We have featured a number of songs from Ahrens and Flaherty’s Tony-winning score for the 1996 Broadway musical Ragtime here at MotD; the score is considered one of the masterpieces of the Broadway canon, integrating a diverse array of musical styles into an organic tapestry reflecting the roots of American music at the start of the 20th century. The Act 2 number “Back To Before,” performed here by the late Marin Mazzie at the 1997 Tony Awards, speaks to our current moment. Key changes at 2:15, 2:30, and 2:51.
The Dregs | Bloodsucking Leeches
“One of the top jazz-rock fusion ensembles ever, the Dixie Dregs combined virtuoso technique with eclecticism and a sense of humor and spirit too frequently lacking in similar project,” reports AllMusic. From Music Aficionado’s profile on the band: “During the Georgia-based Dregs’ heyday in the late 70s and early 80s, their output consisted of longish instrumental workouts that mixed elements of southern rock, bluegrass, prog, metal, classical, jazz and fusion, among other styles, all of it shot through with ridiculously complex technical acrobatics,” The band’s name was initially The Dixie Dregs, but the group dropped “Dixie” from the name towards the end of its run. The group was led by guitarist Steve Morse (also known for his work with Deep Purple).
Founding bassist Andy West says of “Bloodsucking Leeches” (1982), via Music Aficionado: “This song is our statement on the music industry at the time, which is where the title comes from. The feel of this one, to me, it’s not quite metal, but it’s definitely rock. If you trace it back, it’s like a Led Zeppelin kind of thing, if Led Zeppelin had kept on going.” Maybe — if Zeppelin had “kept on going” right off the edge of the planet and into its own unique universe of southern-fried funk/rock!
Starting in E major, 0:38 shifts to a focus on the closely-related key of A major, a much bigger jump to G major at 1:25, back to A at 1:53, and a return to E at 2:13. The shifts continue until the tune settles back into E major in its final seconds (3:54).
The B-52s | Summer of Love
“Among the first American new wave acts to break through to mainstream visibility, the B-52s became one of the biggest success stories to emerge from the American underground in the late ’70s,” reports AllMusic. “Making music that was full of quirks but also sounded friendly and fun to dance to, the B-52s filtered surf music, ’60s pop, vintage soul, and low-budget sci-fi soundtracks through a pop culture kaleidoscope … with their eager embrace of kitschy fashion and oddball humor, the B-52s made party music for the skinny tie crowd, and also brought a queer sensibility to their music when punk rock was turning increasingly macho and misogynistic. Four of the five founding members were on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, and they were outspoken in their support of AIDS research and marriage equality.”
“Summer of Love,” a single from the band’s 1986 album Bouncing Off the Satellites, was co-written by several members of the band, including founding member Ricky Wilson, who lost a battle with HIV before the album was recorded. Wilson’s death nearly derailed the band, but they went on to more hits in the early 90s, including the quirky yet iconic dance hit “Love Shack.”
“Summer of Love” marks a sunny MotD debut for the B-52s. The tune starts in Eb minor with a minute-long(!) multi-layered synth-driven intro. The verse starts at 1:00, featuring the band’s usual straightforward melodies, dual lead vocalists, and percussion-driven accompaniment. At 1:36, the verse blooms into Eb major, heralded by a very prominent G natural as the title pops into the lyric right out of the gate. The chorus is fueled by an even more relentless groove built around a Rube Goldberg-esque number of synth/percussion parts. The chorus tools along with an irrepressible I major/ v minor progression; at 1:58, we transition back to Eb minor in advance of verse 2’s arrival at 2:13.
Grateful Dead | Sugar Magnolia
Grateful Dead makes their MotD debut today, with one of their most loved and well-known tunes, “Sugar Magnolia.” Originally released on the group’s fifth studio album, American Beauty, in 1970, it was subsequently included on many live albums, including Europe ’72, where it peaked at #91 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1973. The majority of the tune is in A major, but it abruptly modulates up a step to B at 2:30, where it remains for the duration.
Paul Anka | Put Your Head On My Shoulder
According to Billboard, “Put Your Head on My Shoulder,” written and initially performed by Canadian singer/songwriter Paul Anka, was released as a single in 1959. The tune reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, but was deprived of the #1 slot by Bobby Darin’s “Mack the Knife.”
From the artist’s website:
“They are all very autobiographical,” says Anka of his early hits. “I was alone, traveling, girls screaming, and I never got near them. I’m a teenager and feeling isolated and all that. That becomes ‘Lonely Boy.’ At record hops, I’m up on stage and all these kids are holding each other with heads on each other’s shoulders. Then I have to go have dinner in my room because there are thousands of kids outside the hotel — ‘Put Your Head on My Shoulder’ was totally that experience. Soon Paul found himself traveling by bus with the “Cavalcade of Stars’ with the top names of the day in the era of segregation, performing at the Copa Cabana, the youngest entertainer ever to do so, and honing his craft surrounded by the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Frankie Lyman, and Chuck Berry.”
Anka went on to write for artists such as Buddy Holly and Connie Francis in addition to pursuing his own performance career.
The tune features lush backup vocals, gentle guitar with a saturated tremolo, and a 12/8 feel, all common features of the pop tunes of the era. There’s some total suspensions of the groove at 0:36, 1:31, and 2:01 — the last of which ushers in a modulation.
Britney Spears | Sometimes
Featured on Britney Spears’ debut studio album …Baby One More Time, “Sometimes” was released as her second single on April 13, 1999. The lyric references a shy girl who is hesitant to express her feelings to her lover, and is firmly of the teen pop genre that exploded in popularity in the 90s with bands like ‘N Sync and The Backstreet Boys. “Sometimes” was a worldwide hit, charting inside the Top 10 in eleven different countries. Key change arises out of silence following the bridge at 2:47, shifting the tune a half step higher for its concluding chorus.
J.J. Jackson | But It’s Allright
From our regular poster Paul “Steck” Steckler comes J.J. Jackson’s “But It’s Allright.” Steck writes that the track is “so good that it became a charting hit twice, in 1966 and 1969. Jackson is American, but he recorded this one in England with top-drawer studio players. Besides the strong belting vocal, notable are the chunky guitar intro, the tasty glockenspiel in the instrumental section, and an upward modulation at 1:47.”
AllMusic’s review of the tune starts off with this heartfelt praise: “Driven by one of the catchiest guitar hooks in the history of rock + roll and a devastating vocal performance, J.J. Jackson’s “But It’s Alright” is one of R&B’s notable high points during the ’60s.”
Sly + the Family Stone | Stand
A much-overdue MotD debut for the famously eclectic Sly & the Family Stone today. The band “harnessed all of the disparate musical and social trends of the late ’60s,” AllMusic explains, “creating a wild, brilliant fusion of soul, rock, R&B, psychedelia, and funk that broke boundaries down without a second thought. Led by Sly Stone, the Family Stone was comprised of men and women, and blacks and whites, making the band the first fully integrated group in rock’s history. That integration shone through the music, as well as the group’s message. Before Stone, very few soul and R&B groups delved into political and social commentary; after him, it became a tradition in soul, funk, and hip-hop.”
Released in 1968, “Stand” is just one of a full line of unusual singles from S&TFS, not easily described by the vocabulary that preceded them. AllMusic continues: “Like Brian Wilson, Sly Stone incorporated beautiful, magical moments on his records that were some of the most musically progressive. In this song, a simple but brilliant four-on-the-floor drum pattern and gospel vocals create what would be the virtual blueprint for what was to become known as disco. Moreover, the song is yet another message song that helped bridge the gap between the black and white rock audiences…one of the most timely records of its age.”
The verse is built around a de-tuned Ab major (I / IV / I / bVII); the bVII major serves as a sub-V for the new key of F major (0:14), repeating the same pattern for Verse 2 (0:28) before reverting to Ab for the one-word chorus (0:51). Each switch from Ab to F is accentuated by a 2/4 bar among the overall 4/4 meter (heard for the first time at 0:13 – 0:14). An entirely new groove, built around a 4-bar pattern, kicks in for an extended outro in C minor at 2:18. The outro is a joyful, uproarious shout chorus featuring multiple vocalists on a repeated wordless vocal hook, instrumentalists playing at full tilt, and gospel-style eighth-note claps building on the already high energy — just as the slow final fade kicks in.
The Doobie Brothers | One Step Closer
Released in 1980, One Step Closer was the ninth studio album by the American rock band “The Doobie Brothers,” and the last to feature Michael McDonald before he left the group to pursue a solo career (though he continued to return as a guest performer over the subsequent decades.) The title track starts and remains in A for all but the final 30 seconds, where an unexpected modulation arises from virtual silence at 3:43 and lands the tune in B major for its playoff. Cornelius Bumpus, known primarily as a saxophonist who also played with Steely Dan, joins McDonald on vocals.
Genesis | Please Don’t Ask
Released on Genesis’ 1980 album Duke, “Please Don’t Ask” couldn’t have been a bigger part of the Western world’s cultural zeitgeist: with the longtime stigma against divorce lifting quickly, marriages were ending at rates which would have been unimaginable even a decade before. The lyric covers feelings of hurt, remorse, and ambivalence, as well as a splitting couple’s love and care for their children: a tall order indeed.
Duke likely marks the completion of Phil Collins’ ascendance as the second vocalist and frontman of the prog rock band, which moved towards a more broadly accessible focus after the departure of founding vocalist Peter Gabriel. As Collins’ first marriage ended in 1980, it’s hardly surprising that one of his songwriting contributions to this wide-ranging album would be so unflinching in its treatment of such a difficult subject. Classic Rock Review reports that Duke “was the first album by Genesis to reach the top of the UK Album charts and it has been certified Platinum on both sides of the Atlantic.” The book Genesis: Chapter and Verse quotes Collins as saying it’s “the most personal song I’ve probably ever written.”
The tune starts in F major, but its opening progression is a repeated ii -> iii, making the tonality tricky to pin down and somehow putting even more emphasis on the heart-rending lyric. Further, the first note of the vocal is an emphatic tension (an 11, when taken in the context of the ii chord), throwing the listener off the scent even more in terms of tonality. From 0:34 – 0:45, a jarring second section of the verse shifts to Eb major and back — and then again from 1:09 – 1:19. The plaintive chorus (1:20) is built around F minor/Ab major. At 2:14, the transition from the end of the chorus into the second verse involves a bruising tri-tone drop in the bass line. The tune ends with a relatively uncomplicated Ab major, although the protagonist seems to find no such easy resolution.
Many thanks to the wide-ranging mod plugger JB for suggesting this tune!
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