Rob – Page 3

Tom T. Hall | I Love

“’Songwriters aren’t good songwriters,’ Tom T. Hall once said,” (HollerCountry). “‘People are good songwriters. You sit down as a person and write a song. If you’ve written a song by the time you stand back up, you’re a songwriter. But the person comes first.’

One of Hall’s simplest songs, ‘I Love,’ went on to be the most successful solo single of his career. The song is a softly sung, heart-warming list of everything that Hall loves about life, from baby ducks to pick-up trucks, squirrels to puppies, written in five minutes and recorded in two takes. ‘I invested a total of nine minutes into it, and it sold more than a million copies and was used in a Coors Light commercial.'” It was released in October 1973 “as the only single from the album For the People in the Last Hard Town,” (Billboard). “The song would be Hall’s most successful single and was his fourth number one on the US country singles chart, spending two weeks at the top and a total of 15 weeks on the chart.”

Starting in F major, the tune shifts up a half step at 1:58 to F# major. Many thanks to our regular contributor Rob P. for submitting this track!

Jimmie Rodgers | Honeycomb

“Jimmie Rodgers, known professionally as the ‘Singing Brakeman’ and ‘America’s Blue Yodeler,’ was in the first class of inductees honored by the Country Music Hall of Fame and is widely known as ‘The Father of Country Music,’ (Country Music Hall of Fame). “From many diverse elements—the traditional folk music of his southern upbringing, early jazz, stage-show yodeling, the work chants of Black railroad section crews and, most importantly, African American blues—he forged a lasting musical style that made him immensely popular during his own lifetime and a major influence on generations of country artists to come. Gene Autry, Johnny Cash, Lefty Frizzell, Merle Haggard, Bill Monroe, Dolly Parton, Hank Snow, Ernest Tubb, and Tanya Tucker are only some of the dozens of stars who have acknowledged Rodgers’s impact on their music.

… Best known for his solo appearances on stage and record, Rodgers also worked with many other established performers of the time, touring in 1931 with Will Rogers (who jokingly referred to him as ‘my distant son’) and recording with such country music greats as the Bill Boyd, the Carter Family, and Clayton McMichen, and, in at least one instance, with the legendary jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong, who appears with him on ‘Blue Yodel Number 9 (Standin’ on the Corner).’ One of the first white country stars to work with Black musicians, Rodgers also recorded with the fine St. Louis bluesman Clifford Gibson and the popular Louisville musical group the Dixieland Jug Blowers.”

1957’s upbeat “Honeycomb,” written by Bob Merrill, is a blend of country and rockabilly. The track modulates up a half-step at 0:44 and again at 1:25. Many thanks to regular contributor Rob P. for sending in this tune!

The Roches | I Love My Mom

“While just about every critic and fan has a favorite Roches album that was inexplicably ignored, most will probably agree that Speak (1989) was the one that really should have gone gold,” (AllMusic). “All of the ingredients for a huge album are here: emotional yet accessible songs, radio-friendly folk-pop arrangements, and the sisters’ usual mind-blowing vocal pyrotechnics … this album doesn’t have a dud track from end to end. Sure, fans of their early work will find ‘I Love My Mom’ a bit too conventional and poppy … The jazzy backups are well handled and subtle throughout the album, and it’s a classic. Alas, like all Roches albums, it was critically acclaimed but ignored by the public.”

At 0:40, the approach to the second verse gets a touch of The Roches’ trademark oddity factor with a time hiccup — the first of several extra 2/4 measures throughout. After a start in A major, the tune shifts up a whole step to B major at 2:39 in the middle of an instrumental bridge (2:19 – 2:43). Many thanks to regular contributor Rob P. for this great catch!

Tanya Tucker | The Jamestown Ferry

“Long before teenagers like LeAnn Rimes and Taylor Swift were taking over the country charts, a 13-year-old Tanya Tucker was mixing it up with all the heavyweights,” (Holler Country). “Included on her debut album in 1972, “The Jamestown Ferry,” (a) funky little slice of countrypolitan, was everything the 13-year-old Tanya Tucker was becoming synonymous with in the early 70s.

With a lyric presumably way beyond her experience and a deep soulful vocal that belied her age, ‘The Jamestown Ferry’ tells the story of a woman wandering the honky tonks and bars and sadly reminiscing about how her lover used to treat her before he left her to catch a ferry.”

Tucker’s solo vocal verses alternate with a multi-part vocal arrangement for the choruses. 1:38 brings a half-step key change. Many thanks to regular contributor Rob P. for this submission!

Serendipity Singers | Don’t Let the Rain Come Down (Crooked Little Man)

“The folk boom of the early 1960s spawned numerous purveyors of well-scrubbed folk pop, and one of the most popular ensembles to emerge was The Serendipity Singers, founded at the University of Colorado … (they) signed with Philips Records in 1964 and released their debut single, ‘Don’t Let the Rain Come Down (Crooked Little Man),’ which reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated at the 7th Grammy Awards in 1965 for Best Performance by a Chorus,” (Colorado Music Hall of Fame).

“… The group had numerous appearances on popular TV shows like The Ed Sullivan Show, The Dean Martin Show, The Tonight Show, Shindig! and Hullabaloo. One of the most notable performances was at the White House in front of President Lyndon B. Johnson during the 1964 Democratic National Convention … The Serendipity Singers came onto the nationwide music scene right before the longstanding reign of The Beatles and the British Invasion exploded onto U.S. soil.” The college newspaper The Missouri Miner wrote in a 1969 review: ‘They’re not hippies and they don’t wear flowers, but the sound of The Serendipity Singers is as contemporary as Pop Art … ‘”

The whimsical track “Don’t Let the Rain Come Down (Crooked Little Man)” shifts up a whole-step at the 2:22 mark. Many thanks to our regular contributor Rob P. for sending in this tune!

The Osmonds | Love Me For a Reason

“It’s every bit as cheesy and tinkling as you might expect. It soars, it swoops, it blinds you with the whiteness of its teeth,” (Number1sBlog.com). “Suddenly the UK charts sound(ed) very ‘American’ (in 1974), with three glossy, shining number ones in a row. But while George McCrae and The Three Degrees were pretty cool… this one really ain’t …” The track didn’t do quite as well in the States, hitting #8 on the Pop chart and #8 on the (wow … just wow) Easy Listening chart. “Don’t love me for fun girl, Let me be the one, girl… Love me for a reason, Let the reason be love… If love ever-lasting, Isn’t what you’re asking… I’ll have to pass, girl, And be proud to take a stand… The Osmonds were good ol’ Mormon boys that needed more than just physical attraction (their words). All of which culminates in the spectacular line: My initial reaction is, Honey give me love, Not a facsimile of…

Any song that can crowbar the word ‘facsimile’ into its lyrics cannot be all bad and, to tell the truth, this is a decent pop song with a highly sing-alongable chorus … The band would go on releasing albums until the end of the 70s, before splitting up and moving into different ventures. Donny would be the most successful, with his sister Marie. But this (was) it for them, in terms of topping the charts as a group.”

The track is backed by a strings-drenched orchestral accompaniment with plenty of on-demand harp filigree for the occasional spots where the Osmond lads take brief breaks from singing. The orchestration starts off big, backs off a bit during the verses, then winds up again at the modulation (3:15), which glides up a minor third (from A major to C major) as the tune nears its end. Standout Osmond star Donny seems content to sing backup for a change, letting big brother Merrill cover the lead vocal duties.

Many thanks to regular contributor Rob P. for submitting this track!

The Sandpipers | Come Saturday Morning

“The Sandpipers were a male vocal trio that recorded a handful of easy listening pop hits in the mid-’60s,” (AllMusic). “The group was distinguished by its light, breezy harmonies, which floated over delicate, breezy string arrangements, as well as the occasional appearance of a wordless female backing vocalist who drifted in and out of the music. Though they didn’t manage to have a long, sustained career, the group did have one Top Ten hit with ‘Guantanamera’ in 1966.

In 1970, they contributed songs to the film The Sterile Cuckoo (“Come Saturday Morning”) and Russ Meyer’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Though the Sandpipers continued to record into the ’70s, their audience diminished with each successive year. After spending five years without any chart success, the group disbanded in the mid-’70s.”

Released in September 1969, “Come Saturday Morning” reached #83 on the Pop chart and #9 on the Easy Listening chart. The tune was subsequently covered by Liza Minnelli, Chet Baker, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, and Patti Page, among other artists. Starting in D major, the lilting 6/8 track shifts to F major at 1:51, but by 2:19 the tune has returned to its original key.

Many thanks to MotD regular contributor Rob P. for this submission!

The Original Caste | One Tin Soldier (Theme from “Billy Jack”)

“Released in 1969, ‘One Tin Soldier’ became a popular song during the Vietnam War and was often heard as an anti-war anthem,” (CountryThangDaily). “It was first recorded by the Canadian pop group The Original Caste and was later on recorded by various artists,” including the band Coven.

“Interestingly, the song charted every year from 1969 to 1974 on various charts, not only in the United States but also in Canada. It went to #6 on the RPM Magazine charts … and peaked at #34 on the American pop charts in early 1970. The song was even a bigger Adult Contemporary hit, reaching #25 in the United States and #5 in Canada.”

The story-based song features a gentle start and a gradual build which is eventually led by a rich winds section in addition to the traditional rock instrumentation. A half-step modulation kicks in at 1:39. Many thanks to our regular contributor Rob P. for this submission!

Lou Christie | Rhapsody in the Rain

“While Lou Christie’s shrieking falsetto was among the most distinctive voices in all of pop music, he was also one of the first solo performers of the rock era to compose his own material, generating some of the biggest and most memorable hits of the mid-’60s,” (AllMusic). Born Lugee Alfredo Giovanni Sacco in the Pittsburgh suburb of Glenwillard, PA in 1943, he relocated after high school to New York and “landed session work as a backing vocalist. Christie wrote and recorded ‘Two Faces Have I;’ it landed in the Top Ten…” In 1966, he released “the lush, chart-topping ‘Lightnin’ Strikes.'”

“Christie’s next smash, 1966’s ‘Rhapsody in the Rain,’ was notorious for being among the more sexually explicit efforts of the period.” Songfacts reports: “The Catholic Church helped get this banned on many radio stations, which only made people want to hear it more. Christie (in Goldmine magazine): ‘I had priests and nuns calling to complain. Even Time magazine did an article on it, saying I was corrupting the youth.'”

After starting in Eb major, an otherwise nearly featureless bridge (2:04-2:19) brings a brief whole-step modulation to F before returning to the original key. But at 2:34, a late shift to E major kicks in just as the tune begins to fade.

Many thanks to our regular contributor Rob P. for this submission!

The Playmates | What is Love?

“The Playmates, an American rock and roll vocal group formed in the late 1950s, gained immense popularity during the rock and roll era,” (OldTimeMusic). The group mixed doo-wop and rock and roll styles at a time when the pop charts were starting to feel the purchasing power of a new teenaged audience. In 1954, the very first tune on the pop charts from the rock genre, Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock,” set the stage for the genre’s ongoing popularity.

The songwriters of this 1959 release, Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance, also wrote “(Alone) In My Room,” sung by Verdelle Smith, the subject of an earlier post. “What is Love” reached #15 on the US pop charts. During a run time of just over two minutes, the track’s tonality travels up by half-step from F# major up to A major, with the first modulation hitting at only 0:12!

Many thanks to regular contributor Rob P. for this submission!