A much-overdue MotD debut for the famously eclectic Sly & the Family Stone today. The band “harnessed all of the disparate musical and social trends of the late ’60s,” AllMusic explains, “creating a wild, brilliant fusion of soul, rock, R&B, psychedelia, and funk that broke boundaries down without a second thought. Led by Sly Stone, the Family Stone was comprised of men and women, and blacks and whites, making the band the first fully integrated group in rock’s history. That integration shone through the music, as well as the group’s message. Before Stone, very few soul and R&B groups delved into political and social commentary; after him, it became a tradition in soul, funk, and hip-hop.”
Released in 1968, “Stand” is just one of a full line of unusual singles from S&TFS, not easily described by the vocabulary that preceded them. AllMusic continues: “Like Brian Wilson, Sly Stone incorporated beautiful, magical moments on his records that were some of the most musically progressive. In this song, a simple but brilliant four-on-the-floor drum pattern and gospel vocals create what would be the virtual blueprint for what was to become known as disco. Moreover, the song is yet another message song that helped bridge the gap between the black and white rock audiences…one of the most timely records of its age.”
The verse is built around a de-tuned Ab major (I / IV / I / bVII); the bVII major serves as a sub-V for the new key of F major (0:14), repeating the same pattern for Verse 2 (0:28) before reverting to Ab for the one-word chorus (0:51). Each switch from Ab to F is accentuated by a 2/4 bar among the overall 4/4 meter (heard for the first time at 0:13 – 0:14). An entirely new groove, built around a 4-bar pattern, kicks in for an extended outro in C minor at 2:18. The outro is a joyful, uproarious shout chorus featuring multiple vocalists on a repeated wordless vocal hook, instrumentalists playing at full tilt, and gospel-style eighth-note claps building on the already high energy — just as the slow final fade kicks in.
Tag: USA
The Doobie Brothers | One Step Closer
Released in 1980, One Step Closer was the ninth studio album by the American rock band “The Doobie Brothers,” and the last to feature Michael McDonald before he left the group to pursue a solo career (though he continued to return as a guest performer over the subsequent decades.) The title track starts and remains in A for all but the final 30 seconds, where an unexpected modulation arises from virtual silence at 3:43 and lands the tune in B major for its playoff. Cornelius Bumpus, known primarily as a saxophonist who also played with Steely Dan, joins McDonald on vocals.
Destiny’s Child | Brown Eyes
“Brown Eyes” was included on Survivor, the third studio album released by the R&B group Destiny’s Child. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart in May of 2001, received three Grammy nominations (including Best R&B album), and was ranked at #70 by Billboard of their 200 Best Albums of the Decade. Straight-forward direct modulation from F to Gb at 3:33.
T’aint Nobody’s Biz-ness If I Do (from “Bullets Over Broadway”)
On July 5, the Broadway community lost one of its shining lights, 41-year old actor Nick Cordero, due to Coronavirus complications. Most recently, Cordero starred in A Bronx Tale and Waitress on Broadway, and prior to that he originated the role of Cheech in the 2014 production of Bullets Over Broadway, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award.
“T’ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do,” one of the first blues standards from the 1920s and the splashy Act 1 tap number from Bullets, features Cordero and his cadre of gangsters. The show, based on Woody Allen’s 1994 film of the same name, boasts a score of jazz and popular standards from the 20s and 30s selected by Allen to complement the story. Key changes at 2:54 and 3:18.
Chicago | Make Me Smile
“(‘Make Me Smile’) was written by James Pankow, a founding member of Chicago, whose primary instrument is the trombone,” reports Songfacts. “What made him smile was the thought of a beautiful relationship: ‘Relationships, if they’re good, put a big smile on our faces. Love songs have always been a powerful ingredient in the song’s process – the songwriting process has often taken writers to that place.’
(The 1970 single) is the first section from the 13-minute musical suite ‘Ballet for a Girl from Buchannon’ on the group’s second album (‘Colour My World‘ is also part of this suite). Without the band’s knowledge, their record company excerpted the ‘Make Me Smile’ section and pushed it to AM radio stations, which had thus far ignored the band. The band had mixed emotions upon hearing their musical masterpiece chopped down for radio play, but were thrilled when the song became their first hit. The first Pankow heard this song on the radio was when he flipped on the mighty Los Angeles radio station KHJ-AM in his car and the song came on. He had no idea the record company had packaged it as a single.”
This album version includes an extended intro not found on the single version (0:00 – 0:38), as well as an extended outro (3:44 – 4:10) before the single version’s ending picks back up at 4:11. Both the intro and the outro are unsettled, giving the horn section free rein over meters that shift on a dime; a settled 4/4 is reached as the first verse starts at 0:42, before the most noticeable key change hits as the bridge starts at 2:14. The band’s trademark horn-saturated kicks and ambitious multi-layered backing vocals were well on their way to icon status with this hit track.
Many thanks to our diligent stringer JB for contributing this tune!
Elmer Bernstein | Theme from “The Magnificent Seven”
Elmer Bernstein’s score for The Magnificent Seven (1960) was nominated for Best Score, Dramatic or Comedy at the 33rd Academy Awards, but was bested by the score for the film Exodus. The score was later ranked at #8 on the American Film Institute’s list of the Top 25 American Film Scores.
According to The Muse by Clio, the original review of the film in The Hollywood Reporter was ambivalent — although not about the film’s music: “The Magnificent Seven has the stars and the production values to open big, and probably will. But it is not a success, as a story or as entertainment…Elmer Bernstein’s music is truly memorable; the theme will stick.” The Muse continues: “Glenn Lovell’s 2008 book about the Magnificent Seven’s director, “Escape Artist: The Life and Films of John Sturges,” describes the film’s theme music as ‘arguably, after John Williams’ Jaws and Star Wars themes, the most recognizable overture in the history of the medium.’ Bernstein’s theme took on a life of its own after the film’s release, having its place confirmed as the soundtrack to American masculinity in the iconic Marlboro Man ad campaign, and even appearing in a shot of James Bond riding across a desert in Moonraker.“
The modulation hits right around 1:10. Many thanks to MotD regular Carlo Migliaccio for submitting this track!
Say No to This (from “Hamilton”)
In recognition of the live film of the stage production of Lin Manuel Miranda‘s blockbuster 2016 Broadway musical Hamilton dropping on Disney+ earlier this month, today we feature “Say No To This.” Coming in Act 2 of the show, the song outlines Hamilton’s one-year affair with Maria Reynolds, which eventually led to the first major political sex scandal in US history. Beginning in F# minor, the tune glides smoothly into the relative major for the chorus at 1:23 and continues to play back and forth between these two tonal centers. A modulation to B major occurs at 3:03.
Yesterday, the original cast recording for the show became the first cast recording to reach the #2 spot on the Billboard 200 chart since the revolutionary 1969 musical Hair, which spent 13 weeks in the #1 spot the year of its premiere.
Samuel Barber | Summer Music for Woodwind Quintet, Op. 31
In its program notes for a 2004 performance, Chicago Chamber Musicians wrote: “Barber was often described during his lifetime as hopelessly old-fashioned; audiences approved of his music more than critics did. Over time, though, his individuality and depth of emotional expressiveness have won universal admiration and given him a pre-eminent place in the history of American music. With his tendency toward romantic melodiousness, combined with a classicist’s fondness for traditional structures, Barber has sometimes been compared to Brahms, who was also accused of being out of step with his times, but whose works seem to have survived nonetheless. Barber himself commented on the work’s pastoral mood: ‘It’s supposed to be evocative of summer — summer meaning languid, not killing mosquitoes.'” American Music reports that the 1956 piece, Barber’s only chamber composition for wind instruments, has become a staple of the wind-quintet repertory.
The performance here is from the 2013 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition; the ensemble is from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Starting with a more disjointed mood, the piece is initially built on a series of luxurious features/solos for each of the quintet’s instruments — although no one instrument takes the lead for long. The tonality shifts several times, generally staying in the minor realm. At 2:07, the mood shifts suddenly; the ensemble begins to speak mostly as one as the lines grow more percussive. At 2:44, there’s a shift towards an uncomplicated major tonality as the quintet sprints to the finish line.
Johnny Cash | I Walk the Line
According to WideOpenCountry.com, “Just weeks after the song’s 1956 release, Johnny Cash performed ‘I Walk The Line’ at the Grand Ole Opry and was met with thunderous applause and a standing ovation. Audiences instinctively connected with Cash’s unique track and vocals while musicians tried to put into words what was so special about Cash. ‘It was different than anything else you had ever heard,’ Bob Dylan told Rolling Stone. ‘A voice from the middle of the Earth.’ And NPR quotes Cash’s former son-in-law Rodney Crowell as saying, ‘You know, if Mt. Rushmore could open its mouth — any one of the sculptures on Mt. Rushmore could open their mouths and sing, that’s what it would sound like.’
WideOpenCountry reports that the song “stayed on the country charts for a solid year and sold over 2 million records. It even showed up on the pop charts for a while, giving Cash a bonafide crossover hit.”
Lacking a traditional verse/chorus structure (unless “because you’re mine/I walk the line” constitutes a chorus all on its own), the bare-bones tune takes a standard three-chord structure and jumps it through multiple modulation hoops. In the process of all of the key changes, we get a full tour of Cash’s bass/baritone vocal range, covering over two octaves.
Josh Groban | To Where You Are
Written and produced by Grammy-winning producer and performer Richard Marx with Linda Thompson, “To Where You Are” appeared on Josh Groban‘s 2001 debut album, and reached the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Chart. Groban frequently sings the the song in live performance, and it has also been performed on numerous reality television voice programs such as American Idol and Britain’s Got Talent. The track seamlessly alternates between Bb in the verses and C major for the choruses at 1:09 and 2:50.
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