Canada

Alanis Morissette | Head Over Feet

“During a live performance, Morissette told fans the story behind ‘Head Over Feet’ (1995), which finds the rage-fueled ‘You Oughta Know’ singer in the unfamiliar territory of a healthy relationship, (Songfacts). ‘ … When I wrote (the song) about this particular person, it was the first time that I actually had a glimpse of what it would be like to be in love and have it be something that was inducing heart palpitations, yet at the same time I could spend a couple minutes and actually not think about that person. It was very new to me.’

Creating the album was only part of the battle: Alanis didn’t have a record deal, so they were shopping it while they were recording it. They got lots of rejections before landing it with Maverick Records, Madonna’s label … ‘It’s very conversational and doesn’t adhere to any structure. I had been attempting to write without consideration for rhyming for quite a long time, and a lot of people would just stop writing with me – they would physically leave the room … ‘” Glen Ballard, a writer matched with Morissette via the record company, told Rolling Stone: “I just connected with her as a person, and, almost parenthetically, it was like ‘Wow, you’re 19?’ She was so intelligent and ready to take a chance on doing something that might have no commercial application. Although there was some question about what she wanted to do musically, she knew what she didn’t want to do, which was anything that wasn’t authentic and from her heart.”^[

Forgoing an intro and jumping right into the verse in C major, Jagged Little Pill‘s fifth single shifts up to D major for the chorus at 0:38. Verse 2 returns to the original key; the pattern continues from there. The broader-ranging harmonic structures of the chorus, including an unusual chromatic bass motion, contrast with the cliché chord progression and more repetitive melodic phrases of the verse.

for Amy

The Fretless | Jenny Bear

“There was a time when the fiddle was a complete ‘band’ unto itself. Barn dances, church gatherings, parties on the back porch, weddings, funerals (The Bluegrass Situation) … the musical cornerstone of these occasions, from Appalachia to Ireland and far beyond, was oftentimes a lone fiddle, standing apart, unencumbered. The ability of a fiddle to cut through the white noise and to wail at un-ignorable frequencies perfectly suited it to this role. There’s an immediacy to the droning sustain or slippery slurs, the humming double-stops or bouncing triplets of the instrument that, even solo, won’t leave your ears wanting more.

Canadian string ensemble the Fretless take this immediacy and multiply it by four. They translate the visceral, primal sounds that led fiddle to evolve into these one-instrument-band scenarios and weave them together so artfully that, all at once, they sound homogenous, as one cohesive unit, while the constituent parts remain perfectly distinct — as if they were each leading their own raucous living room step dance … you can feel the live audience leaning forward, reflecting the lilting energy of the modern-flavored percussive chopping and the timeless jig and reel drive back to the Fretless, who give it directly back to their audience. It’s almost as if they know they’re transporting each listener to a back porch, dance hall, or barn party with every bow stroke.”

Since forming in 2011, The Fretless “has toured extensively across Canada and worldwide, including Australia, South and North America, and seven European tours—playing historic small halls to prestigious stages such as the Cologne Philharmonic, Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra Hall, Shetland Folk Festival, Festival Internacional Cervantino, and two sold-out shows at Celtic Connections (artist site). “At home, they’ve captivated audiences at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, Small Halls, Hillside Festival, and Mariposa Folk Festival. They also had the honour of sharing the bill with legendary Canadian fiddler Natalie MacMaster for Canada Scene at the National Arts Centre.”

After a start in D minor and a shift to D major at 0:38, “Jenny Bear” (2018) alternates a bit more between these two key areas. The harmonic shifts and compelling groove would seem to provide plenty to keep the audience happy. But at 2:13 the tune shifts suddenly to E — and the jumps between major and minor accelerate to an even faster cadence.

Alannah Myles | Love Is

“When Alannah Myles burst onto the scene in 1989 with ‘Black Velvet,’ the bluesy single, her fantastic, slightly gravelly vocals caught the attention of the entire world,” (Adam’s World). “The song didn’t just hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S., it reached the Top 10 in over a dozen countries (although, oddly, just #10 in her native Canada); it continues to receive radio airplay to this day. In fact, in 2005 ‘Black Velvet’ was the recipient of a “Millionaire Award” from ASCAP for having racked up more than four million radio plays. The single went gold in the U.S., took home the Grammy in 1991 for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance (yes, nearly two years after its release), and launched her self-titled debut album to platinum status.

The follow up single, however, titled ‘Love Is,’ peaked at #36 (although it was her debut single in Canada) … After that, those of us in America didn’t hear much from Alannah, even though she released three albums in the ‘90s, and two more in the current century, including one as recently as 2014. ‘Black Velvet’ was a lightning in a bottle moment, and its staying power over the past 30+ years is a testament to the greatness of the song … ” But “Love Is” has a key change — one of the very few features that “Black Velvet” lacks.

Built primarily in G major, “Love Is” spends most of its verses and choruses in a groove-driven trance limited to various voicings of the tonic chord. From 1:44 – 2:05, a bridge in E major is in effect before a return to the original key. At 2:24, the same E major section returns through 2:44. Then it’s back to G major again for the balance of the tune. In 1990, “Love Is” was nominated for Canada’s Juno Award for Single of the Year; the track lost to “Black Velvet,” clearly illustrating the song’s also-ran status when compared to Myles’ international smash hit.

Gino Vannelli | The River Must Flow

After releasing some commercially disappointing albums which dug deeply into the prog world, Gino Vannelli “(the ‘Canadian Elvis’) and his brother Joe realized that their most favorable chance for gaining wider recognition rested in their emphasizing the more accessible, jazz-influenced R&B side of their sound, even if it meant alienating young fans who preferred their progressive rock angle,” (Jazz Music Archives). “The result was the platinum-selling Brother to Brother (1978).” The album featured one of Vannelli’s signature tunes, the breakthrough global hit “I Just Wanna Stop.”

The album “faithfully adhered to the high standards of aural fidelity that made his first five albums stand out from the herd, the musicianship is impeccable, and Joe’s continued insistence on utilizing every innovation in the field of synthesizers and keyboards … hadn’t waned one iota. Fortunately they didn’t abandon their love and respect for jazz when they jettisoned most of their prog wardrobe

… ‘The River Must Flow’ has a rhythmic contemporary pop groove that’s brightly peppered with lively percussion outbursts courtesy of Manuel Badrena, and Carlos Rios turns in another aggressive, jazzy guitar ride.” The track begins in Bb minor, shifting to Bb mixolydian as the chorus hits at 0:50. At 1:33, the tail end of the chorus serves as an intro to the next verse, reverting to Bb minor. The two keys continue to alternate from there.

Joni Mitchell | My Old Man

“Joni Mitchell’s ‘My Old Man’ is quintessentially Joni: whimsically metaphorical, groundedly realistic, and fiercely independent with its laissez-faire approach to long-term, committed relationships,” (American Songwriter). “She wrote the iconic track, which she included on the 1971 album Blue while living on Lookout Mountain in the Laurel Canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles. At the time, Mitchell was in a whirlwind relationship with Graham Nash—a relationship that, although doomed from the start, produced other enduring tracks like ‘Our House’ and ‘A Case of You,’ the latter of which is also on ‘Blue.’

A definitive musical power couple, Mitchell and Nash’s relationship was bigger than either party and, as the song clearly states, antiquated ideas of legal domesticity through marriage. Within the context of Joni Mitchell and Graham Nash’s relationship, the opening lines of ‘My Old Man’ paint a clear picture of the creative duo: My old man is a singer in the park; he’s a walker in the rain; he’s a dancer in the dark. Almost immediately, Mitchell asserts the fact that neither party feels the need to validate their bond through traditional means of marriage. We don’t need no piece of paper from the City Hall keeping us tied and true, she sings in the chorus. “

The intro and choruses are built in A major; the melody soars to Mitchell’s legendary high range as she details times spent together with her partner. From 1:17 -1 1:42, a verse (bridge?) cycles through several keys, all providing vivid contrast to A major! After another chorus, the verse/bridge (which returns at 2:17 – 2:42), which recounts the couple’s time apart, features a lower melody and more complex, darker harmonies.

Alanis Morissette | Joining You

“Once you’ve scaled the heights of pop music, where else can you go? In Alanis Morissette’s case, the answer is trading altitude for depth — digging deeply into yourself, unearthing all manner of neuroses, questions and thorny realities in the process,” (Dallas Observer). “It’s saying something that Morissette followed up 1995’s seismic, multiplatinum Jagged Little Pill with a record even more psychologically and emotionally bracing, but she did just that with 1998’s Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie.

… Robert Christgau offered backhanded praise in the Village Voice: ‘The mammoth riffs, diaristic self-analysis, and pretentious Middle Eastern sonorities of this music mark it as ‘rock,’ albeit rock with tunes. And in this context I suck it up, feeling privileged to listen along with all the young women whose struggles Morissette blows up to such a scale.'”

“Joining You,” a single from the 1998 album, wasn’t the same level of smash hit as “Thank You,” its predecessor from the same release. But it cracked the top twenty in Morissette’s native Canada and the US, as well as Italy and the Netherlands. Following a start in C minor, the chorus shifts to E minor (0:58 – 1:37) before reverting to the original key.

Chad Price | Somehow, Someway

” … ‘Somehow, Someway’ … is soulful, uplifting and hopeful, impassioned and achingly expressive; this song aches in all the right ways – all because of Price’s radiant voice, his soul-stirring lyrics, magnificent instrumental work, and the talent he’s surrounded himself with.

‘(It’s) a song that feels confessional to me,’ Price tells Atwood Magazine. ‘It feels like me confessing that I often feel lost, out of control, at the end of my rope, and like an imposter. It feels uncomfortable, because I really do struggle with opening up about my emotions and being vulnerable. But the weight we carry around feels a lot lighter when we become strong enough to face our darkness/demons/trauma…whatever you choose to call it … head on. When we actually look at it, it can become less scary. That’s what this song is to me. It’s about freeing myself from myself, realizing that I am not broken, and to continue moving forward no matter what.”

After a gentle intro apparently played on a long-untuned piano, the 2022 track begins in earnest at 0:55. Following a grand pause, the tune returns a half-step higher at 3:36. The track has won wide acclaim for Price, a Toronto native.

Ocean | Put Your Hand In the Hand

“Toronto, Canada quintet Ocean’s … first single, ‘Put Your Hand in the Hand,’ a #2 pop hit in America in 1971, was written by Gene MacLellan, who’d played with Robbie Robertson in both the Consuls and the Suedes,” (Songfacts). “Several singles followed during the early ’70s, but none were as popular as the debut. Ocean disbanded in 1975.

The song also references when Jesus calmed the sea in (the books of) Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In the midst of a storm that threatened to overturn their boat, the panicked apostles woke Jesus and begged him to help. Jesus didn’t see what all the fuss was about and simply commanded the waves to be still. He asked his disciples, ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’ Ocean wasn’t a gospel group, didn’t feel a strong connection to the religious aspect of the song … and were hesitant to release the single … They were right. The group was typecast as a gospel rock band thanks to the Jesus-themed debut.”

Starting in E major, the tune features a big downward leap to A major (1:13) to accommodate the shift from the female lead vocal to verses featuring several of the band’s male singers on lead.

The Guess Who | No Time

“Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings of The Guess Who were aiming for a rock hit to follow their first gold record, the ballad ‘These Eyes,'” (Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame). “They found it in the contrasting hard-driving rocker ‘No Time.’

They had been impressed by the new country-rock sound of Buffalo Springfield, of which their Winnipeg friend Neil Young was a member. The inspiration for (the) opening guitar riff came from one in Springfield’s ‘Hung Upside Down’; Bachman said he ‘turned it upside down and made my own riff out of it,’ … by early 1970 it was another million-seller.” In February and March 1970, the track was a top 10 hit in the US and Canada alike. “The Guess Who were chosen as the Junos’ top group in 1970 and again in 1971.

… The BMI award-winning No Time is, in essence, a break-up song:

No time for a summer friend / No time for the love you send
Seasons change and so did I / There’s no time left for you.

The intriguing lyric ‘No time for the killing floor’ is anti-war slang that Cummings and Bachman had heard in San Francisco, equating the Viet Nam war – accurately – with a slaughterhouse.”

The tune’s intro and verse are in D minor; the chorus shifts to G major (heard for the first time from 0:37 – 1:04). Throughout, the track’s energetic feel runs counter to the heartbreaking lyrics.

Anne Murray + Céline Dion | When I Fall in Love

What’s Canadian and sweet? A Tim Horton’s doughnut? Yes, that, and the
voices of Anne Murray and Céline Dion harmonizing on the standard
“When I Fall in Love”.

The song, written by Victor Young and Edward Heyman for the 1952 movie
One Minute to Zero, has become a jazz standard ballad over the years. The tune has had myriad interpretations: Doris Day had a hit version that same year, and Nat “King” Cole recorded his well-known version in 1956. Céline Dion did a version with Clive Griffin for the movie Sleepless in Seattle in 1993, which was also released as a charting single. In 1996, Natalie Cole recorded the song as a virtual duet with her late father, winning a Grammy for her effort.

This live version, appeared on Anne Murray’s 2007 album Duets: Friends & Legends, although it was recorded in 1998 for a DVD release. Murray takes the opening verse in the key of A major. After a climb to D major at 0:54, Dion takes the next verse. The song continues in D, featuring both voices in sweet harmony. At 3:13, there’s a flirtation with F before a return to D at 3:20.