As mentioned in my previous posts, I have decided to analyse the song 'Superman' by Five-for-fighting.
Above is the section of the piece that I am anaylsing. I have labelled bar 1 as the first bar on the score.
Phrase Structure Analysis
From bar 1, there is a phrase structure of two bars each.
The first 2 bars form an antecedent phrase as it ends on a chord V.
Bars 3-4, form an consequent phrase as it ends on a chord I. However, it is a second inversion of chord I. Hence it does not gives full closure.
Hence, bars 1 -4 form an antecedent period.
Bars 5-8 form the consequent period, since it is almost like a repeat of the first four bars. It ends on a chord IV, hence suggesting that the music still wants to go on. This makes the song flow easily into the chorus segment.
Together, bars 1-8 form a double period.
The chorus, (bars 8-18) is made up of two sentences ( s + s + l), followed by a two bar phrase "And its not easy to be me". The music could have ended after the 2 sentences, but it extended to two more phrases. My thoughts about this expansion of melodic line is to add interest to the music. It creates a dragging effect, as if the singer is lamenting that of how tired he is, as from the lyrics "its not easy to me."
Harmonic Function
Phrase Structure Analysis
From bar 1, there is a phrase structure of two bars each.
The first 2 bars form an antecedent phrase as it ends on a chord V.
Bars 3-4, form an consequent phrase as it ends on a chord I. However, it is a second inversion of chord I. Hence it does not gives full closure.
Hence, bars 1 -4 form an antecedent period.
Bars 5-8 form the consequent period, since it is almost like a repeat of the first four bars. It ends on a chord IV, hence suggesting that the music still wants to go on. This makes the song flow easily into the chorus segment.
Together, bars 1-8 form a double period.
The chorus, (bars 8-18) is made up of two sentences ( s + s + l), followed by a two bar phrase "And its not easy to be me". The music could have ended after the 2 sentences, but it extended to two more phrases. My thoughts about this expansion of melodic line is to add interest to the music. It creates a dragging effect, as if the singer is lamenting that of how tired he is, as from the lyrics "its not easy to me."
Harmonic Function
This score is written in C Major.
The harmonic function for the music
T - D - PD -- (bars 1-4)
T - D - PD -- (bars 5-8)
T - D - PD --- T - D - PD -- T - D - PD - T - D (bars 8-20) chorus
PD - D - T - PD -- D - PD - D - PD -- D (bars 20 - 29) bridge
I realise that this song does not end its phrases on perfect cadences.
I notice an overlapping of the T for the first two phrases of the music. The T in bar 5 is the end of the harmonic functional progression of bars 1 -4, which ended awkwardly on the PD. Similarly, the first T of the chorus, is the ending for the harmonic functional progression of bars 5-8.
The chorus and bridge both end on imperfect cadences.
the Melodic structure
I have made a striking observation about a motive in the chorus.
It is the string of running quavers (CCDEG) for the corresponding lyrics of "It may absurd", "but don't be naive", "I may be disturbed" and "but won't you concede". These 4 phrases have exactly the same melodic and rhythmic motive which give character to the piece and makes the song easily recognisable when the motive is heard.
Another observation I made is that there was a modulation to the dominant key (G Major) at the bridge portion (bar 24 - 29) before returning back to the home key (C Major) at bar 30. This modulation make the melody here more interesting.
There is something interesting to note at the bridge for bar 21 onwards. Did you notice that the melody is ascending all the way until the note E? Within 3 bars, the pitch has been raised by more than an octave. Let us now take a look at the lyrics... "Up, up and away, away from me, well its all right." Did you realise that while the lyrics is saying "up, up and away", the melody also goes "up, up and away" having ascending notes in a scalic manner until the high E. This is known as Word Painting which is the technique of writing music which reflects the literal meaning of the song. This technique was invented even before the Baroque period, first used in Gregorian chants.
Structure
I feel that this is a rounded binary, in the form of ll:A:ll:B A':ll My entire section A is from the beginning to bar 20, which comprises of a verse and a chorus (phrase a1 and a2 respectively). Since the section ends on a V, it is harmonically open. A new melody is introduced (the bridge) and this section is categorised as B (bars 20 to 29).
Finally if you listen to the entire song (by playing the video), you can hear a repeat of section A, except that it is an extended version, because the chorus is repeated. This reprise is made up of a1 + a2 + a2). Hence this is section A'.
Harmonic Rhythm - Hypermeter
I realised that I can apply my knowledge on the hypermeter for the verse before the chorus. As mentioned in the section under Phrase Structure Analysis, bars 1 -8 are made up a double period. Similarly, I can also classify it so that every 2 bars (each phrase) form a hypermeasure.
In turn, the whole 8 bars form 2 hypermeasures, which form a hypermeter.
The strong beat is indicated by " __ " and the weak beat is indicated by "U".
------------hypermeasure---------------
__-------------------- U----------------
Wish that I could cry, Fall upon my knees
------------hypermeasure-----------------
__ ----------------U------------------------
Find a way to lie, About a home I'll never see
I also made the observation that the first accented beat of each bar is usually not played. It is either a quaver rest, or a note held across from the previous bar. I feel that this style of writing makes the music sound syncopated as the first accented beat is always not a new note, hence making the first accented beat sound less important that the other beats. I feel that this gives a interesting beat to the song.
Harmonic Rhythm - Hypermeter
I realised that I can apply my knowledge on the hypermeter for the verse before the chorus. As mentioned in the section under Phrase Structure Analysis, bars 1 -8 are made up a double period. Similarly, I can also classify it so that every 2 bars (each phrase) form a hypermeasure.
In turn, the whole 8 bars form 2 hypermeasures, which form a hypermeter.
The strong beat is indicated by " __ " and the weak beat is indicated by "U".
------------hypermeasure---------------
__-------------------- U----------------
Wish that I could cry, Fall upon my knees
------------hypermeasure-----------------
__ ----------------U------------------------
Find a way to lie, About a home I'll never see
I also made the observation that the first accented beat of each bar is usually not played. It is either a quaver rest, or a note held across from the previous bar. I feel that this style of writing makes the music sound syncopated as the first accented beat is always not a new note, hence making the first accented beat sound less important that the other beats. I feel that this gives a interesting beat to the song.
That's all for my analysis. Thank you for reading and hope to hear some comments soon!
=)
Super.
ReplyDeleteSimple yet in-depth!
Hello!
ReplyDeleteshermin here:) haha. nice analysis! to be honest it's my first time hearing this song haha.
alright back to the commenting part.
Roman Numeral Analysis
I agree to your analysis in general :) except one part in bar 8. the part where you put as IV6-5. i don't really disagree. but jus wondering if it could be seen as iib on the first beat and then a IV on the thrid beat.
I kinda took the quaver C note just before the third beat to be an anticipation note for the next chord instead. haha i wonder if this is right.
but in general, nice analysis on the roman numerals :) thx!
Phrase Structure Analysis
i agree with your phrase structure analysis. yep no problem to me. haha.
Harmonic Function
oh about this part, i was wondering. i think PD function has to come before the D function. PD or predominant should be a harmonic function that precedes the dominant. maybe you can look at it again :) if i'm not too badly mistaken.
Melodic Structure
i like your comments here! haha. it's really interesting how the lyrics and the tune matches. didn't realise it if you did not point it out here. great insights. thanks!
and thanks for sharing on the Word Painting technique. that's interesting :)
Hypermeter
I agree in general:) but i thought i felt a strong beat jus about the 'home' in 'about a home i'll never see' haha i'm not really sure about that.
Overall i think you gave us a great analysis! i liked it :) made me learn alot from you about this song too. thank you thank you. that's all then. thanks for the effort. see you in school!
-shermin
Hi Shermin, thanks for your comments. I understand what u meant by the harmonic function that PD has to be followed by a D.
ReplyDeleteIn bar 4 there is a Ic - I(bar 5). There is a possibility that instead of a Ic, it could be an implied chord V? Hence the harmonic function will have a D after the PD? I am not sure if it is. But otherwise, I don't think i can find another solution to this... (maybe this song just doesnt want the PD to go to a D?)
=)
Hi Joann,
ReplyDeleteGreat job here! And great song too! Enjoyed listening to it.
The phrase structure betrays some ambiguity for me. The opening 8 bars that you analyzed can arguably be regarded as a 2+2+4 sentence structure (prob due to the shorter gap, hence greater continuity at b. 6). In comparison, I find the very opening of the song which you did not analyze ("I can't stand to fly ... part of me") to have a stronger sense of four phrases.
The cadences are interesting to deal with. You are right to suggest an implied V at b. 4 (Shermin, good alert here); the melodic C is an anticipation. Another implied V occurs at b. 12 and 16. On the other hand, there is no implied V at bs. 19-20; its a plagal expansion of the tonic.
The cadence at b. 8 is remarkable. First, the chord there can be interpreted either as IV with a 6-5 approach or ii6-IV (as Shermin preferred), which means that the preceding phrase is not really cadencing typically. This may be curious but makes sense in light of the phrasal overlap with the chorus. From a hypermetric perspective, the hyermetric downbeat for the chorus may be at b. 9 but it comes with a anacrusis that is more than half a bar, hence creating the impression of the chorus pressing in, in contrast with the more leisurely unfolding of the phrases earlier; in that sense intensifying the phrase continuity initiated at b. 6.
Still on the rhythmic front, Shermin, your point about the stress on "home" pertains to surface accents, in this case due to the syncopation; this should not be confused with hypermetric stress.
Back to harmony, the D chord at bs. 24 & 26 do not establish G major (G chord doesn't appear) but are mixture chords (we'll learn about them in AAI 184), not applied dominants.
In terms of the form, it is conflicting to mix classical rounded binary form with pop-song verse-chorus form. Your analysis involving verse, choruse and bridge is basically correct.
Finally, good observation of the music-text relation. I wonder if the ascending motive you've identified in the chorus is actually meant to anticipate the longer ascent in the bridge passage.