Music is Changing!

“You Can’t Hurry Love” was performed by the “Supremes” in 1966.  Originally written by the team of Holland-Dozier-Holand, the piece is an example of just how much sophistication and intricacy that Motown Records could produce in their music.  The opening A section is about half the length of the B and C sections that follow.  It is unclear as to whether it is supposed to act as introduction or not.  But after the A section, the B section starts with the same underlying chords that came in the A section.  The C section changes to a completely different melody and instead of going to A with the conclusion of the C section, it goes back to B and C again.  We are beginning to see the drift away from the Tin Pan Alley AABA and ABAC forms from the previous years.  Composers are beginning to experiment with forms in innovative and new ways.

An example of a group that continuously pushed the boundaries in order to think outside of the box in new, innovative ways is “The Beatles.”  The Beatles recorded a piece titled “Please Please Me” in 1962. This was their first top ten hit in Britain but was unsuccessful when it was originally released in the United States in 1963.  However, once the group journeyed to America and “Beatlemania” began, the song was, once again, played on American radios and it gained popularity!  This is an example of early Beatles songwriting.  It following the typical AABA in under two minutes time.  They change words that don’t rhyme together so that they will rhyme. 

Another example of a Beatles song that came after “Please Please Me” is called “A Hard Day’s Night.”  It his number one in 1964.  Once again, the overall form is AABA but they are beginning to work with more subtle touches with the piece.  It plays with a twelve-bar blues form in the A section but are not exactly twelve-bar blues.  They change the structure of the words from the typical a-a-b form.  We can see The Beatles continue to evolve when they released “Yesterday” in 1965.  This piece reached number one on the pop charts that year and has remained one of their most popular pieces of all time.  It, once again, uses the typical Tin Pan Alley AABA form.  The lyrics talk of broken romance and moving on.  For this piece, they chose to have a solo voice (Paul McCartney) accompanied by acoustic guitar and orchestral string instruments rather than the electric guitar that had become so typical of rock n’ roll.  In this sense, it pays homage more to Tin Pan Alley style rather than modern rock (which really fits with the words of “Yesterday” – “why she had to go, she wouldn’t say.”  In a sense, we could be talking about the Tin Pan Alley style rather than a broken romance!). 

In 1966, The Beatles released “Eleanor Rigby” which was not as popular as some of their other song, reaching number eleven on the pop charts.  There is no introduction or preparation of the voice.  It enters at the onset of the piece.  The instruments are playing chords on a regular, steady beat with brief rhythmic interludes between vocal parts.  At around the same time as “Beatlemania,”  “The Beach Boys” were also taking America by storm.  From Southern California, Brian Wilson wrote most of their music about the sun and the sand.  Brian Wilson, the leader of “The Beach Boys,” began to play with forms that were not traditional.  We begin with an A section followed by B and then A and B again.  After the second B section, we dive into a C section followed by a brief instrumental transition.  Instead of going back to A  to close out the song, they head into a D section followed by another transition and then end it on variations of B instead of A.  Brian Wilson was heavily influenced by “The Beatles” and “The Beatles” were heavily influenced by the songs of “The Beach Boys.”  The two groups pushed each other to be better musicians and to think outside the box.

At the same time, “soul music” was coming into play.  Sam Cooke, in 1964 recorded a piece titled, “A Change is Gonna Come” which was a politically charged statement.  He used his gospel roots to serenade his audience while his talked about a “change” coming.  At the same time, James Brown and Aretha Franklin were doing the exact same thing.  James Brown recorded a piece called “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” in 1965.  This piece uses the twelve-bar blues stanza and an instrumental riff throughout.  “Respect” by Aretha Franklin is all about respect for people.  In her version, it is about respect for women.  Starr and Waterman state, “none of Franklin’s play with the gender issues implicit in “Respect” would have any effect if it weren’t for the overwhelming power and assurance with which she delivers the song and makes it her own” (Starr and Waterman pg. 337).  Music was really beginning to take on social and political issues.  Bob Dylan recorded “Like a Rolling Stone” in 1965.  This was a huge influence on the music industry as it “effectively put an end to existing restrictions on length, subject matter, and poetic diction that had exercised a controlling influence on the creation of pop records” (Starr and Waterman pg. 345). Music, during this era, was really changing.  Composers and musicians were pushing the boundaries of the typical structures, time lengths, and lyrics that had become standard since the early 1900s.