Date: Aug 7, 1965
Weeks: 1
A few months back, I had half-composed a mini-rant about dumb, repetitive lyrics in the pop music of the 2000s. Then I randomly stumbled across "I'm Henry VIII, I Am," and it changed my mind. Turns out repetitive pop music lyrics and pop music junk food have a long and proud tradition.
These lyrics aren't dumb, I guess. They're really better described as silly. It's a silly story about a guy who's married to a woman with 7 ex-husbands, and all of them are named Henry. It's amusing. And I suppose I have to give credit for cleverness, because it's no coincidence that King Henry VIII of England was rather famously married 6 times. These lyrics are from a much older, shorter song and are repeated over and over, and that's where this song breaks down. Rather than add new lyrics as a verse, this song just sings the chorus 3 times in a row and calls it good. Sure, they add in "Second verse, same as the first" as a sort of winking acknowledgment of the problem, but I'm not sure that sufficiently makes up for it. It's fine to make a song that's silly, but a silly song will usually be funnier with some variety, or at least a humorous twist on the third iteration.
As for the vocals, the exaggerated cockney pronunciation of "Henery" is required by the song's meter, but it also provides another clue that the whole song is a bit of a goof. It also seems clear that the song is carefully calculated to capitalize on the British Invasion of the mid-60s, by featuring the most exaggerated British accent possible. It all contributes to the silliness, but I guess it's all in good fun.
Musically, it's pretty basic early 60s rock music. Drums, bass, guitar, vocals. Not a wide variety of chords required to play it. It seems like it would be pretty easy to learn how to play this song in your garage band, and annoy your friends with its utter lack of variety. Even the guitar solo in the middle isn't all that interesting, being largely a guitar version of the vocal part. At least the song is short. At under 2 minutes, it doesn't last long enough to wear on your nerves.
My verdict: Like it. It's 60s pop music junk food, but it's fun and doesn't wear out its welcome.
Showing posts with label 1965. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1965. Show all posts
Monday, August 29, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Song #129: "My Girl" by The Temptations
Date: Mar 6, 1965
Weeks: 2
Here's a song that's difficult to separate from its cultural legacy. When people refer to the sound of the Motown label, this is the song that comes to my mind. This is the classic song by the classic Motown band, at least for me. It's one of the defining songs of its era, and that makes it difficult to analyze as just a song.
The easy part to critique is the vocals. The Temptations are all very talented and have a wonderful vocal harmony. This is their first single to chart, as far as I can tell, so it didn't chart based on their reputation or popularity. It charted because they could sing it, and it built their popularity. So it's well-sung, to be sure.
The music is pleasant. It sets out to create a specific mood of pleasantness, and it succeeds. The guitar line is recognizably classic all on its own. The drums are pretty basic, but fit the song well. The strings fill out the bulk of the backing music, but I think they seem a bit too orchestral. They support the general tone of pleasantness, to be sure, so it's a small nitpick. The only part of the music I don't like is the horns. They pop up with a quick fanfare from time to time, and I don't think they support the rest of the music. They sound like they're from a different song. Overall, though, I think the music achieves what it needs to. The entire song is very gentle, which fits the theme of the lyrics.
The theme is, of course, that the guy feels happy because he's in love with a girl. And I think the lyrics are quite clever in the way they describe this. "I've got sunshine on a cloudy day" is a classic metaphor and it uses contrast to make a great point. I'd like to highlight every line in the verses as excellent songwriting, but suffice to say I like them all. I'm a little less enamored of the line in the chorus "I guess you'll say what can make me feel this way?" That feels a little awkward. A better way to express that might be "Wonder why I feel this way?" but of course that doesn't fit the meter. On paper, the line reads badly, is all. It works in-context, probably because the rest of the song is so good.
My verdict: Like it. It's not perfect, but it's very enjoyable. The pros easily outweigh the cons.
Weeks: 2
Here's a song that's difficult to separate from its cultural legacy. When people refer to the sound of the Motown label, this is the song that comes to my mind. This is the classic song by the classic Motown band, at least for me. It's one of the defining songs of its era, and that makes it difficult to analyze as just a song.
The easy part to critique is the vocals. The Temptations are all very talented and have a wonderful vocal harmony. This is their first single to chart, as far as I can tell, so it didn't chart based on their reputation or popularity. It charted because they could sing it, and it built their popularity. So it's well-sung, to be sure.
The music is pleasant. It sets out to create a specific mood of pleasantness, and it succeeds. The guitar line is recognizably classic all on its own. The drums are pretty basic, but fit the song well. The strings fill out the bulk of the backing music, but I think they seem a bit too orchestral. They support the general tone of pleasantness, to be sure, so it's a small nitpick. The only part of the music I don't like is the horns. They pop up with a quick fanfare from time to time, and I don't think they support the rest of the music. They sound like they're from a different song. Overall, though, I think the music achieves what it needs to. The entire song is very gentle, which fits the theme of the lyrics.
The theme is, of course, that the guy feels happy because he's in love with a girl. And I think the lyrics are quite clever in the way they describe this. "I've got sunshine on a cloudy day" is a classic metaphor and it uses contrast to make a great point. I'd like to highlight every line in the verses as excellent songwriting, but suffice to say I like them all. I'm a little less enamored of the line in the chorus "I guess you'll say what can make me feel this way?" That feels a little awkward. A better way to express that might be "Wonder why I feel this way?" but of course that doesn't fit the meter. On paper, the line reads badly, is all. It works in-context, probably because the rest of the song is so good.
My verdict: Like it. It's not perfect, but it's very enjoyable. The pros easily outweigh the cons.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Song #149: "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season" by The Byrds
Date: Dec 4, 1965
Weeks: 3
As I mentioned before, when a movie wants to establish the 1960s, they only have to play the first 4 seconds of this song. This is an indisputable classic.
The lyrics famously come straight from the Book of Ecclesiastes. The only additions to the song are the title phrase "Turn! Turn! Turn!" and the ending line "a time for peace, I swear it's not too late." That end line has turned it into a rather famous peace anthem from the Vietnam War era, which goes right back to explain why this song is so synonymous with the 60s. I'm not entirely clear on the meaning of "turn," but perhaps it's supposed to express the passage of time, the turning of the Earth, that sort of thing. Anyway, setting existing poetry to music is a pretty good trick, so the lyrics certainly get a pass from me.
As for the music, it's classic. The bass is excellent. The vocals are well-performed and harmonized. The guitars sound downright pretty. But the subtle standout is the percussion. During the verses, the percussion is mostly light cymbal-taps and tambourines. But when the chorus comes up, the percussion adds more drums. I have to say, I think the percussion is the main reason this song works so well. The drums modulate the intensity in a way that lets the nice, gentle verse build into a relatively intense chorus.
My verdict: Like it. Even without the historical context, this is just plain a great-sounding song.
Weeks: 3
As I mentioned before, when a movie wants to establish the 1960s, they only have to play the first 4 seconds of this song. This is an indisputable classic.
The lyrics famously come straight from the Book of Ecclesiastes. The only additions to the song are the title phrase "Turn! Turn! Turn!" and the ending line "a time for peace, I swear it's not too late." That end line has turned it into a rather famous peace anthem from the Vietnam War era, which goes right back to explain why this song is so synonymous with the 60s. I'm not entirely clear on the meaning of "turn," but perhaps it's supposed to express the passage of time, the turning of the Earth, that sort of thing. Anyway, setting existing poetry to music is a pretty good trick, so the lyrics certainly get a pass from me.
As for the music, it's classic. The bass is excellent. The vocals are well-performed and harmonized. The guitars sound downright pretty. But the subtle standout is the percussion. During the verses, the percussion is mostly light cymbal-taps and tambourines. But when the chorus comes up, the percussion adds more drums. I have to say, I think the percussion is the main reason this song works so well. The drums modulate the intensity in a way that lets the nice, gentle verse build into a relatively intense chorus.
My verdict: Like it. Even without the historical context, this is just plain a great-sounding song.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Song #139: "Mr. Tambourine Man" by The Byrds
Date: June 26, 1965
Weeks: 1
The Byrds' version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" is kind of a forgotten song.
1) The culture at large seems to remember "Mr. Tambourine Man" as a Bob Dylan song. A YouTube search for the title lists a ton of amateurs showing off their own covers, and they uniformly identify Bob Dylan as the originator. And that's fair; he did write it.
My verdict: Like it. The Byrds perform a piece of music solid enough to overcome silly lyrics and competing performances by more famous people.
Weeks: 1
The Byrds' version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" is kind of a forgotten song.
1) The culture at large seems to remember "Mr. Tambourine Man" as a Bob Dylan song. A YouTube search for the title lists a ton of amateurs showing off their own covers, and they uniformly identify Bob Dylan as the originator. And that's fair; he did write it.
2) William Shatner's version of this song is an infamous goofy spectacle.
3) It's not even the song the Byrds are best remembered for. That would be "Turn! Turn! Turn!" (#149). The opening chords of "Turn! Turn! Turn!" are practically movie shorthand for "This is the 1960s."
With all respect to Mr. Dylan, the lyrics are nonsense. "Waiting only for my boot heels to be wanderin’." You're waiting for your own feet to start walking? Don't you control that? I guess not if your brain is drug-addled, as much speculation seems to suggest with regard to this song's lyrics. Drugs or not, the meaning is poorly conveyed.
Nonsense lyrics aren't a problem for me. I've always thought that if pop music is catchy, it's okay if the lyrics are indecipherable. Fortunately, the Byrds make the music catchy. Unlike Dylan and Shatner, they field a full 1960s rock band, with 3 guitars, drums, and, yes, a tambourine. The result is a nicely full sound. The bass line is particularly compelling. The video I've chosen to link is a performance that has a lot of energy and is the most fun version I can find, but I've also been listening to a crisp remastered version of what I presume is the recording that was on the charts.
It's too bad those first 3 points I made have caused this song to be forgotten. It's really very enjoyable.
My verdict: Like it. The Byrds perform a piece of music solid enough to overcome silly lyrics and competing performances by more famous people.
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