Reba McEntire | Somehow You Do

“Somehow You Do,” from the 2021 film Four Good Days, was nominated for Best Original song at the 2022 Academy Awards and performed at the ceremony (and in the film) by country star Reba McEntire. It marks the fifth consecutive best song nomination for composer Diane Warren and her 13th overall — she has yet to win.

McEntire’s performance was introduced by Mila Kunis, who stars in the film as a young woman recovering from heroin addiction. “[The song is a] story of hope, perseverance and survival that celebrates the strength of the human spirit,” Kunis, who was born in Ukraine, said. “Recent global events have left many of us feeling gutted. Yet when you witness the strength of those facing such devastation, it’s impossible not to be moved by their resilience. One cannot help but be in awe of those who find strength to keep fighting through unimaginable darkness.”

Starting in C, the song dramatically modulates up a half step to Db at 1:56.

Coleman Hawkins | Body and Soul

“Out of all the hit recordings of ‘Body and Soul,’ Coleman Hawkins’ is the best remembered,” (JazzStandards.com). Considered the first truly great jazz saxophonist, Hawkins’ October 11, 1939, version cemented his fame and must be considered the definitive recording of the song. According to Mark C. Gridley, author of Jazz Styles: History and Analysis, ‘Coleman Hawkins loved to improvise on complicated chord progressions and invent solo lines whose construction implied that chords had been added …'”

In 1973, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences inducted Hawkins’ 1939 recording into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The original recording is on Coleman Hawkins’ Body and Soul CD. An interesting reworking of the tune can be heard as the title cut on Hawkins’ 1944 Rainbow Mist recording on which he lays a new melody over the chord changes of ‘Body and Soul.'”

The 32-bar tune, composed in 1930 by Johnny Green, is built in Db major overall. After a brief intro, the first A section begins at 0:11 and the second at 0:32. The B section, which features several departures from the original key via a huge amount of harmonic sleight of hand, begins at 0:52. Finally, 1:12 brings the form’s last A section, returning to the original key.

Bros | When Will I Be Famous?

Rolling Stone Australia gathered a list of “75 Greatest Boy Band Songs of All Time” in 2020: “Irresistibly catchy, unapologetically inauthentic, sexy and they know it — the boy band is the most fabulously pre-fab of all musical outfits. From the scripted TV shenanigans of the Monkees to the charming folkiness of One Direction, as long as there are junior high school notebooks to deface, there will be outfits providing pop spectacle in its purest, least filtered form.”

Coming in at #72 on the list is the 1987 track from UK-based trio Bros, “When Will I Be Famous?” The group “epitomized the late Eighties Young Conservative air of steely determination: money, power, and success at any cost. Twins Matt and Luke Goss, along with schoolmate Craig Logan, prioritized fame and fashion over brotherly bonhomie (the increasingly sidelined Logan quit, then sued the brothers). The mean streak in their lyrics, their distinctive crewcuts and bomber jackets, and their penchant for wearing Grolsch bottlecaps on their shoes made them ripe for parody and vitriol in the press … Britain had seen nothing like it since the Bay City Rollers … the Casio cowbell serves as the instant timewarp back to 1987.”

At 2:47, the relentless electronic groove downshifts a bit in terms of intensity and loudness, but goes on to add even more ruthless layers of synth shimmer instead. By its end, the bridge has tapered down to a percussion and vocals-only break. Next, the band heaves itself through a stuttering, meter-shifted portal at 3:34 before regaining its balance (just in case you didn’t notice the half-step key change).

Many thanks to regular contributor Ziyad for this submission!

Steal With Style (from “The Robber Bridegroom”)

“Steal With Style” is from the 1975 Broadway musical The Robber Bridegroom, adapted by Alfred Uhry (book & lyrics) and Robert Waldman (music) from a 1942 novella by Eudora Welty. The score is one of only a handful in Broadway history to be bluegrass-inspired — the band consists of a guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, and harp. The show was revived Off-Broadway in 2016 starring Steven Pasquale, featured here, and is regularly performed at regional theaters.

The song alternates between E major and E minor throughout before ultimately modulating to G major at 2:25 for the final chorus.

Dionne Warwick | Anyone Who Had a Heart

Dionne Warwick’s first US Top 10 single, “Anyone Who Had a Heart” (1964), was written by frequent Warwick collaborators Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Burt Bacharach, in Record Collector magazine, stated “‘It’s very rich, it’s very emotional. It’s soft, it’s loud, it’s explosive. It changes time signature constantly, 4/4 to 5/4, and 7/8 bar at the end of the song on the turnaround. It wasn’t intentional, it was all just natural. That’s the way I felt it.’

According to AllMusic, Bacharach “‘never bothered counting the bars, regarding seeing whether or not there were eight bars in the first section, etc. He once said: ‘I never paid any attention to a changed time signature. I think it was Dionne who told me the turn-around bar was in 7/8. She counted it out, and I couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t intentional, that’s just the way it came out.'” (Songfacts).

The verses are in A minor; the choruses (first appearing at 0:26) are in Ab major. Similar to the unsettled meter, the modulations are anything but off-the-rack. “…more often than not, the key changes in Bacharach’s songs are so woven into the fabric of the song that the listener doesn’t even register that there is a shift in key,” (David Bennett Piano).

Vox One | Shenandoah

The Boston-based five member a cappella group Vox One was founded in 1988 by a group of students who met at the Berklee College of Music (they went on to all serve as professors there.) The group’s arrangements combine elements of blues, funk, gospel, and folk; they have toured internationally and released five acclaimed albums.

Their cover of the traditional folk song “Shenandoah” appears on Say You Love Me, released in 1999. It moves through many tonal areas, beginning in Gb and ultimately landing in Bb at the end.

Gabriel Fauré | Berceuse (Henrik Dam Thomsen, cello)

“Gabriel Fauré is sometimes overshadowed by the generation of composers that followed the trail he had quietly illuminated. He was more than the composer of one much-loved piece, the Requiem. He was crucial to a movement that aimed to establish a characteristically French style of composition,” (DeutscheGrammophon.com). A student of Camille Saint-Saëns, Fauré later became “a founding member of the Société National de Musique, along with Saint-Saëns … The aim of the Société’s concerts of new music was to encourage an indigenously French style of musical composition and shake off German influence. It paid special attention to chamber music, (which) had until then been under-represented in 19th-century Paris, where opera was the predominant measure of a composer’s success …

Fauré’s music was characterized from the start by an innate sense of balance and beauty … Saint-Saëns was naturally a tremendous influence. So were Liszt, whom Fauré met through Saint-Saëns, and Chopin, on whose piano genres Fauré substantially built.” In terms of his lasting impact on music, “Fauré’s influence lived on not only through his works but also through his pupils. He helped them strengthen voices that were as individual as his own. This might explain the profound differences among Ravel, Enescu, Charles Koechlin, Florent Schmitt and Arthur Honegger.”

The Berceuse (lullabye), written in 1879, is performed here by Henrik Dam Thomsen on cello and Ulrich Stærk on piano. Shifts among closely related keys are a subtle but nearly constant presence in this piece. “The mixing and reuse of material is an example of familiarity … familiarity works because new ideas are only subtly different, or they are accompanied by familiar gestures, harmonic overlap, or both. The harmonic movement therefore is experienced as subtle shifts rather than exhausting journey of departure and arrival. It is like floating on a calm river instead of climbing up a mountain.” (Brandon Kinsey). According to the video’s description, “The Berceuse is charming, irresistible, and impossible to fall asleep to.”

Eddie Bo | Hook and Sling

“Edwin Joseph Bocage, known to music lovers around the world as ‘Eddie Bo’, was born in New Orleans, raised in Algiers and the 9th Ward,” (EddieBo.com). “Having come from a family that is legendary in the traditional jazz community … after graduating from Booker T. Washington High School and spending time abroad in the Army, he returned to New Orleans to study composition and arranging at the Grunewald School of Music. It was here that Eddie Bo developed a unique style of piano playing and arranging that incorporated complex be-bop voicings, influenced by Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson. His mother and Professor Longhair, whose playing styles were similar, were major influences on Bo as well.

In a career that spanned well over five decades, Eddie Bo made more 45s than any artist in New Orleans, other than Fats Domino. He produced records for Irma Thomas, Robert Parker, Art Neville, Chris Kenner, Al ‘Carnival Time’ Johnson and the late Johnny Adams … ” In terms of songwriting, he “demonstrated genius in the realm of contemporary New Orleans funk on the highly creative works ‘Hook and Sling’ and ‘Pass the Hatchet.'” Some of the awards Bo garnered during his career include the U.S. Congressional Lifetime Achievement Award in Jazz + Blues, the New Orleans Jazz + Heritage Foundation Award, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the South Louisiana Music Association, and coverage in the PBS documentary on contemporary music along the Mississippi, River of Song.

Evoking a tow truck fleet capable of moving any vehicle, Bo’s “Hook and Sling,” released in 1969, is infused with New Orleans flavor. The groove was so good that the track was later sampled by the hiphop artist Everlast (formerly of House of Pain), then again by Kanye West, Common, Pusha T, Big Sean feat. Kid Cudi, and Charlie Wilson for the track “G.O.O.D. Friday” (WhoSampled.com). The tune shifts up a half step at 1:36.

Here’s the G.O.O.D. Friday sample:

Susannah McCorkle | The Waters of March

“The Waters of March” (Águas de Março), written in 1972 by acclaimed Brazilian composer and father of bossa nova Antonio Carlos Jobim, was named the best Brazilian song ever composed in a poll of over 200 journalists from the country in 2001. The swirling, downward motion of the melody reflects the falling rain common in Brazil in March.

American jazz vocalist Susannah McCorkle covered the tune for her 1993 album From Bessie to Brazil, which peaked at #20 on the Billboard jazz chart. Starting in G, the track modulates up a half step to Ab at 2:43.

Verdelle Smith | (Alone) In My Room

“Verdelle Smith had a minor hit on the US charts in 1966, ‘Tar and Cement’ (not to be confused with ‘Concrete and Clay,’ the hit for Unit 4 + 2 around the same time — a bigger hit in Canada and Australia).

‘(Alone) In My Room’ (distinct from the Beach Boys’ single ‘In My Room’), appeared on her one album for Capitol, produced by Marvin Holtzman. It’s an adaptation of a Spanish song by Joaquin Pieto, with English lyrics by Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance. Several covers of the song have appeared (by the Walker Brothers, Nancy Sinatra, and Marc Almond).

The organ introduction may make you think of Bela Lugosi, or Lon Chaney, Jr., if not J.S. Bach. The song is in 3/4, in B♭ minor. The verse is subdued, building to the chorus featuring a powerful vocal enhanced by strong brass. There’s another softly-sung verse, a break, then a modulation to a B minor at 1:47 with the brass leading the way. Then a wordless vocal line continues to the fadeout — all in a scant two minutes and 20 seconds.”

Many thanks to our regular contributor Paul for this submission!