Mrs. Green Apple is a Japanese rock band, based in Tokyo. In 2016 they released their first full record, Twelve, on the Japanese label EMI records; they have also written music for popular anime series.
“Love Me, Love You” was the sixth single released by the group, and peaked at #19 on the Oricon chart in 2018. The tune modulates from F up to Ab at 3:36.
Emmy and Tony-winning actress and singer Kristin Chenowith released her second holiday album, Happiness Is…Christmas, in October. “I hope that they smile, and I hope that they are eating food and opening presents…and I hope they just are happy,” Chenowith said in an interview with The Christophers blog, discussing what she hopes people take away from the album. “And then when they come upon a song like ‘The Stories That You Told,’ I hope they remember somebody that they’ve lost and their smile…There’s been so much to be bummed out about and you have to really look – seek and ye shall find – and you will find happiness. That’s what I want people to find in this album.”
“Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” is the penultimate track on the album, and modulates from G to Ab at 2:54.
Kelly Clarkson released her second Christmas album, When Christmas Comes Around…, last October. “My purpose for choosing this lyric as the title of this project was to bring forth a sense of reality to the fact that we are probably in very different places emotionally When Christmas Comes Around…,” Clarkson said, explaining how she settled on the name. “Some of us are consumed with a new love, some of us reminded of loss, some filled with optimism for the coming new year, others elated for some much deserved time away from the chaos our work lives can sometimes bring us. Wherever you are, and whatever you may be experiencing, I wanted everyone to be able to connect to a message on this album. Each year you may even have a new favorite depending on where you are in your life, but while change can be unpredictable there is no better time of year, in my opinion, to breathe hope into one’s life and let possibility wander.”
This song, co-written by Clarkson and album producers Jason Halbert and Aben Eubanks, is the fourth track on the record; it modulates from F up to Gb at 1:20.
*This is the fourth installment of our weeklong series on “Do You Hear What I Hear”
The cast of the TV show Glee released their second Christmas soundtrack album, Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album Volume 2, in 2011, featuring ten covers and two original songs. Alex Newell and Lindsay Pearce are the featured vocalists on “Do You Hear What I Hear,” which modulates from C up to D at 1:58.
*This post is the first in a week-long series featuring different arrangements of “Do You Hear What I Hear”
Written by Gloria Shayne and Noel Regney during the Cuban Missile crisis in 1962, the song was a plea for peace. Shayne and Regney were married when they wrote the song, with Regney contributing the lyrics and Shayne the music. In an interview Shayne said it was difficult for both of them to perform the song because of the emotions surrounding it. “Our little song broke us up,” she said. “You must realize there was a threat of war at the time.”
The song has since been covered by hundreds of artists and is frequently included on Christmas albums. Idina Menzel’s rendition is the first track on her 2014 album Holiday Wishes. It begins in C major, modulates briefly to Db at 1:53, and lands in E at 1:58. A common tone modulation back to C occurs at 2:30, and we stay there until the end.
Michael Buble’s 2011 album Christmas has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide, making it by far his most successful album, and one of the best-selling records of the 21st century. “Winter Wonderland” was one of four tracks added to the deluxe edition of the album released in 2012. It modulates from Db up to D at 1:54.
Claudine Longet has had a career as a dancer, actress, and singer; born in France, she’s lived in the US since she was a teenager. She recorded several albums, mostly for A&M, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She was married to middle-of-the-road singer Andy Williams for several years, appearing on some of his recordings. After they divorced, infamously, she was convicted of negligently shooting and killing her boyfriend, Olympic skier “Spider” Sabich. After that tragedy and its lurid media coverage, she stayed out of public view.
The song here, “I Don’t Intend to Spend Christmas Without You,” was written by Margo Guryan expressly for Longet. Producer Tommy LiPuma asked her to write a Christmas song without the usual trappings of snow, mistletoe, and so on. A&M issued the song as a single in 1968, backed with (wait for it) “Snow,” written by Randy Newman.
Guryan started her career writing songs and lyrics in the jazz tradition. Her songs were recorded by the likes of Chris Connor, Dizzy Gillespie, and Harry Belafonte; she wrote the lyrics to Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman”. After hearing the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds”, the story goes, she decided to write pop songs. She recorded one sunshine pop album, “Take a Picture”, in 1968, for Bell. The album did not do well, but became something of a cult favorite in the 1990s and 2000s, particularly in Japan. After that album, she recorded occasional singles, and wrote “Chopstick Variations”, a piano education book. Margo Guryan died earlier this year (2021) at the age of 84.
The song starts out in G, with a bridge in A. At 1:45, the verse modulates to A-flat. (You can find Margo Guryan’s own version of the song here, recorded as a demo. Her voice is remarkably like Claudine Longet’s. No modulation in her version, though.
Thanks to regular MotD contributor Paul Steckler for this submission!
“My Kind of Present” is featured on Meghan Trainor’s 2020 album A Very Trainor Christmas. The album was a family effort, with various members serving as songwriters, backup singers, producers and instrumentalists; this track was written by Trainor and her two brothers Justin and Ryan. “The record is firmly within the realm of spirited seasonal soundtrack,” wrote AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine. The track begins in Db major and modulates up a whole step at 2:09.
Thanks to our regular contributor Ziyad for this submission!
“Christmas Time” is featured on Rob Thomas’s first holiday album, Something About Christmas Time, released earlier this year. “Every year, I want to do a Christmas album, and every year, it’s too late because I always think about it at Christmas,” said Thomas in an interview with ABC Audio.
“When everything started to shut down in the beginning of 2020, I was home and I had that summer to make a record. I wasn’t on the road and it wasn’t making a solo record. I wasn’t making a Matchbox [Twenty] record. And so it was the only summer that I’d ever had where there was that kind of a time.
“I knew that I didn’t want to do a lot of the traditional Christmas covers,” he adds, noting that he preferred “songs that I grew up with and the artists that I grew up listening to.”
The track, which features vocalist Ingrid Michaelson singing with Thomas, was originally written and recorded by Canadian singer Bryan Adams in 1985. It quickly became his most successful and popular Christmas tune, and is still played on Canadian radio during the holidays.
Beginning in B major, the tune modulates up a whole step to Db at 2:38.
“Rick Derringer was just 17 when his band The McCoys recorded the #1 hit ‘Hang On Sloopy’ in the summer of 1965, knocking ‘Yesterday’ by The Beatles out of the top spot.” He’s worked with Alice Cooper, Richie Havens, Todd Rundgren, Steely Dan, Cyndi Lauper, Barbra Streisand, and more.
In the mid-80s, Derringer’s work with ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic was central to Yankovic’s success, resulting in several Grammy awards. Derringer produced Yankovic’s Michael Jackson parodies, including the #1 hit ‘Eat It.'”
“Don’t Ever Say Goodbye,” from Derringer’s 1979 album Guitars and Women (produced by Todd Rundgren), features a whole step key change at 2:23.
modulationoftheday.home.blog 