleaf of artistic intent, there was a refreshing honesty about this pursuit of a new look for a new season: pop and fashion were merging in a blare of colour.”

The tune went to #1 in the UK and Australia; top 5 in Canada, Germany and Ireland; and top 20 in Belgium the Netherlands, and the US.

Regular contributor Kent adds to his submission: “Not only it its entire ‘verse’ a simple cycle of tonic, supertonic, subtonic (which is already disquieting if your ear is trying to settle on the key), but it migrates through through other keys before returning to the original (A, 0:00; D, 1:56; B, 2:15; C, 2:25; A, 2:35)!”

Kenny Rogers | Coward of the County

About Kenny Rogers’ 1979 hit “Coward of the County,” Songfacts writes: “Like Rogers’ hit ‘The Gambler,’ this song tells a compelling story, and also … was made into a TV movie. Coward of the County aired October 7, 1981; Kenny Rogers acted in the film and sang. Although the film was not a massive hit, the song was …” The tune went to #1 on the US Hot Country Songs, Cash Box Top 100, and multiple Canadian charts and it ranked in the top 10 the US Pop chart, US Adult Contemporary chart, and across much of Europe, New Zealand, and Australia. Billboard listed the track as the #9 most popular country song of 1980.

Songfacts continues: “Some felt the music was compromised.” Joe Ely, a proponent of the more rough-hewn “outlaw” country style, said in 1980: “‘The top 40 that’s going on on country stations over there [Texas] really depresses me.'”

Half-step key changes hit at 1:30 and 2:49. Many thanks to our longtime contributor Kent for submitting this tune!

Frankie Valli | My Eyes Adored You

A submission from MotD fan Kent: “Perhaps my favorite ballad of the 1970s, Frankie Valli’s ‘My Eyes Adored You’ (1974) starts out in A major (after an intro that keeps you guessing which key it’s going to land in).” Written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan, it reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Easy Listening chart, and was ranked by Billboard overall as the #5 song of that year.

The path to each of the modulations is cleared by a V/IV compound chord in the new key, announced by a syncopated kick not found anywhere else in the arrangement. The first one hits at 0:39 at the end of the first chorus; oddly, the tune doesn’t start with a verse. But although that initial kick features the V/IV chord, it’s just a warmup: there’s no modulation. At 1:33, the first half-step modulation hits with the same syncopated kick, followed by more at 2:29 and 2:52.

The Goodmans | Looking For a City

Our follower Kent P. has submitted this classic Southern Gospel tune by the family group The Happy Goodmans, “Looking for a City” (written in 1943). In 1968, the group won the first Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance. They produced 15 #1 singles and entered into the International Gospel Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 1998.

“Starting off in B flat, each performer “one-ups” the other in a higher key. This legendary performance goes tit for tat a number of times…well, you’ll just have to watch and see who makes it higher. Or does Vestal Goodman‘s hairdo win that prize?”

Show Off (from “The Drowsy Chaperone”)

From Kent P., a MotD fan who’s contributed before, comes the show-stopping production number “Show Off” from The Drowsy Chaperone, which was produced on Broadway in 2006.

Kent reports: “A hilarious number that makes fun of every old musical cliché by doing them. And of course, one such cliché is the key change! Here’s a video (with good audio quality but less good video quality) from the Tony Awards, with Sutton Foster performing the song. There’s a long intro to the actual song, which doesn’t start until 1:35; after many other key changes, the main modulation is around 4:35. It is probably the most self-referential modulation ever!”

My Brother Lived in San Francisco (from “Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens”)

From MotD fan Kent P., a first-time contributor:

“My Brother Lived in San Francisco” is the most heartbreaking song about AIDS I know (and I make a point to seek them out). It’s from the off-Broadway show (song cycle) Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens (1989), based on the NAMES Project Quilt.

It begins in C for two verses about specific people (real or composites?), then modulates up to C# for the third verse, into a more upbeat feel, to address the general sociological phenomenon of San Francisco as a gay mecca in the 1970s/80s, symbolizing the hope and happiness the City represented. Lastly, the tune unexpectedly makes a devastating full-tone drop to B for the unadorned reprise of the refrain, hitting us with the gut-wretching reminder of what the song is really about. Modulating down is rare enough, never mind a full step, but the emotional journey of this song hits so much harder because of it.”