Listening Journal #5

Any survey of popular music in the 60s would be incomplete without some inclusion of Phil Spector. His records made a Phillies were immensley popular and many have stood the test of time. Be My Baby performed by the Ronettes is no exception. One cannot mistake the "wall of sound" with lush instrumentation including a variety of percussion, strings, and pianos. However, that does not mean that sound is always loud and never changes. Spector does a masterful job of making the vocals ever present and clear. Each section also contains a change in overall texture. The song begins with the unmistakable bass drum beat and snare and tambourine on beat four followed closely by pianos,  maracas, and castanets. Their presence on this recording is less a Latin style influence than is is a textural inclusion into the wall of sound. Halfway through the verse there is a chordal shift accompanied by saxophones. The chorus includes strong vocal harmony in response to the lead singer's "Be My Baby." The second doesn't relax back into the timbre of the first verse. Instead, it ramps up the sound with added vocal harmony chords. The second chorus is followed by a string iteration of the first half of the verse followed by another chorus. After the third chorus there is a striking drop down to the opening texture of bass drums before a final chorus with fade out. The lyrics are simple and carry very little extra meaning, but that is not the point of this song. Much like earlier Tin Pan Alley songs, the lyrics and form are simple and therein lies much of the songs appeal. It's amazing to listen to a Phil Spector song with it's large number of instruments. It would be difficult to have students do a listening project to identify ALL of the instruments heard in Be My Baby, but recording prowess of Phil Spector ensures that the vocal part is heard clearly and the instrumentation is not overwhelming.

Of course, the biggest band to cover in a tour of the 60s is the Beatles. their first big hit in Britain was Please, Please Me and, though it didn't have great success in America until later, it is an excellent example of early Beatles music. The song was written by Lennon and McCartney, a still unusual activity for artists at the time, and is in a simple AABA form. The song is sung through once in a quick, two minute, span. Yet, the Beatles close harmonies and simple riffs (this time played by a harmonica to start and by a guitar in transitional phrases), are in evidence. The Beatles also utilize effective rhyme schemes and wordplay; the word "please" is used both as a verb and adverb. Their influences are also recognizable with a strong call-and-response in the "come on" section, a quick instrumental introduction reminiscent of Chuck Berry is some respects, and a strong rock 'n roll drum beat (though much later, the beat reminds me of the movie "That Thing You Do!").

A Hard Days Night, a number one hit in 1964, is another example of the Beatles excellent wordplay in lyric writing. The title itself is an interesting look into the life of a band- which does it's work at night- and rhyme schemes throughout show Lennon and McCartney's gift for lyric writing. Their rhyming of two idioms in "workin like a dog" and "sleepin' like a log" is an extremely creative use of figurative language. The form of the song is yet again the traditional AABA form, but uses the 12 bar blues for the opening A sections much like a rock 'n roll artist like Fats Domino would do. However, the chord structure is not exactly 12 bar blues but the lyrics use a lyric form similar to the aab form of the blues.

The song begins with an interesting, dissonant guitar chord before launching into the opening A section. This section begins with solo voice and the already discussed blues-like lyrics. The third stanza is elongated and includes tight vocal harmonies. After two A section the B section feels very much separate from the rest of the song (rightly so as it is a bridge) and is set in a minor key. Upon returning to the A section, they repeat the first aab lyrics exactly followed by a short 12 string guitar solo and a quick repetition of the elongated b stanza and returns to B and A sections.The song ends as abruptly as it began, but this time with an arpeggiated and consonant guitar figure.

While many of the Beatles early songs are fast rockers, they were certainly not incapable of sweet Ballads. Songs like If I Fell  (also from the movie A Hard Days Night) demonstrate their ballad-singing ability. However, a song like Yesterday is a definite departure. The song is lacking the Beatles vocal harmonies and energy and uses only guitar, solo voice, and string ensemble. Yesterday pulls much of it's inspiration from Tin Pan Alley with it's AABA form and vague, romantic lyrics. However, there is a great deal of artistic language that set this song apart from other, simple ballads.

Another Beatles song that uses strings is Eleanor Rigby. Though not a smash hit, the song was certainly ground breaking. The song starts seemingly out of nowhere with "Ah..." and is accompanied by very active string parts. The song is set in E minor and only uses two chords (with the addition ofthe relative major C), but how they are used is very interesting. The song begins with C major, but the focal point is the minor chord which fits the somber lyrics of the song. I use Eleanor Ribgy as a teaching song for my guitar class since it only uses two, fairly easy, chords. Yet, the song is usually a struggle because the changes are jarring. The verse uses the chord configuration of 3 measures of E minor followed one and a half measures of C and a half measure of E minor all played twice through. The effect is one of uneasiness and is fitting with the strange, repressive lyrics. The form, the "Ah.." section at the beginning, is similar to a simple folk ballad with alternating verse and chorus. 

Another band that needs to be included in a survey of the 60s is the Beach Boys. Brian Wilson was a dynamic and forward thinking leader fro the group, and they had a big hit in Good Vibrations. Aside from the simple lyrics and subject matter, the song actually has a number of innovative aspects. From the strange, Theremin (or theremin-esque) sound to the echo effect, the song has a variety of things on which to focus. The form is complex and hard to follow with each section highly contrasting. The "I've gotta keep.." section almost feels like a different song with it's totally different texture, tempo, and overall feel. A return to the chorus is brief and has a number of contrasting features including a driving cello. Brian Wilson's composition of Good Vibrations contains developmental material as the ending section plays with ideas from the chorus. With it's ever changing musical ideas and building of intensity, it's no wonder the song was used for a very strange, but very good, movie Vanilla Sky. 

While the lyrics of Good Vibrations are not the groundbreaking part of the song, the work of Bob Dylan is almost completely focused on the artistry of the words. In addition to amazing wordplay, Like a Rolling Stone was groundbreaking in it's popularity despite length (not the usual three minute length still followed from 78 r.p.m. days), electrification of urban folk music, and dense texture. The overall form is the familiar, strophic verse-chorus form common to urban folk music. The lyrics tell a story of a young girl who is falling from a place of privilege. The strophes continue to develop the depth of the story with considerable length for a folk song and the chorus returns to remind the listener of the overall theme. For the most part, this recording sound very much like the live version would. This is a remarkable feat in a time where recording techniques and sound effects (take Good Vibrations) rule the day in the studio. Like many of the other songs in this review, Like a Rolling Stone fades out to nothing unlike many of Bob Dylan's other folk song recordings.