Voctave | You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

Happy Tuesday! Today is our first feature of a group you will see numerous times over the next few weeks, Voctave‘s “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” (2017). There are a bunch of key changes at the beginning, but you have to listen all the way through just to hear that last chord!

Simon + Garfunkel | America

Released in 1968, Simon and Garfunkel’s “America” doesn’t modulate outright, but features a sense of restless change (befitting its road trip theme) as well as several key-of-the moment sections. AllMusic‘s review deemed it a song whose “sophisticated harmonic invention is toppled by its message,” while Classic Rock History described it as “wistful and optimistic, personal and universal, and most of all, uniquely American.”

Rufus Wainwright | The Sword of Damocles

Singer/songwriter/pianist Rufus Wainwright, a dual American/Canadian national (the son of American folk artist Loudon Wainwright III and Canadian folk artist Kate McGarrigle), is known for his cutting societal commentary. His 2018 release “The Sword of Damocles” is no exception. At 3:14, a bridge of sorts sends the tune into a series of keys-of-the-moment; at 3:26, there’s a full-blown modulation.

Fountains of Wayne | Stacy’s Mom

“Stacy’s Mom,” a 2003 power pop classic by Fountains Of Wayne, written by Adam Schlesinger, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance. The New Yorker magazine’s Ben Greenman called it the “second-catchiest song ever written about a girlfriend’s parent” (after Simon and Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson.”) The initial key of E Major shifts to G major at the bridge (2:25).

Heather Headley | All the Man That I Need

Broadway star Heather Headley dropped a new album today entitled Broadway My Way, so today we feature her rendition of “All The Man That I Need” (2018), performed by Whitney Houston in 1991. This song was included in the 2012 West End musical The Bodyguard. The key change is at 3:09.