ballad

Todd Rundgren | The Last Ride

“Todd Rundgren is, apparently by design, a bundle of contradictions,” (Trouser Press). “A facile composer of memorable hook-filled pop melodies, he has often chosen to make willfully difficult music. A one-man studio wiz proficient on any number of instruments … possessor of a highly original sound … (and) a tireless innovator at the boundaries of music technology, he has often performed with a lone acoustic guitar and piano. Rundgren’s gifts as a lyricist are impressive, yet he has also recorded a fair number of instrumentals. To some, he’s better known as a producer than an artist, although his commercial achievements in both realms are not inconsiderable. In short, the kid from Upper Darby, PA has fashioned a fascinating life out of following his muse wherever it goes.”

A few albums into his solo career and still in his 20s, Rundgren released Todd in 1974. The reviews were all over the map. “Todd sags under the weight of such indulgences as ‘In and Out the Chakras We Go (formerly ‘Shaft in Outer Space’),’ yet still contains ‘A Dream Goes on Forever,’ one of the most beautiful piano ballads ever recorded. ‘The Last Ride’ melds Todd’s pop sensibility with his Philly soul enthusiasm; ‘Izzat Love?’ could have been the album’s pop single, and the album ends with two triumphs. ‘Don’t You Ever Learn?’ runs over six minutes but wastes not a second with its washes of electric piano and strong melody, while the anthemic ‘Sons of 1984’ comes complete with backing vocals by concert-goers on two coasts. (Rundgren was one of the first rockers to truly understand and make creative use of the connections between artist and fans).”

The easy 6/8 groove of “The Last Ride” belies the tune’s rich harmonic textures and intense emotionality. Rundgren’s ballads frequently feature star-crossed relationships, lost horizons, and missed opportunities — and “The Last Ride” is no exception. I thought I knew just everything / I had it made and I could coast / But I turned away love when I needed it most. For this 2011 live version, the setting is Rundgren’s home in Hawaii, but the production credit (and the stellar band!) belong to fellow Philadelphia-area native Daryl Hall and his groundbreaking web series Live from Daryl’s House. Built primarily in G minor, the tune shifts to F minor at 2:36; the two keys alternate from there.

Huey Lewis + The News | Simple As That

Huey Lewis and the News’ 1983 collection Sports “had been an absolute smash, one of just five records to top the Billboard album chart in 1984 (for just one week in its case, but in that Thriller– and Purple Rain-dominated year, still quite something),” (Best Classic Bands). “It yielded four top 10 singles and catapulted the band into the rarefied space of touring attractions capable of filling arenas around the world. The album stayed on the chart for 160 weeks, and the accompanying Sports tour was about as long.

… Fore! was one of the most front-loaded records ever created. On side one of the vinyl release, four of the five songs charted in the top 10, as did the first song on the flip side.” A tune from the side two of the album, “Simple as That,” is “nestled among band vocals and horn trimming, its throwback soul underpinnings were a reminder that for all the band’s straightforward appeals, its versatility—and willingness to take it in different directions—was easy to underestimate … Recruitment of the Tower of Power horns paid dividends on multiple tracks … Never possessed of dazzling range, Lewis’ singing nonetheless sported enormous craft, and the sheer emotive power he generated was irresistibly insistent.”

After a regal fanfare of an intro, this musical tribute to everyday middle class struggles settles into Ab major. At 2:30, a resounding unprepared key change hits so hard, squarely on beat one, that it takes a few moments for the smoke to clear. Soon, we realize that there’s been a downward key change to G major — vanishingly rare in pop music, and doubly so for straight-down-the fairway Top 40 fare. Quite a lovely touch for the closing moments of the album’s final track.

Ronnie Milsap | It Was Almost Like a Song

“Listen closely to Ronnie Milsap’s golden voice and you’ll hear a singer as close to the heart of American music as anyone who’s ever made the charts,” (Soul Country). ” He wound through the R&B nightclubs of Memphis and Atlanta, where he sang straight-up Southern soul and rock ‘n’ roll, before moving to Nashville at the urging of Charley Pride.

‘Today, the coolest building in the world is cooler for the presence of Ronnie Milsap,’ (interviewer) Peter Cooper said, introducing the singer for the joyful, wide-ranging conversation in 2015. ‘He is the piano-playing, country-soul singing, Braille-reading, radio listening, native North Carolinian and 42-year Nashvillian who is — along with Hank Cochran and Mac Wiseman — among the three newest members of the Country Music Hall of Fame.’ The singer’s accomplishments in popular music are staggering. He had 12 No. 1 singles in his first five years in country music, Cooper said. Then came the 1980s. ‘He sang 35 No. 1 Billboard country singles between June 1973 to March of ’92,’ Cooper continued. ‘Every song he released was a Top 20 country hit. All but two were Top 10. All but six were Top Five.'”

Co-written by Burt Bacharach’s favorite lyricist collaborator Hal David and Archie Jordan and released in 1977 on an album of the same name, Milsap’s “It Was Almost Like a Song” begins in C major. At 2:31, a key change up to Db major takes effect through to the end of the tune, accompanying Milsap’s soaring vocal and leading up to a quieter piano feature for the short outro. Many thanks to our regular contributor Rob P. for submitting this tune!

Madison Cunningham | Take Two

“(Madison) Cunningham has been described as the musician’s musician …” (Here Comes the Song). “We prefer to be more inclusive and regard her as the discerning listener’s musician … the Californian achieves an almost classical sophistication in beautiful ballads such as ‘Shore,’ the Joni-esque ‘Take Two‘ and ‘My Full Name‘ (on 2025’s Ace). The young Madison was experimenting with open tunings before she discovered Joni Mitchell; secular sounds took time to woo her away from the constrictions of megachurch worship music.

… Her approach to melody is fearlessly innovative, the candour of her lyrics unflinching … At 29, Cunningham has survived a period of turbulence – married young, divorced young – normally experienced by people much older than her. Instead of retreating, she turned the ordeal into a meditation on the difference between happiness and contentment. ‘Happiness is hollow and shiny, contentment is rooted and rich and doesn’t deny sadness or joy,’ she told Leo Sidran on his Third Story podcast. ‘We want to numb pain away and that just means you numb everything else too. Contentment isn’t afraid of the feeling of pain … I’m learning how to be alone and to not feel loneliness. Those don’t have to be the same thing.’”

Joni-esque isn’t an adjective to be applied lightly. But given the broad harmonic vocabulary, the shifting instrumental textures, and cutting lyrics on offer here, it seems fitting. Beginning in A minor, “Take Two” progresses through two verses before a more strongly textured C minor verse falls into place at 1:41. At 2:26, there’s a return to the original key.

George Michael | You Have Been Loved

“Think back to August 1997. George’s album Older had already been out for a year, spinning off a quintet of top 3 singles in the UK whilst being largely ignored in the US,” (The Singles Jukebox). “And then the heretofore unthinkable happened: Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash in Paris. In light of Diana’s death — not to mention that most knew of the friendship between George and Diana — ‘You Have Been Loved’ took on added resonance and became a profoundly moving, albeit unintentional, tribute to the late Princess.

‘You Have Been Loved’ was included a few months later on the Diana, Princess of Wales: Tribute compilation, alongside a number of suitably somber songs, both previously released and newly recorded. ‘Loved’ is the second song on the double album, behind only ‘Who Wants to Live Forever’ by Diana’s beloved Queen, and immediately prior to Annie Lennox’s ‘Angel.'”

The tune begins with an E minor that spends very little time on its tonic chord. But after briefly wending its way through several other tonalities, the chorus ends squarely on C major, starting at 2:37 and running until an interlude and verse 2 begin at at 3:04 in the original key. The track’s final measures are also in C major.

Scott Walker | Angelica

“Scott Walker … the pop idol turned crooner turned shocking avant-garde auteur, died (in 2019) at age 76, but not before leaving behind one of the most fascinating catalogues of the rock era,” (The Second Disc). “An American and child actor on Broadway who found his success in England as one third of The Walker Brothers, Scott could have been content reliving his glory days of ‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore,’ ‘Make It Easy on Yourself,’ and ‘Joanna.’ But the uncompromising artist never stopped pushing the envelope, as a songwriter, performer, and producer.

… The music business is famous for hyperbole, but it’s no exaggeration to say that few have had a career anything like that of Scott Walker. An American who skyrocketed to fame on British shores in the heady time that was the mid-1960s, Walker (born Noel Scott Engel in 1943) turned his back on the world of a pop idol. He became one of the first major performers to embrace and champion the dark musical melodramas of Jacques Brel but that, too, didn’t last long. After some largely undistinguished albums recorded during his self-described ‘lost years’ and a period of relative seclusion, Walker emerged, creating provocative soundscapes that dispensed with any traditional notions of melody or songwriting.”

“Angelica” (1967), written by Brill Building legends Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, begins in B minor. At 1:10, a soaring vocal melody leads us into the first chorus, with a shift into B major. At 2:03, the pattern repeats, beginning with a second minor verse.

Peaches + Herb | Reunited

“Peaches & Herb weren’t really reunited. The duo had been a pretty successful soul act in the ’60s, and then they’d disappeared for years before returning with their two biggest hits ever,” (Stereogum). But the Peaches & Herb of the late ’70s weren’t the same as the Peaches & Herb of the late ’60s. Herb was the same. (Herb was Herbert Feemster, a Washington, DC native who wisely took the stage name Herb Fame when he got famous). Peaches was different. The Peaches on ‘Reunited’ was Linda Greene, the third in a long line of Peacheses. Maybe ‘Reconstituted’ just wasn’t as catchy a song title.

… Back in 1968, the first version of Peaches & Herb had scored a minor hit with a cover of ‘United,’ an early Philly soul song that Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff had written for the Intruders. So ‘Reunited’ (1979) was a kind of sequel … The lyrics hint at past mistakes: ‘I can’t go cheating/ Honey, I can’t play.’ But they mostly refer to relationship bliss in the most generic terms possible: ‘I was a fool to ever leave your side/ Me minus you is such a lonely ride/ The breakup we had has made me lonesome and sad.'”

The sleepy track did quite well for itself: it topped both the R&B singles chart and the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for four weeks in 1979. Selling over two million copies, it was ranked as the No. 5 song for 1979 by Billboard. After a start in Db major, “Reunited” features an early half-step shift to D major at 1:42, then another to Eb major at 3:10. The verses are just about identical to the choruses in harmonic structure, so the extra bumps in energy brought by the harmonic step-ups is welcome indeed!

Mike Stern | Wherever You Are

“(Mike Stern’s) virtuoso performances and excellent writing are a source of musical joy and his consistently superb standards serve as a model, followed by generations of young guitarists around the world,” (JazzIs). “On Is What It Is, Stern continues the path established by its predecessors, presenting a set of his excellent compositions performed by a superb group of musicians, which includes saxophonists Michael Brecker and Bob Malach, keyboardist Jim Beard, bassist Will Lee and drummer Dennis Chambers and Ben Perowsky. As usual, the compositions move between atmospheric ballads to up-tempo energetic excursions, performed with finesse and passion.”

“Is What It Is was nominated for Best Contemporary Jazz Performance in the 37th Annual Grammy Awards,” (Jazz Rock Fusion Guitar). “Mike Stern is one of the more creative fusion guitarists, playing with the power of rock but often taking sophisticated improvisations. Reviewer Ries van Schelven writes … ‘This is, in my opinion, Stern’s best solo album … the acoustic masterpiece ‘Wherever You Are’ features Harvie Swartz on the upright acoustic bass … the phrasing is breathtaking.'”

The ballad, which follows an AABA form, begins in A minor. At 0:33, it shifts via a common tone modulation to the B section — first in G# minor, but then shifting through other tonalities, led by an almost constantly falling bass line (sometimes diatonic steps; at others, inching downwards with inversion-enabled chromatic steps). 0:57 brings the final A section with a return to A minor. The bridge (1:20-1:52) features the same melodic shape and falling bass line as the A section, but is built around a completely different family of chords, perching on several different tonalities but never really coming to rest. The bridge connects back to another A section via an octave common tone jump after a long rubato leads to a grand pause. Stern’s solo section (2:15 – 4:28) features harmonies that are by now familiar, but only a whispered texture from the piano and strings supports the guitar line.

Silk Sonic | Put On a Smile

After fiddling with the R&B of the 1980s and ’90s to great commercial success on 2016’s 24K Magic, Bruno Mars has assigned himself a more challenging project: Silk Sonic, a fidelity-obsessed act in which he and onetime tour mate Anderson .Paak recreate the rhythm and blues of the ’70s. The duo sought out particular drum skins to better replicate the sounds of the studio during the heyday of Gamble and Huff, when those songwriter-producers polished soul music to an extravagant sheen. With period-specific instrumentation in place, the exuberant pop hitmaker and the acclaimed rapper-singer-drummer with underground cachet recorded as their ancestors did, with just one or two mics for the entire room of musicians … (the) splashy interplay between male vocalists is perhaps the record’s strongest selling point: there are virtually no male R&B vocal groups of note these days, though the power of layered harmonies is the catalyst for much of the genre’s finest records, most notably the entire body of work of Marvin Gaye.

… Co-written by the singularly talented Babyface, the (2021) album’s big ballad (‘Put On a Smile’) digs as deep emotionally as Mars and .Paak are willing to go on a project that keeps the stakes low by choosing humor over sincerity at just about every turn. (Guest star Bootsy) Collins’ rhyming intro mentions ‘begging in the rain,’ and the subject matter doesn’t stray far from the Temptations’ ‘I Wish It Would Rain’ or the Miracles’ ‘The Tracks of My Tears,’ perfect songs about trying to mask your busted heart. Structurally, ‘Put on a Smile’ teases massive catharsis with its first chorus that it smartly holds back until the second refrain, when the drums finally crescendo and Mars leaps to the top of his falsetto. The song is played entirely straight, as the level of emotion calls for.”

Starting in C# minor, the ballad’s vocals-forward mix showcases Mars’ powerhouse delivery during the first verse, then shifts to .Paak’s raspy, heartfelt technique in the second. At 2:55, a half-step key change takes effect, nestled on all sides between compound chords. Mars continues to ascend to the stratosphere from there, until the tune returns to earth with both singers’ voices moving in close harmony.

Kenny Loggins | I Would Do Anything

“Released in 1991, Leap Of Faith was a new artistic success for Kenny Loggins and a true return to form after the weak results of Back To Avalon,” (Fozfan.com). “On this new album the singer finally freed himself from the boundaries of the ‘flavor of the day’ radio sounds and offered the listener a collection of high quality songs, all delivered with true passion. Loggins crafted the record with a special care on the arrangements that are very refined plus a smart use of acoustic instruments that looked back at his early days with Jim Messina. On top of it all there are the usual incredible vocal harmonies of the singer with his special guests like Mike McDonald, Sheryl Crow and the Pointer Sisters.

‘I Would Do Anything’ is a latin-tinged ballad beautifully sung by Loggins with Sheryl Crow. The atmosphere is really magical and brings us to mind some of Michael Franks’ most inspired work. Flamenco guitar great Ottmar Liebert appears on it together with aces like Greg Phillinganes, Nathan East, Dean Parks, and Ricky Lawson, who offer their artistry to this sensual piece of music.”

Co-written by super-producer David Foster and Loggins, “I Would Do Anything” begins in E mixolydian. An unexpected F major comes into focus at 0:57. Verse two (1:37) returns to the original key. An extended interlude steps briefly into other key areas before a leisurely outro ends the tune in the original key. Loggins’ duet partner here is Shanice, best known for her release “I Love Your Smile,” although that role was at times filled by Sheryl Crow instead.