Ziyad – Page 2

Kenny Rogers | The Gambler

“‘The Gambler’ was written by the Nashville songwriter Don Schlitz. With the classic chorus lines, ‘You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em,’ the song is told from the first-person perspective about a conversation with an old poker player on a train,” (Songfacts). “The card shark gives life advice to the narrator in the form of poker metaphors, before presumably dying in his sleep. According to the Reader’s Digest Country and Western Songbook, Schlitz wrote the tune in honor of his late father, ‘the best man I ever knew.’ ‘He wasn’t a gambler,’ he explained. ‘But the song was my way of dealing with the relationship that I had with him.'” Kenny Rogers’ 1978 version became a #1 Country hit and even made its way to the Hot 100 “at a time when country songs rarely crossed over.”

The tune won a Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song … but “before he recorded it himself, Kenny Rogers offered ‘The Gambler’ to Willie Nelson, who turned it down. ‘I was doing a song every night called Red Headed Stranger which has 100 verses in it … I just didn’t want to do another long song, so he said, Okay, I’ll record it myself.'”

The tune, which Rolling Stone describes as “the one country song even non-country fans know by heart,” modulates up a half step at 1:37.

Many thanks to our frequent contributor Ziyad for this submission!

BoA 보아 | Milky Way

“BoA (보아) is a South Korean singer, songwriter, record producer and actress,” (KPopping). She’s been “recognized as one of the most successful and influential Korean entertainers throughout her career, and is therefore commonly credited as the ‘Queen of K-pop.'”

The giant Korean music conglomerate SM Entertainment discovered BoA, then partnered with her in releasing 20 studio albums since her debut in 2000, including ten in Korean, nine in Japanese, and one in English. “BoA’s multilingual skills (she speaks Japanese and English along with native Korean and has recorded songs in Mandarin) have contributed to her commercial success throughout Asia outside of South Korea, such as China, Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan.”

Her 2003 release “Milky Way” starts in Eb major, knocks us off balance a little with some fast-moving harmonic magic during the bridge (2:22 – 2:31), and lands in E major at 2:32.

Many thanks to our regular contributor Ziyad for this submission!

H.E.R. | Hold Us Together

“One of the most acclaimed R&B artists since 2016, the year her first EP found a rapt audience, H.E.R. has been celebrated for vulnerable yet assured love ballads and sharp protest songs alike,” (AllMusic). “The singer/songwriter maximizes the power of her honeyed vocals as a simultaneously poetic and straightforward lyricist, shifts to convincing MC mode on a dime, and is also a guitarist and producer. H.E.R. (2017), I Used to Know Her (2019), and Back of My Mind (2021), her three full-length recordings, have each featured platinum singles, including ‘Focus,’ ‘Could’ve Been,’ and ‘Damage.’ She has won four Grammys, most notably Song of the Year for ‘I Can’t Breathe’ (2020).”

H.E.R.’s track “Hold Us Together” is from the 2020 film Safety, which follows “the story of Ray-Ray McElrathbey, a freshman football player for Clemson University, who secretly raised his younger brother on campus after his home life became too unsteady,” (IMDB).

The gospel-infused ballad modulates up a half step at 3:27 via a hinge that features only the lead vocal as the accompaniment temporarily falls away. Many thanks to Ziyad for yet another of his many submissions!

George Harrison | My Sweet Lord

According to the video description on George Harrison’s Vevo channel, in honor of the 50th anniversary of George Harrison’s classic solo album All Things Must Pass, “a suite of new releases including a stunning new mix of the classic album by Grammy Award-winning mixer/engineer Paul Hicks, overseen by executive producer Dhani Harrison,” George’s son.

“…That’s the problem with being a really good songwriter in a band with two great ones,” (American Songwriter). “Since Harrison was only allotted one track per side of a typical Beatles album, his accumulation was substantial as the group disbanded around September of 1969. When he started recording what most consider his first solo project in 1970 … those tunes gushed out of him … The resulting collection is on anyone’s shortlist of finest Beatles solo releases, many placing it near the top.”

After starting in E major, “My Sweet Lord,” considered by many to be the centerpiece of the album, shifts to F# at 2:33. The video, released this month, stars dozens of noted actors, artists, and musicians, including Mark Hamill, Fred Armisen, Jeff Lynne, Ringo Starr, Joe Walsh, Jon Hamm, Shepard Fairey, Olivia and Dhani Harrison (George’s widow and son), and many others. Many thanks to our contributor Ziyad for this submission!

Natalie Cole | No More Blue Christmas

“No More Blue Christmas,” written by Gerry Goffin and Michael Masser, is the the one original song included on singer Natalie Cole’s 1994 holiday album, Holly & Ivy. Billboard called the song a “soulful, torch-like burner.” Beginning in G major, the tune modulates up to Ab at 3:14.

Thanks again to Ziyad for this contribution!

Meghan Trainor | My Kind of Present

“My Kind of Present” is featured on Meghan Trainor’s 2020 album A Very Trainor Christmas. The album was a family effort, with various members serving as songwriters, backup singers, producers and instrumentalists; this track was written by Trainor and her two brothers Justin and Ryan. “The record is firmly within the realm of spirited seasonal soundtrack,” wrote AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine. The track begins in Db major and modulates up a whole step at 2:09.

Thanks to our regular contributor Ziyad for this submission!

Shania Twain | Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under

“Shania Twain has been in our lives seemingly forever,” (WideOpenCountry). “So long that it’s hard to even imagine that she has a beginning. Shania just… is. Well, we all start somewhere and country music’s favorite Canadian is no different. Her first major hit, “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under,” from her second studio album The Woman in Me, reached No. 11 on the Billboard country music charts in 1995 and vaulted Shania into stardom. Twain’s first single to get recognition was actually so popular it won Song of the Year at the Canadian Country Music Awards.”

Shania co-wrote the song with then-husband, songwriter/producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange. Lange, who has produced AC/DC, Def Leppard, The Boomtown Rats, Foreigner, Michael Bolton, The Cars, Bryan Adams, Huey Lewis and the News, Billy Ocean, Celine Dion, Britney Spears, The Corrs, Maroon 5, Lady Gaga, Nickelback, and Muse, later produced Twain’s subsequent album Come On Over. According to the RIAA, the album became the best-selling country music album ever released and the best-selling studio album ever released by a female artist in any genre

After an instrumental break, a now-familiar chorus starts at 3:05 — but doesn’t get a chance to complete itself before 3:15 brings a second start for the chorus, this time a full step higher. Many thanks to Ziyad for another great contribution!

Various Artists | Expo 2020 Dubai Theme Song: This Is Our Time

ShareAmerica explains that “world Expos are global gatherings of nations that welcome tens of millions of visitors and include country pavilions that transform their host cities for years. The Dubai Expo will be the first held in the Middle East … The six-month event will open this month, following a one-year postponement because of the COVID-19 pandemic.” The USA Pavilion’s exhibits will include “moon rocks, a Mars rover and Thomas Jefferson’s Quran.”

Written by Joseph Dickinson and Lucy Torchia, the Expo’s expansive, anthemic theme “This Is Our Time” was recorded in on several continents: Las Vegas, Dubai, Macedonia, Egypt, and the UK. The primary performers were Emeratis Hussain Al Jassmi and Almas, as well as Mayssa Karaa, an American born in Beirut, Lebanon. The tune modulates up a whole step at 3:37.

Many thanks to our busy contributor Ziyad, who is from the UAE.

Anne Murray | A Little Good News Today

Canadian performer Anne Murray’s “A Little Good News” was written nearly four decades ago (1982), but its sentiment still resonates clearly today. “Written by Tommy Rocco, Charlie Black, and Rory Bourke, the heartfelt country ode finds Murray singing about one’s despair over the inhumanity, cruelty, and distress she often reads about in newspapers and hears on the news,” (CountryThangDaily). “Charlie Black remembered the day they wrote the song. The three songwriters were sitting around with their cup of coffee while watching [coverage about] the 1982 Lebanon War … and every news story was worse than the one past it, making them shake their heads of how bad things were. It was at that moment when Black said, ‘Wow, we sure could use a little good news today.’”

Anne Murray released the song in 1983 as the lead single from the album of the same name. A true crossover track, it reached #1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, sustaining that rank for 20 weeks — but also reached #11 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart and #74 on Billboard Hot 100. The tune was awarded a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and the Country Music Association’s Single of the Year.

There’s an early unprepared half-step modulation at 1:39. Many thanks to Ziyad for another great submission!

Little River Band | Help Is On Its Way

On its website, Little River Band provides this overview: “The Eagles’ founding member, the late Glenn Frey, knew what he was saying when he dubbed Little River Band ‘the best singing band in the world.’ The current lineup of LRB takes that accolade to heart each and every time they perform. Through the ‘70s and ‘80s, LRB enjoyed huge chart success with multi-platinum albums and chart topping hits.”

“One of the first Australian bands to find widespread commercial success in America, Little River Band brought a polished, vocal-heavy pop sound to the late-’70s airwaves, melding the rich harmonies of the Eagles and Crosby, Stills & Nash with a bit of AOR drive and soft rock melodicism.” (AllMusic).

1977’s “Help is On Its Way” hit #1 in Australia and #14 in the US. The tune starts in B major, shifts to C major for the first chorus at 0:41, and then returns to B major for verse 2 at 0:59. There’s an early bridge at 1:35, suddenly diminished to only piano and few touches of percussion. The full groove is back at 2:06 with a brief guitar feature in G major; 2:25 brings us back to a verse in B major, with another shift to an C major chorus and then an extended B major outro.

Many thanks to first-time contributor Ziyad for this submission!