There is next to no information available on the web about the late-1960s Philadelphia-based vocal group called The Fidelics. A few comments on this video from the Youtube account @funkadelphiarecords might be as close as we can get:
“An underground Philadelphia classic, the Fidelics recorded ‘Lovers In the Park’ in 1967 at Frank Virtue’s Virtue Studios, where so many Philadelphia based groups recorded one-offs … the fact that this rare Philadelphia TV footage of the Fidelics even exists is a true miracle … Notice how all four members take a bow at the very end, as if they all knew this would be their one and only TV appearance … a class act.”
Starting in Ab major, the tune then features a dramatic multi-key interlude, starting at Bb minor, at 1:06. At 1:30, we land in A major for another verse, continuing through to the end of the track.
“Donna Summer was the Queen of Disco, but had a number of hits well into the ’80s, including ‘She Works Hard For The Money’ in 1983,” (Songfacts). “She hit #21 with a cover of ‘There Goes My Baby’ in 1984, but that was her last US Top 40 until ‘This Time I Know It’s for Real’ five years later.
To find the contemporary dance sound, she enlisted Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman, the UK team responsible for some of the biggest upbeat hits of the era, including ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ by Rick Astley and ‘Venus’ by Bananarama. The trio wrote the song with Summer and produced the track along with the rest of her Another Place and Time album, giving her a solid comeback song and her last big hit. The video was done by the Swiss director Dee Trattmann, whose other clients included Cliff Richard and the Thompson Twins.”
After an intro in G major, there’s a shift to E major just before the first verse starts (0:24). At 0:53, the chorus shifts back to G major, then back to E major at 1:09 at the tail end of the section. The pattern continues from there. Sure enough, once you know about the tune’s shared origins with Rick Astley’s sound, you’ll hear it around every corner!
American composer Frank Ticheli on his 2004 work, Earth Song: “‘ … the music … first appeared in a work called Sanctuary, for wind ensemble,'” (FredBock.com). “‘As I worked on that piece, I just kept thinking this music is just begging to be sung by a chorus. The music is so vocal in and of itself. It was also written during a time when we were sort of stuck in the Iraq War when everyone – regardless of what political side they were on – was tired of that war, and so Earth Song was written to be very pro-peace. I guess you could also say anti-war and anti-violence. It was a cry and a prayer for peace.
Earth Song means different things to different people. I know for me, it sprang out of an intense weariness of war and a wish for peace. The second half of the poem talks about music as a comforting force and a refuge. When I was bullied as a kid, music was my refuge. I often thought about bullies in relation to this piece as well, because that’s where violence starts. But music is a place where people can find acceptance and love – and it can often be their saving grace. And it’s not just choir that people can find that comfort – it’s band, it’s orchestra… it’s just people coming together to make music.'”
This 2025 performance by the Young New Yorkers Chorus was conducted by Justin Duckworth. Earth Song is built primarily in F major. But at 2:50, a soft-spoken but profound G major chord breaks the spell; a repeated E major chord then upends the tonality yet again as the piece draws to an end.
Many thanks to longtime contributor Mark B. for this beautiful piece — his fourth submission to MotD!
Sing, Be, Live, See. This dark stormy hour, The wind, it stirs. The scorched earth Cries out in vain: O war and power, You blind and blur, The torn heart Cries out in pain. But music and singing Have been my refuge, And music and singing Shall be my light. A light of song Shining Strong: Alleluia! Through darkness, pain, and strife, I’ll Sing, Be, Live, See… Peace.
“Gabriel Kahane is a singer/songwriter, pianist, composer, and musical polymath equally at home in classical, theater, jazz, and adult pop settings,” (Qobuz). “He has written large-scale orchestral works, piano sonatas, string quartets, and song cycles as well as intimate singer/songwriter fare, and has collaborated with everyone from Elvis Costello and Rufus Wainwright to the Kronos Quartet and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He first came to national attention in 2006 for his playful Craigslistlieder, which set personal ads to theatrical piano accompaniment (he would later take on celebrity tweets.)”
Kahane has gone on to work with artists such as Pekka Kuusisto, Andrew Bird, Chris Thile, his father pianist Jeffrey Kahane, Sufjan Stevens, Sam Amidon, Aiofe O’Donovan, and ensembles including the American Composers Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the string quartet Brooklyn Rider, and the Aspen Music Festival. He’s served as the Oregon Symphony’s Creative Chair.
According to the notes he includes with this Instagram post from earlier today, Kahane’s “Limping Waltz” has yet to be formally released. It begins with a verse with a subtly but constantly shifting harmonic backdrop. Instagram doesn’t provide timeslates, but the tune’s chorus, starting with the lyric “But hey kid,” and running through “listen, it’s urgent,” provides a comparatively peaceful respite in a straightforward B major before the unsettled verse returns.
NOTE:we’re getting reports that this post won’t play predictably. Very, odd.Please search on Instagram for Gabriel Kahane’s January 22 post. It makes us really appreciate the relative ease of working with Youtube. Our apologies!
“William Bell was born in Memphis in 1939, and began singing as a child in church,” (ArtsATL). “By the time he was 14, he was performing in clubs and soon joined the blues band helmed by Phineas Newborn Sr. that included future jazz and R&B legends Phineas Newborn Jr. (piano) and saxophonists Charles Lloyd and Hank Crawford … Bell was one of the first artists signed to the Memphis label Stax Records and his debut single, ‘You Don’t Miss Your Water’ in 1961, became a soul classic. He never reached the heights of other Stax artists — namely Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, and The Staple Singers — but he was one of the label’s foundational figures as a vocalist and songwriter and guiding light.
Bell co-wrote ‘Born Under a Bad Sign,’ the signature tune of blues guitarist Albert King and one of the greatest blues songs in history. There is irony in the lines, ‘I can’t read, didn’t learn how to write’ because King could neither read nor write. In the studio for the recording, Bell stood behind King as he sang the vocals and whispered each lyric to him. ‘He just nailed it,’ says Bell. ‘And it came to life when he put his guitar on it. I was going, Wow! It became Albert’s song instead of mine.’ Bell’s songs have also been recorded by Linda Ronstadt, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Warren Haynes, Bruce Springsteen and The Byrds. And his music has been sampled in recent years by Ludacris, Jaheim and Kanye West.
Bell moved to Atlanta in 1969 and continued to record, including the #1 R&B single ‘Tryin’ To Love Two’ in 1976.” The tune unexpectedly shifts up a half-step toward the end of a phrase, rather than between sections of the tune, at 1:51.
“… Even if you aren’t a fan of musicals, please don’t instantly dismiss Little Shop. There’s so much more to it than people describing the minutia of their lives through song,” (The Guardian). “With nods to sci-fi and B-movies, as well as its effective self-mockery, it’s an easy way to get acquainted with the musical comedy genre. Directed by Frank Oz, the 1986 film is based on the 1982 off-Broadway stage show of the same name, which in turn is based on a 1960 Roger Corman film, which it largely honours in terms of story.
… Howard Ashman and Alan Menken are to be thanked for the lyrics and music respectively, with Ashman also writing the screenplay – though their names are probably more associated with late 80s and early 90s Disney films such as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin … (the show) draws on 60s rock’n’roll, doo-wop and swing, and I think there might even be a bit of calypso in there. Little Shop is a love story. It’s also a story about conquering your demons and discovering the best you can be – even if it takes a blood-guzzling talking plant to get you there.”
The uptempo tune “Dentist!” is immortalized in the film version of the musical by comedian Steve Martin, whose strong musicality has never gotten enough notice — perhaps because his comedic skills are even better. A textbook whole-step key change hits exactly where you’re hoping to hear it — about 60% of the way through the tune (1:34).
“Fans were expecting more upbeat new-wave hits on The Cars’ 1980 LP Panorama. What they got was something far darker and more exciting,” (Goldmine). “After achieving commercial success with their first two albums, The Cars (1978) and Candy-O (1979), American new wave/pop combo The Cars decided to take a left turn when it came time to begin work on their third album, 1980’s Panorama … while the music still had its inherent pop-iness, it was much darker in sound and lyrical matter … the band won the ears of both fans and critics alike with their first two albums … but fans and critics were left scratching their heads, particularly with the more avant-garde sounds on Panorama that were unlike anything heard on the band’s previous outings.
… Around the same time as the band began working on the album … synth pop was in its infancy and would soon come to dominate the early 1980s climate, with bands such as Ultravox, Devo, and Gary Numan all leading the charge in experimenting with the new sounds of synthesizers. The Cars were tapping into the zeitgeist; Panorama would see Easton’s previously upfront guitar take a back seat to the keyboard and synthesizer sounds of The Cars’ Greg Hawkes … Panorama was released August 15, 1980 … and reached #5 on the Billboard chart in September of that year … it was systematically panned by critics … (But as guitarist) Elliot Easton affirmed, ‘I look at it as our third album. Honestly, we just made this stuff up as we went along. There was no grand plan beyond making the best music we could.'”
Right out of the gate, the title track’s harmonies teeter between Bb major (with an emphasis on the flatted seventh degree of the chord, Ab, in the guitar line) and a colorless G chord during the intro — with no clues as to which chord should predominate. The verse then falls down into F# minor at 0:27. The brief chorus arrives at 1:11 in B mixolydian, followed by the next verse (1:22) in F# minor. The pattern continues from there. A long outro starts at 3:24 with a few shifts back and forth between B major and Bb major. The track ends by dropping off a cliff with a colorless E chord at 5:39. But these key changes, low in traditional harmonic progressions, speed by without much impact. Instead, the relentless groove, angular melody, and uniquely American slice of New Wave’s sonic palette and visual style were clearly the stars of this show.
Ron Dante, a native of NYC’s Staten Island, isn’t quite a household name — but you’ve almost certainly heard his work at some point. “Ron Dante has had a long and distinguished career in the music industry as a singer, songwriter, and producer,” (Medium.com). “In 1969, his vocals helped catapult The Archies’ hit, ‘Sugar, Sugar,’ to the top of the charts where it became the #1 single of the year. In addition to writing songs for a variety of artists, Dante came to prominence as a record producer, most notably with Barry Manilow.”
Along the way, Dante sang the “You Deserve a Break Today” McDonald’s jingle; provided backup vocals for Barry Manilow’s first hit, “Mandy” (and other Manilow tunes); worked with John Denver, Cher, Dionne Warwick, and Ray Charles; and more recently toured with The Turtles, filling in for an ailing Howard Kaylan.
Using the assumed name Bo Cooper, Dante released “Don’t Call It Love” in 1975. Very little information is available about this track, but it could have been a hit! Mixing elements of pop and R&B, Dante’s bubblegum “Archies” vocal timbre is barely detectable on this track. Built in a slightly up-tuned Ab major initially, the tune shifts to A major at 2:42.
Many thanks to our longtime Brazilian contributor Julianna A. for sending in this find!
“In the early ’70s, the legendary jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd was teaching at Howard University in Washington,” (Popdose). “In 1974 he decided to assemble a group made up of top student players from the university’s music program. With Byrd as their inspiration, and a deal with Fantasy Records, the Blackbyrds would record and tour for nearly ten years, finding a good deal of success along the way. Although the group would record eight albums for Fantasy, there is no doubt that the high point of their career was the release of the single “Walking In Rhythm” in 1975. The song, written by guitarist Barney Perry … was produced by Donald Byrd, who gave it a smooth, jazz-inflected sound with plenty of soul in the mix.
“Walking In Rhythm” was recorded at The Sound Factory in Los Angeles in September, 1974; by March of the following year, it was on the charts. There it would eventually make it all the way to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, selling a million copies, and winning a gold disc award. The record was also nominated for a Grammy that year, and the track was on the band’s second album, Flying Start, which was released in 1975. There would be other hits in the years to come. Most of them would climb the R&B chart, but a few crossed over to the Pop chart as well. The most successful Blackbyrds singles included “Flyin’ High” (1975), “Happy Music” (1976), and “Rock Creek Park” (1976). The latter song, which appeared on the City Life album, has been sampled numerous times by hip-hop artists like De La Soul, NWA, Eric B. & Rakim, and Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five.”
The tune’s structure is a bit unusual, starting with its short chorus in Bb major. The group must have really loved that chorus, because it’s repeated until 1:15, when the first verse (in G minor) begins; at 1:50, the verse ends with a false upward half-step key change but falls back into the G minor at 1:53. An instrumental chorus hits at 1:54. This section arguably includes one of the best flute features in all of 1970s pop or R&B — an era which featured plenty of flutists who sound like they first picked up the instrument a few weeks prior. 2:28 brings another vocal verse, which ends at 3:02 with a half-step shift upward to B major — but this time the key change sticks.
“The vintage Born To Run wall of sound towers like the Empire State Building over Steve Van Zandt’s first album of original material since 1999,” (2019’s Summer of Sorcery), with New York City’s beleaguered multi-racial spirit crackling under its foundations,” (LouderSound).
“Of course, Van Zandt’s been busy these past 20 years – as Bruce’s E Street Band lieutenant, Tony Soprano’s consigliere, and star of Lilyhammer, in between activities as DJ, producer and larger-than-life rock’n’roll activist. Back in the saddle as bandleader, his tangible labour of love defiantly captures old-school New York’s cross-pollinating melting pot … “
The sixth track of the album’s collection of twelve, “Gravity” begins in C major. The tune is full of short sidesteps into other keys (first heard at 1:03 and 1:12), but C major’s gravitational pull always seems to win out (first heard at 1:21).
