As always, we kick off the holiday season with Whitney Houston‘s inimitable cover of “Joy To The World,” originally recorded for the 1996 film The Preacher’s Wife. This arrangement hits the mark in every way — there are key changes at 0:43, 1:48, 2:22, 3:00 and 3:12, as well as a false ending at 3:37.
Tag: gospel
Kirk Franklin | Melodies From Heaven
“Kirk Franklin, set up with his band and choir in a corner of Uncle Jessie’s Kitchen, makes a declaration. ‘I know you’re at home right now, in your draws, listening to some Jesus music. It’s ok. Jesus loves you in your draws!’ The Arlington, Texas studio, named after a long time close friend, features a large photo of the iconic ‘I AM A MAN’ protest signs from the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike on the wall,” (NPR Music). “The jubilant energy that Franklin and company emit, juxtaposed with a visual reminder of the strife that Black people have endured, is illustrative of the importance of gospel music in the Black community.
For nearly 30 years, Franklin has been widely regarded for revolutionizing gospel. He incorporated secular music, particularly hip-hop, while preserving the message and integrity of traditional gospel. Here, he and his powerhouse choir pace through a decades-long, sixteen Grammy award winning discography of faith, praise and encouragement while cracking plenty of jokes. I cannot recall a more moving Tiny Desk home performance.”
The triumphant half-step key changes in the abbreviated NPR Tiny Desk version (2021) of “Melodies from Heaven” hit at 8:38 and 8:49. In an older live version of the tune, originally released in 1996 (also posted below), we hear the shifts at 2:21 and 2:43.
Al Green | Happy Days Ahead
“It starts with the voice. You either get it or you don’t — and though it took too long, by now almost everyone does,” (Robert Christgau). “Al Green’s mid-range generates a mellow burn like good single-malt Scotch and is cut by a rotgut roughness when he growls and a signature falsetto finer than wine. It’s hard to believe the Michigan-raised, Memphis-based Arkansan, born Albert Greene and now 61, was once dissed for being less manly than Otis Redding–women have always adored him. He seemed both vulnerable and passionate, and he minded his subtle touches like a love man should.
Green started in gospel, and after a return to Jesus and a fall from grace on the charts, he reinvented himself as a gospel singer in 1980 and eventually amassed a sacred catalogue to rival (although not equal) his secular one. That catalogue, especially his miraculously consistent Hi (label) albums with producer Willie Mitchell, has replaced macho pleas and pledges as the epitome of soul … Truth ‘n’ Time, the final album before (Green) devoted himself to his ministry (1978), is yet another expression of his mixed feelings about God and Mammon … Mammon just wasn’t doing it for him anymore.”
Starting in E major, “Happy Days Ahead” shifts to C major at 0:37, only to return to first key at 0:57. The pattern continues throughout.
Hozier | All Things End
“All Things End” is featured on Irish singer Hozier’s third studio album, Unreal Earth, which was released last year. “Hozier doesn’t just succeed in exploring that dark emotional world,” Rolling Stone said in their review of the record. “His painful ascent makes the listener immediately want to climb with him. Even harder, he successfully delivers a third album that doesn’t shy away from any topic, even when he doesn’t have the answers.”
Hozier draws on folk, blues, and soul influences; his debut single “Take Me To Church” hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2013.
This song begins in A minor and shifts up a step to B minor at 2:41.
The Impressions | People Get Ready
“Seldom does a song go down in history as not only one of the best popular songs ever written, but as a song that is so universal in composition and message that it can be effectively covered by almost anyone,” (American Songwriter). “But that’s the case with ‘People Get Ready,’ recorded in 1965 by The Impressions and written by the group’s lead singer, Curtis Mayfield. Nearly half a century later the song continues to be recorded and performed by a variety of acts in several genres.
From the album of the same name, (it) was released during a time of civil unrest in America, when the country was in turmoil over race relations and the Vietnam War just as Mayfield was beginning to infuse his work with social commentary. Influenced by the music of the church and his preacher grandmother, Mayfield began singing professionally as a teenager, and his work would go on to define what was the Chicago soul sound as opposed to what was coming out of Berry Gordy’s shop in Detroit at the time. In a 1993 interview with National Public Radio’s Terry Gross … Mayfield said. ‘This is a perfect example of what I believe has laid in my subconscious as to the preaching of my grandmother, and most ministers when they reflect from the Bible.'”
“People Get Ready” was awarded a Grammy Hall of Fame award in 1998, its first year of eligibility. The song has been covered by literally dozens of other artists, including Bob Dylan, Alicia Keys, Exile and Matisyahu, and guitarist Jeff Beck obviously is a fan of the song, having recorded or performed it with Rod Stewart, Joss Stone, Sting and Queen’s Roger Taylor.
A half-step modulation drops during a short, understated guitar feature at the track’s midpoint (1:21).
USA for Africa | We Are The World
“We Are The World” was written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson as a benefit for African famine relief. Richie and Jackson, along with producer Quincy Jones, assembled a supergroup of singers, including Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, Cyndi Lauper and many others, to record the track in January 1985. It quickly became the fastest selling pop single in US History, and raised over $80 million. Last month, Netflix released The Greatest Night In Pop, a documentary chronicling how the recording session came together and including footage from the studio.
The tune begins in E and modulates to F at 4:03.
Gospel Church | Anthem of Praise
” … composer, pianist, and arranger Richard Smallwood has clearly and solidly changed the face of gospel music,” (Kennedy Center). “He can impeccably blend classical movements with traditional gospel, and arrive at a mix that is invariably Smallwood’s alone. A diverse and innovative artist, Richard Smallwood has achieved many honors; Dove Awards and a Grammy also attest to his talents … Smallwood has been honored by the Smithsonian Institution as a ‘gospel innovator and songwriter,’ and his hometown, Washington, D.C. heralded two separate occasions as ‘Richard Smallwood Day,’ also, distinguishing him with the Mayoral Art Award for ‘precision and excellence in artistic discipline.'”
… His debut album, The Richard Smallwood Singers, spent 87 weeks on Billboard’s Gospel chart. “The next project, Psalms, received a Grammy nomination. Two years later, another nomination for Textures, the album that contained the classic ‘The Center of My Joy,’ penned by Richard Smallwood along with Bill and Gloria Gaither.” His career has only grown from there.
Gospel Church, a prominent French gospel ensemble, produced this video performance of Smallwood’s “Anthem of Praise” in late 2023. After a cinematic instrumental intro establishes the piece in Bb minor, the choir enters at 1:03. At 3:33, the arrangement transitions to Bb major; from there, there are half-step upward modulations with each successive vocal soloist, eventually landing in Db major. The final few seconds bring an emphasis on the original Bb, now clearly the implied relative minor even in the absence of any chord color.
John Stoddart (feat. Lalah Hathaway) | Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
**This is the third installment in a three-part series featuring covers of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”**
American R&B/gospel singer John Stoddart featured five-time Grammy winner Lalah Hathaway (and daughter of Donny Hathaway) for this tune on his 2013 album Only On Christmas Day.
There are too many modulations to count in this cover, and throughout the album.
Aretha Franklin | Border Song
“Border Song” was written by Elton John, appearing on his 1970 eponymous album. Aretha Franklin offered a gospel-tinged version, stretching the melody to new places.
“The song was one of the first Elton John singles released in March 1970. It featured John’s vocals, his strong piano performance, plus a generous gospel-style chorus,” (PopHistoryDig). “However, the song did not chart in the UK. In North America a few months later, it did better. In Canada, it peaked at No. 34, and thereby became Elton John’s first chart appearance in any country. In the U.S., meanwhile, during October 1970, the song broke into the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 92, and No. 69 on the Cash Box chart. But good news on the song was soon to come from another quarter.
… Aretha Franklin decided in 1970 that she wanted to do a cover version of ‘Border Song.’ Aretha was 28 at the time, at the peak of her rising stardom, and involved with civil rights … Although Elton John by then had his American performance debut at the Troubadour club in Los Angeles in late August 1970, the news that Aretha Franklin would be doing a cover of ‘Border Song’ was a big affirmation for both him and Bernie Taupin … knowing what Aretha Franklin’s performance of their song would mean for their newly launched careers.”
The modulation appears at 2:12.
Joyful, Joyful (from “Sister Act 2”)
“It’s been (31) years since we watched nightclub lounge singer Deloris Van Cartier turn into Sister Mary Clarence to avoid getting killed in Sister Act,” (ABC News). “Whoopi Goldberg’s character was put in protective custody, inside a rundown San Francisco convent, to avoid her gangster boyfriend’s goons after she witnessed a killing. There, she became the director of the church’s choir, taking the nuns from meek singers to a chorus so beautiful they sang for the Pope.
Sister Act burst into theaters at a time when movie soundtracks were stand-alone bodies of work. And this 1992 film was no different. It set the tone for other movie soundtracks that we’d also memorize later that year, including The Bodyguard, Aladdin, and Boomerang.“
“Joyful, Joyful,” from the 1993 sequel Sister Act 2, based on “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s 9th symphony, moves through several sections. The first section, featuring Lauryn Hill, states the rubato melody in Db major; at 1:29, the St. Francis Choir picks up the tempo into full-on contemporary gospel (E major, later rising to F major at 3:05).
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