Tag: 1970s

Stevie Wonder | I Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer

A lesser-known beauty from 1971 — a slice of “Little Stevie” Wonder’s nearly bottomless catalog of musical miracles. Co-written by Syreeta Wright, the tune only made it to #78 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it remains one of the most enduring of Stevie’s many ballads. Modulation at 1:41.

Earth, Wind + Fire | After the Love Has Gone

“Earth, Wind & Fire held a lofty status as the perhaps the preeminent R&B band in America as they began making their 1979 album I Am,” (American Songwriter). “It was by no means an overnight journey to get to that exalted status. Early in the ‘70s, the Chicago-based outfit labored to find a widespread audience. That all changed in 1975 with the release of the album That’s the Way of the World. Spurred by a No. 1 hit single in ‘Shining Star,’ the album ended up hitting the top of the charts as well. EWF sustained that momentum through a series of smash LPs and singles in the second half of the decade.

Although they wrote much of their own material, the band occasionally looked to outside sources as well. That’s how they nabbed ‘After the Love Has Gone,’ which was penned by a trio of writers who didn’t have any idea they were going to be submitting the song to an R&B band.”

This classic power ballad, co-written by Bill Champlin, David Foster, and Jay Graydon, reached #2 in the USA during the summer of 1979. The first modulation is at 0:53; thereafter, the mods are too numerous to track!

UPDATE, April 2021: We were mistaken … The internet’s friendliest guide to music theory, Charles Cornell, tracked all the key changes!

Five Stairsteps | O-o-h Child

Q: What do Lisa Loeb, The Spinners, Trey Anastasio, and Milton Nascimento have in common?

A: They’ve all covered the classic R&B tune by the Five Stairsteps, “O-o-h Child.”

Not content to wait for a bridge or a last verse, this 1970 release features modulations starting almost right out of the gate (0:38, between the first verse and the first chorus). The track hit top 10 status in both the US and Canada.

Doobie Brothers | What a Fool Believes

Harmonically, this 1979 tune is such a feast that after several decades of casually listening to it, I never caught on that it actually modulates too. In fact, multiple times: on the way out of the pre-chorus and into the chorus (first heard at 1:17) and then back to the original key (first heard at 1:50), then a second time.

Co-written by Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins, the track hit #1 in the US — one of only a handful of non-disco releases to do so in the first half of 1979.