Tag: 1960s

Nick Allen | Hard Way to Go

“William ‘Nick’ Allen, Sr. was a Durham (NC) barber who often styled the hair of musical celebrities traveling through Durham,” (BullCitySoul.org). “Allen launched his own singing career with the gospel group the Interns. Later he recorded the soul song ‘Hard Way to Go’ as a soloist. He was also the father of Nick Allen, Jr., the lead vocalist of the Modulations.”

The scant information available on Allen is lacking in detail. But his heartfelt vocal definitely swung for the fences with “Hard Way to Go” (1968). There’s some flutter on the source tape (particularly around 1:44), making it a bit tough to tell whether the chord is major or minor! Starting in G major, the track shifts to A major at 1:03. After a grand pause, at 2:13, a long outro hits, complete with a completely different groove. The outro takes awhile to settle in, but once it does (2:27), it’s in C major.

Carl Carlton | Everlasting Love

“Between 1968 and 1987, Detroit singer Carl Carlton racked up an impressive 19 hits on Billboard’s R&B singles chart,” (Soul and Jazz and Funk). “Initially recording under the moniker ‘Little Carl Carlton’ – in an attempt to invite comparisons with Motown prodigy Little Stevie Wonder – the precociously talented vocalist” scored several hits before his largest release – 1981’s Leon Haywood-penned ‘She’s A Bad Mama Jama (She’s Built, She’s Stacked). “Much of his other work, despite its merits, has been ignored by compilers and reissue companies.

His biggest hit for Back Beat was his soulful 1974 reconfiguration of Robert Knight’s 1967 smash, ‘Everlasting Love,’ which was a Top 10 US pop hit for silky-voiced Carlton … Carlton’s fame, though, rests on another Haywood produced number – the much-sampled disco-inflected ‘She’s A Bad Mama Jama (She’s Built, She’s Stacked),’ which still sounds good.”

After a start in A major, the tune’s chorus shifts to the closely-related key of E major (heard for the first time between 0:46 – 1:18). The key then reverts to A major and the pattern continues from there.

The Debonaires | Headache In My Heart

“The Debonaires were cousins, Joyce Vincent Wilson and Telma Hopkins … there were other members who remain unknown,” (AllMusic). The group released several smaller singles in the mid-60s, but 1966’s “Headache in My Heart” b/w “Loving You Takes All My Time,” raised the group’s profile by engaging George Clinton as producer (Solid Hit Records). “Solid Hit’s typist blew the spelling and the single is credited as by the Debonairs; she missed the E, but it didn’t matter; it didn’t sell either. They tried one last time with “I’m in Love Again” before closing the book on the Debonaires.

… Wilson and Hopkins later sung with Tony Orlando, a pop group that notched three number one hits” … eventually, they became known collectively, via their work with Orlando, as Dawn. “Tony Orlando and Dawn unite from time to time for brief appearances, but the Debonaires were forgotten almost before they began.”

“Headache in My Heart” comes straight out of central casting: a minor key tune about heartache that clocks in well under three minutes, following a clear recipe for chart success at the time. Unfortunately, this tune didn’t catch fire. The two-and-a-half-minute track shifts upward by half a step at 1:43.

The Beatles | While My Guitar Gently Weeps

“In spring 1968, George Harrison found himself eager to play the guitar,” (Financial Times). “This may not sound like a particularly illuminating observation about the lead guitarist of the world’s biggest rock group, but the recording sessions for what became known as The Beatles’ White Album marked the first time in a while that he had approached his instrument with anything more than grudging professional obligation. For the past three years he had been fixated on mastering the sitar, but now he was finding joy in his six-string again … (it) was one of The Beatles’ best compositions — a perfectly balanced mixture of elegiac vocals and electrified solos; of West Coast dream-rock and eastern philosophy.

Prior to writing the track, Harrison had immersed himself in the teachings of the I-Ching, which posits that there is meaning inherent in ostensibly random events. Putting this idea into practice, he contrived to write a song based around two words plucked arbitrarily from a nearby book: ‘gently weeps.’ But perhaps there was nothing incidental about the choice of this emotive phrase; Harrison was, after all, in a fragile state, alienated from his own band … Things had become so fraught that Harrison asked his close friend Eric Clapton to help out. Not only would his presence cajole the other three into pulling their weight, but he was, handily, one of the best guitarists in the business; his uncredited playing on ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ became one of the greatest moments of individual virtuosity on any Beatles track.”

The tune was later covered by a broad array of artists: Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and Prince (at Harrison’s posthumous 1988 induction into the Rock + Roll Hall of Fame); Peter Frampton; Jeff Healey; Carlos Santana, India Arie, and Yo-Yo Ma; and Regina Spektor. “For most, the song is unmistakably Harrison’s personal triumph; ‘Only a guitar player could write that,’ Mick Jagger noted.” There is probably not much need to time slate this tune; the verses (in A minor) and choruses (in A major) are about as clearly delineated as any tune we’ve featured!

Manfred Mann | Fox On the Run

The bluegrass standard ‘Fox On the Run’ “… (was) written by Tony Hazzard in 1968,” (Bluegrass Today) ” … Having been raised in the country on the outskirts of Liverpool as a young boy, Tony had a lot of inspiration to draw from for the imagery in the song. ‘The main source was an imagined scene, described in the chorus, of a hot summer’s day, a field of wheat sloping down to a river in the sunshine, and a blonde woman walking through the wheat field towards the river … The second source was really just the feel of the music. I was a fan of The Band in the late 60s, and their style was running through me at the time.’

… Tony played the song for British rockers Manfred Mann’s Earth Band and in 1968, ‘Fox on the Run’ became a hit song for them in the UK … In 1976, Tom T. Hall took ‘Fox On the Run’ to #9 on the US Billboard Charts and to #12 in Canada. The song went on to be recorded many more times by bluegrass and country bands all over the US. You can hardly walk past a festival jam without hearing a version of this beloved chestnut … (Tony adds) ‘I eventually realized it had become a standard, and I’m very proud of that fact; the song will remain long after I’m gone, and if people think it’s an old folk song, that’s fine by me!’”

After a start in C major, a surprising shift to Bb major hits at 0:33, ushered in by an odd time signature. At 0:57, the tune reverts to the original key. These sections alternate until 2:08, when a half-step key change to Db major unfolds and remains in effect for the balance of the tune.

For good measure, here’s an example of the tune’s frequent setting in the Bluegrass genre, as represented by Bolt Hill Band:

Zager + Evans | In the Year 2525

It’s 2025, and our AI overlords have just begun their domination of the human species. What will life be like five hundred years hence?

Zager and Evans, a duo who met as students at Nebraska Wesleyan University, explained the consequences of technological change run amok with their only hit, “In the Year 2525 (Exordium + Terminus),” a Billboard #1 hit in 1969. Each verse increments the year described by 1010 years, so we have the sequence 2525, 3535, 4545, and so on, up to 9595. 1010 is not necessarily the most logical interval, but makes for a handy piece of songwriting.

There are upward half-step modulations at 1:34 and 2:12. The fan-made video is cut together from excerpts derived from Fritz Lang’s 1927 sci-fi classic film Metropolis, in all of its retro-futuristic splendor.

Sonny + Cher | I Got You Babe

“When it came out (1965), ‘I Got You Babe’ also bridged a divide that should’ve been unbridgeable,” (Stereogum). “It’s a hammy little earworm, a simplistic example of pop-music showmanship at work. It’s the product of experienced studio hands, and its got some of its era’s greatest session musicians playing on it. But it’s also an example of the vaguely psychedelic, starry-eyed folk rock that was starting to take over in one of those big generation-divide moments. It’s got Cher reassuring Sonny Bono that his hair’s not too long. It’s not Bob Dylan, exactly, but it was pitched directly to the same young people who were buying Dylan records. And, because it’s a great song, they bought it.

… Sonny wrote ‘I Got You Babe’ one night … Sonny woke (Cher) up, she said what she didn’t like about it, and then he rewrote it after she went back to sleep. They recorded it with the members of the Wrecking Crew, the LA hired-gun studio musicians who’d played on so many of (Phil) Spector’s records … Bono produced it, and he did a nice job making it sound as much like a Spector track as possible. The arrangement … is lush and gorgeous, with those chiming guitars, those tinkling bells, and that tootling wind instrument (It was either an ocarina or an oboe, depending on who you ask). But the real discovery, of course, was Cher, who belted out all of her lines with tremendous gusto. On the bridge — ‘I got you to taaaalk to me’ — she’s a force of nature.”

The mid-tempo 6/8 track ambles along in F major through the first two verses and choruses, and then into the bridge, before a half-step key change shifts upward to F# major at 1:30 (about halfway through the tune). Many thanks to Amy C. for this contribution to MotD — her third submission!

Dusty Springfield | Just One Smile

“Despite its status as a classic record, Dusty in Memphis (1969) had less than auspicious beginnings,” (BBC). “By 1968, Springfield had scored a string of chart successes with what she called ‘big ballady things’ and her decision to make an album in Memphis, home of hard edged R’n’B grooves, was viewed with puzzlement by many.” The distance from Springfield’s native UK to Memphis was large, both in miles and in sonic difference.

“Teaming up with the crack production/arrangement team of Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin (responsible for Aretha Franklin’s Atlantic classics) also proved a bit much initially for Springfield, whose confidence in her vocal abilities was never very high … Springfield unsurprisingly resists any temptation to do an Aretha, instead relying on understatement, timing and delivery rather than vocal firepower. The songs (all by Brill building denizens) are all top notch, and Springfield’s interpretation of them is peerless … Mardin’s sensitive blend of Bacharach poise and Memphis funk provides the perfect frame for Dusty’s blue-eyed soul.”

Written by Randy Newman, “Just One Smile” was previously recorded by Gene Pitney. The tune starts in Eb minor, with plenty of harmonic sidesteps, a la the above mentioned Bachrachian influence. The tune then shifts to Bb major for the chorus (0:49 – 1:10) before reverting to the original key.

Wilson Pickett | 634-5789

Prattville, Alabama native Wilson Pickett ” … did something which always thrills the telephone company to no end: he recorded a song which featured a phone number as its title,” (Rhino). “Written by Steve Cropper and Eddie Floyd, “the song came about when Pickett took a trip to Memphis in order to make another visit to Stax, where he met up with Cropper and Floyd at the Lorraine Motel. They had two songs for Pickett: ‘Ninety-Nine and a Half (Just Won’t Do)’ and ‘634-5789 (Soulsville U.S.A.),’ the latter being a driving shuffle which was an homage of sorts to a 1962 single called ‘Beechwood 4-5789’ by Motown’s Marvelettes.

Clearly, Pickett had his fans’ number: the song proved to be an even bigger hit than ‘In the Midnight Hour,’ spending seven weeks at the top of the Billboard R&B Singles chart and hitting #13 on the Hot 100 in 1966.”

A late key change (hitting at 2:31 on a tune with a run length of just under three minutes) shifts the tonality up a half step as a transition into a fading outro.

Procol Harum | Salad Days (Are Here Again)

“Formed in 1967, the sophisticated and forward-looking British band Procol Harum … recorded and released 1967’s ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale,’ a smash hit that today remains the band’s most well-known song,” (MusoScribe). “After opening for Jimi Hendrix in London in that same year, the band organized a tour.

… The band’s sound had always been a mixture of the members’ r&b influences (and) a progressive – but not overly fussy – musical bent (aided and abetted by the presence of not one but two keyboard players) … Those qualities had largely fallen out of favor with the record-buying public by 1977, so the members went their separate ways.” The band regrouped several times, including a new album, Novum, and touring in the late 2010s.

“Salad Days Are Here Again” (1967) begins in G major. At 0:31, there’s a brief shift to an F major chorus before a return to G at 0:44.