Before I forget, here is a recording:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WV5sc8xorU
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
What I chose
Background information:
Contrary to popular belief this song wasn't that popular when it was first released as a single in 1994. It only gained the very much talked about popularity votes in 1995 and 1996 when it was used as the theme song for Batman Forever, possibly because it tied in very much with the Character, batman. Words like "grave" and "greying tower alone on the sea" really strikes a chord with the Bruce Wayne Character. In 1996 it went on to clinch the 1996 Grammy Awards' Record of the Year and Song of the Year, with Seal also winning Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, possibly because of Kiss from A rose because between the span of 1994 to 1996 he had no other hit singles besides Kiss from a rose.
In terms of inspiration it was not because of the movie, neither was it because of Heidi Klum because both happened (so to speak) after he wrote the song, 1995 and 2003 respectively. He wrote the song in 1994.
I WILL BE USING STROPHIC STRUCTURE AND TERMINOLOGY TO DISSECT THE SONG.
Instruments involved:
At least five african american voices, or 1 african american voice and sound engineering.
Piano
Something that sounds like the Harpsichord
Something that sounds like a Flute
Acoustic Guitar (or a guitar that emanates acoustic guitar sounds)
Modern Drum Set
Key: Bb Major(Yes I am aware there are no key signatures, no I do not think it is modal, Yes I will explain my choice for Bb major later)
Questions to Ponder:
Why not G minor?
Why not G Major?
Why not Eb Major?
Why not Modal?
It probably isn't G minor even though they are enharmonic equivalents because,
1) it makes more cadential sense for Eb F G to be IV - V - VI(3#) rather than VI - VII - I(3#),
2) in the bridge he temporarily modulates to F major; from the perspective of G minor it would be modulating to a VII while in Bb Major it would be modulating to a V.
It probably isn't G major because then the only chord in the whole song that fits the Family of the G Scale would be G major chord.
It probably isn't modal because, well SEAL isn't European, he doesn't wear wigs and breeches and he certainly wasn't writing for a patron or church. There you go!
However do note that because of the many deceptive cadences it may not sound like a song clearly in a Bb Major.
Introduction of the song:
Part and rationale
I'll consider the first eight bars to be the introduction of the song as it feels like the prelude to what is to come. Furthermore the lyrics does not start here, typical of contemporary introductions. Bars 1-8
Instrumentation
For the Introduction of the song, it's basically acapella for the first four bars, with a two semi-quaver anacrusis. Two voices (doubling) sing the melody part, a third voice sings the voice below the melody(the one that starts with G), and the fourth voice sings the syncopated voice that starts with D. It is interesting to note that on the second bar the syncopated voice is reinforced by either an increase in volume or a doubling in the voice. It is also interesting to note there is no voice that sings the bass (important later for chord structure).
The next two bars (the repeat) bring in the piano and a woodwind instrument (maybe the lyre possibly the flute; truth be told it sounds very much like the chinese di zi but I'll not go so far as to officially claim it), and the following two bars brings in an instrument that sounds very much like the harpsichord.
Chord Progression/Structure
It's basically: Eb F G G (repeat four times) The chord changes every three quavers. So it's basically (Eb F) one bar, G one bar.
Yes I know it says in the scoresheet that it starts on a Gm chord. Here's why I think it's Eb F G and not Gm F G. Firstly, by listening you can tell that the bass (voice/instrument) is practically non-existent. Therfore based on the harmonics it can either be Eb or Gm. Secondly, it doesn't really make much musical sense if it was i-vii-i(3#) . You can see in JS Bach's work it usually goes IV-V-VI(3#) or VI-VII-i(3#). In fact most of this song also does the Eb F G progression.
Strange isn't it, how Nickelback's Hero (spiderman theme song) also features this interesting repetitive progression in its chorus. Are all comic characters supposed to have picardy 3rds?! (I would not be surprised)
Harmonic Structure & Function
It is interesting to note how Seal handles the harmony. From the start of the anacrusis until the first beat of the third chord one cannot know whether he is going to "sharpen-the-third" so to speak, until after the syncopated voice comes in (syncopated voice is the only one singing the 3rd, hence we have to depend on him as to whether or not the 3rd is sharpened). This doesn't change even when the instruments come in. This "Temporal Ambiguity" as I would like to call it, makes it very appealing and this constant interplay between G and Gm is one of the main points that sets this song apart from the rest of the songs out there.
Harmonic Structure for the introduction is quite interesting, with no beginning T, just PD-D-T for Eb-F-G, then subsequently the T in the previous is borrowed to form T-PD-D-T.
Melodic and lyric Structure
Interesting also to note that even though the melody line used in the introduction has no clear link to the melody in the verse or chorus, yet it is more iconic than the verse's and chorus' melodies. Strange isn't it?
Not much to comment on the lyrics here, with them not really singing anything coherent, but for some strange reason whenever I hear the intro I think of seal and his friends like elves in santa's workshop at the north pole. Not sure if you agree with me on that one though.
Rhythmic Structure
It's interesting to note the rhythmic structure of the introduction: The melody starts off anacrusis two semiquavers, a 3/4 note and then another two semi quavers and then four quavers to sort of settle things followed by a crotchet. You can see that there are gaps in the rhythm so what does SEAL do? Seal fills them by having a syncopated voice.
Phrase/Sentence Structure
(G A Bb) (C Bb A) (G G F G)
Short Short Long
You can see if I just ended on A it wouldn't sound right, something is driving it on, hence the long part, where it ends on a G.
Antecedent consequent?
Other points to add
That is more or less it for the introduction.
Contrary to popular belief this song wasn't that popular when it was first released as a single in 1994. It only gained the very much talked about popularity votes in 1995 and 1996 when it was used as the theme song for Batman Forever, possibly because it tied in very much with the Character, batman. Words like "grave" and "greying tower alone on the sea" really strikes a chord with the Bruce Wayne Character. In 1996 it went on to clinch the 1996 Grammy Awards' Record of the Year and Song of the Year, with Seal also winning Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, possibly because of Kiss from A rose because between the span of 1994 to 1996 he had no other hit singles besides Kiss from a rose.
In terms of inspiration it was not because of the movie, neither was it because of Heidi Klum because both happened (so to speak) after he wrote the song, 1995 and 2003 respectively. He wrote the song in 1994.
I WILL BE USING STROPHIC STRUCTURE AND TERMINOLOGY TO DISSECT THE SONG.
Instruments involved:
At least five african american voices, or 1 african american voice and sound engineering.
Piano
Something that sounds like the Harpsichord
Something that sounds like a Flute
Acoustic Guitar (or a guitar that emanates acoustic guitar sounds)
Modern Drum Set
Key: Bb Major(Yes I am aware there are no key signatures, no I do not think it is modal, Yes I will explain my choice for Bb major later)
Questions to Ponder:
Why not G minor?
Why not G Major?
Why not Eb Major?
Why not Modal?
It probably isn't G minor even though they are enharmonic equivalents because,
1) it makes more cadential sense for Eb F G to be IV - V - VI(3#) rather than VI - VII - I(3#),
2) in the bridge he temporarily modulates to F major; from the perspective of G minor it would be modulating to a VII while in Bb Major it would be modulating to a V.
It probably isn't G major because then the only chord in the whole song that fits the Family of the G Scale would be G major chord.
It probably isn't modal because, well SEAL isn't European, he doesn't wear wigs and breeches and he certainly wasn't writing for a patron or church. There you go!
However do note that because of the many deceptive cadences it may not sound like a song clearly in a Bb Major.
Introduction of the song:
Part and rationale
I'll consider the first eight bars to be the introduction of the song as it feels like the prelude to what is to come. Furthermore the lyrics does not start here, typical of contemporary introductions. Bars 1-8
Instrumentation
For the Introduction of the song, it's basically acapella for the first four bars, with a two semi-quaver anacrusis. Two voices (doubling) sing the melody part, a third voice sings the voice below the melody(the one that starts with G), and the fourth voice sings the syncopated voice that starts with D. It is interesting to note that on the second bar the syncopated voice is reinforced by either an increase in volume or a doubling in the voice. It is also interesting to note there is no voice that sings the bass (important later for chord structure).
The next two bars (the repeat) bring in the piano and a woodwind instrument (maybe the lyre possibly the flute; truth be told it sounds very much like the chinese di zi but I'll not go so far as to officially claim it), and the following two bars brings in an instrument that sounds very much like the harpsichord.
Chord Progression/Structure
It's basically: Eb F G G (repeat four times) The chord changes every three quavers. So it's basically (Eb F) one bar, G one bar.
Yes I know it says in the scoresheet that it starts on a Gm chord. Here's why I think it's Eb F G and not Gm F G. Firstly, by listening you can tell that the bass (voice/instrument) is practically non-existent. Therfore based on the harmonics it can either be Eb or Gm. Secondly, it doesn't really make much musical sense if it was i-vii-i(3#) . You can see in JS Bach's work it usually goes IV-V-VI(3#) or VI-VII-i(3#). In fact most of this song also does the Eb F G progression.
Strange isn't it, how Nickelback's Hero (spiderman theme song) also features this interesting repetitive progression in its chorus. Are all comic characters supposed to have picardy 3rds?! (I would not be surprised)
Harmonic Structure & Function
It is interesting to note how Seal handles the harmony. From the start of the anacrusis until the first beat of the third chord one cannot know whether he is going to "sharpen-the-third" so to speak, until after the syncopated voice comes in (syncopated voice is the only one singing the 3rd, hence we have to depend on him as to whether or not the 3rd is sharpened). This doesn't change even when the instruments come in. This "Temporal Ambiguity" as I would like to call it, makes it very appealing and this constant interplay between G and Gm is one of the main points that sets this song apart from the rest of the songs out there.
Harmonic Structure for the introduction is quite interesting, with no beginning T, just PD-D-T for Eb-F-G, then subsequently the T in the previous is borrowed to form T-PD-D-T.
Melodic and lyric Structure
Interesting also to note that even though the melody line used in the introduction has no clear link to the melody in the verse or chorus, yet it is more iconic than the verse's and chorus' melodies. Strange isn't it?
Not much to comment on the lyrics here, with them not really singing anything coherent, but for some strange reason whenever I hear the intro I think of seal and his friends like elves in santa's workshop at the north pole. Not sure if you agree with me on that one though.
Rhythmic Structure
It's interesting to note the rhythmic structure of the introduction: The melody starts off anacrusis two semiquavers, a 3/4 note and then another two semi quavers and then four quavers to sort of settle things followed by a crotchet. You can see that there are gaps in the rhythm so what does SEAL do? Seal fills them by having a syncopated voice.
Phrase/Sentence Structure
(G A Bb) (C Bb A) (G G F G)
Short Short Long
You can see if I just ended on A it wouldn't sound right, something is driving it on, hence the long part, where it ends on a G.
Antecedent consequent?
Other points to add
That is more or less it for the introduction.
Verse of the song
Part and Rationale
I'll consider the next 10 bars to be the 1st verse more or less because it crescendoes towards the end and builds up for the next part of the song, with his iconic dragging of the word Baby or rather 'baybare'. Bars 9-18.
Instrumentation
It's the piano, the acoustic guitar or something musically equivalent and presumably seal himself. Guitar strums a slow and steady consistent rhythm, piano is basically playing chords every beat that each chord comes in. Point to note: The reverb for his voice is massive, like he's in a cave or something. (Alluding to batman maybe?!) There is a very much likely a synthesizer that comes in (on strings mode) during that short interlude from the first beat of the last bar to the start of the anacrusis chorus which is also the built up to go into the chorus where the rest of the intruments increase volume and/or play more.
For the second verse there is the inclusion of the electric guitar and either violin or a synthesizer playing the string counterpart.
Chord Progression/Structure
Amazingly it starts on a G, on a chord that doesn't really belong to the Key. It starts with G for one bar, then moves on to Eb and F sharing one bar. It repeats this chord progression twice, with the third progression switching the Eb F to a temporary modulation to the Key of C with a F C G progression, which then goes to G. He then proceeds back to the original key simply by making the G major a minor, and then Eb F, Eb F which ends on a G major, quite akin to the progression used in the beginning.
In terms of progression it's, in my opinion,
VI(3#)-IV-V x2,
G-------Eb-F
VI/V IV I V/VI vi
G---F--C--G--Gm
Rhythmic Structure
The melody is syncopated, it starts a semi quaver after the bar has started. Interestingly, presumably because seal wants to hold a certain line in the verse he actually changes the time signature for some of the bars, from 6/8 to 9/8. There is this sense of delay (albeit in a good way) in bars 11,13,15,17. Funny how for introduction and interludes he uses anacrusis, for verse he comes in after the beat, and for chorus he uses anacrusis again. Also, a heavy use of syncopation is used in the melody line, but more importantly the use is not consistent, in that you can't really find a rhythmic pattern. It's as though he's trying to portray a very swing ad libitum sort of style so to speak.
Phrase/Sentence Structure
The phrase structure, based on the timing and rhythm is Long short short for the phrases.
It begins with "There used to be a greying" (long), "Tower"(short), "alone on the"(short).
The overarching idea is short short long, With "There used to be a greying tower alone on the sea" (short), "you became the light on the dark side of me" (short), "love became a drug that's the high not the pill" (short) "But did you know that when it snows your eyes become large and the light that you shine can be seen"(Long). This idea of the long being a IV-V-IV-V progression replays itself in the choruses as well.
Melodic and lyric Structure
The melody is interesting because right at the beginning he starts with a vocal slide down from C to B note (I'm not really sure what that technique is called, if it is even a technique in the first place). This slide down is used quite a bit in the verse, happening at the start and end for most of the phrases. Bar 15 has a unique melodic line in that he sings in G major then in G minor; this would not be interesting if he did not have the third in his melody line, which he did. The B had to become a flat in the same bar, making it quite an ingenius melody line, in my opinion. Interesting to note in Bar 15 he accentuates the melody by putting most of the instruments on hold.
Also to note for the part where they temproraily modulate to F major you can hear the bass moving down by step every half beat to go from F to C to G. Quite an ingenius way of punctuating the song midway.
Other points to add
Nothing else to add.
Chorus of the song
Instrumentation
More voices are eventually added in chorus, with voices holding certain notes, and voices harmonizing Seal's voices so to speak. There is more involvement of the drums, although it is funny to note the drums don't really change much. There is the addition of the tambourine holding a steady rhythm, and the bass as well (although the bass could have come in mid verse I'm not sure my lousy laptop doesn't reflect the bass no matter how loud I adjust the volume to.) Also at "Rose is in bloom, a light" part there is a short brass line.
For the voices
Chord Progression/ Structure
It's the usual G Eb F G that by now should be quite familiar to you. VI(3#)-IV-V-VI(3#), or T-PD-D-T However, perhaps to punctuate the harmonic monotony he changes the second Eb to a Fsus4, which gives the listener the sort of surreal, if I may, sense of things, because now that the Eb is changed to Fsus4 it gives the listener a sense of "wait a minute, instead of T-PD-D-T I now have T-D-T! It's like a tonic extension/expansion if you will. There seems to be a pause, or a lag in time when they have the Fsus4 instead of the Eb.
Rhythmic Structure
By now you can see something interesting in the rhythm. There is this idea of interplay between syncopatic inconsistent rhythm and plain consistent rhythm. For the voices, although they keep time, the way the syncopations are interspersed you would've thought they weren't following score. To balance this sort of erratic (in a good way) rhythm you notice the auxiliary instruments, the drum even the guitar plays very bland, very constant, very stable, very simple rhythms.
Phrase/Sentence Structure
This time it is the usual short-short-long, with the short parts being "Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grave" and "The more I get of you the stranger it feels yea" and the long part being "Now that your rose is in bloom, a light hits the gloom on the grave."
Melodic & Lyric Structure
Very interesting, as he repeats rhythm and pitch movement in "used to be a greying tower" with "I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grave", which goes to show there are semblances of the verse and the chorus besides the chord progressions.
Other Points to add
That's it!
Bridge and verse thereafter:
Fo the bridge there is heavy use of canon-like singing, very interesting because it was very well done, practically no dissonance at all.
The verse thereafter incorporates a heavy use of echoing from the other voices.
Why I chose what I chose
For those of you who know me (and are able to sift out my bulls***), with regards to music I love cadences. I love them more than anything. It's the one music anchor to which I gladly hold on to, (sometimes for dear life, especially on a certain wednesday lecture...) and of all the cadences I love I must say the ones I love most are chromatic cadences and... Picardy 3rds. If Tritones were considered Diabolus in Musica (the devil in music) then I think Picardy 3rds were probably considered Sanctum Musica, the holiness in music (Citation needed). You would practically need a 9mm pressed to my head to stop me from going on and on about imagery with regards to picardy 3rds I tell you!
I also love comic characters with no super powers (I think that guy with the curl for a fringe so oiled and voice so deep and ladies screaming to be saved by him is queer at best... no not elvis, I meant clark kent) therefore I love Bruce Wayne and Frank Castle very much. Very much.
SO, imagine my joy and delight when I came across Seal's Kiss from a rose! A song filled with picardy 3rds (nearly every three chords once) and the theme song for one of the Batman movies! [plus Seal's last name is Samuel, so that kind of sealed the deal (no pun intended)].
The above ramblings in essence is my rationale for choosing the song I have chosen, namely Seal's Kiss from a Rose.
I also love comic characters with no super powers (I think that guy with the curl for a fringe so oiled and voice so deep and ladies screaming to be saved by him is queer at best... no not elvis, I meant clark kent) therefore I love Bruce Wayne and Frank Castle very much. Very much.
SO, imagine my joy and delight when I came across Seal's Kiss from a rose! A song filled with picardy 3rds (nearly every three chords once) and the theme song for one of the Batman movies! [plus Seal's last name is Samuel, so that kind of sealed the deal (no pun intended)].
The above ramblings in essence is my rationale for choosing the song I have chosen, namely Seal's Kiss from a Rose.
'Tis better late than never
"'Tis True, 'twas long ere I began,
To seek to live forever:
But now I run fast as I can,
'Tis better late than never.
Our Tears to joy, our Fears to faith,
Are turned, as we see,
That our beginning, as one saith,
Shows what our end will be."
- Quoted from The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.
I dedicate the above quote to the unfortunate soul who will give his sunday evening to critique my blog, which is starting to form up as soon as this post is posted.
Carpe Noctis!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)