ballad – Page 8

The Beach Boys | ‘Til I Die

‘Til I Die” from The Beach Boys’ 1971 album Surf’s Up was “one of the only songs written by Brian (Wilson) for which he wrote the lyrics as well the music, (American Songwriter). “Usually other lyricists, such as Mike Love, Van Dyke Parks and Tony Asher, wrote the words to his songs. This one was inspired by Brian’s confrontation with the immensity of the universe. ‘The ocean was so incredibly vast,’ Brian said, ‘the universe was so large, and suddenly I saw myself in proportion to that, a little pebble of sand, a jellyfish floating on top of the water; traveling with the current I felt dwarfed, temporary. The next day I began writing Til I Die, perhaps the most personal song I ever wrote for The Beach Boys.’

Don Was, (the noted producer), said that Brian told him the chords for the song were created by the way they looked geometrically. ‘He essentially created this masterpiece by contorting his fingers into really groovy shapes (on the piano),’ said Was.”

“‘Til I Die’ is the most personal and revealing track he ever wrote, depicting the troubled young songwriter as … an isolated, helplessly adrift person who will be at the mercy of others ‘until I die,” (Sputnik Music). “Surf’s Up represents desolation and despair, not visceral in nature, but rather submissive to fate and the hell it will bring. Anyone with a basic knowledge of Beach Boys history can connect the dots regarding what this album is representing: the woes of Brian Wilson as his struggles with addiction and depression spiraled to some of their lowest points.”

Dropping right into the first verse without so much as a note of introduction, the tune shifts tonality often, meandering among several keys but never quite finding a home in any of them. At 1:40, a prominent repeating bass vocal part finally provides some grounding for the outro, which is an extended one given the tune’s overall length of only 2:33.

Robert Glasper (feat. Ledisi + Gregory Porter) | It Don’t Matter

“Robert Glasper’s 2012 album Black Radio was a groundbreaking collection that combined hip-hop, R&B, jazz and more into a diverse yet cohesive package … (SoulTracks.com). It was justly honored with the Best R&B Album award at the 55th Grammys, recognizing both its ambitiousness and its near flawless execution. It also begat the critically acclaimed Black Radio 2 a year later.”

“Glasper has released two albums of what you might call neo-soul, or maybe organic R&B, featuring a core band (The Robert Glasper Experiment) and guest stars like Erykah Badu, Lupe Fiasco and Norah Jones. Black Radio and last year’s sequel, Black Radio 2, aren’t heard much on ‘urban’ radio, but the point is that they ought to be,” (NPR Music). “Glasper builds his songs with old-school values: singers and MCs who don’t need software to carry a melody, improvising within a band, hand-building beats and vamps with live instruments.”

After a start in Bb major, the bridge of this slow but cutting ballad shifts to Bb minor from 2:50 – 3:24 before reverting to the original key.

Tommy James | I Think We’re Alone Now

Tommy James, along with his band, The Shondells, scored a Billboard #4 in 1967 with the just-over-2-minutes bubblegum rocker “I Think We’re Alone Now”. The song, written by Ritchie Cordell (who also co-wrote another Shondells hit, “Mony Mony”), stuck to one key throughout.

Over 50 years later, in 2019, James reprised the song on his album Alive, featuring only acoustic guitar and background vocals, and a much slower tempo. Missing in this version are the percussive “heartbeats” from the original, perhaps because at this tempo, they would be suggestive of brachycardia. James’ voice, perhaps sweetened by a touch of autotune, is really the highlight here.

The song starts in A; in addition to some subtle re-harmonization here and there, it features an elegant modulation to C at 2:18.

Jacob Collier (feat. Lizzy McAlpine + John Mayer) | Never Gonna Be Alone

“For ‘Never Gonna Be Alone,’ his first single since the award-winning Djesse Vol. 3, Jacob Collier enlisted the help of Lizzy McAlpine and John Mayer to create a celestial soundscape that spans the depths of isolation, loss and memory,” (NPR).

“There’s much to experience over the course of this one multifaceted and emotional song. ‘It speaks to my experience of the world as a hugely beautiful and fragile place,’ Collier writes in a press statement, adding that the song ‘has helped me process some of the grief I think we’re all feeling for our pasts and futures, in a myriad of different ways.'”

From the video description on Collier’s YouTube channel: “After eighteen months of FaceTime and virtual collaboration, we got to play this song in real life! Performed live at Lizzy’s show at the Troubadour on October 7th 2022.” After a few verses and choruses in C major, 2:21 brings a masterful but understated guitar solo from Mayer. At 3:02, the end of the solo intersects with a few chords outside the key, but the overarching key is unchanged. McAlpine’s crystalline soprano leads a soft-spoken mid-phrase modulation up a half-step to Db major at 3:19.

Lamont Dozier | Reach Out, I’ll Be There (feat. Jo Harman)

Lamont Dozier, who died earlier this month at the age of 81, “played his part in many of the songs that built the Motown legend and which now seem as impervious to the ravages of time as those of Rodgers and Hart or Lennon and McCartney,” (The Guardian). As Dozier worked with the songwriting team of brothers Eddie and Brian Holland, the “Holland-Dozier-Holland” catalog grew to include classics such as “‘Heat Wave’ and ‘Nowhere to Run’ (with Martha and the Vandellas), ‘Can I Get a Witness’ (Marvin Gaye), ‘Baby I Need Your Loving,’ ‘I Can’t Help Myself’ and ‘Reach Out I’ll Be There’ (Four Tops), ‘This Old Heart of Mine’ (Isley Brothers), ‘Take Me in Your Arms’ (Kim Weston) and a record-breaking string of #1 hits in the US charts for the Supremes, starting with ‘Where Did Our Love Go’ in 1964 and including ‘Baby Love,’ ‘Stop! In the Name of Love,’ ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’ and ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On.'”

The Guardian continues: “Long after their original radio and chart success had faded away, many of Holland-Dozier-Holland’s million-sellers turned out to have embedded themselves so deeply in the public consciousness that they enjoyed second lives, reimagined for new audiences in cover versions by non-Motown artists. Rod Stewart’s ‘This Old Heart of Mine,’ Kim Wilde’s ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On’ and Phil Collins’ ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’ were among the many reinterpretations that kept a smile on the faces of Holland-Dozier-Holland’s song publishers as the years went by … In later years he provided songs for Alison Moyet, Debbie Gibson, Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle, wrote with Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall … Phil Collins, and Kelly Rowland. Dozier and the Hollands were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.”

Dozier released the album Reimagination in 2018, “a collection of twelve tracks previously written for other artists while at Motown, but Dozier performs them in a way that will make you forget the original,” (BlackGrooves.org). For a rendition of the Four Tops’ uptempo 1967 hit, “Reach Out, I’ll Be There,” Dozier and British vocalist Jo Harman have transformed the up-tempo classic into a gospel-tinged ballad. After a start in E major, 1:59 brings a shift to C# major. At 2:40, we revert to the original key for a piano solo before the arrangement beautifully unfolds into a full gospel texture. The cover is so earnest and so self-assured that yes, the distinctive original is indeed forgotten, at least for a time!

For reference, here’s the original:

Astral Drive | Love, Light + Happiness

After performing with, producing, and/or writing for The Jam, Paul McCartney, XTC, Duran Duran, The Cure, Thompson Twins, Sting, Hot Chocolate, Cyndi Lauper, Natalie Imbruglia, Pixie Lott, and Bryan Adams, what does one do for an encore?

“After decades of making records, hits and misses for other artists, Phil Thornalley began making his own under the Astral Drive moniker in 2017, a combination of seventies recording techniques, impromptu jam sessions (with himself) and starry-eyed idealism,” (The Progressive Aspect) … Thornalley seems to have enjoyed the broader focus allowed by working for himself: “In my days as a songwriter-for-hire, I could happily contrive a tune at the drop of a hat, imagining the artist’s voice and sensibilities as I made choices about melody or chords. But for my own music I have the freedom to allow the songs to bubble up from the unconscious. Perhaps that’s a more natural and organic route than writing in a caffeinated sweat, hoping to deliver something for an impatient platinum-selling artist.”

Astral Drive’s 2021 single “Love, Light and Happiness” opens in A minor with a deceptively simple five-step ascending melodic run (the tonic to the fifth degree of the scale). Via a common tone, the melody lofts right over the border of the A minor tonality and makes an ecstatic landing in the anthemic chorus (an F# minor/E minor vamp) at 0:55. F/G provides some sleight of hand for the transition back into the A minor verse (1:18 – 1:24).

Debbie Gibson | Lost In Your Eyes

“Lost In Your Eyes” is featured on American singer Debbie Gibson’s second studio album, Electric Youth, released in 1989. The song, which Gibson wrote and produced, was her most successful single and sat atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart for three weeks. Writing for the former British music newspaper Record Mirror, critic Betty Page said, “Golden larynxed Debs hits us with the big moodsome ballad, proving that she’s shaping up to be the Barry Manilow of the Nineties.”

The track begins in C and modulates to D at 2:14.

Bee Gees | Bodyguard

“The Bee Gees made a commercial comeback outside the U.S. with 1987’s E.S.P. and its single, ‘You Win Again,” (AllMusic). One (1989), on the other hand, had an improved chart showing in the U.S., while sales fell off elsewhere. The Bee Gees are remarkable pop craftsmen … say what you will, “One” and “House of Shame” are convincing pop music. ([the single] “One” was a Top Ten comeback hit that topped soft rock radio playlists.) This stuff works as pop for the same reason “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You” and “You Should Be Dancing” did: the melodies are catchy, the hooks are deathless, and the vocals convey emotion over meaning. It may be weightless, but it’s polished.”

“‘I’m the last man standing. I’ll never be able to understand that as I’m the eldest,'” said Barry Gibb (SmoothRadio.com). All three of his brothers (twins Robin and Maurice of the Bee Gees, and much younger brother Andy) passed away between 1988 and 2012. “‘Nobody ever really know what the three of us felt about each other; only the three of us knew … It was such a unifying thing, the three of us became one person. We all had the same dream. That’s what I miss more than anything else.”

The disco grooves that propelled the Bee Gees to international superstardom were long gone by the time of this 1989 release, but “Bodyguard” features the fraternal vocal trio still firing on all cylinders. At 3:09, a whole-step modulation leads into a short guitar feature before the vocals return. Many thanks to Brazilian contributor Julianna for this submission!

Lee Jieun (이지은) | Winter Sleep

“Lee Jieun (이지은), popularly known as IU, is a highly-acclaimed South Korean singer, songwriter, philanthropist, and actress … She is also known in South Korea as ‘The Nation’s Little Sister.'” (KPopping.com) “For years, she attended singing and acting lessons … She also auditioned for more than 20 companies, failing most of them. However, her hard work eventually lead to her debut on September 18, 2008 when she performed the digital single ‘Lost Child.'”

KoreaTimes reports: “According to IU, 2021’s ‘Winter Sleep’ is a piano-driven song in which she talks about the feeling of loss that hits people when a loved one passes away. ‘I was hit by a wave of loss after having a farewell with people around me … but I realized that flowers still bloom and stars rise in the sky regardless of how I feel… Now, my heart does not break when I sing this song.'”

The straightforward arrangement keeps its focus on the melody, which takes a few unexpected steps from time to time. At 2:12, an early half-step modulation brings a shift which lasts for the balance of the tune — all the way to the non-resolving ending. Many thanks to our frequent contributor Ziyad for this submission!

Yebba | How Many Years

“Dawn (2021) doesn’t sound like the debut of a burgeoning pop sensation hopping onto trends,” (New York Times). “The album has a rich retro palette, draws deeply from jazz and R&B and is set in a dusky register that gives Yebba’s flexible voice room to roam … The album’s title doesn’t just refer to the break of day; it was her mom’s name, too.” Yebba’s mother died by suicide just as the artist was rising towards her current prominence. “’I feel like now I get to be 26, instead of always being so immersed in grief … I no longer feel like my life is some chore that I haven’t completed — that my mom is hanging over my head. There are new ways to honor her.’”

“The retro and the contemporary find a nice equilibrium throughout Dawn, but the draw is still Yebba’s voice and the way she massages every note into a sigh,” (The New Yorker). “She possesses an explosive melisma on par with some of the great power-pop divas of the past, but finesse is her strength. She allows the depth and purity of her tone to reverberate, even in the quieter moments. The album’s opener, ‘How Many Years,’ lets threads of whisper-song fray into a gossamer veil, mirroring her apprehension and her doubtfulness … The greatest triumph of Dawn is that Yebba never loses her sense of self in remembrance. A tragedy of this magnitude threatens to overwhelm a début’s statement of identity, but Yebba won’t allow her story to be defined only by what happened. Instead of romanticizing her grief, she pushes through it, untangling a mess of emotions in search of closure.”

“How Many Years,” co-written by Yebba, seems to embody its lyric Where can I run when the ground moves beneath my feet? After the music begins at the 0:50 point, the verses change harmonic direction every phrase or two, all the more profoundly because the shifts happen during phrases rather than between them. However, the melodic shape of the choruses is constant — stated and re-stated with increasing emphasis, perhaps in an attempt to counteract shifting tonalities. The first chorus (1:31) is in Bb major; the second (2:37), in E major; the third (4:04) is something of a harmonic question mark, augmented and artfully blurred by subtle reharmonization.