Frédéric Chopin | Nocturne in G Major, Op. 37 #2

“Chopin composed 21 nocturnes, 18 of which were published during his lifetime,” (The Guardian). “They span almost his entire creative career – the earliest were written in the late 1820s, when the composer was still in his teens, the last in 1846, three years before his death. That period also coincided with massive advances in the technology of the piano itself; the instruments that Beethoven and Schubert wrote for – the kind that Chopin would have known in his youth – were very different in their tonal capabilities and power from those that he was able to play and compose on in the last decade of his life.

In some significant respects, Chopin’s development as a composer, and the steady refinement of his musical language, are inseparable from the increasing expressive power that the steady advancement in piano technology offered him through his career. Together with the mazurkas, the other miniature form that he made his own, the nocturnes provide a musical chronology of that development.”

“Chopin’s Nocturne in G (1839) is written like a barcarolle, a song of the Venetian gondoliers. In the left hand you’ll hear the gentle rocking motion of the boat,” (VermontPublic.org). “The music shifts and the key changes just like the scenery passing by. The boat comes to a rest and we hear a melody, like the gondolier singing a simple, repetitive song.”

After the piece begins in G major, at the 0:18 mark we’ve clearly launched into new harmonic territory, with many additional shifts throughout. However, the piece manages to come to its final resting point by returning to the key of G major.

Joyful, Joyful (from “Sister Act 2”)

“It’s been (31) years since we watched nightclub lounge singer Deloris Van Cartier turn into Sister Mary Clarence to avoid getting killed in Sister Act,” (ABC News). “Whoopi Goldberg’s character was put in protective custody, inside a rundown San Francisco convent, to avoid her gangster boyfriend’s goons after she witnessed a killing. There, she became the director of the church’s choir, taking the nuns from meek singers to a chorus so beautiful they sang for the Pope.

Sister Act burst into theaters at a time when movie soundtracks were stand-alone bodies of work. And this 1992 film was no different. It set the tone for other movie soundtracks that we’d also memorize later that year, including The Bodyguard, Aladdin, and Boomerang.“

“Joyful, Joyful,” from the 1993 sequel Sister Act 2, based on “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s 9th symphony, moves through several sections. The first section, featuring Lauryn Hill, states the rubato melody in Db major; at 1:29, the St. Francis Choir picks up the tempo into full-on contemporary gospel (E major, later rising to F major at 3:05).

Reba McEntire | What If It’s You

“What If It’s You,” written by Robert Ellis Orrall and Cathy Majeski, is the third track on American country singer Reba McEntire’s eponymous 1996 album. The album reached the #1 spot on the Billboard Country chart, and is McEntire’s first record to feature her regular touring band instead of session musicians.

The ballad begins in E and modulates up a step to F for the final chorus at 3:07.

Paul Young | Sordid

Let’s first establish that we’re not referring to THAT Paul Young (the vocalist with the multiple 80s pop hits — also from the UK).

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, we’ve landed in trad/folk world. “Paul (Young) has been a busy member of the Northern folk scene for a number of years now,” (Aluinn Ceiligh Band’s website). “Formerly a member of the well-known group Black Beard’s Tea-Party, he joined Aluinn shortly after their formation in 2011 and has been playing with them ever since. He also runs his own York-based band The New Fox Band. As adept on melodeon as he is on fiddle, Paul also has a busy teaching practice.” Young’s own website flips the script, emphasizing his melodeon work over the fiddle. Overall, Young’s web presence is very slim indeed, aside from his extensive Youtube videos.

Regular contributor JB adds: “In addition to stellar technique, Young is a pretty gifted songwriter.  All 30 tunes in the video are his original compositions, and while there are a few clunkers, most of the tunes manage to pull off a really difficult straddle: They sound sufficiently ‘trad-adjacent’ that they could be seamlessly mixed into a set with tunes that were written 200 years ago, but are also more harmonically adventurous than 95% of trad tunes.”

After starting in A minor, Young’s “Sordid” shifts to A major at 41:26, then back to minor at 41:42, alternating onward from there. (Our apologies for the oddly huge numbers on the timeslates, but this tune is merely a small part of a much larger compilation video featuring Young’s work).

Voctave | Goodnight My Someone

“Goodnight My Someone” is from Meredith Willson’s classic 1957 musical The Music Man. The song is our first glimpse in Marian Paroo’s desire to find love. MotD favorite Voctave featured a cover of it on their lullaby album, Goodnight, My Someone, which was released last year.

The track, which features soprano Kate Lott, begins in C and gorgeously modulates up a third to E leading into the last A section at 2:03.

Blood, Sweat + Tears | You’ve Made Me So Very Happy

Blood, Sweat and Tears, a jazz/rock 10-piece band from New York City, has curiously avoided a MotD debut to date — but that ends now! From Rolling Stone‘s 1969 review of Blood, Sweat & Tears’ eponymous second album by John Landau: “… a perfect example of the rock record that ‘tries harder.’ While at some points on the record the basic style of the group resembles rock and roll, more often the listener is being bombarded with non-rock arranging devices, non-rock solos, and non-rock material, all of which tells him that ‘something else’ is going. The obvious response is that we are hearing something new: rock being mixed with jazz, rock being mixed with soul, etc. Ultimately, someone at Columbia will come up with a name for it: ‘jazz-folk-soul-baroque-C&W-latin-show-tune-rock.’ And for once the hyphenated labeling would be appropriate because BS+T play hyphenated music: first they play folk, then they play jazz, then they play latin, etc. Styles exist in tangent on their record, but never merge into one.”

Landau continues his cutting criticisms of the band’s ambitious sound throughout the review. A criticism that can’t be made about the band, however, is that they were following any kind of well-established trend whatsoever. Instead, they seemed to be putting out feelers to see where the edges of stylistic possibility were — an exercise which can easily get awkward, and fast. But the very idea of the musical genre hyphenate was very much in the air during the late 1960s and early 1970s; in addition to jazz musicians adding rock elements to their sound, why shouldn’t a rock group work with some jazz elements? Perhaps further bolstering the band’s experimental nature: during its existence, no fewer than 160 musicians were part of the lineup!

“You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,”written by Brenda Holloway, Patrice Holloway, Frank Wilson and Motown head Berry Gordy, was initially released in 1967 by Brenda Holloway. Re-released by BS+T, “it became one of BS+T’s biggest hits, reaching number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in April 1969,” (Billboard). “The song was kept from the number 1 spot by ‘Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In’ by The 5th Dimension.” The tune was later covered by Cher, Liza Minnelli, Lou Rawls, Sammy Davis Jr., Shirley Bassey, Gloria Estefan, and many others. After starting in Db major, a brief interlude (1:48-2:08) is in Gb major, followed by a multi-key instrumental journey of a bridge (2:08-2:48) and a return to the chorus (this time in D major). At 3:22, an outro with a much gentler groove and tempo ends the tune in G major.

Dan Hartman | The Love In Your Eyes

“During the ’70s, Dan Hartman was a member of the Edgar Winter Group and was also in Johnny Winter’s band for a time,” (AllMusic). “Hartman was also a session musician who supported artists as diverse as Ian Hunter, Stevie Wonder, Todd Rundgren, and Ronnie Montrose. After releasing one undistinguished solo pop/rock album in 1976, he hit the big time with the fine disco album, Instant Replay,” which featured a hit single of the same name.

“Its follow-up, Relight My Fire, wasn’t as successful and Hartman retreated to the studio, producing .38 Special, the Average White Band, and James Brown; he (wrote and) was behind the board for Brown’s comeback (and final) hit, “Living in America,” in 1986. Hartman had one more hit in 1985 with the pop-soul “I Can Dream About You.” Again, his follow-ups weren’t successful and he returned to producing. He was preparing a new album at the time of his death in March of 1994.” Hartman had lived with HIV for several years when he passed away.

Certainly, Hartman’s was an iceberg of a career: it seems that only the top fraction was visible, with the rest of his work submerged beneath the surface as he worked with other artists. Neil Sedaka, a friend and a one-time neighbor, spoke of Hartman after his passing: “I loved working with him. He played, sang, wrote, mixed, mastered … he did it all!” (DanHartman.com). “I would call him a genius. I think of him often and smile!”

“The Love In Your Eyes,” one of Hartman’s final singles released posthumously on 1995’s Keep the Fire Burnin’, starts in D minor. At 0:55, the chorus shifts to Eb major. The pattern continues from there, other than a brief bridge which provides additional variety from 2:50-3:12. Hartman’s material was known for varied textures and complex grooves, but this track features a broader harmonic vocabulary than most. Hartman’s writing, phrasing, and string-embellished arrangement on this track often conjure up a tenor version of soul legend Barry White. “Wrapped in warm romance, [the] tune has a retro-soul quality (Billboard) … it shows that he was still among the best writers and producers in pop music.”

Michael Buble | Orange Colored Sky

Written by Milton Delugg and Willie Stein in 1950, “Orange Colored Sky” has been covered by Nat King Cole, Natalie Cole, Lady Gaga, Doris Day and others. Michael Bible included the song as a bonus track on his 2007 album Call Me Irresponsible.

The track begins in Bb with a slow intro before moving into double time. There is a subtle key change up to C at 2:42.

Lou Christie | Rhapsody in the Rain

“While Lou Christie’s shrieking falsetto was among the most distinctive voices in all of pop music, he was also one of the first solo performers of the rock era to compose his own material, generating some of the biggest and most memorable hits of the mid-’60s,” (AllMusic). Born Lugee Alfredo Giovanni Sacco in the Pittsburgh suburb of Glenwillard, PA in 1943, he relocated after high school to New York and “landed session work as a backing vocalist. Christie wrote and recorded ‘Two Faces Have I;’ it landed in the Top Ten…” In 1966, he released “the lush, chart-topping ‘Lightnin’ Strikes.'”

“Christie’s next smash, 1966’s ‘Rhapsody in the Rain,’ was notorious for being among the more sexually explicit efforts of the period.” Songfacts reports: “The Catholic Church helped get this banned on many radio stations, which only made people want to hear it more. Christie (in Goldmine magazine): ‘I had priests and nuns calling to complain. Even Time magazine did an article on it, saying I was corrupting the youth.'”

After starting in Eb major, an otherwise nearly featureless bridge (2:04-2:19) brings a brief whole-step modulation to F before returning to the original key. But at 2:34, a late shift to E major kicks in just as the tune begins to fade.

Many thanks to our regular contributor Rob P. for this submission!

As Long As You’re Mine (from “Wicked”)

Bookwriter Winnie Holtzman and composer Stephen Schwartz’s blockbuster 2003 musical Wicked celebrated its 20 year anniversary on Broadway last night. The show, based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, has played in sixteen countries and is one of only three Broadway shows to pass $1 billion in revenue.

“As Long As You’re Mine” is performed here by Jennifer Nettles and Annaleigh Ashford in a slower, reharmonized arrangement that is part of the “Out of Oz” series the show produced for YouTube. The song begins in Db and deceptively modulates down a half step to C at 1:38.