I listened today to "Somebody Hurt You" and "People Used To Dream About The Future", by the new group A Girl Called Eddy.
Earlier on this forum, someone considered them "Bacharach-esque".
My verdict?
These two recordings are Bacharach-esque only in mood, but not in any other appreciable way.
I've noticed that, when artists attempt to emulate Burt's sound, they immediately cop his familiar "easy listening" tempi, sometimes his jazz-waltz groove, and sometimes his open fourths and fifths played on piano or horns.
But that simply isn't enough, IMHO, to really pay an intelligent homage to what BB does in his pop songs...
To really be bowled-over by a new, aspiring Burt devoté, I'd need to hear the following:
1. Asymmetrical phrase lengths
2. Daring-- even shocking-- harmonic shifts, especially if they are momentarily ambiguous tonally
3. Daring, unorthodox meter changes
4. Killer bridges which offer up fresh, contrasting musical information.
5. Fascinating countermelodies that are as interesting as the main melody itself.
To sum up, I'd need to hear R-I-S-K, risk! Risk is something BB never shied away from... he wasn't afraid to make Song A on an album sound *dramatically* different from Song B.
Burt always knew how to tread that fine aesthetic line between "beautiful" and "inelegant", and that is his genius (one of them, anyway)
Songs like "The Last One To Be Loved", "I Cry Alone", "In The Land of Make Believe", "In Between The Heartaches" and "Fool Killer" are not conventionally "pretty" songs... in fact, for the first few listenings, they might even seem inelegant or downright strange. That's because BB was deliberately flouting the usual "rules" of pop song writing... the privelege only accorded to those who have learnt the "rules" in the first place...
Nowadays, in our "American Idol" world, where every new young singer assumes him/herself to be in fierce competition with the next young cutie waiting in the wings, RISK is a forbidden word.
BB/HD/DW achieved genius because they did NOT compete... they saw what was out there, what was hip, then *re-wrote* the rules according to their own aesthetic and emotional dictates. They took a risk that paid off; it paid off probably because the triumvirate were such superb musicians, and the stuff they did really sprang from the heart chakra and above.
Precious and few have been the songwriters who have dared pick up the gauntlet they dropped.
Songwriting aspirants, take note!
Dave B.
A Girl Called Eddy
Moderator: mark
I'm the fella that wrote the original post about A Girl Called Eddy.
A couple of thoughts about your post: If you're waiting for somebody to do all those things, the harmonic shift, the meter changes, the key changes, not to mention the inventive chord changes, you're gonna be disappointed every time, 'cause there aint nobody that does it like our boy Burt! Period.
But listen again to those two songs. The production, in my opinion, is Burt-influenced...the choices of instrumentation...the mood to be sure...the lyrics ("When did we stop taking pictures?")...
If you can honestly listen to "People Who Used To Dream About The Future", with that sparse piano and bass under the vocal, and the way it builds to the big God Give Me Strength-like "Where did it all go?" climax...and then the stops & starts towards the end of the song, and NOT think of Bacharach, then you must be TRYING not to. Or else you're drunk!!!
Just kidding. In any case...as I mentioned, it's a 'nod' towards Burt...not a rip off. Not the second coming. Not Burt himself.
But a beautiful record nonetheless. In my opinion.
I hope you don't consider it money poorly spent! EJ
A couple of thoughts about your post: If you're waiting for somebody to do all those things, the harmonic shift, the meter changes, the key changes, not to mention the inventive chord changes, you're gonna be disappointed every time, 'cause there aint nobody that does it like our boy Burt! Period.
But listen again to those two songs. The production, in my opinion, is Burt-influenced...the choices of instrumentation...the mood to be sure...the lyrics ("When did we stop taking pictures?")...
If you can honestly listen to "People Who Used To Dream About The Future", with that sparse piano and bass under the vocal, and the way it builds to the big God Give Me Strength-like "Where did it all go?" climax...and then the stops & starts towards the end of the song, and NOT think of Bacharach, then you must be TRYING not to. Or else you're drunk!!!
Just kidding. In any case...as I mentioned, it's a 'nod' towards Burt...not a rip off. Not the second coming. Not Burt himself.
But a beautiful record nonetheless. In my opinion.
I hope you don't consider it money poorly spent! EJ
-
Guest
Hear: Erin Moran
"A Girl Called Eddy" (Anti-Epitaph) Melancholy becomes A Girl Called Eddy (aka Erin Moran). On this full-length debut from the singer who has taken a boy's name, Eddy sings in broken, hesitant tones that recall Aimee Mann without the bitter edge. Her openly wounded sound also suggests a darker Karen Carpenter or a less defended Chrissie Hynde. Moran, who grew up in Neptune, N.J., got her first break touring England in a band with the celebrated British musician Francis Dunnery. There she took her nom de tune in 2001 and released an indie EP called "Tears All Over Town." Its cult success led to a new deal with Anti-Epitaph Records, which gave her the chance to cut a full CD produced by several members of the English act Pulp. The resulting album recycles a few tracks from the EP, but fleshes out its sound. "Eddy" has elements that recall the prime of Dusty Springfield (who titled her first EP "A Girl Called Dusty") and Burt Bacharach (one song, "Heartache," nicks the opening piano chords from "Close to You"). Wan and wistful, "A Girl Called Eddy" has a delicate beauty that should haunt listeners for days. Jim Farber, in
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/ ... 0195c.html
"A Girl Called Eddy" (Anti-Epitaph) Melancholy becomes A Girl Called Eddy (aka Erin Moran). On this full-length debut from the singer who has taken a boy's name, Eddy sings in broken, hesitant tones that recall Aimee Mann without the bitter edge. Her openly wounded sound also suggests a darker Karen Carpenter or a less defended Chrissie Hynde. Moran, who grew up in Neptune, N.J., got her first break touring England in a band with the celebrated British musician Francis Dunnery. There she took her nom de tune in 2001 and released an indie EP called "Tears All Over Town." Its cult success led to a new deal with Anti-Epitaph Records, which gave her the chance to cut a full CD produced by several members of the English act Pulp. The resulting album recycles a few tracks from the EP, but fleshes out its sound. "Eddy" has elements that recall the prime of Dusty Springfield (who titled her first EP "A Girl Called Dusty") and Burt Bacharach (one song, "Heartache," nicks the opening piano chords from "Close to You"). Wan and wistful, "A Girl Called Eddy" has a delicate beauty that should haunt listeners for days. Jim Farber, in
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/ ... 0195c.html
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Guest
Minor thing in a way, but it says below that Burt's music's been played in Thailand.
I know it goes on all over the world all the time, but it's nice to know anyway.
TIME online edition
A R T S / F A S H I O N
Visions From the East
Four young Asian designers steal the spotlight at New York's big fashion show
By KATE BETTS
Monday, Sep. 20, 2004
Growing up in Omaha, Neb., fashion designer Thakoon Panichgul always felt more American than Thai. Maybe that was because Panichgul, 29, spent most of his time listening to mellow '70s hits from the Carpenters like Top of the World and I Just Fall in Love Again, or maybe it was because he had more of an affinity for clean, American sportswear than he did for the more ornate styles that are popular in his native Bangkok.
"When I went back there for Christmas last year I noticed that everyone was listening to the Carpenters and Burt Bacharach too," he says, sitting in his loft-like showroom in Manhattan's trendy meat-packing district.
It continues in http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... id=rss_top
I know it goes on all over the world all the time, but it's nice to know anyway.
TIME online edition
A R T S / F A S H I O N
Visions From the East
Four young Asian designers steal the spotlight at New York's big fashion show
By KATE BETTS
Monday, Sep. 20, 2004
Growing up in Omaha, Neb., fashion designer Thakoon Panichgul always felt more American than Thai. Maybe that was because Panichgul, 29, spent most of his time listening to mellow '70s hits from the Carpenters like Top of the World and I Just Fall in Love Again, or maybe it was because he had more of an affinity for clean, American sportswear than he did for the more ornate styles that are popular in his native Bangkok.
"When I went back there for Christmas last year I noticed that everyone was listening to the Carpenters and Burt Bacharach too," he says, sitting in his loft-like showroom in Manhattan's trendy meat-packing district.
It continues in http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... id=rss_top
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rasputin@gvtc.com
Let me explain...
Hi, it's me again (the one who started this thread) and I want to apologize for coming across as a curmudgeon, a snob or a meany.
You're right, songwriters with the knowledge and instincts that BB has don't come along often. Many aspects of Burt's personality-- his warmth, his intelligence, his physical athleticism, his charm, his fine "ear", and let's face it, his priveleged family background-- cannot be duplicated.
Yet, believe it or not, a lot of the songwriting techniques Burt has used to great effect are not "secrets", necessarily. They are "hiding in plain sight" for any would-be songwriter to learn and deploy.
Specifically, I'm thinking about the concept of Motivic Development, which Burt has always excelled at. You take a little snippet of original melody-- maybe even as little as two, three or four notes. Those notes, even as "lonely" as they are, already contain, to the skilled melodist, intimations for how they can multiply, mutate and grow into a full-fledged song that is fascinating to listen to...
For example, those three or four notes already have rhythmic implication-- one might hear a faint hint of a reggae beat in there. Or it might sound like a country shuffle beat starting to happen. Or a Bossa Nova, Samba, Baião, Forró, Axé, 12/8 gospel ballad, Mambo, Foxtrot, March, Waltz, Jazz Waltz, Disco, Conga, Rhumba, 8-Beat Rock, Cha-Cha-Cha, Cumbia, Merengue, 16-Beat Funk, etc.
Notice that these are all popular dances from around the world? That's because all rhythm originally comes from the human body: we walk, we talk, we skip, we make love, we jog, we sprint. All of these universal human activities have rhythms. When I listen to a wide spectrum of Burt's melodies, it's clear to me that he was always a very physical guy, athletic and in tune with his body. He's always been a sexy guy, too, so he has plenty of experience as to the rhythms of lovemaking: I swear I'm not trying to be funny, lewd or gratuitous here... good music often has affinities to sex and the rhythms of sex. Burt was doing "World Music" before it was called that, employing Brazilian, African and Latin feels in a most authentic and earthy way; rhythms which require the use of one's whole body, from head-to-toe, unlike much of the more "cerebral" feeling that European Art Music (a.k.a. "Classical") has often brought us.
But back to our Motive of three or four notes. If one were to repeat that same rhythm over-and-over, like beads on a string, it might be interesting, but our ears would bore of it quickly. Sameness is boring. So a melodist can vary each subsequent repetition of the motive by turning it Backwards. By turning it Upside-Down. By Offsetting the motive by a beat, either forward or backward in time. By halving its note values, or doubling their lengths. The original motive will often be repeated, too, to cement itself in our minds.
Where do these original motives come from? Perhaps the Greeks had the answer when they came up with descriptive words for the basic rhythm
patterns of language: (Say these sample phrases)
The Iamb: "the Hand of God descends upon the sea"
The Dactyl: "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers"
The Trochee: "took off her makeup and turned on the radio"
The Anapest: "When the spit hits the fan, we'll be far far away"
There are others, but these are the Big Four.
Thus, a whole long melody has been spun off from only three or four notes! Bear in mind that these same transformations are occurring also at the level of note Pitch as well... Burt here is thinking not of his own voice usually, but the vocal range of his prospective target singer, be it Dionne, Perry Como, Richard Chamberlain, Elvis C. or Engelbert Humperdinck. Some of these folks sing high, others sing low. Some of them have a huge note-range, others can barely sing an octave. No matter. Burt can weave a tune for anybody, so they don't strain themselves, and they can look cool to their audience while onstage.
Crafty, huh? Yet most of this we, the listener, are not consciously aware of (usually). We just have the delightful feeling that the "children" of the original motive have some kinship to its parent, yet the song is trundling along so quickly, we don't have time to analyze it intellectually. Nor would BB/HD want us to... they just want us to lean back, take it in, and be charmed, amused and turned on emotionally (and buy the record!). Most people, in fact, will be thinking about the meaning of Hal's lyrics, not concentrating on the nuts-and-bolts of what makes Burt's melody support those lyrics so well.
But this motivic development procedure is not well understood or well employed in many current popular songs. Most songwriters today just sort of grasp in the darkness. It's like they only have two colors to paint with and they never realized that there were five others.
And after this long-winded tutorial of mine, that was the original point of my first post, above.
I don't get impressed or turned on by a new song until I perceive that some of these "deeper" songwriting tactics are being used. Why? I guess I feel honored or flattered that the composer thought I could "handle it", "it" being the clever permutations of motive I have described. For me, listening to a Burt song is almost akin to doing the New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle: I'm aware that someone is challenging me, teasing me, and I want to rise to the challenge!!!
For example, I DARE YOU to sing these three Burt songs along with the record, and not make ANY mistakes:
a). "Toledo"
b). "Be True To Yourself"
c). "Promises, Promises"
See what I mean? (-: DAVE B.
You're right, songwriters with the knowledge and instincts that BB has don't come along often. Many aspects of Burt's personality-- his warmth, his intelligence, his physical athleticism, his charm, his fine "ear", and let's face it, his priveleged family background-- cannot be duplicated.
Yet, believe it or not, a lot of the songwriting techniques Burt has used to great effect are not "secrets", necessarily. They are "hiding in plain sight" for any would-be songwriter to learn and deploy.
Specifically, I'm thinking about the concept of Motivic Development, which Burt has always excelled at. You take a little snippet of original melody-- maybe even as little as two, three or four notes. Those notes, even as "lonely" as they are, already contain, to the skilled melodist, intimations for how they can multiply, mutate and grow into a full-fledged song that is fascinating to listen to...
For example, those three or four notes already have rhythmic implication-- one might hear a faint hint of a reggae beat in there. Or it might sound like a country shuffle beat starting to happen. Or a Bossa Nova, Samba, Baião, Forró, Axé, 12/8 gospel ballad, Mambo, Foxtrot, March, Waltz, Jazz Waltz, Disco, Conga, Rhumba, 8-Beat Rock, Cha-Cha-Cha, Cumbia, Merengue, 16-Beat Funk, etc.
Notice that these are all popular dances from around the world? That's because all rhythm originally comes from the human body: we walk, we talk, we skip, we make love, we jog, we sprint. All of these universal human activities have rhythms. When I listen to a wide spectrum of Burt's melodies, it's clear to me that he was always a very physical guy, athletic and in tune with his body. He's always been a sexy guy, too, so he has plenty of experience as to the rhythms of lovemaking: I swear I'm not trying to be funny, lewd or gratuitous here... good music often has affinities to sex and the rhythms of sex. Burt was doing "World Music" before it was called that, employing Brazilian, African and Latin feels in a most authentic and earthy way; rhythms which require the use of one's whole body, from head-to-toe, unlike much of the more "cerebral" feeling that European Art Music (a.k.a. "Classical") has often brought us.
But back to our Motive of three or four notes. If one were to repeat that same rhythm over-and-over, like beads on a string, it might be interesting, but our ears would bore of it quickly. Sameness is boring. So a melodist can vary each subsequent repetition of the motive by turning it Backwards. By turning it Upside-Down. By Offsetting the motive by a beat, either forward or backward in time. By halving its note values, or doubling their lengths. The original motive will often be repeated, too, to cement itself in our minds.
Where do these original motives come from? Perhaps the Greeks had the answer when they came up with descriptive words for the basic rhythm
patterns of language: (Say these sample phrases)
The Iamb: "the Hand of God descends upon the sea"
The Dactyl: "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers"
The Trochee: "took off her makeup and turned on the radio"
The Anapest: "When the spit hits the fan, we'll be far far away"
There are others, but these are the Big Four.
Thus, a whole long melody has been spun off from only three or four notes! Bear in mind that these same transformations are occurring also at the level of note Pitch as well... Burt here is thinking not of his own voice usually, but the vocal range of his prospective target singer, be it Dionne, Perry Como, Richard Chamberlain, Elvis C. or Engelbert Humperdinck. Some of these folks sing high, others sing low. Some of them have a huge note-range, others can barely sing an octave. No matter. Burt can weave a tune for anybody, so they don't strain themselves, and they can look cool to their audience while onstage.
Crafty, huh? Yet most of this we, the listener, are not consciously aware of (usually). We just have the delightful feeling that the "children" of the original motive have some kinship to its parent, yet the song is trundling along so quickly, we don't have time to analyze it intellectually. Nor would BB/HD want us to... they just want us to lean back, take it in, and be charmed, amused and turned on emotionally (and buy the record!). Most people, in fact, will be thinking about the meaning of Hal's lyrics, not concentrating on the nuts-and-bolts of what makes Burt's melody support those lyrics so well.
But this motivic development procedure is not well understood or well employed in many current popular songs. Most songwriters today just sort of grasp in the darkness. It's like they only have two colors to paint with and they never realized that there were five others.
And after this long-winded tutorial of mine, that was the original point of my first post, above.
I don't get impressed or turned on by a new song until I perceive that some of these "deeper" songwriting tactics are being used. Why? I guess I feel honored or flattered that the composer thought I could "handle it", "it" being the clever permutations of motive I have described. For me, listening to a Burt song is almost akin to doing the New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle: I'm aware that someone is challenging me, teasing me, and I want to rise to the challenge!!!
For example, I DARE YOU to sing these three Burt songs along with the record, and not make ANY mistakes:
a). "Toledo"
b). "Be True To Yourself"
c). "Promises, Promises"
See what I mean? (-: DAVE B.
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scotsgreg
A Girl Called Eddy's "People Used To Dream About The Fu
While I certainly appreciate the articulate dissection of songcraft you outline and admire your obvious extensive study of the Bacharach oeuvre, I still concur with the original post on this topic that A Girl Called Eddy echoes aspects of classic Bacharach composing and arranging techniques, as well as Hal David's lyrical directness, quite exquisitely on "People Used To Dream About The Future." Can we expect to find songwriters and composers who can perfectly reproduce the uncanny artistry of the very best songs of Bacharach and David? Of course not. (And to be fair, as with any songwriter targeting commercial markets, they both certainly wrote their fair share of tossed-off, chart-oriented baubles. For example, as much as I love "Who Gets The Guy," it's clearly a warmed-over pastiche of successful Bacharach/David 1969-71 formulas.) Besides, a new writer who expends a career pursuing the exact duplication of an existing composer's style could only be read by music cognoscenti and even the general public as, at best, a fawning flatterer and, at worst, a hack, completely lacking an original musical voice.
For my money, "People Who Dream About The Future," is one of the best Bacharach/David-influenced songs ever written in that, not only is the song phrased similarly to many of better Bacharach's haunting jazz-waltz numbers and arranged with pulsing tack piano, pleading strings and punctuating fills in a manner to enhance the everyday sadness depicted with sweeping emotional impact, but the personal approach and easy accessibility of the lyrics beautifully reference the deft skills of Hal David, much more so than most of Bacharach's other co-lyricists. Yet, to songwriter and vocalist Erin Moran's credit, it is also a unique song unto itself and very specific to this exciting and talented new artist. It's hers. (That we live in such a narrow music environment these days that the song will not be given even a stab at the top-40 is a tragedy.)
I think what excites most of us when we hear the basic tenets of the prototypical 1960's Bacharach sound (unusual structural elements in the composition, melancholy lyrical theme, orchestral arrangement and production) being employed by currently recording popular artists is the opportunity for his work to extend into the future with renewed verve and a truly contemporary context. In my opinion, the best way for his music to thrive with the passing of time is not in the bland, embalming musical revues of late, but in the efforts of these new artists who have been profoundly influenced by the power and passion of his work and fold lessons learned from his music into fresh musical visions.
For my money, "People Who Dream About The Future," is one of the best Bacharach/David-influenced songs ever written in that, not only is the song phrased similarly to many of better Bacharach's haunting jazz-waltz numbers and arranged with pulsing tack piano, pleading strings and punctuating fills in a manner to enhance the everyday sadness depicted with sweeping emotional impact, but the personal approach and easy accessibility of the lyrics beautifully reference the deft skills of Hal David, much more so than most of Bacharach's other co-lyricists. Yet, to songwriter and vocalist Erin Moran's credit, it is also a unique song unto itself and very specific to this exciting and talented new artist. It's hers. (That we live in such a narrow music environment these days that the song will not be given even a stab at the top-40 is a tragedy.)
I think what excites most of us when we hear the basic tenets of the prototypical 1960's Bacharach sound (unusual structural elements in the composition, melancholy lyrical theme, orchestral arrangement and production) being employed by currently recording popular artists is the opportunity for his work to extend into the future with renewed verve and a truly contemporary context. In my opinion, the best way for his music to thrive with the passing of time is not in the bland, embalming musical revues of late, but in the efforts of these new artists who have been profoundly influenced by the power and passion of his work and fold lessons learned from his music into fresh musical visions.
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Bacharachian
A Girl Called Eddy
Skip Joss Stone's "Alfie" (she screws with the melody in that annoying, over-the-top "pop/gospel" style so prevalent everywhere this side of "American Idol.") Made me miss Cher! I'm one of the few who actually enjoys her raggedy 1966 Sonny Bono-produced "Wall Of Sound" version. Joss' version is okay for what it is, but RUN, don't walk to go get 'A Girl Called Eddy.' It's like mid-60's Burt Bacharach crossed with early Chrissie Hynde. The debut of the year and THIS kind of stuff is what need to support!
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Guest
Girl Called Eddy
very cool stuff--songs that would have been great for dusty springfield and jackie deshannon back in the sixties
thanks for the tip
thanks for the tip
A girl called Eddy
Thanks Dave B. for giving us the
in-depth analysis why Burt's music
are so wonderful. I want to discuss
your point "Fascinating countermelodies that are as interesting as the main melody itself" to share about other
songwriters who are good in this.
Michel Legrand is definitely one of
the best in this. I came to notice this when i heard the film version
of "Windmills of your mind" in Mcqueen/Dunaway's film THomas Crown Affair.
At the time i was still a teen and
had little exposure to sophisticated songwriting and arrangement like that. But the song
knocked my socks off. Years later
when i was hooked by BB and also
songs by his contemporaries like
Legrand, Morricone ... many many more, i noticed that quite a few songs by Legrand had the beautiful
counter melodies ingredients.
Dave, which other songwriters'
songwriting could attain nearly
all the points you mentioned of
Burt's writings ?
in-depth analysis why Burt's music
are so wonderful. I want to discuss
your point "Fascinating countermelodies that are as interesting as the main melody itself" to share about other
songwriters who are good in this.
Michel Legrand is definitely one of
the best in this. I came to notice this when i heard the film version
of "Windmills of your mind" in Mcqueen/Dunaway's film THomas Crown Affair.
At the time i was still a teen and
had little exposure to sophisticated songwriting and arrangement like that. But the song
knocked my socks off. Years later
when i was hooked by BB and also
songs by his contemporaries like
Legrand, Morricone ... many many more, i noticed that quite a few songs by Legrand had the beautiful
counter melodies ingredients.
Dave, which other songwriters'
songwriting could attain nearly
all the points you mentioned of
Burt's writings ?
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rasputin2
re: Songwriting skills
Yes, Michel Legrand knows how to create interesting countermelody; think of the dramatic string action in the bridge of the film version of "Windmills Of Your Mind" by Noel (forgot surname).
The last truly amazing bridge I've heard (outside the Burt camp and the great tunes on the GRACE OF MY HEART OST) was Sophie B. Hawkins' "As I Lay Me Down". Circa 1997.
The last truly amazing bridge I've heard (outside the Burt camp and the great tunes on the GRACE OF MY HEART OST) was Sophie B. Hawkins' "As I Lay Me Down". Circa 1997.
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rasputin@gvtc.com
Another melodist's trick...
Another trick melodists use to great effect-- Burt is the master-- is to use various scales in the same song, for the most part the Greek modes: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Myxolydian, Aeolian, Locrian.
A variant of Myxolydian is the African-American Blues scale; Indian and Middle Eastern scales are sometimes used in Western pop as well.
It's fascinating and provocative when a melody starts in, say, C Ionian, which includes a natural seventh degree (in this case, the note B natural).
Then, without warning us, a good songwriter like Burt will have the same melody suddenly be built upon C Myxolydian, which includes a lowered seventh scale degree (in this case it would be Bb).
That's tonal ambiguity... for a few seconds, we're subconsciously wondering, "Hey, what happened here? I thought I had my bearings!". Burt has fooled us, gently, tugging the rug out from under us.
Then, when we're still reeling about THAT ambiguity, Burt will, let's say, have the chorus built upon G Ionian! Then we're forced to mentally backtrack and realize that the C Myxolydian melody notes were functioning as a Subdominant chord-- though we didn't realize it at the time.
It's like riding the Octopus or walking through a Funhouse at a carnival... your sense of "gravity" and "normalcy" is constantly being shifted and challenged... to thrilling emotional effect.
Now, to use a metaphor, most pop songs today are not, to me, like walking through a Funhouse... rather, they are more like being led at midday through a suburban ranch house by a jaded real estate agent... I basically know what to expect in my little tour, and I am rarely surprised or shocked with what I find.
I guess in a post 9/11 world, that kind of predictability and familiarity is reassuring. The 60's were more of a time of experimentation, a rescripting of virtually every department of human activity... I guess with the Kennedys, MLK, LSD and other things, the world was accustomed to big shocks.
Burt and other great songwriters of that time (Lennon/McCartney, Jimmy Webb, Legrand, Morricone, Jobim and others) were lucky to have been writing in an era in which assumptions were being challenged in so many areas.
A variant of Myxolydian is the African-American Blues scale; Indian and Middle Eastern scales are sometimes used in Western pop as well.
It's fascinating and provocative when a melody starts in, say, C Ionian, which includes a natural seventh degree (in this case, the note B natural).
Then, without warning us, a good songwriter like Burt will have the same melody suddenly be built upon C Myxolydian, which includes a lowered seventh scale degree (in this case it would be Bb).
That's tonal ambiguity... for a few seconds, we're subconsciously wondering, "Hey, what happened here? I thought I had my bearings!". Burt has fooled us, gently, tugging the rug out from under us.
Then, when we're still reeling about THAT ambiguity, Burt will, let's say, have the chorus built upon G Ionian! Then we're forced to mentally backtrack and realize that the C Myxolydian melody notes were functioning as a Subdominant chord-- though we didn't realize it at the time.
It's like riding the Octopus or walking through a Funhouse at a carnival... your sense of "gravity" and "normalcy" is constantly being shifted and challenged... to thrilling emotional effect.
Now, to use a metaphor, most pop songs today are not, to me, like walking through a Funhouse... rather, they are more like being led at midday through a suburban ranch house by a jaded real estate agent... I basically know what to expect in my little tour, and I am rarely surprised or shocked with what I find.
I guess in a post 9/11 world, that kind of predictability and familiarity is reassuring. The 60's were more of a time of experimentation, a rescripting of virtually every department of human activity... I guess with the Kennedys, MLK, LSD and other things, the world was accustomed to big shocks.
Burt and other great songwriters of that time (Lennon/McCartney, Jimmy Webb, Legrand, Morricone, Jobim and others) were lucky to have been writing in an era in which assumptions were being challenged in so many areas.
-
mark
- Site Admin
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I just got the CD A Girl Called Eddy.
Wow. Bacharachian or not, vocalist Erin Moran (not the Erin Moran from Happy Days, FYI) has a beautiful, heartbraking voice, reminiscent of Chrissie Hynde but more achingly expressive, and the songs and arrangements are gorgeous, like Elvis Costello at his most lyrical. It's a beautiful record that I'd highly recomment (even if I don't hear a strong Bacharach influence....)
Wow. Bacharachian or not, vocalist Erin Moran (not the Erin Moran from Happy Days, FYI) has a beautiful, heartbraking voice, reminiscent of Chrissie Hynde but more achingly expressive, and the songs and arrangements are gorgeous, like Elvis Costello at his most lyrical. It's a beautiful record that I'd highly recomment (even if I don't hear a strong Bacharach influence....)
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Dennis Webb
- Posts: 63
- Joined: Sun Nov 21, 2004 10:40 am
re: A Girl Called Eddy
Let me add my praise to Erin Moran's "A Girl Called Eddy" CD. I bought it a few months ago and I can't get enough of it. There's not a weak song on the disk. I've listened to this CD so many times by now, and like the best of Hal & Burt I still can't get these songs out of my head. Her voice really is heartbreaking at times, very expressive. The arrangements are absolutely wonderful, recalling the best pop arranging from the 1960s and 1970s. This CD is a real treasure, the best thing I've heard in years.