Tag: soundtrack

Diana Ross | Theme from “Mahogany” (Do You Know Where You’re Going To)

“(Diana) Ross had always been something of an actress — a voice capable of conveying the entirely fictional emotional weight of the circumstances that the songs described,” (Stereogum). “She was beautiful and driven and precise and galactically famous, and it was only natural that she should become a movie star, too.” Ross had acted before, starring as jazz chanteuse Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues. But her Motown boss and romantic partner, Berry Gordy, was a first-time director for 1975’s Mahogany.

“Mahogany bombed. It got terrible reviews and did bad business. Gordy never directed another movie. Ross only took one more big-screen role, in the 1978 musical The Wiz. These days, Mahogany has its defenders, but it’s mostly just remembered for its camp value. The movie did, however, spawn one unqualified success: The soft and elegant theme song,” co-written by Michael Masser and Gerry Goffin, “became Ross’ third solo #1 … a slight song, but it’s a pretty one … It’s a song that practically drowns in its own drama, filling up the mix with sighing strings and wailing backup singers and fluttering acoustic guitars and pianos. Musically, the song has nothing to do with the effervescent pop-soul of Motown’s ’60s past. It’s closer to down-the-middle Los Angeles pop, and at its biggest crescendo, it sounds a bit like the work of Gerry Goffin’s old collaborator Phil Spector.”

Modulations between C minor and C major are front and center in this track, nearly from start to finish. The first shift to C major (0:44) is accentuated by the addition of percussion to the instrumentation, while the first transition back to C minor (1:10) is ushered in with an odd-metered measure. At 2:32, a long, string-saturated instrumental outro cycles through multiple keys as multiple instruments take the lead on the now-familiar theme.

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Our thanks once again to the late Chris Larkosh, an energetic and consistent supporter of MotD. This submission is one of several he sent in over the years, even though we’re only now getting around to featuring it.

Far From The Home I Love (from “Fiddler on the Roof”)

“Far From The Home I Love” is from the landmark 1965 musical Fiddler on the Roof, which tells the story of the Russian milkman Tevye trying to maintain his Jewish and cultural traditions in a rapidly changing world.

Sung by Tevye’s daughter Hodel near the end of the show, this song is her plea for Tevye to understand how much it pains her to leave her home and family to be with the man she loves, but that she must do it nonetheless. The music beautifully reflects Hodel’s conflicted feelings by easing between C minor and C major throughout.

Sheldon Harnick, a three-time Tony Award winner who wrote lyrics for the show, passed away last week at age 99.

Elvis Presley | You Don’t Know Me

*This is the fourth installment of a weeklong series featuring covers of the 1956 song “You Don’t Know Me”*

Elvis Presley recorded “You Don’t Know Me” for the 1967 film Clambake, which he also starred in. Presley was a fan of the song and personally added it to the film, which was directed by Arthur H. Nadel. The track starts in B and shifts up to C at 1:50.

Holier Than Thou (from “Nunsense”)

*This is the fifth and final installment of a week-long series featuring songs from the 1985 Off-Broadway musical Nunsense*

“Holier Than Thou” is a gospel-infused number that brings the show to a rousing finish. There are four half-step modulations over the course of the song; beginning in C, it modulates to Db at 2:09, then up to D at 2:53, to Eb at 3:59, and finally lands in E at 4:16.

I Could’ve Gone to Nashville (from “Nunsense”)

*This is the fourth installment of a week-long series featuring songs from the 1985 Off-Broadway musical Nunsense*

“I Could’ve Gone to Nashville” is the “11 o’clock number” in the show, during which Sister Amnesia remembers her real name. The tune has a laid-back country groove, reminiscent of the music to the 1978 musical The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas. It alternates back and forth between Ab and B a few times, and at Amnesia’s point of revelation at modulates up to C at 2:54.

Just A Coupl’a Sisters (from “Nunsense”)

*This is the third installment of a week-long series featuring songs from the 1985 Off-Broadway musical Nunsense*

This duet comes halfway through Act 2, and pays homage to Jerry Herman with its old-fashioned “boom-chick” accompaniment and kick-line at the end. George Gershwin’s 1919 song “Swanee” is also quoted. The track is sprinkled with key changes throughout. Beginning in F, we transition to Bb for the first verse at 0:27, up a half step to B for the second verse at 0:53, and up again to C for the third verse at 1:46. Finally, the “Swanee” quote leads to a modulation down to A at 2:40 for the final verse.

The Drive-In (from “Nunsense”)

*This is the second installment of a week-long series featuring songs from the 1985 Off-Broadway musical Nunsense*

“The Drive-In” comes towards the end of Act 2 in Dan Goggin’s Off-Broadway musical Nunsense. The number has an Andrews Sisters vibe with a swinging groove and tight, 3-part harmony. It starts in C minor and opens up into C major at 0:50.

I Just Want To Be a Star (from “Nunsense”)

*This is the first installment of a week-long series featuring songs from the 1985 Off-Broadway musical Nunsense*

Dan Goggin’s 1985 musical Nunsense is the second-longest-running Off-Broadway show ever, and led to six sequels and three spinoffs. “I Just Want To Be a Star” comes near the end of the second act, and is a big, brassy showtune number that recalls the style of Jerry Herman. Beginning in F, the song briefly detours into Gb at 1:24, then returns to F at 1:41 before a final modulation up to Ab at 2:16.

Art Tatum | Have You Met Miss Jones? (Rogers + Hart)

“From the first moment, there was no doubt that (Dick Rogers and Lorenz Hart) would work together: it was love at first sight,” (The Atlantic). “Larry was twenty-three, Dick not yet seventeen. ‘I left Hart’s house,’ wrote Rodgers a lifetime later, ‘having acquired in one afternoon a career, a partner, a best friend, and a source of permanent irritation.'” The duo wrote over 500 songs together, many from the 28 musicals they on which they collaborated, including “My Funny Valentine,” “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered,” “My Romance,” and “Have You Met Miss Jones?”

“Have You Met Miss Jones” was written by Rogers/Hart for the 1937 musical I’d Rather Be Right. The dizzy middle eight is completely unmoored from the overall key of F major and features the lyric:

And all at once I lost my breath,
And all at once was scared to death
And all at once I owned the earth and sky.

In the hands of legendary pianist Art Tatum, who was famous for his reharmonization and ability to play lightning-fast runs, the tune becomes even more sublimely unhinged from its written tonality as it progresses.

Take It Up a Step (from “Some Like It Hot”)

Some Like It Hot, running in New York now and nominated for 13 Tony Awards including Best Score, is the latest Broadway musical by the MotD-favorite composing team of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.

The show is based on a 1959 movie, directed by Billy Wilder and starring Marilyn Monroe, that is widely considered to be one of the best films ever made.

As the title of the song implies, there are key changes scattered throughout.