These comments are based on the studio recording released on the album "Uprising". Other recordings differ in minor details.
Form
The intro consists of a four bar phrase repeated twice. This tune is not heard again as if the composer has so many tunes that this perfectly good one can be cast aside.
The verse consists of four, four bar phrases.
The chorus has eleven bars. This rather odd length breaks down the regularity of the song. This is enhanced by the second appearance of the chorus being extended to thirteen bars, and the third to seventeen bars.
The second and third verses have the same lyrics. Before the third verse and after the second chorus there is a middle eight of eight bars of rhythmic chords. The lyrics scan very freely and the syncopated rhythms make the declarations seem impassioned.
Outro is five bars and three beats long. It is reminiscent of the middle eight and builds to a sharp stabbed final chord on the third beat of the bar. One of the characteristics of reggae is an emphasis on the third beat of the bar - the "skank". We could speculate about why Bob Marley did this and if it is to do with his thoughts about the song's relationship both with reggae and with the American or English folk song genre.
The overall form is: Intro, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Middle-eight, Verse, Chorus, Outro.
Some Final Thoughts
This is a very unusual song; unusual for Bob Marley to be singing alone with his acoustic guitar, unusual in the lengths of the choruses. It begins with a very seldom heard disposable intro and finishes defiantly on an unusual beat. The song is literally a "song of freedom".
Friday, 17 April 2009
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Lady Gaga - "Just Dance"
Lyrics and theme
Evoking an enthusiastic evenings recreation at a night club the singer urges herself to dance. The vocals are heavily treated with auto-tuning, giving them a hard rasping edge, and also with reverb and a dub like echo, suggesting the altered frame of mind caused by adrenalin and alcohol.
Form
An instrumental version of the chorus is used for the intro. The first four bars are the lead synth riff which is then joined by two bars of base synth chords and then four bars where the drums are added. The rhythm is a two bar pattern alternating between four to the floor and back beat.
The verse is in two eight bar sections. In the first the tune has an AABA pattern, the second ABAB. The chorus bursts in and consists of eight bars. There is a single bar recovery before the next verse.
The second verse has a new lyric for the first section and repeats that of the first verse for the second section. There is no pause between the chorus and the third verse.
Surprisingly the tune for this verse is a quite distant variation on that of the first two verses. The two sections to the verse each consist of two pairs of two bar answering phrases.
There is a four bar pre-chorus where the drums are dropped, followed by the standard eight bar chorus. There is then a twenty bar breakdown, with its own four bar intro and two eight bar sections, before returning to pre-chorus and chorus. The chorus has an extra, higher, vocal track to mark the climax, a descant.
The outro is simply the single bar recovery we heard after the first chorus.
Overall the form is: Intro Verse Chorus Single-bar-recovery Verse Chorus Verse Pre-Chorus Chorus Breakdown Pre-Chorus Chorus Single-bar-recovery.
Some Final Thoughts
"Just Dance" has quite a complex form, considerable symetry and develops throughout. The first two verses set the scene after which we arrive at the dance floor for a medaly of songs within the song. In previous decades hedonistic dance music was much simpler. There is enough musical material here for several disco tracks. In those days you would have expected a number one single, particularly one which had extensive daytime radio play, to be dumbed down and middle of the road, if not a cynical manipulation of the public. "Just Dance" is more adventurous than this and more like an example of a specialist genre. It is ironic that Lady Gaga, who derives her surname from Queen's description of pap radio music, should be an example of how the Internet killed the radio gaga star.
Evoking an enthusiastic evenings recreation at a night club the singer urges herself to dance. The vocals are heavily treated with auto-tuning, giving them a hard rasping edge, and also with reverb and a dub like echo, suggesting the altered frame of mind caused by adrenalin and alcohol.
Form
An instrumental version of the chorus is used for the intro. The first four bars are the lead synth riff which is then joined by two bars of base synth chords and then four bars where the drums are added. The rhythm is a two bar pattern alternating between four to the floor and back beat.
The verse is in two eight bar sections. In the first the tune has an AABA pattern, the second ABAB. The chorus bursts in and consists of eight bars. There is a single bar recovery before the next verse.
The second verse has a new lyric for the first section and repeats that of the first verse for the second section. There is no pause between the chorus and the third verse.
Surprisingly the tune for this verse is a quite distant variation on that of the first two verses. The two sections to the verse each consist of two pairs of two bar answering phrases.
There is a four bar pre-chorus where the drums are dropped, followed by the standard eight bar chorus. There is then a twenty bar breakdown, with its own four bar intro and two eight bar sections, before returning to pre-chorus and chorus. The chorus has an extra, higher, vocal track to mark the climax, a descant.
The outro is simply the single bar recovery we heard after the first chorus.
Overall the form is: Intro Verse Chorus Single-bar-recovery Verse Chorus Verse Pre-Chorus Chorus Breakdown Pre-Chorus Chorus Single-bar-recovery.
Some Final Thoughts
"Just Dance" has quite a complex form, considerable symetry and develops throughout. The first two verses set the scene after which we arrive at the dance floor for a medaly of songs within the song. In previous decades hedonistic dance music was much simpler. There is enough musical material here for several disco tracks. In those days you would have expected a number one single, particularly one which had extensive daytime radio play, to be dumbed down and middle of the road, if not a cynical manipulation of the public. "Just Dance" is more adventurous than this and more like an example of a specialist genre. It is ironic that Lady Gaga, who derives her surname from Queen's description of pap radio music, should be an example of how the Internet killed the radio gaga star.
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