“Summer Nights” is one of the most popular songs from the 1971 musical Grease by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta performed the song in the 1978 film adaptation of the musical, and their recording reached the #5 spot on the Billboard Top 100 (and the #1 spot in the UK.) Two ascending half-step modulations occur at 1:42 and 2:22, and we return to the original key of D at 2:35.
Tag: USA
The Subdudes | Next to Me
“Next to Me” is featured on the 2006 album Behind the Levee by American roots/rock group The Subdudes (and produced by Grammy-winning blues artist Keb’Mo’). Based in New Orleans, the group synthesizes folk, cajun, blues, and country influences, and substitutes a tambourine player for a drummer.
The tune subtly modulates from A to B at 3:00. Thanks to Carol Cashion for this submission!
Scary Pockets | Man in the Mirror
Scary Pockets is a collaborative team consisting of Jack Conte and Ryan Lerman, in collaboration with the self-described “rotating roster of the best session musicians in the LA area.” Conte and Lerman are accomplished musicians in their own right, and as Scary Pockets, they put an irresistible, funky twist on everything from modern pop tunes to older classics. Their own knack for finding the groove merges with the talent and soul of a rotating musical team to produce tunes which, though cover arrangements, take on a life and energy of their own.
Today’s tune is Scary Pockets’ arrangement of Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard’s “Man in the Mirror,” made famous by Michael Jackson in 1988. In addition to Conte and Lerman, this tune features the soulful vocals of Rozzi Crane, the inimitable style and talent of MonoNeon on the bass, and the transcendent drum rhythms of Tamir Barzilay. While the original tune certainly wasn’t lacking in the groove category, Conte and Lerman’s arrangement condenses Jackson’s orchestral style into a compact, pulsing funk which compels the listener to dance from beginning to end. The tune begins in G Major, and — similarly to Jackson’s rendition – modulates up a half step as the tune reaches its most climactic energy (at the 2:41 mark).
If this is your first introduction to the Pockets’ music, I recommend listening to this tune around noon, so that you allow yourself enough time. I arguably did not: I discovered it just after dinner time, and found myself still bopping to the Scary Pockets discography on Youtube at an hour that most decent people reserve for sleeping. Hope you enjoy, and embrace the groove.
Sammy Davis Jr. | The Candy Man
Written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley for the the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, “The Candy Man” was recorded and released by Sammy Davis Jr. in 1972 for his album Sammy Davis Jr. Now. Davis himself did not like the song: “This record is going straight into the toilet,” he reportedly said. “Not just around the rim but into the bowl, and it may just pull my whole career down with it.”
Despite his misgivings, the track became his only #1 hit and was also nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 1973 Grammy Awards. The song has since been used in dozens of commercials and films, including a recent Apple promotion for the iPhone 12. Key change at 2:19.
Kenny Rogers | Coward of the County
About Kenny Rogers’ 1979 hit “Coward of the County,” Songfacts writes: “Like Rogers’ hit ‘The Gambler,’ this song tells a compelling story, and also … was made into a TV movie. Coward of the County aired October 7, 1981; Kenny Rogers acted in the film and sang. Although the film was not a massive hit, the song was …” The tune went to #1 on the US Hot Country Songs, Cash Box Top 100, and multiple Canadian charts and it ranked in the top 10 the US Pop chart, US Adult Contemporary chart, and across much of Europe, New Zealand, and Australia. Billboard listed the track as the #9 most popular country song of 1980.
Songfacts continues: “Some felt the music was compromised.” Joe Ely, a proponent of the more rough-hewn “outlaw” country style, said in 1980: “‘The top 40 that’s going on on country stations over there [Texas] really depresses me.'”
Half-step key changes hit at 1:30 and 2:49. Many thanks to our longtime contributor Kent for submitting this tune!
Kelly Clarkson | Because of You
Released in 2005 as the third single from her second studio album, Breakaway, Kelly Clarkson’s “Because of You” has claimed its place as one of the most iconic 2000s songs of all time. While at first listen one might assume Clarkson’s hard-hitting lyrics were written about an ex-lover, the song was actually inspired by her relationship with her father, who left her and her mother when she was only 6 years old.
Shockingly, Clarkson had to fight for this song to be released. She wrote the tune before her American Idol debut when she was only 16; when she brought it to the studio, it was quickly shot down by her producers. Clarkson stated in an interview with The Guardian: “The song really is the most depressing one I’ve ever written. I tried to get it on Thankful, and was laughed at and told that I wasn’t a good writer. So then I tried to get it on Breakaway and the label saw the results, people responding to it, and allowed it to become a single. Then took credit for its success, of course.”
The song is one of strength, intensity, and drama, living on in all the edgy glory of its time, residing on many nostalgic playlists for all of those emotional flashback listening sessions and car ride singalongs. The powerful and slightly cheesy key change at 2:51 is quite appropriate!
John Parr | St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)
From the 1985 movie soundtrack of the same title, John Parr‘s “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)” was co-written by Parr and David Foster. The film starred a group of 20-something actors collectively known in pop culture as “The Brat Pack”: Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, and Andrew McCarthy. The movie focuses on a group of friends as they move into post-college life.
Songfacts reports: “The phrase ‘St. Elmo’s Fire’ refers to the spectral light sometimes seen around a ship’s mast. John Parr didn’t see the movie before he and Foster wrote the song: ‘Fortunately I didn’t see the film, specifically because the phenomenal force of nature known as St. Elmo’s Fire was a metaphor. To me it was the embodiment of a dream, a focus to strive towards as it glows in the sky. In the movie, Rob Lowe pulls out a gas canister and tells Demi Moore not to get too hung up about her problems. He lights the gas and as it ignites he dismisses her plight as no big deal, just like St. Elmo’s Fire. That would have killed it for me.'”
Critical reception of the film was mixed at best. The video echoes the film’s earnest self-congratulation by combining footage from the film, a “club concert” by Parr, a set that’s crumbling and partially on fire, and Parr joining the cast at some sort of event that looks like … a photoshoot? An awkward industry event? It’s anyone’s guess. But the tune hit No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart for two weeks in September 1985 and still remains a staple of many 80s playlists. Starting in A major, the chorus shifts to F# major (for the first time at 1:11); the verse reverts to A major. Many thanks to our faithful mod wrangler JB for this submission!
Barbra Streisand | Make Someone Happy
Originally written by Jule Styne (music), Betty Comden and Adolph Green (lyrics) for the 1960 musical Do Re Mi, “Make Someone Happy” subsequently became a jazz standard, and has been recorded by dozens of singers including Perry Como, Aretha Franklin, Judy Garland, and Jamie Cullum among others. Featured here is a live 2009 performance by Barbra Streisand at the Village Vanguard in New York City. Starting in C major, the tune modulates down to B around 3:29 while Streisand is ad-libbing some dialogue and stays there for the final chorus.
Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach | In the Darkest Place
“‘Alfie,’ ‘What the World Needs Now,’ ‘That’s What Friends Are For’ — the list goes on,” reports NPR. “He’s written 73 Top 40 hits, along with musical comedies and other collaborations. He’s won Oscars and the Gershwin Prize. His songs are often poised on the edge between poignancy and joy, or sometimes the reverse.”
Trunkworthy describes 1998’s Painted from Memory, a collaboration between Bacharach and Elvis Costello, as bringing out the best in both songwriters: ” … it makes perfect sense that collaborating with one of (Costello’s) biggest influences would result in one of the most meticulously arranged albums in his entire career … Painted From Memory feels like Elvis deliberately writing from the viewpoint of someone who isn’t him but whom he hopes may be you … the songwriting on this record feels very much in the spirit of professionalism: exercises in manipulation, in putting feelings and words together such that they channel a universality which transcends the limitations of any one person’s experience … The sum of this artistic one + one is more than strictly musical. By coming together when they did, each man underwent a kind of recalibration whereby the sheen of kitsch acquired by Bacharach’s body of work since his ’60s heyday was stripped away, and Costello, then in his mid-40s, shed the last lingering remnants of his image as an angry young man.” The composition process between the songwriters ties the album indelibly to the 1990s: the tunes were written through multiple drafts sent back and forth via transatlantic FAX.
Bacharach’s harmonic sense is enough of a feast for any listener, but he brings more to the table. Early in his career, Bacharach studied composition and orchestration with Darius Milhaud, a French composer known for a melange of jazz and Brazilian sounds combined with more traditional classical structures. Milhaud, a member of the informal yet influential guild of composers (Les Six) bound together by a reverence for Eric Satie, likely had a sizeable influence on Bacharach. Bacharach’s comfort with an orchestral palette is at the forefront with “In the Darkest Place,” including a doleful initial hook featuring bass flute, followed by strings, muted trumpet, oboe, etc.
Largely in A minor, there’s a harmonic fake-out (1:49 – 1:54) which turns out to be only a false hint of a modulation. However, the outro shifts to A major at 3:22.
Michael Buble | Everything
The lead single from Buble’s 2007 album Call Me Irresponsible, “Everything” is a departure from Buble’s typical big-band style — driven by the piano and guitar rather than a horn section. The music is co-written by Alan Chang, a frequent Buble collaborator, and songwriter/author Amy Foster-Gilles (also the daughter of mega-producer David Foster.) Buble’s lyrics were written with his then-girlfriend, actress Emily Blunt, in mind, but have a broader reach as well. “I wrote the song about the great happiness of real love,” Buble said, “but at the same time I was making a statement about the world. We’re living in really crazy times, and I wanted to say that no matter what’s happening, this person in my life is what really makes it worthwhile.”
The music video has over 107 million views on YouTube, and features cameos by Whoopi Goldberg and Bono. A whole step modulation from D to E occurs at 2:29.
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