**This is the first installment in a three-part series featuring covers of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”**
American singer Ariana Grande’s cover of the Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane’s “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” begins in Ab and modulates up a half step to A at 1:46
Written for the end credits/soundtrack of the 2000 film How The Grinch Stole Christmas, “Where Are You Christmas” is a pop adaptation of the song “Christmas, Why Can’t I Find You” that is featured in the movie.
Mariah Carey, who wrote both songs, originally recorded the former, but due to a legal dispute with her husband it could not be released, leading to Faith Hill recording it instead.
The power ballad starts in Bb, modulates briefly to C at 2:59, and ultimately lands in D at 3:16.
“Christmas Time,” written originally by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance, is the ninth track on Canadian singer Tyler Shaw’s 2021 holiday album A Tyler Shaw Christmas.
The tune begins in Bb and modulates up to B at 2:37.
“Christmas Spirit” is featured on Richard Marx’s eponymous 2012 holiday album. Marx co-wrote the song with Fee Waybill, the former lead singer of The Tubes and frequent collaborator with Marx.
The track begins in G and modulates down to E for the first chorus at 0:49. It returns to G for the verse at 1:25 and again moves to E for the chorus at 1:54. A final modulation up a step to F# occurs at 2:56.
“Stevie Wonder is a soul music giant, a beloved American icon, and an indisputable genius of popular music,” (AllMusic). “The musician’s heightened awareness of sound — a consequence of his blindness — has helped him create vibrant music teeming with joyous positivity, even when he’s written about heartbreak and addressed issues of race, spirituality, and society in general. Wonder’s recordings are a richly eclectic and singular brew of soul, funk, rock & roll, Broadway/Tin Pan Alley-style pop, jazz, reggae, and African elements. Combined with his elastic voice, peerless melodic facility, gift for complex arrangements, and taste for lovely ballads, his broad appeal over the decades has been unmatched.”
The 1967 album I Was Made to Love Her “was rushed out to capitalize on the success of the title song, which was Wonder’s biggest pop hit since ‘Fingertips, Pt. 2,’ and would not be bettered until ‘Superstition’ in 1972 … There are several contributions from the Wonder team at Motown, covers of other Motown hits, and stabs at sounding like Ray Charles, James Brown, and Otis Redding. At 17, Wonder was becoming both a remarkable mimic, and an original talent on his own.”
Between the prominent piano fills, the layers of female backup singers, and Stevie’s interpretation on lead vocal, it certainly seems that this was the Ray Charles section of the album! At 1:24, at just about the tune’s half-point, a half-step key change hits, followed by another at 1:53.
“Of all the Gary Lewis and the Playboys’ sixties hits, their first, ‘This Diamond Ring,’ was the biggest,” (Forbes). “It took just six weeks to climb to #1 on the U.S. Billboard 100 chart, on February 20, 1965, knocking The Beatles’ ‘Eight Days A Week’ from the top spot. The tune has since stood the test of time: It is still a staple on classic rock radio stations.”
Lewis remembers how the tune came to be the foundation of his career: “‘We were 19 years old, in college, our first or second year. The band played sorority and fraternity parties for 40 bucks a night. We auditioned at Disneyland, and got a job there in the summer of ’64. Our producer, Snuffy Garrett, was out at the park with his family. He was head of A&R at Liberty Records. After our show, he came backstage to talk about recording. He had (the) song … and asked us to come over to Liberty to tell him what we thought of it. I said sure, but I would have said I liked it no matter what it was. It just happened to be ‘Diamond Ring,’ and we cut it. It stunned the hell out of us … We ended up with seven top-10s in a row. We and The Beach Boys were the only American groups able to stay on the charts during the whole British Invasion.'”
After a start in C minor, the chorus shifts to F# major at 0:22, then pivots up a half-step to the dominant of the original C minor (0:40) and back to the original C minor (0:44). The pattern holds throughout. Quite an upbeat tune in comparison to the sad lyrics! Many thanks to our second-time contributor Dave Mandl for this submission.
“This single feels like a super-human attempt to re-frame the group’s ending,” critic Robin Murray wrote in Clash magazine. “Instead of rancour, unity. Instead of solo competition, studio unity. Instead of losing his friends, finding their voices once more. Maybe it’s the sentimental Beatle-maniac in us, but ‘Now And Then’ feels like something beautiful, something to cherish.”
The track, originally written by John Lennon in 1977, was finally released earlier this month, with Lennon’s voice extracted from his original demo with audio restoration technology. It quickly shot up the charts in countries across the world, and is accompanied by a music video directed by Peter Jackson featuring never-before-seen footage of the group.
The song subtly switches between A minor on the verses and G major for the choruses, with the relative majors of each key being tonicized occasionally as well.
One of the most prominent singer/songwriters of the 1970s, UK native Cat Stevens (now known as Yusuf) had many hits in the first half of that decade, releasing more than one album a year during a brief period. Just as his popularity started to wane a bit, Stevens released Numbers” … subtitled A Pythagorean Theory Tale … based on a fictional planet in a far-off galaxy named Polygor,” (from the liner notes).
“Numbers (1975) sits in a peculiar position in Cat’s back catalogue – the last real attempt at making something ‘new’ and different’ in his ‘first’ career, the last album started from scratch before his conversion to Islam and, most interestingly of all, the only real half-concept/story album in his back catalogue,” (AlansAlbumArchives). “Even when concept albums were all the range at Cat’s peak (1970-73) Cat never made an album like this one, based on one rounded theme (his songs almost always share the same theme but are separate discussions of each topic and sub-topic – he never again takes us on a half-hour journey somewhere like this again).”
After an intro in F# major, the verse tumbles into D major (0:16). At 2:25, an instrumental outro turns around a few times before landing us in B major.
“… I was happy to hear the band cash in on their talent,” (Propography.com). (The band’s 1981 album) “The Completion Backward Principle benefits from good packaging (the band re-envisioned as a business, which wasn’t much of a stretch at this point) and great production from David Foster, who also co-wrote many of the songs. It isn’t a concept album … just a collection of songs that seem to take their inspiration from a bad day of TV programming (are you getting the sense they were watching too much television?): serial killers, giant women, amnesia.
Is The Completion Backward Principle a sellout? The answer probably depends on who you ask. Capitol didn’t bring in David Foster to make another convoluted concept album, yet The Tubes weren’t ready to become Toto 2.0 just yet. That said, lampooning the business side of the music business doesn’t change the fact that The Completion Backward Principle is (good) product.”
The album’s closing track, “Let’s Make Some Noise,” represents the glossiest New Wave/pop edge of the veteran band’s broad sonic range. The synth-heavy arrangement also makes good use of the band’s strong vocal firepower, with nearly all the personnel pitching in on backing vocals behind frontman Fee Waybill’s lead. After an intro and verse in D major, the verse shifts to C# minor (0:43). The pattern holds for verse 2 and chorus 2. At 2:04, the chorus shifts up a whole step to D# minor.
for Eric
This second video shows the band in the full simulated corporate regalia which was the centerpiece of the album’s concept. Album promotion via simulated industrial film(?) Why not?
“Never Gone” is the final track on the Backstreet Boys’ eponymous 2005 album. The record marked a transition for the group from a teen pop style into a more pop/rock, contemporary sound, and is the first album of theirs to exclusively use live instruments. It debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 chart, and has sold over 3 million copies worldwide.
The intro of the track is in D minor but quickly transitions to F, the relative major, when the vocals enter. There is a modulation up a whole step to G following the brief bridge at 2:43.
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