Radiohead
This is a band that music critics can't speak highly enough of. One of the few
"new" bands with a real firm grasp on classic songwriting concepts, many of
Radiohead's tunes utilize advanced techniques to modulate to different keys,
varying time signatures, and other devices, yet their music is always highly
melodic and emotional, and never sounds "calculated". One of their more popular
tunes, High
and Dry (click to hear live recording via Real Audio),
from the 1995 release "The Bends", demonstrates another effective melody-writing
device:
High
and Dry
The above example
is the motif used in the chorus of High and Dry, and although very short and
simple, illustrates many songwriting techniques. It utilizes the aforementioned
use of wide interval leaps (technique used by Brian
Wilson) on the words "high" (notice the pun - vocalist Thom Yorke jumps
into falsetto as he sings the word "high"), and also on "dry". It also uses
the thematic device (like described in the analysis
of Eleanor Rigby) with it's repetition of the same phrase twice, over different
chords; the first time over Emaj to F#5, and the second time over Amaj to Emaj.
There is an additional melodic device here, however, which is quite effective;
the use of "color tones" in the melody. The note sung during "high" is a G#,
which is held for an entire bar over the F#min chord. The G# is not actually
a note in the F#min chord; although it certainly doesn't sound wrong. This melody
note adds texture to the sound of the chord, and is a really nice songwriting
device.
There are many other examples of this technique in pop songwriting. One very
obvious and deliberate use of this is in Al Green's 1971 hit How
Can You Mend A Broken Heart? (click to hear song fragment via Real Audio)
in which Green sings a D# (the major7th) over an Emaj chord throughout the chorus.
