Tag: UK

Dusty Springfield | You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me

A long-overdue debut for UK pop/soul chanteuse Dusty Springfield. “(‘You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me”) is considered one of the greatest songs of heartbreak in the pop music canon,” documents American Songwriter. “That it combined the music of an Italian pop song and lyrics from a pair of songwriting novices also makes it one of the unlikeliest ones. Unlikely, that is, until you consider the staggeringly brilliant performance of the song by Dusty Springfield. Then it all makes sense.

Springfield’s performance manages to evoke pain and pride, hurt and hope, resignation and resilience. The end result was a #1 hit for Springfield (her first) in the UK and a top 5 spot in the US upon the song’s 1966 release. You can also argue that (it) presented a more mature side of her than some of the bubblier pop songs she had recorded had managed to do. This was a path that she would continue to traverse when she made the masterpiece album Dusty In Memphis a few years later. ‘Well, it’s a classic, isn’t it?’ mused the song’s lyricist, Simon Napier-Bell. ‘In its musical style as well as performance. Like a famous piece of opera. Totally out of date, but that’s the way it is. And we all love it.'”

Built on a insistent 12/8 feel, the tune’s intro and verses are in D minor; the choruses shift to D major. At 2:26, a whole-step modulation is the icing on the cake. This classic clearly illustrates the opening words of IMDB’s Springfield bio: “…acknowledged around the world as the best female soul singer that Britain ever produced.”

Squeeze | Last Time Forever

A long-overdue MotD debut today for the utterly unique UK band Squeeze. “As one of the most traditional pop bands of the new wave,” AllMusic details, “Squeeze provided one of the links between classic British guitar pop and post-punk. Inspired heavily by the Beatles and the Kinks, Squeeze were the vehicle for the songwriting of Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, who were hailed as the heirs to Lennon and McCartney‘s throne during their heyday in the early ’80s … Squeeze never came close to matching the popularity of the Beatles, but the reason for that is part of their charm. Difford and Tilbrook were wry, subtle songwriters who subscribed to traditional pop songwriting values, but subverted them with literate lyrics and clever musical references.”

“Last Time Forever” (1985) has an unsettled harmonic setting which fits the film noir mood of the lyrics: although it sounds like an account of a garden variety breakup at first, the eerie midsection takes us somewhere else entirely:

I’ve said goodnight tonight
The last time forever
It all went wrong when I grew jealous
I didn’t realize my strength
Could take the life of one so precious
Together we were known as good friends

Although each verse starts in C major, the harmonic dominoes soon start falling (for the first time at 0:33).

Genesis | Please Don’t Ask

Released on Genesis’ 1980 album Duke, “Please Don’t Ask” couldn’t have been a bigger part of the Western world’s cultural zeitgeist: with the longtime stigma against divorce lifting quickly, marriages were ending at rates which would have been unimaginable even a decade before. The lyric covers feelings of hurt, remorse, and ambivalence, as well as a splitting couple’s love and care for their children: a tall order indeed.

Duke likely marks the completion of Phil Collins’ ascendance as the second vocalist and frontman of the prog rock band, which moved towards a more broadly accessible focus after the departure of founding vocalist Peter Gabriel. As Collins’ first marriage ended in 1980, it’s hardly surprising that one of his songwriting contributions to this wide-ranging album would be so unflinching in its treatment of such a difficult subject. Classic Rock Review reports that Duke “was the first album by Genesis to reach the top of the UK Album charts and it has been certified Platinum on both sides of the Atlantic.” The book Genesis: Chapter and Verse quotes Collins as saying it’s “the most personal song I’ve probably ever written.”

The tune starts in F major, but its opening progression is a repeated ii -> iii, making the tonality tricky to pin down and somehow putting even more emphasis on the heart-rending lyric. Further, the first note of the vocal is an emphatic tension (an 11, when taken in the context of the ii chord), throwing the listener off the scent even more in terms of tonality. From 0:34 – 0:45, a jarring second section of the verse shifts to Eb major and back — and then again from 1:09 – 1:19. The plaintive chorus (1:20) is built around F minor/Ab major. At 2:14, the transition from the end of the chorus into the second verse involves a bruising tri-tone drop in the bass line. The tune ends with a relatively uncomplicated Ab major, although the protagonist seems to find no such easy resolution.

Many thanks to the wide-ranging mod plugger JB for suggesting this tune!

Buzzcocks | I Don’t Mind

“With their crisp melodies, biting lyrics, and driving guitars, the UK’s Buzzcocks were one of most influential bands to emerge in the initial wave of punk rock,” AllMusic reports. “Buzzcocks were inspired by the Sex Pistols‘ energy, but they didn’t copy the Pistols‘ angry political stance. Instead, they brought that intense, brilliant energy to the three-minute pop song.”

Buzzcocks’ album Another Music In A Different Kitchen (1977) featured the single “I Don’t Mind,” which reached #55 on the UK Singles charts. The tune features a bridge at 1:16 — unusual for the punk genre. But at the end of the bridge, another rarity arrives: a half-step modulation (1:50), making this 2:20 track quite unusual within its genre.

Many thanks to Rob Penttinen for this contribution!

The Who | Joker James

The Who, already very well-established in 1973, indulged in an ambitious adventure: the rock opera Quadrophenia. The soundtrack spanned a full double album. AllMusic reports that the plot was “built around the story of a young mod’s struggle to come of age in the mid-’60s…re-examining the roots of (the band’s) own birth in mod culture. In the end, there may have been too much weight, as Pete Townshend tried to combine the story of a mixed-up mod named Jimmy with the examination of a four-way split personality (hence the title), in turn meant to reflect the four conflicting personas at work within the Who itself.”

“Joker James” begins in D major, loses a bit of steam as it transitions to the bridge at 1:46, and then returns with renewed energy as it modulates to E major at 2:02.

Many thanks to MotD fan Aaron for submitting this tune!

Kajagoogoo | Too Shy

Another tune from our frequent contributor JB: Kajagoogoo’s 1983 hit “Too Shy” is “both harmonically interesting and a completely formulaic relic of the epoch in which it was made: a lush, synth-dominated arrangement, big hair, vaseline-on-the-lens music video, etc.”

According to AllMusic, the track reached #1 in the UK and #5 in the US. But between lead singer Limahl’s departure for a solo career and the UK group’s “similarities with Duran Duran and Naked Eyes — they were pretty and played immediately accessible, polished pop,” the band wasn’t destined for a sustained string of hits. “Kajagoogoo was essentially a synth pop variation of a bubblegum group.”

With the overall key flattened from A 440 by more than just a few cents, the tune has an extended intro built around ambiguous suspended chords, settles into Bb minor for the first verse at 0:47, and shifts to Eb minor at the chorus (1:13). At 2:18, the suspended chords from the intro return for a wordless bridge — but this time are clarified by a more complex Bb major bassline. At 2:53, we return to the chorus for the duration.

Genesis | Can-Utility + the Coastliners

In its first iteration with Peter Gabriel on vocals, UK prog rock pioneers Genesis released the 1972 album Foxtrot. The album showed the group hitting its stride, including the 20+ minute long prog classic “Supper’s Ready.”

From AllMusic.com’s review: “Foxtrot is where Genesis began to pull all of its varied inspirations into a cohesive sound — which doesn’t necessarily mean that the album is streamlined, for this is a group that always was grandiose even when they were cohesive, or even when they rocked, which they truly do for the first time here…This is the rare art-rock album that excels at both the art and the rock, and it’s a pinnacle of the genre (and decade) because of it.”

“Can-Utility and the Coastliners” might as well be titled “Don’t Get Too Comfortable” … harmonically, at least. The track was primarily written by the band’s guitarist, Steve Hackett, whose site explains that the tune is “based on the legend of King Canute, who supposedly ordered the seas to retreat to mock the sycophancy of his followers.” It centers around D until 3:59; around F# at 3:59; and C from 4:56 to the end. Within each key center, the “tonic” chord can be heard as major, minor, compound … they’re all in the mix. In addition, short excursions away from those respective key centers abound, often accompanied by quick shifts and fillips in the meter. There are no epic modulations, but as this track respects no cliches whatsoever, it will keep listeners on their toes from start to finish. Thanks to MotD regular JB for this contribution!

S Club 7 | Never Had a Dream Come True

S Club 7’s “Never Had a Dream Come True” was released in 2000, and chosen to be the official BBC Children in Need song that year. It hit the top of the UK Singles chart, and was also the UK group’s only single to chart in the US, where it was the 61st best-selling single in 2001. Key change at 3:05.

John Lennon | Woman

Released after his death in 1980, “Woman” was the second single from the John Lennon and Yoko Ono album Double Fantasy. According to an interview with Playboy, Lennon wrote “Woman” not only for his wife Yoko Ono, but for all women. The opening moments of the track feature Lennon saying “For the other half of the sky …”, a paraphrase of a famous Chinese saying about the equal importance of the sexes.

From AllMusic’s review of the album: “He’s surprisingly sentimental, not just when he’s expressing love for his wife and child, but when he’s coming to terms with his quiet years and his return to creative life. These are really nice tunes, and what’s special about them is their niceness — it’s a sweet acceptance of middle age, which, of course, makes his assassination all the sadder.”

At the opening of the last verse (2:22), a half-step modulation drops without warning. Rather than providing any preparation or ramp-up in energy, the song simply continues on, flowing like a river.

Jacob Collier (feat. Mahalia + Ty Dolla $ign) | All I Need

Jacob Collier‘s latest single, “All I Need,” dropped last week, and it is a doozy. Featuring Mahalia Music and Ty Dolla $ign, the track trends more toward mainstream pop than most of his other work, while still maintaining the incredible harmonic and rhythmic sophistication that are trademarks of this UK native’s style.

The key changes up a quarter tone at 2:14 before winding its way back down to the original key from 3:15-3:17.