MotD mainstay Jacob Collier’s arrangement of “In the Bleak Midwinter,” originally written by Gustav Holst based on a poem by 19th century English poet Christina Rossetti, is a modulatory feast. While the melody is mostly still discernible amidst the dense harmonic texture, there is extensive reharmonization.
“While working on their new album of classic country covers — Country Evolution (2015),” the a cappella ensemble Home Free decided to cover The Oak Ridge Boys’ “defining 1981 hit ‘Elvira,'” (Rolling Stone). The kicker: Home Free collaborated with the song’s originators on the track. “’Once we got together as a group, there was a magic happening among the nine of us that just exploded…’
The result is an ‘Elvira’ that … maintains the cadence of the Oaks’ recording, but adds modern-day flourishes, thanks to Home Free’s beat-box singer Adam Rupp.” Home Free has been awarded “the Bob Hope Award for Excellence in Entertainment by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society and induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.”
After the initial surprise of “a capella + country” starts to wear off, there’s a half-step key change at 1:03; at 2:02, another modulation hits (this time a whole step). At 2:29, there’s a shift to the parallel minor for a brief bridge before a jubilant return to major at 2:40. Many thanks to first-time contributor Joya M. for submitting this track!
Brazilian vocalist Milton Nascimento “remembered how as a boy he had been obsessed with female singers and grew despondent when his voice began to break,” (The Guardian). “Only after hearing a Ray Charles recording of ‘Stella By Starlight’ age 13 did he grasp the beauty of the male voice. ‘He cured me that day,’ he said.” After many decades and 40+ albums, “News of Nascimento’s (Spring 2022) retirement has sparked an outpouring of nostalgia, a box office rush, and celebration of his astonishing vocal cords and vision. ‘[His voice] is strong at the same time that it’s delicate and fragile. It is precious … something that can convey such conflicting ideas at the same time. It’s unique,’ said Maria Rita, shedding tears as she described her affection for a man who took her under his wing after her mother’s premature death. ‘It feels like it’s from the soul … from a place that is familiar, but we don’t know yet – and I think that’s what my mom meant when she said that if God had a voice [it would be Milton’s].'”
” … Nascimento enjoys a vast global audience,” (AllMusic). “In addition to a resonant reedy tenor, he possesses an otherworldly falsetto that has led many to describe his music in spiritual terms. His self-titled 1967 debut established his meld of MPB, Brazilian folk forms, Tropicalia, rock, and samba” He went on to win several Grammy awards and recently completed a farewell tour at age 80.”
Released in 1976 as his material first became available in the United States, “Raça” (which translates to “race”) features a short melodic theme which alternates between two keys and cycles through many different strata of groove. The key shifts from C major and A major at 0:57, then back at 2:12.
Actress/singer/composer Ann Hampton Callaway makes her MotD debut today with a cover of Van Morrison’s most popular song, “Moondance,” featured on her 2004 studio album Slow. Callaway is joined on the track by her sister Liz Callaway, also a singer and actress. The tune begins in D minor and subtly modulates up a half step in the middle of the second verse at 1:35.
“The Roches were a magical musical act, influenced by barber-shop style tight harmonies, Irish melodies, bee-pop and the Brill Building writers,” (HotPress.com). “They wrote – either solo or in various combinations – songs about: their lives together and apart; sweaty train journeys; cheating husbands; dogs; waitressing; family secrets; trips to Ireland; and, sometimes, even an impossible and improbable relationship.
They didn’t fit in, but by not fitting in they presented the perfect template for all the rest of us who felt we didn’t fit in either. They eventually found a way to fit in by creating – stealing might even be a better word – a space for themselves in a music business distracted and preoccupied by rock, disco, and punk …they were not scared to show their horizons lay way beyond the perceived limits of folk, or any other contemporary music, for that matter.”
A track from the trio’s debut self-titled album (1979), “Hammond Song,” gives voice to the inevitable forks in life’s road and the consequences which follow. The Roche sisters’ keening vocal delivery is immediately recognizable after only a few notes. Their nearly vibrato-free vocal style would be quite unforgiving of any intonation issues, but the Roches’ excellent ears and unfettered originality turned into their force-of-nature delivery into their indelible signature. After a start in Eb major, 2:37 brings a shift to Bb major, and then there’s a reversion to the original key at 3:28. Both modulations slip by during relative lulls in the volume and texture of this otherwise rich vocal tapestry.
“I Can See Clearly Now” was written and recorded by American singer Johnny Nash in 1972, and was a number-one hit in the US, the UK, Canada, and South Africa. Contrasting with Nash’s original reggae groove, the Holly Cole Trio recorded a jazz-driven cover as the lead track for their 1993 album Don’t Smoke In Bed. The tune begins in Db and, almost as if the sun is breaking through the clouds, emerges into Gb major coming out of the bridge at 3:02.
“This is a song about moving on,” say songwriters Michael Kooman & Christopher Dimond on their blog. “Blue Horizon,” sung here by Broadway actress Heidi Blickenstaff, is featured on Kooman and Dimond’s 2011 studio album. The tune alternates between Bb major (verses) and G major (choruses) throughout.
“Jazz is America’s music and the U.S. Navy Band Commodores, the Navy’s premier jazz ensemble, have been performing the very best of big band jazz for the Navy and the nation for 50 years,” (US Navy Band). “Formed in 1969, this 18-member group continues the jazz big band legacy with some of the finest musicians in the world … The list of guest artists who have appeared with the Commodores reads like a who’s who of jazz and popular music: Ray Charles, Branford Marsalis, Clark Terry, Grover Washington Jr., Chris Potter, Jerry Bergonzi, Eddie Daniels, James Moody and many more.”
In an interview with the Navy’s publication Fanfare, alto vocalist Chelsi Vanderpol detailed some of her preparation process: “I get the opportunity to solo pretty regularly and, absolutely, I still get nervous! I think we all do — I don’t think that goes away. I just think you get better at hiding it … Einstein says something about energy not being able to be destroyed, but rather changed from one form to another. I think about that and try to change that nervous energy into power and excitement to share my message with the audience. I think what we do is so important and I think people need to hear it.”
“America the Beautiful” had a rather roundabout origin: Its lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and its music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward over several years during the 1890s, although Bates and Ward never met. The song wasn’t published until 1910. Among its many covers, the tune is perhaps most closely linked with Ray Charles, whose 1972 rendition was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2005. The Navy Band’s arrangement, recorded here in 2019, rises a whole step at 2:16.
Here’s a first: a submission which not only includes an exacting level of theory detail, but is a live performance by the contributor, leading a quartet! Cole Fortier is an undergrad at the SUNY’s Crane School of Music. Thank you for such a detailed description of this genius tune’s structure, Cole!
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From Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello’s masterwork album, Painted from Memory (1998), comes the track “Such Unlikely Lovers.” It’s a truly unique and incredible song for many reasons.
First, it seems to be the one lyric on the album where everything goes right for the main character! While this album is an epic and stunning meditation on heartbreak, the upbeat and colorful narrative of this song brings the variation of levity and charm to the ordeal. Costello said that he heard the music that Bacharach presented to him for this track and immediately envisioned a lyric based around a chance romantic encounter on the street. The sense of spontaneity, optimism, and energy in the lyric is reflected so excitingly in the music. This song grooves so hard — more than almost any other song on the album. The constantly shifting tonality and subtle meter changes (a Bacharach trademark) truly embody the spontaneous spirit that drives the song.
As the song begins, it’s difficult to discern the key; the riff essentially vamps between a Gsus chord and an Fsus chord (Eb/F to be specific). The vocal then enters on a C minor chord, which contextualizes the previous Eb/F chord as being a part of the key signature of C minor. More specifically, this section of the song can be interpreted as C Dorian with the raised sixth scale degree of the A natural. The most intriguing harmonic shift happens very quickly though as an F#min7 chord occurs on the word “gray” (0:24) and subsequently resolves to a Bmin9 chord. This modulation from C minor to B minor is masterfully handled through carrying over the common tone of the A natural from the C Dorian mode to the F#min7 chord. The entire modulatory sequence repeats again at the lyrics “when you look how you feel” (0:30) — but this time, the song continues on in a tonality much more closely associated with B minor than C minor (starting at “Listen now”, 0:40). After the chorus, the opening riff returns at 1:17. Weirdly enough though, the opening riff is played 2.5 steps down and is never played in its original tonality again.
The smooth and nuanced modulation patterns in “Such Unlikely Lovers” through the use of common tones really show the genius of Bacharach’s writing while also supporting the energized and spontaneous lyric that Costello wrote.
“Mambo Italiano” was originally written by Bob Merrill in 1954 for the American singer Rosemary Clooney, and is a parody of genuine mambo music. Bette Midler included a cover of the tune on her tribute album to Clooney, released in 2003 (following Clooney’s death in 2002) and produced by Barry Manilow. “I wanted to be respectful, but I felt we had to find something new to say as well,” Midler said in the liner notes for the album. “And in these (mostly) new arrangements…I believe we have.”
The track begins in G minor and shifts up a half step at 2:16.
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