Childish Gambino | Sober

“Donald Glover doesn’t need your approval. He has always had plenty of admirers, be it through his standup, TV work, or his music, which he makes as Childish Gambino,” Consequence declares in its review of his 2014 EP Kauai. “Fans of his comedy routines and 30 Rock and Community episodes followed him to the mixtape circuit, a world which rewards humor but not necessarily Gambino’s particular brand of pop culture-dissecting kind. In turn, depending on who you ask, he’s one of hip-hop’s smartest MCs or a short-shorts-wearing outsider who’s unable to see why he’s unwelcome.”

Glover’s come a long distance since 2014. As Childish Gambino, he’s been extremely prolific, releasing multiple albums, EPs, and “mixtapes,” growing in prominence as he goes. His track “This is America” (2018), which went to #1 in the US and many other countries, was released with a single-take music video which Time described as “laden with metaphors about race and gun violence in America.”

After starting in a F major, 2014’s “Sober” drops a break (2:50) comprised of only scant background vocals, the buzz of heavily distorted electronic bass, and percussion, which somewhat obscures the whole-step modulation to G major at 3:09. The break’s contorted landscape continues until 3:29, when there’s a return of Glover’s clear, seemingly effortless falsetto over pulsing eighth-note synths and major 7th voicings at just about every opportunity.

Many thanks to Mark L. for this submission — his first!

Sia | Free Me

Australian singer/songwriter Sia released “Free Me” as a single and music video in July 2017. The video, narrated by Julianne Moore, depicts an expecting mother (played by Zoe Saldana) who is told she is HIV-positive after going in for a routine check-up. The mother’s emotional journey is communicated through choreography, set by Ryan Heffington. “The HIV/AIDS epidemic is one that can affect anyone, particularly child-bearing women around the globe,” Sia said upon the song’s release.

“I’ve proudly joined forces with the Abzyme Research Foundation and the #endHIV Campaign for the release of my song, ‘Free Me,’ to help raise funds and awareness for a potential breakthrough cure of the epidemic.” All proceeds of the song support efforts to eliminate HIV/AIDS. A half-step modulation from Eb to E occurs at 4:02.

B.J. Thomas | What’s Forever For

“B.J. Thomas (born Billy Joe Thomas) straddled the line between pop/rock and country, achieving success in both genres in the late ’60s and ’70s,” according to AllMusic’s bio. “At the beginning of his career, he leaned more heavily on rock & roll, but by the mid-’70s, he had turned to country music, becoming one of the most successful country-pop stars of the decade.”

In 1968, his career blossomed with “Hooked on a Feeling” and then Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” from the film Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid. NewsOpener.com adds: ” … no cover versions of ‘Raindrops’ have ever appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 — probably because Thomas’ version was so definitive … the 1998 box set The Look of Love: The Burt Bacharach Collection noted that Raindrops ‘was never really of its time. Mainly everything else was Flower Power, the protest songs, people were taking acid … but that song was a monster.’”

After his signature hit, Thomas then had a string of other soft rock hits in the next two years, including Bacharach’s “Everybody’s Out of Town” (1970). In 2013, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences inducted ‘Raindrops’ into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Thomas died last week at the age of 78.

“What’s Forever For,” written by Rafe Van Hoy, was a late-career cover by Thomas (2000); the tune received its debut in 1980 by Ann Murray and other covers by Johnny Mathis, John Conlee, and several others. Pushed gently into country/pop category by a few expert touches of pedal steel, the understated track modulates up a whole step at 3:03.

TinWhistler | Down By The Sally Gardens

“Down By The Sally Gardens” is a traditional Irish folk song based on a poem by W.B Yeats, performed here by the duo TinWhistler. “We’re PJ and JJ, two brothers from the Mediterranean island of Mallorca,” they say in the description of their group on YouTube. “We mostly play traditional Irish music but also other kinds of “Celtic music”: Scottish, Breton, Galician, Asturian… Mostly on Irish tin whistles/low whistles (PJ) and guitar (JJ).” You can learn more and order their album on their Bandcamp page. Key change at 2:12.

Tears for Fears (feat. Oleta Adams) | Woman in Chains

After their early 80s hits (“Pale Shelter,” “Change,” and the original version of “Mad World,” prominently covered by Gary Jules), UK duo Tears for Fears caught the peak of the New Wave with the international smash album Songs from the Big Chair. Released in 1985, Songs included three singles which went into the Top 20 in the UK, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia — and straight to the top of the US charts: “Shout” (#1), “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” (#1), and “Head Over Heels” (#3).

After the huge success of Songs, the band released the platinum-selling album The Seeds of Love in 1989. The title track, a quirky, upbeat stylistic omnibus which seemed to update the psychedelic sound for the 90s, provided no clues about the second single. “Woman in Chains” cracked the top 20 only in Canada and the Netherlands — but the track didn’t seem to have been designed for heavy radio airplay, not least because of its 6.5-minute run time. The band, whose very name was inspired by primal therapy, never shied away from heavier subject matter — and “Women in Chains” was no exception. Songfacts reports lead singer and songwriter Roland Orzabal’s reflection on the song: “I was reading some feminist literature at the time and I discovered that there are societies in the world still in existence today that are non-patriarchal … these societies are a lot less violent, a lot less greedy and there’s generally less animosity … but the song is also about how men traditionally play down the feminine side of their characters and how both men and women suffer for it … ”

The studio track featured Pino Palladino on fretless bass and Phil Collins on drums as well as showcasing the powerful, expressive alto of Oleta Adams, who would go on to score her career-making hit “Get Here” in 1991. Adams “influenced the album before she ever agreed to be on it,” continues Songfacts. “The duo watched Adams perform in Kansas City. ‘We were both knocked out by her emotional power,’ Orzabal recalled. ‘She just cut through the intellect and got straight to the heart. It made us realize that all the machinery and the complicatedness we were using were not allowing the expression to come through. It made me go back to the drawing board; it made me want to use real instruments and real soulful vocals.'”

After adding layer after layer of ostinato onto a few repeating sections, 4:00 brings a bridge and a quieter sound, suggesting a potential ending. But a resounding return drops at 4:42, complete with a massive whole-step modulation.

Ronny + The Daytonas | Little G.T.O.

“Nashville’s greatest contribution to the hot rod and surfing craze of the early ’60s came in the form of Ronny + the Daytonas,” AllMusic reports. The band was “centered around singer-guitarist-songwriter John ‘Bucky’ Wilkin … After writing (“GTO”) in physics class as a senior in high school, Wilkin’s mom pulled a few strings, landed him a publishing deal, and had a session set up with (a) Nashville producer … The record sprang to number four on the national charts.” Nashville session musicians backed Wilkins up on the recording of the track, and he quickly came up with a name for the “band,” which initially was anything but a stable list of personnel.

The band’s accelerated breakthrough story might have been very much of its era. But ClassicCarHistory.com categorizes the 1964 track as timeless, placing the tune on its Top Ten Car Songs list. “The song reached #4 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and sold over one million copies.”

1:46 brings a half-step key change to this classic three-chord surf rocker. Many thanks to regular contributor Rob Penttinen for this submission!

For Forever (from “Dear Evan Hansen”)

Pasek & Paul’s 6-time Tony Award-winning, blockbuster 2016 musical Dear Evan Hansen opened in London in November 2019 before closing the following March due to the COVID-19 pandemic; it is scheduled to re-open this October. English actor Sam Tutty plays the title character in the production, and is featured here singing “For Forever” with three other Evans: Andrew Barth Feldman from Broadway, Robert Markus from Toronto, and Stephen Christopher Anthony from the national tour. The show’s music supervisor Alex Lacamoire produced and arranged the vocals, Dillon Kondor wrote the guitar arrangement, and Tim Basom and Ethan Pakchar accompanied for this performance.

A film adaptation of the musical, starring Ben Platt who originated the role of Evan, will be released this September. Key changes at 2:47 and 3:49.

Christopher Tin (feat. Soweto Gospel Choir) | Baba Yetu

If you enjoy turn-based strategy video games, then you are likely familiar with the Civilization franchise, and if you played Civilization IV, then you may have spent a significant amount of time staring on the main menu screen, enraptured by today’s tune and forgetting entirely that you’d settled down to conquer the digital world. American composer Christopher Tin‘s composition “Baba Yetu” arranges a Swahili translation of The Lord’s Prayer into a masterful piece for choir and orchestra.

The tune won the 2011 Grammy award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists — the first ever piece of video game music to win. Just as impressive, it’s featured on an album which itself won the 2011 Grammy for “Best Classical Crossover Album”: while the piece debuted with the game in 2005, Tin also released a recording of it on his first album, Calling All Dawns, in 2011.

Tin begins the song with a rousing call and response in G major. The voices gradually build and merge into a modulation to D major, which begins at 1:00. 20 seconds later, the chorale drops away, and the tonal center begins to shift until the voices triumphantly return and modulate squarely to E major while proclaiming “Ufalme wako ufike utakalo. Lifanyike duniani kama mbinguni, Amin.” (Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. On earth, as it is in heaven, Amen). With the verse finished, tonal certainty once again fades, until at the 2:25 mark the final chorus brings us back to G major to finish out the tune. I hope you enjoy this moving arrangement, along with the visual accompaniment of some truly high-definition 2005 video game graphics!

The Struts | Where Did She Go

“Where Did She Go” is the final track on the 2014 album Everybody Wants, the debut release by the English rock band The Struts. The group, comprised of vocalist Luke Spiller, guitarist Adam Slack, bassist Jed Elliot, and drummer Gethin Davies, count Queen, Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones and Michael Jackson among their influences; they released their third album, Strange Days, last fall. Key change at 3:11.

Ella Fitzgerald | Body and Soul

JazzStandards.com describes “Body and Soul” as an all-time great: ” … In Easy to Remember: The Great American Songwriters and Their Songs, William Zinnser describes ‘a bridge unlike any other. The first four bars are in the key that’s a half-tone above the home key… the next four bars are a half-tone below the home key.’”

Many covers of the tune have been recorded, but trumpeter Louis Armstrong and saxophonist Coleman Hawkins’ signature versions are perhaps the most widely known. But the addition of lyrics — particularly as delivered with Ella Fitzgerald’s unforgettable style and vocal timbre — surrounds the listener with an additional layer of beautiful storytelling.

The tune, written by pianist/music director/composer Johnny Green, was first performed in 1930. The bridge is first heard from 1:18 – 1:55.