Category: Rob

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!

Archie Bell + the Drells | I Could Dance All Night

“While their funky Texas (and later Philadelphia) sound was often overshadowed by the music coming from Detroit and Memphis, (Archie Bell + the Drells’) contribution to the musical landscape of the time was significant … ” (SoulTracks).

In 1968, the band’s release ‘Tighten Up,’ … (reminiscent of the sound James Brown was popularizing at the time) … turned into an international smash.” Later, the band worked with “songwriters Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff and became the an important foundation for Gamble & Huff’s fledgling production empire and, later, their Philadelphia International Records label. ” After a string of hits, “The Drells broke up in the early 80s, but Bell continued on as a solo artist and then with a reconstituted set of Drells, playing the oldies circuit.  By the mid-90s, Bell was solo again, singing his classic hits at venues in the U.S. and internationally.”

1975’s “I Could Dance All Night” is a good example of tunes that became popular during the Hustle dance craze, a prominent dance style within the Disco era. At 1:53, the groove falls away, returning as the key elevates by a whole step.

Many thanks to MotD regular Rob Penttinen for this submission!

For reference, here’s the band’s 1968 sadly modulation-free tune “Tighten Up” in a trippy-looking live performance. The backup singers didn’t have a chance to hit even one note, but still should have received overtime pay for the dance moves alone!

Tommy Boyce + Bobby Hart | Alice Long

“The 1960s has the duo of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart to thank for some of the biggest pop-rock hits to come out of the decade,” (American Songwriter). “The hit songwriting duo is behind some of The Monkees’ greatest hits including ‘Last Train to Clarksville.’ But they had multiple claims to fame before and after they were topping the charts with The Monkees and were even singers in their own right.

Both born in 1939, Boyce was a native of Charlottesville, Virginia, while Hart was raised in Phoenix, Arizona. Though they were from opposite ends of the country, the two came together through their mutual love of music and desire to make it a career that brought them to Los Angeles. After high school, Hart entered the Army, later moving to LA to pursue a career as a singer where Boyce was living and trying to make it as a songwriter.”

Along the way, the duo collaborated with Fats Domino, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Jay and the Americans, the aforementioned Monkees, etc. “Their success with The Monkees served as a launching pad for their own career as artists. From 1967 to 1969, Boyce and Hart released seven singles off three albums. Their most famous hit was ‘I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonight’ in 1967, which reached the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.”

The duo released “Alice Long (You’re Still My Favorite Girlfriend)” in 1968. After starting in G major, the uptempo pop track jumps up chromatically and lands in Bb major at 2:00.

Many thanks to MotD regular Rob Penttinen, who has developed an uncanny ability to find half-forgotten ancient pop tracks on obscure AM radio stations!

Huey Lewis + The News | The Power of Love

“Back To The Future, the biggest hit at the 1985 box office, is a beautifully assembled Swiss watch of a movie, a perfect little machine full of subliminal clues that pay off much later,” (Stereogum). “Director Rob Zemeckis and his co-writer, producer Bob Gale, find small and clever little ways to convey information, and we get a lot of those in the film’s first few minutes. We also get the big, pumping jam that would become the first #1 hit for Huey Lewis And The News, a band that was already on fire …

‘The Power Of Love’ is a goofy song, but it’s a catchy one. Lewis mugs hard all through it, and he wails out nonsensical cocaine-logic philosophical nuggets about how love is tougher than diamonds, rich like cream, and stronger and harder than a bad girl’s dream. When you’re making good bubblegum, you can get away with refusing to make sense, and ‘The Power Of Love’ is good bubblegum. The track has hooks on hooks on hooks, with all the keyboard stabs and shiny-bluesy riffs in the exact right places.”

The verses are in C minor, but the choruses (first heard from 3:12 – 3:30) shift to C major. Between 4:11 – 4:33, the bridge transitions to Eb major. True to HL+TN’s trademark sound, there’s plentiful helpings of everything: the generous guitar solo, the wall-to-wall huskiness of Lewis’ lead vocal, the up-in-the-mix drums, and synth kicks just about everywhere. The band might have been somewhat less delicate than a Swiss watch, but it was nonetheless one of the most perfect pop machines of its era, scoring 19 top ten hits overall. “Power of Love” reached #1 for two weeks in August 1985 and was later nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

The Supremes | The Happening

“If the Beach Boys’ ‘Good Vibrations‘ was a ‘pocket symphony,’ as it was so masterfully marketed, then the Supremes’ classic singles were pocket melodramas,” (Stereogum). “Those songs were heavily and fascinatingly orchestrated in their own ways, but the arrangements, nimble and groundbreaking as they might’ve been, were there to serve the stories. The Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team found simple, direct ways to write about complicated feelings — heartbreak, elation, faint embers of hope. And Diana Ross sang those songs with poise and sensitivity, maintaining her composure even as she subtly hinted at huge and overwhelming feelings.

For years, the Supremes were an absolute machine. They cranked these songs out with a terrifying efficiency, and almost all of them hit their marks. And maybe that’s why ‘The Happening’ stands out in the group’s catalog. It’s a rare miss, a song that deviates from the plan and goes all the way awry. It’s the moment where everything falls apart … ‘The Happening’ sounds like exactly what it is: a cynical tie-in with a bad movie. But it doesn’t sound like a Supremes song — even though, in some literal sense of the term, it’s the last Supremes song.” Nonetheless, the track hit #1 in 1967, if only for one week!

The tune modulates up a half-step while trying its darnedest to be a light-hearted and goofy part of its “crime/comedy” genre.

Little Anthony + The Imperials | Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Bop

New York City-based singer Jerome “Little Anthony” Gourdine joined a group called The Chesters in 1957 “as the lead vocalist. The group recorded ‘Tears on My Pillow,’ which became an instant success. The Chesters changed their name to Little Anthony + The Imperials in 1959, and released their second hit single, ‘Shimmy, Shimmy, Ko Ko Bop,’ which sold one million records,” (TheHistoryMakers.org).

The group went on to more success with songs including “‘I’m Outside Looking In,’ ‘Goin’ Out of My Head,’ and ‘Hurt So Bad.’ They appeared on the The Ed Sullivan Show, the Kraft Music Hall Television Show, and Dick Clark’s television specials. In 1969, Little Anthony + The Imperials signed with United Artists and recorded several chart singles. Gourdine left the group in 1975 to begin a sixteen year long acting and solo singing career.”

“Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Bop” features several half-step key changes during its run time of less than two minutes.The first modulation hits at 0:58.

The Choir | It’s Cold Outside

“The Choir was a garage rock band largely active in the greater Cleveland (Ohio) area from the mid-1960s into the early 1970s. Originally called the Mods, their largest commercial success came with the release of their first single ‘It’s Cold Outside’ in December 1966. The song (is) considered to be a classic of the garage rock era … The Choir is well known for containing three of the four original members of The Raspberries (all except lead singer Eric Carmen).”

A Cleveland Scene interview with one of the band’s members, Randy Klawon, details the city’s surprisingly active music scene during the late 1960s: ” … We played a show with the Who at the Music Hall in 1967. It was Herman’s Hermits and the Who. We were on that bill. I was 12 feet in the wings from [guitarist] Pete Townshend. I saw [drummer] Keith Moon throw his kit into the orchestra pit. It was amazing. Everybody saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. As these bands toured America, the Choir was on a lot of those shows. We were on the same bill with the Dave Clark Five and the Yardbirds and all kinds of bands.”

“It’s Cold Outside” starts in D major and shifts up to E major at 2:04.


The Mamas + The Papas | Monday, Monday

“While awaiting the release of ”California Dreamin’,’ band member Denny Doherty was prodding songwriter John Phillips to come up with some new material,” (Songfacts). “Phillips said he would come back in the morning with ‘a song with universal appeal.’ Ignoring the sarcastic comments from the group members, Phillips came up with ‘Monday, Monday’ (1966). It’s about the lousy feeling that comes with the end of the weekend and beginning of another workweek.

This was the first Hot 100 chart-topper with a day in the week in the title, and the only one with ‘Monday.’ (‘Manic Monday’ by the Bangles and “Rainy Days And Mondays” by the Carpenters both stalled at #2.) … Denny Doherty, who sang lead on this song, thought very little of ‘Monday Monday’ when they recorded it. ‘Nobody likes Monday, so I thought it was just a song about the working man,’ he said. ‘Nothing about it stood out to me; it was a dumb f–kin’ song about a day of the week.’ As you can imagine, he was taken by surprise when the song became a huge hit. Doherty wasn’t alone in his incredulity: Mama Cass and Michelle Phillips didn’t like the song either, and John Phillips claimed he had no idea what the song meant.”

Starting in F# major, the tune features some brief harmonic sidesteps along the way, but doesn’t modulate in earnest until 1:41, when it shifts up to G# major.