Tag: 2010s

Dar Williams | Write This Number Down

Acoustic/folk singer/songwriter Dar Williams “fits short stories into song,” reports Seattle’s The Stranger, “assesses the moral magnetic compass of the Xer generation, at least, and stays so catchy that you barely realize you’re being tested. Until you get the CD home and check out the lyrics.”

A review in The New Yorker praised Williams: ” … her songs are beautiful. Some are like finely crafted short stories. They are, variously, devastatingly moving, tenderly funny, subtle without being in any way inaccessible, and utterly fresh—not a cliché or a clunker in her entire songbook, which now numbers around a hundred recorded original compositions.”

Williams’ 2012 release “Write This Number Down,” submitted by frequent contributor JB, begins in Eb major. After several short and deliberate verses, the tune finds a more open vista during a brighter, fuller bridge (1:45) as it climbs up to F major. A step back down to Eb accompanies another verse at 2:10. But the musicality of the tune aside, JB calls particular attention to the civics-centered lyrics, a commonplace in Williams’ work:

A vote for one, a vote for all
A right to silence, one free call
You’ll need a warrant for that
No, she won’t sit in the back,
And yes, we’re still abolishing all slavery
Every kind of slavery

Maria Rita | A História de Lily Braun

Brazilian vocalist Maria Rita began performing at the age of 24. According to her own website, the singer has said “’Finding yourself in the world is a very difficult task.'” The daughter of iconic Brazilian chanteuse Elis Regina and pianist/arranger/composer César Camargo Mariano, Maria Rita was told from early in life that she had “a duty to sing, but resisted for some time. ‘I see life as a big process built by small processes along the way. I always wanted to sing. But the question was not wanting, it was why.'” Shortly after launching her career, she won the 2002 APCA Award for Revelation of the Year from the Associação Paulista de Críticos de Arte (São Paulo Association of Art Critics).

AllMusic details that for the 2011 album Elo, of which “A História de Lily Braun” is a part, Rita “re-creates the intimate setting of her appearances at Sao Paolo’s Tom Jazz club in 2010, as she is joined only by the trio of pianist Tiago Costa, bassist Sylvinho Mazzuca, and drummer Cuca Teixeira … To put it succinctly, this is a Brazilian nightclub chanteuse album in which Maria Rita offers her take on well-known songs by the likes of Djavan, Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso, and Rita Lee.” The spare trio accompaniment certainly couldn’t center the vocal an inch more than it does.

Starting in Bb minor, this sultry, funk-inflected acoustic bossa track transitions to C minor with the help of a short instrumental hinge between 1:55 – 2:00.

Superfly | 愛をこめて花束を (A Bouquet with Love)

Rock/Pop artist Superfly, also known as Shiho Ochi, has cranked out several dozen hits in Japan since the late 2000s. But despite being raised on a diet of Japanese pop, she’s intrigued by soulful American rock hits of the 1970s. The Japan Times recounts that “…in 2008, Ochi’s love for Janis Joplin paid off big-time when Japanese TV station Music On! had her front a travelogue show called Following the Steps of Janis, in which she visited the blues-rock queen’s old San Francisco haunts and interviewed Sam Andrew of Joplin’s one-time band Big Brother and the Holding Company.

‘Since he knew I was a singer, he suggested I play a song for him, so I did. And then he told me that there would be a festival called Heroes of Woodstock in 12 months’ time and asked if I would like to perform (with Big Brother). I thought he was joking, but sure enough, a year later the invitation came.'” Although she speaks no English and learned Joplin’s tune by ear only, she “sang two Joplin covers (‘Down on Me’ and ‘Piece of My Heart’) with Big Brother on the New York State site of the original 1969 event, for an appreciative if unacquainted audience of mostly older Americans.”

Superfly’s “A Bouquet With Love” (a rough translation of the Japanese title), released in 2011, features a mammoth instrumentation, easily matched by some sturdy belting by Ochi. The tune builds to a whole-step key change at 3:56 before closing with a punchy, syncopated vamp built around I major -> v minor — the same one we first heard whispered in the intro.

Kacey Musgraves | Happy & Sad

“Happy & Sad” is featured on the 2018 album Golden Hour by American singer/songwriter Kacey Musgraves. Comprised exclusively of original songs, Musgraves ventures into disco and electropop on the record, which was awarded Best Album and Best Country Album at the Grammy’s (Musgraves also received Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance accolades for other tracks.) Key change at 3:02.

Waiting in the Wings (from “Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure”)

Thanks to new MotD contributor Taylor Hutchinson for this song. “Waiting in the Wings,” from the Disney animated series Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure, was awarded a Daytime Emmy this past June, completing Alan Menken’s EGOT set (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards). Performed here by Eden Espinosa, who voices Cassandra in the series who sings this number. Key change is at 1:58.

Roomie | Numb

Swedish singer, songwriter and producer Joel Berghult (aka Roomie) started his YouTube channel in 2010, and has since become a sensation, amassing more than six million subscribers. His content includes original songs, covers, musical commentary and vocal imitations. “Numb,” released in 2014, is one of his originals, and features a key change at 1:36.

Kirk Franklin | I Smile

AllMusic calls Kirk Franklin “one of contemporary gospel’s brightest and most awarded stars, a soulful singer with a revivalist spirit and just a twist of hip-hop.” Franklin’s life could have been profoundly troubled, given his troubled early origins, but his talent came to the fore early: “Abandoned by his mother and having never known his father, Franklin was raised in Fort Worth, Texas, by his Aunt Gertrude, a deeply religious woman who maintained a strict Baptist household. When he was four years old, his aunt paid for his piano lessons by collecting aluminum cans. A natural musician who could sight-read and play by ear with equal facility, Franklin received his first contract offer at the age of seven, which his aunt promptly turned down. At age 11, he was leading the Mt. Rose Baptist Church adult choir near Dallas.”

Franklin is a multi-Grammy winner, including categories such as Best Gospel Album, Best Gospel Performance/Song, Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album, and Best Gospel Album by Choir/Chorus.

2015’s gospel-driven “I Smile” walks the most secular edge of Franklin’s material. This performance was featured at the 2015 Dove Awards, which honors Christian and gospel music. A half-step modulation arrives triumphantly at 3:45.

Always Starting Over (from “If/Then”)

If/Then, a 2014 original Broadway musical with a libretto by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt, tells the story of woman named Elizabeth who moves back to New York City at age 38 looking for a fresh start. The show, which ran for 401 performances and starred Idina Menzel, received Tony nominations for Best Score and Best Lead Actress in a Musical. “Always Starting Over” is Elizabeth’s climactic Act 2 number and features a number of key changes throughout, with the most prominent one occurring at 3:42.

Jamie Cullum | Anyway

One of my favorite singer-songwriters, Jamie Cullum, makes his MotD debut today with “Anyway,” included on his 2013 album Momentum. Shortly after the album’s release, Cullum elaborated on the inspiration behind it and how he chose its name in an interview with the German magazine Nothing But Hope and Passion:

“Well, it seems like a good title for the album for a lot of reasons. One is that this album was entirely made with a sense of momentum. My life’s changed in a lot of ways since the last few records, you know, I’m a father now, I have multiple responsibilities, far beyond just looking after myself, and so this album was made in pockets of time, rather than the luxury of all the time in the world. So I just kind of hurled myself into it, and the whole thing happened without a great deal of thought, which sounds careless, but I’ve come to realize that thought is the enemy of creativity in a lot of ways.

The other thing, the album is really about that crossover period where you’re really still a young man, but also you’ve got one foot in this incredibly grown-up, adult world where you’re the leader of your pack, and the album really is about that kind of balance of your childish fantasies with these grand and quite epic responsibilities. I think it’s momentum that carries you through that, really, so that’s how I came up with the title.

The tune is primarily in Eb minor, briefly modulating to G major at 2:59 before returning to Eb minor at 3:16.