MUSI 3200 Exam 1 Listening List
Shake, Rattle, and Roll
- Atlantic Record - Black Pop - By Big Joe Turner - Simple-verse-chorus, based on 12-bar blues - 12/8 (shuffle in 4) time - Piano, saxes, guitar, bass, drums, and lead vocals - Also referred to as "hokum blues" because of its blatantly sexual lyrics - Starts with boogie-woogie piano, acoustic bass, and drums - Strong backbeat; classic 12-bar blues - Semi-shouting vocals enter - handclaps join drums on the backbeat - Sexual innuendo in the lyrics - Never hit the pop charts at all - Top 5 on the R&B charts
Honey Love
- Atlantic Record - Black Pop - By Clyde McPhatter
Mama (He Treats Your Daughter Mean)
- Atlantic Record - Black Pop - By Ruth Brown - Begins with drum riff - Sax, guitar, piano, and bass enter with a riff - Lead vocals enter in a semi-shouting style - note the vocal upswing at the end of the first two lines of the verse - Lyrics deal with a woman who is fed up with the actions of her man
Blue Moon of Kentucky
- Bluegrass music - By Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys - Begins with fiddle soloing over mandolin and guitar - 3/4 time - Country Waltz - Vocals are nasal - lyrics are of heartbreak - Mandolin takes the solo
Foggy Mountain Breakdown
- Bluegrass music - By Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs - Instrumental piece - focus lies in the virtuosic playing - Begins with a banjo solo - classic "chase" music - Fiddle enters and solos over boom-chick rhythm of the guitar - Solos are shared by fiddle and banjo - Harmonica enters later in the piece and solos
Hey Good Lookin'
- C&W music - By Hank Williams - AABA form with three presentations of the complete verse-verse-bridge-verse structure - 4/4 time - Acoustic guitars, bass, steel guitar, fiddle, and lead vocal - No drums as that was forbidden in the early years of the Grand Ole Opry - MGM - Begins with slide guitar solo over guitar and acoustic bass playing a boom-chick rhythm - Vocals enter - nasal vocal sound - Slide guitar and fiddle are the featured solo instruments
Hillbilly Fever
- C&W music - By Little Jimmy Dickens - Prototype for an upcoming style called rockabilly - Starts with steel guitar solo accompanied by bass, fiddle, and guitars - Solo nasal vocals enter and take precedence over the instrumentation - Steel guitar plays fill at the end of the verse - Chorus features harmonized vocals - Lyrics speak of hillbilly style of music
I'm a Man
- Chess Records - Chicago Blues - By Bo Diddley - Song is based on one chord - called a one-chord boogie - Starts with a lick (riff) that is referred to as "Bo Diddley" - Instrumentation starts with guitar; harmonica and piano interject; drums and maracas maintain a constant beat - Semi-shouting vocals enter over drums; instruments provide fills - call and response - Lyrics are suggestive and egocentric
Boom Boom
- Chess Records - Chicago Blues - By Johnny Lee Hooker
Hard Day Blues
- Chess Records - Chicago Blues - By Muddy Waters - Electric guitar, bass, piano, and drums - A typical 12-bar blues - Semi-shouting vocal style - lyrics are clear - about losing a woman - Instrumental features the piano - there is a pronounced backbeat and a walking bass
Can the Circle be Unroken
- Country music - By The Carter Family - Simple verse-chorus form - 2/4 time with dropped beats - Acoustic guitar, two female and one male voice, with one female voice taking the lead during verses and choruses sung in three-part harmony - Columbia - Begins with guitar - boom-chick rhythm - Vocals enter - nasal vocal sound - Harmonized vocals in the chorus - Lyrics are rooted in white gospel music
Great Speckled Bird
- Country music - Roy Acuff and His Crazy Tennesseans - Begins with slide guitar soloing and accompanied by acoustic guitar playing a boom-chick rhythm - Nasal vocals enter - lyrics are gospel-based - Slide guitar provides short fills between vocal entrances
Hound Dog (Cover)
- Cover - By Big Mama Thorton
Shake, Rattle, and Roll
- Cover - By Bill Haley & His Comets - Quicker tempo - Piano and drums play together in a shuffle beat - Bass snaps his strings (slapping bass); backbeat is less obvious - Sax is the lead instrument and plays the fills between vocal entrances - Backup vocals and handclaps enter at the chorus - Sexual innuendo is bled from this version
Blue Suede Shoes (Cover)
- Cover - By Carl Perkins - Starts with a definite stop time - first vocals and then instruments - Drums (no cymbals - just snare and hi-hat), guitar, and bass - Vocal style is semi-shouting - Lyrics about shoes - Guitar solo is the epitome of the rockabilly style - this was copied by many artists
Lawdy Miss Clawdy (Cover)
- Cover - By Lloyd Price
Sh-Boom
- Cover - By The Crew Cuts - Went to #1 on the pop charts - Starts with sax, drums, and bass - Solo vocals to start - harmonized backup vocals enter at the verse - Clear lead singer; instrument relegated to the background; drums are hardly noticeable - Saxes and brass enter for fills
I'll be Home
- Cover - By The Flamingos - Instrumental intro - instrumentation includes Hammond organ, bass, electric guitar - Lead vocalist is a tenor; use of falsetto - Triple division of beat in the Hammond organ - Use of interjecting backup vocals - Emotional intensity via vocal presentation
Blue Suede Shoes
- Cover (rockability) - By Elvis Presley
Hound Dog
- Cover (rockability) - By Elvis Presley
Gee
- Cover / Doo-Wop - By The Crows - Starts with bass, drums, and piano - Vocals sing nonsense syllables - typical of doo-wop - Lead singer enters and everything else falls into the background - crooning vocal style
Rock Around the Clock
- Crossover - By Bill Haley & His Comets - Simple verse with introduction. Verses are based on the 12-bar blues structure, with last verse altered slightly to create an endin - 12/8 time - Electric guitars, acoustic bass, drums, saxophone, piano, steel guitar, and lead vocal - Decca - Starts with drums - then vocals enter - Employs a technique called stop time - everything stops but the vocals - instruments play shots between vocal entrances - Walking bass line; drums constant on every beat - no strong backbeat - Saxes and guitar provide background material - 1957 - Haley tours Great Britain - first international tour - Style is a mixture of C&W and R&B - a preview of the rockabilly style
Lawdy Miss Clawdy
- Crossover (rockability) - By Elvis Presley
Jailhouse Rock
- Crossover (rockability) - By Elvis Presley - Reached #1 on all three charts (Pop, C&W, R&B) - Guitar, piano, and drums play a riff - Vocals enter over this riff - example of stop time - Shouting vocal style - Guitar and drums enter at chorus; piano has a riff
Heartbreak Hotel
- Crossover (rockability) - By Elvis Presley - Simple verse form - 12/8 (shuffle in 4) time - Electric guitar, piano, acoustic bass, drums, and lead vocals - RCA - Vocals enter a capella - Guitar throws in shots - good example of stop time - Walking bass enters accompanying the vocals through the 1st verse - 2nd verse - guitar joins; 3rd - piano joins
That's All Right
- Crossover (rockability) - By Elvis Presley - Simple verse, with measures added and subtracted throughout - 2/4 time employing a country two-step feel with alternating bass notes - Electric guitar, acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, and lead vocals - Sun - Starts with bass and guitar - percussive sound is the bassist hitting his instrument with his hand - Semi-shouting vocals enter - guitar plays fills - Instrumental solo is tame and mostly follows the melody line
It's Now or Never
- Crossover (rockability) - By Elvis Presley - Starts with harmonizing vocals and mandolin - Has a very Latin feel to it - use of claves and a Latin drumbeat - Piano plays a riff and adds fills in the second verse
Tutti Frutti
- Crossovers and covers - By Pat Boone - Starts with drums shot and a much clearer enunciation of the nonsense syllables - Walking bass; sax plays fills; piano - Harmonized backup vocals - Use of stop time - No use of falsetto - Drums are much more sedate - Sax solo is much tamer - Phonetic style
I'll be Home
- Crossovers and covers - By Pat Boone - Starts with lower baritone voice - Voice has a crooning quality - no falsetto - Instrumentation includes drums (using a shuffle beat), piano, and bass - Triple division of beat in piano - Constant backup vocals - Emotional intensity is watered down
Wonderful Time Up There
- Crossovers and covers - By Pat Boone - Vocals enter first - they then follow the walking bass line in the chorus - Instrumentation includes piano, drums, bass, and guitar - Walking bass is derived from R&B, but the vocal style and the overall sound of the song is definitely pop
Why Do Fools Fall in Love
- Doo-Wop - By Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers - Begins with the bass voice outlining the chord structure - Lead a cappella melodic vocals enter with harmonized backup vocals, drums, bass, and guitar - Through the verse, sax plays fills - harmonized backup vocals are constant in the background - Bluesy sax solo accompanied by guitar, bass, and drums - unusual - Lyrics about love
Yakety-Yak
- Doo-Wop - By The Coasters - Starts with harmonized vocals all singing lyrics - no clear lead - Drums have a "boom-chick" feel; bass outlines the chords - Sax plays a fill at the end of each vocal line - this is a type of call and response - Sax is featured solo instrument - out of the ordinary for this style to even have an instrumental solo - Lyrics about teenage life
Come Go with Me
- Doo-Wop - By The Dell-Vikings - Bass voice leads into lead vocals singing nonsense syllables accompanied by sax, drums, bass, and guitar - Lead melodic vocals introduce melody - harmonized vocals enter the second time through - Instrumentations are relegated to the background - vocals take precedence - Lyrics gearded towards teens
Crying in the Chapel
- Doo-Wop - By The Orioles - Begins with a descending line on the chimes - Lead vocals enter a cappella - soon joined by harmonized backup vocals - Drums and bass quitely accompany in the background - chimes enter with fills at the end of each line of verse - Emotional, declamatory song - ballad-like - AABA form - Lyrics show gospel influence
The Great Pretender
- Doo-Wop - By The Platters - Starts with drums, sax, bass, and piano playing a triple division of beat - Lead semi-shouting melodic vocals enter with harmonized backup vocals - Fairly strong backbeat, though it is kept in the background - Backup vocals and sax provide fills - Lyrics based on love
This Little Girl of Mine
- Gospel Influenced Blues - By Ray Charles - Starts with a sort of call and response between sax/horns and vocals - Piano, drums, bass, horns, and sax - Use of stop time - Harmonized backup vocals enter - Solo features piano and sax
I've Got a Woman
- Gospel influenced blues - By Ray Charles - Drums, piano, sax, horns - Semi-shouting vocals - Lyrics talk about a woman - Starts with semi-shouting vocals - drums, piano, sax and horns enter - Horns play fills at the end of the vocal line - Strong emphasis on backbeat - Vocals improvise over the instrumental accompaniment
School Day
- Mainstream rock - By Chuck Berry - Starts with a guitar lick - Vocals enter with the melody - this is imitated by the guitar line (call and response) - Instrumentation also includes bass, drums, and piano - More of a shuffle beat in the drums - Guitar and piano are the featured instruments
Johnny B. Goode
- Mainstream rock - By Chuck Berry - Simple verse-chorus form - 4/4 time with a tendency to blend in a shuffle - Electric guitars, piano, acoustic bass, drums, and lead vocal. Note how the drums tend to shuffle, while the guitar stays stubbornly in simple time - Chess - Begins with a guitar solo - typical of Berry's style - Accompanied by rhythm guitars and drums - Semi-shouting vocal style enters - piano enters halfway through the verse - Chorus features call and response between lead vocals and guitar - piano plays fills in the background
Maybellene
- Mainstream rock - By Chuck Berry - Starts with a guitar solo and then goes into two-beat bass - use of maracas - Vocals enter - semi-shouting vocal style - Bass and piano play fills - Guitar is featured solo instrument
Blueberry Hill
- Mainstream rock - By Fats Domino - AABA form, with only the bridge and last verse repeated (BA) - 12/8 time with a characteristic easy, loping New Orleans feel. Each measure contains four beats, with each beat divided into three parts (compound). - Piano, electric guitar, acoustic bass, drums, horns, and lead vocal - Imperial - Starts with piano - uses "tremolo" - Acoustic bass, electric guitar and drums w/ strong backbeat enter - Stop time as vocals enter - Sax plays fills - triple division of beat on hi-hat of drums - Bass and guitar are playing a riff - Sax plays vocal line through bridge
I'm Walkin'
- Mainstream rock - By Fats Domino - Guitar, drums, piano, sax, and bass - Semi-shouting vocals - Lyrics about romance; convincing a girl to join him - With Rock Around the Clock, is considered one of the first rock 'n' roll songs - Begins with drums and handclaps - handclaps emphasize the backbeat - Vocals, bass riff, piano and guitar enter (A section) - AABA form - a move away from the verse-chorus format of earlier songs - B section features vocals, bass, drums, and guitar - Sax solos over one complete cycle of the form
Ain't That a Shame
- Mainstream rock - By Fats Domino - Starts with stop time between vocals and instruments - Sax imitates the vocal line - Laidback boogie-woogie feel; triple division of beat in the piano - Typical 12-bar blues - which is quite atypical for Domino - Sax solo with piano accompaniment - triple division of beat is quite noticeable - Instrumentation: sax, piano, drums (strong backbeat), guitar, bass
Long Tall Sally
- Mainstream rock - By Little Richard - Begins with stop time - shouting style of vocals punctuated by instrumental shots - Instrumentation includes drums, sax, guitar, bass, and piano - Strong backbeat in the drums - Sax is the featured solo instrument
Tutti Frutti
- Mainstream rock - By Little Richard - Simple verse-chorus form, beginning with chorus - 4/4 time - Piano, acoustic bass, drums, saxophones, and lead vocal - Specialty - Starts with nonsense syllables sung in a semi-shouting vocal style - Drums, sax, bass, guitar enter - piano is in the background - Use of stop time - Use of falsetto for punctuations - R&B based sax solo - Lyrics about girls in general
Good Golly Miss Molly
- Mainstream rock - By Little Richard - Starts with a piano solo - Guitar is outlining the harmony - Drums stress the backbeat - Vocals enter; sax joins guitar in outlining the harmony - Stop time w/ drums in the verse - Tenor sax is the featured solo accompanied by piano playing its opening lick - Lots of falsetto shots
You Belong to Me
- Pop music - Sung by Jo Stafford - Begins with orchestral instruments - horns, marimba, drums - Vocals are scatting - imitating the instrumental line - Once vocals begin, they become the most important thing - instrumentation falls to the background - Marimba is very evident at the beginning of each line
Cry
- Pop music - Sung by Johnny Ray - Begins with harmonized backup vocals - use of falsetto - Piano, bells, guitar, and drums in the background - Solo vocals enter - much more declamatory and emotional vocal style - Backup vocals and instruments sit in the back of the texture - vocals are most important
Blue Tango
- Pop music - Sung by Leroy Anderson - A hit instrumental (no vocals) and an example of the fascinations with exotic rhythms and dances - Melody goes between strings and winds; drums provide an ostinato (highly repetitive riff), setting a tango rhythm in motion - Melody is taken by strings; winds play fills; rhythm remains constant - Even here, melody is most important
I'm Sittin' on Top of the World
- Pop music - Sung by Les Paul and Mary Ford - AABA, with three presentations of the complete verse-verse-bridge-verse structure - 2/4 time with verse in 4/4 time - Layered electric guitars and lead vocals. The highest and fastest guitar lines were recorded at half speed, creating a "chipmunk" sound - Capitol - Begins with sped-up guitar line and bass - Harmonized vocals enter - fast electric guitar licks plays fills - While focus remains on the vocals, more emphasis is placed on the instrumentation - there is an extended guitar solo, showing off the new solid body electric guitar
Too Young
- Pop music - Sung by Nat King Cole - Piano, strings, orchestra - Crooning melodic vocals - Lyrics talk about a relationship - One of the first songs directed to a new and upcoming demographic - the teenager - Begins with strings followed by a piano solo; strings take the end of the intro - Crooning vocal style - they take the forefront of the musical texture - Piano and strings play fills - between vocal entrances - Instrumental break closely follows the melody line
Doggie in the Window
- Pop music - Sung by Patti Page - Example of a "novelty song" - very cutesy; designed for laughs - 3/4 time - like a Waltz - Starts with strings and winds - Harmonized vocals enter with the chorus - Verses are sung solo; winds play fills - Vocals are clear and in the forefront; instruments are relegated to an accompanying role
Music, Music, Music
- Pop music - Sung by Teresa Brewer - Beat on the downbeat and beat 3 - Instrumental intro - piano and percussion; brass and winds enter near the end of the intro - Straight-ahead rhythm; non-offensive lyrics; melody is most important - Instrumental break is written out, not improvised
Sh-Boom
- R&B / Doo-Wop - By The Chords - Simple verse form with several interludes and a bridge - 12/8 time - Electric guitar, bass, piano, drums, saxophone, solo vocals, and lead vocals - Went to #5 on the pop charts - Begins with a cappella harmonized vocals - Drums, acoustic bass, guitar enter; strong emphasis on backbeat - Clear lead singler w/ backup harmonized vocals singing a mixture of nonsense syllables and lyrics - Bass sings the bridge - Lyrics about teenage love
In the Still of the Night
- R&B / Doo-Wop - By The Five Satins - Begins with piano lead-in - Harmonized vocals enter with nonsense syllables over drums, bass, and piano - triple division of beat in the piano - Lead, melodic vocals emerge over top of this opening section - The B section shows a much more active vocal background, now singing actual words ("I remember")
Blue Suede Shoes
- Rockabiily - Sun Records - By Carl Perkins - Starts with a definite stop time - first vocals and then instruments - Drums (no cymbals - just snare and hi-hat), guitar, and bass - Vocal style is semi-shouting - Lyrics about shoes - Guitar solo is the epitome of the rockabilly style - this was copied by many artists
Oh Boy!
- Rockabilly - By Buddy Holly - Begins with a quick call and response between instruments (lead and rhythm guitar, bass, and drums) and melodic vocals - Strong emphasis on backbeat - Harmonized backup singers continue the call and response throughout the rest of the A section - Backup singers provide constant accompaniment through the B section - A section is in 12-bar blues; B section departs from that progression - Lyrics about love, delivered in an eager and excited manner; emphasize upbeat nature - AABA form - C&W and R&B mixture of style
That'll be the Day
- Rockabilly - By Buddy Holly - Contrasting verse-chorus with instrumental bridge - 12/8 (shuffle in 4) time - Electric guitar, acoustic bass, drums, lead and backup vocals - Starts with an electric guitar solo - Characterized by a clear lead singer with harmonized backup vocals - Drums enter with a very lazy backbeat - Simple guitar solo
Peggy Sue
- Rockabilly - By Buddy Holly - Starts with a four-bar instrumental opening - Shuffle beat in the drums - no strong backbeat - Use of guiro - a percussion instrument - Extensive use of Holly's vocal hiccup - Both the vocal and the guitar style/sound change with each verse
It Doesn't Matter Anymore
- Rockabilly - By Buddy Holly - Starts with an orchestral string section - Vocals enter - Guitar and drums come more to the forefront to accompany the vocals - Use of vocal hiccup
Summertime Blues
- Rockabilly - By Eddie Cochran - Begins with a riff consisting of handclaps, drums, bass, and guitar - this becomes the instrumental portion of the call and response that follows - Mixture of sung and spoken vocals - Riff delineates the verses - simple verse form - Lyrics about teenage life in America - sun and fun
Be-Bop-a-Lula
- Rockabilly - By Gene Vincent - Contrasting verse-chorus. The verse and chorus sections are only mildly contrasting: the chorus features the title of the track sung over a standard 12-bar blues structure; the verse introduces new lyrics during the first 8 bars but then returns to the title of the song to create a refrain in the second 8 bars. - 12/8 time, laid-back, "cool" rockabilly feel - Electric guitar, acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, drums, and lead vocal - Capitol - Begins with Vincent singing the title lyrics a cappella - Drums (accents all beats - no strong backbeat) and guitar enter; electric guitar plays fills - Use of echo with the vocals - Drum flurry leads into stop time between vocals and instrumentation - Electric guitar solos over drums
Great Balls of Fire
- Rockabilly - By Jerry Lee Lewis - AABA form with full reprise - 4/4 time - Piano, drums, acoustic bass, and lead vocals - Sun Records - Begins with piano, drums, and handclaps in a stop time with the vocals - Piano and drums become much more active in the second verse - Lots of glisses in the piano - very energetic playing - Semi-shouting vocal style
Crazy Arms
- Rockabilly - By Jerry Lee Lewis - Boogie-woogie piano - very active - Lewis' left hand precludes the use of a bass player - Starts with piano - drums enter - Walking bass line - Nasally vocal line - Lewis "bends" the vocal pitches - Piano solo includes a technique called a glissando (gliss)
Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
- Rockabilly - By Jerry Lee Lewis - Starts with boogie-woogie piano - again, there is no bass guitar here - Drums enter with a fairly strong backbeat - Semi-shouting vocals enter - lyrics are suggestive - Through the chorus, the drums play more of a shuffle beat - Guitar becomes more present in the second verse - Piano solo shows off Lewis' patented gliss; guitar takes second part of solo
I Walk the Line
- Rockabilly - By Johnny Cash - Guitar, drums, lead in outlining the harmony - "freight train" rhythm is apparent almost immediately - Guitar falls into a two-pitch pattern - Cash hums a pitch - Vocals are very melodic - lyrics are easy to understand as they are meant to tell a story
Crossroads
- Rural blues - By Robert Johnson - Early example of the style that will influence later R&B - Based on a slightly altered 12-bar blues - Consists of just guitar and semi-shouting vocals - yet a driving rhythm is present - Technique of call and response occurs between the vocals and guitar - Lyrics tell a story
New San Antonio Rose
- Western Music and Western Swing - By Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys - Brass, sax, piano, guitar, bass, and fiddle - Nasal vocals - Few lyrics - describe a woman - Begins with mariachi-style trumpets - rounded out by saxes, piano, and fiddles - Boom-chick feel supplied by bass and guitar - Vocal interjections state the song title - Extended instrumental opening - Solo nasal vocals enter
Back in the Saddle Again
- Western Music and Western Swing - By Gene Autry - Begins with fiddle, accordion, slide guitar, and mandolin - Nasal vocals enter - slide guitar supplies fills - Fiddle takes the solo over accordion and slide guitar - Lyrics tell a story
