'You Can Call Me Al'- Graceland Flashcards
Random and very lit fax
September 1986 Inspired by SA visit. Title- when married to Peggy Harper, they met French composer Pierre Boulez who thought their names were Betty and Al. 8 brass; 1 sax. No. 44 Billboard.
Interpretations and all dat
Verses 1 + 2- question meaning + difficulty of life.
Verse 3- experience unfamiliar culture; trying to figure it out; figuring out mortality and midlife- insecurity.
Chorus- lighthearted; insecure and isolated; wife + family gone; ‘foreign man’ ‘strange world’ hence ‘if you’ll be my bodyguard’.
Craves human connection and redemption.
Sonority
Challenge to get the balance of all instruments for sound engineers.
Roy Halee- taped recordings feeding separately into 2 audio channels.
Automatic Double Tracking- makes vocals clearer.
Much contrast- definite instrumentation at some points.
Intro- brass + sax- bit of bass.
Verse- bass prominent, vocal melody.
Chorus- combo of intro + verse (brass/sax ostinato + vocal)
Structure
Verse/chorus + instrumentals.
Intro- brass/sax riff repeated.
Verse 1- vocals + band w/ backing vocals after.
Chorus- hook, riff from intro + similar to verse.
Verse 2
Chorus 2- falsetto ending.
Penny whistle solo- repetitive, higher register.
Brass/sax riff- lead to Verse 3 from penny whistle solo.
Verse 3, Chorus 3.
Bridge-repeated ‘na-na’ + hums; brass/sax riff +bass run
Outro- fragments of chorus riff, repeat to fade.
Tonality
Diatonic, tonic chord, modulation, 4/4
Tonal Stability- stays in key, has a key lol, diatonic.
Tonal Instability- no key (atonal).
F major throughout- good for transposing instruments.
No modulation
Tonal instability- improvised feel in bass solo- 3:44-3:47
Texture
Mostly melody w/ accompaniment.
Brass/sax riff- chordal, same rhythm (homorhythmic).
Additional layer of interest- bass ostinato.
Penny whistle solo- melody w/ accompaniment.
Bass solo- brief example of monophonic.
Melody of intro
Bass ostinato- throughout the song- 2 bars.
Brass/sax riff- 3 notes- both phrases heard 4 times before verses- starts + ends on tonic + in arch shape + syncopated = energy and momentum.
Doesn’t start on downbeat- starts on weaker beat.
Melody of verses
Range of verses = perfect 5th (small).
Strongly based on notes of tonic triad (triadic (sometimes))
Complex rhythm- syllabic, rhythmically hard to notate.
“A man walks down the street he says why am I soft in the middle now?”
Vocals start on off-beat - catchy.
Melody of chorus
Chorus slightly wider range- F to D - includes hook.
Strong emphasis on notes in tonic triad.
“Call me Al”- direction of melody moves an octave higher in Choruses 2 + 3.
Melody of outro
2 8-bar musical penny whistle solo (probably improvised + formalized)
Bass solo= palindromic (beginning is backwards to end
Harmony
Primary chords of F major + supertonic (normally submediant but here it’s supertonic); no minor chords in African music traditionally.
Consonant.
Regular cadences- perfect + imperfect.
Regular/ rapid harmonic rhythm- more chords in a bar.
2/3 chord changes per bar mostly- why it feels faster than moderato.
‘bone digger’‘beer belly’- tonic chord, whole bar.
Tempo, Metre and Rhythm
About 104 bpm- moderato
Syncopation makes it sound quicker- adds momentum.
4/4- typical of American folk rock.
Brass/sax riff- distinctive rhythm- creates syncopation.
First 1/2 of each verse follows natural inflection of speech.
Backing vocals- rhythm more regular, crotchets + quavers.
First 1/2 of verse- very syncopated; 2nd half- robotic- rhythmic contrast.
Chorus- distinct rhythm- slower feel than verse- mostly on beat.
“na-na”- distinctive- syncopation.
Dynamics and Articulation
mf mostly throughout Brass/sax riff forte, drops to mp Natural rise in chorus 'na-na' mp Noticeable changes- later in the song before fade out.
