“Crown Him (Majesty)” is featured on American Christian singer Chris Tomlin’s 2013 album Burning Lights. “I want people to feel it in their guts when they sing a song like “Crown Him” or “Thank You God For Saving Me” or “Whom Shall I Fear?” Tomlin said in an interview with Worship Leader magazine. “I just want that to come out of their guts. That’s what we’re trying to do in these songs and really capture the emotion and write them in a way that is singable for people.”
The track, which also features singer Kari Jobe, modulates from Db up to Eb at 4:20.
“A fun-loving approach to Celtic music has made the Boys of the Lough one of folk music’s most influential groups. Since they formed in the 1960s, the Ireland-based band have been instrumental in the evolution of traditional Irish music,” (Qobuz).
“Boys of the Lough are one of the masters of celtic music, combining members from several celtic traditions with a long history (Ceolas.org) … Like that other long-running act, the Chieftans, their music tends to the formal; impeccable technique and sensitivity, with large, sometimes classical-style arrangements, and very tight ensemble playing. They lack the fire and roughness of other groups; the overall feeling is of a group of skilled, well-integrated musicians playing together for the pure pleasure of it.”
“Farewell and Remember Me,” from the group’s 1987 album of the same name, is a ballad largely built in F# major. Accompanied by piano and fiddle, the solo vocal line takes center stage for several verses, each ending on a suspended tonic chord. At 2:12, the final verse shifts to F# minor, closing the tune without resolution on a wistful VI chord.
“Journey To The Past” closes the first act of the 2017 Broadway musical Anastasia, an adaptation of the 1997 film. The song, written by Stephen Flaherty (music) and Lynn Ahrens (lyrics), was nominated for Best Original Song at the Golden Globes and Oscars in 1998. Sung by the lead character of the show, Anya, the lyric expresses her desire to find home and belonging.
“There’s something about the way the vamp starts, that sparkly little vamp and it embodies hope and fear and those are universal emotions that every woman, everybody feels as they step into their lives and take control of their lives and know that I’m at that no turning back moment in life,” Ahrens said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
There are many key changes sprinkled throughout the song, and they all help build the drama and carry the story and character forward. The track, performed here by Christy Altomare, begins in C major; the modulations are listed below:
A nearly criminally overdue MotD debut for Yellowjackets, a band which was centrally important to the sound of jazz fusion in the 1980s and has continued its work into the 2020s. “Most contemporary jazz or instrumental pop albums released over the past 25 years owe one thing or another to the style and sound advanced by this 1981 (self-titled) debut (AllAboutJazz.com) … keyboardist, composer and arranger Russell Ferrante pulled drummer Ricky Lawson and bassist Jimmy Haslip into his fledgling swarm … ‘It wasn’t like the earlier fusion of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return to Forever, which was a very chopped kind of rock sound,’ recalls Ferrante. ‘We were influenced by fusion that was more melodic and compositional.'”
“A leading crossover jazz outfit, Yellowjackets found success combining polished funk and R&B grooves with a strong post-bop- and fusion-influenced sound (AllMusic) … In addition to their commercial success, they picked up accolades including the Grammy for R&B Instrumental Performance for “And You Know That” off 1986’s Shades, and the Grammy for Jazz Fusion Performance for 1989’s Politics. The band’s ability to balance crossover appeal with a dedication to improvisational excellence has attracted top-level players over the years.”
“… Ferrante introduces and closes ‘It’s Almost Gone’ with sadly beautiful solo piano,” (AllAboutJazz) but the tune’s midsection is something entirely different. The track begins in F# minor, with the bass line descending in alternating major and minor thirds. At 0:14, an identical pattern starts, but this time in G# minor. The pattern continues as a rangy melody is added at 0:30. A “B” section provides contrast from 1:33 – 1:53 before the initial F# minor section returns — this time with a 6/8 groove, complete with an insistent syncopated overlay, until a gentle outro mirrors the feel of the track’s opening.
An extremely overdue MotD debut for Tori Amos: “‘Happy Phantom’ was written and recorded during the first phase of creating Little Earthquakes. … (It) was included on both a cassette tape Tori submitted for copyright in June 1990 and the original rejected version of Little Earthquakes in December that year,” (ToriPedia). “In the Little Earthquakes songbook, Tori noted that ‘when the songs began showing up I wrote their names on separate envelopes and made a faery ring in the middle of the house. I’d sit in the middle of the ring to focus on a song’s direction. All of the songs seemed to work toward the completeness of the other. They decided we needed to hang out with death for awhile.'”
Amos’ first major-label release, Y Kant Tori Read, saw her fronting a synth-pop band of the same name during the late 1980s. The album “sunk without a trace; she had to dig deep inside herself, in her search for her true identity,” (Songfacts). “She told Rolling Stone this meant killing her old self: ‘To talk about death was really important on Little Earthquakes because there was a part of me had to die. The image that I had created for whatever reason, had to die.'”
“Happy Phantom,” is largely built in Bb major, but erupts into a surprising instrumental interlude in G major (1:45 – 1:57), then pivots around a bit more until returning to familiar territory at 2:14. Wrapping up by returning to Bb major, the tune then falls off the edge of the earth during a few formless closing bars.
Included on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, “Son of a Preacher Man” has been recorded by Elvis Presley, Joss Stone, and Foo Fighters, among others.
English singer Dusty Springfield’s cover, included on her 1968 album Dusty in Memphis, is by far the most well-known. The song tells the story of a young girl who runs away with and falls in love with the preacher’s son. The industry magazine Cash Box wrote in 1968 that “the track is “brim-full of the special southern-combo sound and a vocal strongly influenced by Aretha [Franklin].”
The song begins in E and modulates up to A for the last chorus at 1:44
“Early-’60s rock & roll albums are a funny animal — no one, not critics or fans, ever really knew what to make of them, mostly because they were usually so superfluous to how we knew and understood the artists involved,” (Qobuz). “Except for Elvis Presley, who still commanded a lot of attention even as he began what ultimately proved to be the downward arc (in terms of quality) of his movie career, no one ever heard the album tracks except the most serious, dedicated fans, who were a tiny, almost microscopic portion of the audience. It wasn’t until the Beach Boys began surprising people with album cuts that were almost good enough to be singles that audiences started to given them a wider listen, though it took the Beatles — who stirred insatiable demand from fans and whose albums met the same standard as their singles — to drive the sale numbers up to significant levels.
Until then, you had fine LPs like She Cried (1962), Jay & the Americans’ debut LP, fine efforts that most fans never heard or even knew about. A Leiber & Stoller production, it reflected their other work of the period, including the group’s covers of then-current Drifters/Ben E. King hits, and also reflected the influence of Phil Spector …”
The title track was the group’s first major hit. Built around a I major / bVII major vamp, the track’s slightly off-kilter instrumental verse (1:45 – 2:02), with strings front and center, leads us to a late whole-step modulation. The single reached #5 on the US pop charts and was the first of four US Top 10 hits for the group.
“[How Much Is That] Doggie In The Window?” written by composer/lyricist Bob Merrill, was made famous by Patti Page, the best-selling female vocalist of the 1950s. The track stayed at number one on the Billboard charts for eight weeks and was the third best-selling song of 1953. It begins in G, slides up to Ab at 1:37, and A at 2:00.
“Marked by its technical bravura, Widmung (or Dedication in English) … is much more than a mere showpiece – containing probably the most passionate music writing and most heartfelt feelings,” (Interlude). “Written by Robert Schumann in 1840 (from a set of Lieder called Myrthen, Op.25), this piece was later arranged for piano solo by Franz Liszt. Myrthen was dedicated to Clara Wieck as a wedding gift, as he finally married Clara in September, despite the opposition from Clara’s father (who was also Robert’s piano teacher).
The work starts with a flowing sense of pulse, while the first phrase (‘Du meine Seele, du mein Herz’) already captures Schumann’s love for Clara and devotion to the relationship. Here, Schumann sincerely confesses to Clara, declaring how important she is to him. For him, Clara is his angel, his spiritual support, and his entire world. Nevertheless, there is still a sense of fear and insecurity in the music, due to separation and uncertainty about their future. This complex mixture of feelings, as a true and full-bodied representation of love, certainly strengthens the emotional power of the music.”
At the 0:35 mark, Ab major shifts dramatically down to E major via a common-tone modulation. Amy Broadbent is the soprano in this 2014 performance; Christopher Koelzer is the pianist.
“The Offspring is perhaps the quintessential SoCal punk band of the 1990s — survivors of the 1980s hardcore scene who revamped themselves for the heavier alt-rock era … ” (AllMusic). “The group released their second album, Ignition, on Epitaph in 1992 but it was 1994’s Smash and its accompanying singles ‘Come Out and Play (Keep Em Separated)’ and ‘Self Esteem’ that pushed the band toward blockbuster national success.
Shortly afterward, the Offspring made the leap to the major labels and continued a streak of snotty, satirical alt-rock hits such as ‘Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)’ and ‘Why Don’t You Get a Job?’ that kept the group squarely in the hard rock mainstream through the 2000s.”
“Self Esteem” spends most of its runtime in A minor, including its “snotty” wordless a capella intro, verses, and choruses. But a bridge (1:59 – 2:35) suddenly jumps up to D minor before reverting to the original key. At 3:39, the D minor section repeats, seemingly falling back into A minor only for the last beat (the tune cuts off abruptly on the first beat of a measure).
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