Migra

Like 'Smooth', it is based on a characteristic Latin-American rhythm, in this case the Bo Diddley beat, named after the musician who developed it. This is, essentially, a clave rhythm with five accents. Bo Diddley (1928-2008) was a rhythm and blues musician; he introduced and popularised this rhythm which is now regularly found in rock and pop music as well as pieces influenced by Latin-American music. It was first used in a song released in 1955, which was called simply the 'Bo Diddley Beat'. He was the first to bring together what is really a 3-2 clave rhythm with a rock and roll beat. It can be notated as here and is often played on tom toms:


Another song which used this beat was 'Not Fade Away' by Buddy Holly, covered later by the Rolling Stones. This is how the rhythm (using rhythmic augmentation) was notated in the version by the Rolling Stones:


Now listen to 'Migra' by Santana all the way through. Listen carefully to the use of Bo Diddley beat, and think about the similarities and differences it has with the other two tracks from the 'Supernatural' album we have studied:

Most of the lyrics to 'Migra' are in Spanish, and the song deals with the policies of the USA towards Latin American immigration. The only lines sung in English are:


People, people, let's start together, let's do it right;

People, people let's love one another, I know we know how.

It opens with a dominant drum beat, establishing the underlying rhythm of the song. It is a fleshed-out version of a 3 2 clave rhythm and a development of the Bo Diddly beat.


Santana's guitar enters, soaring ever higher, before the first entry of the voice. The guitar uses distortion and rapid note alteration – a clear characteristic of his guitar playing. The timbre changes throughout due to the distortion. It is an instrumental introduction.


In the introduction;

Establishes the Bo Diddly beat

Establishes the instrumentation

Establishes the guitar techniques


Starts with a spanish verse.

Note that, despite the key signature, Santana treats this piece as being in F major, with the majority of the song being played over an F (tonic) pedal bass. But the melody is in F minor. The use of A flat and E flat in the melody, the flattened third and seventh respectively, gives a slightly bluesy feel to the melody. They underlay is treated as if it is in F major. Throughout the first section, the voice and guitar engage in a call-and-response dialogue.

Short phrases

Simple melody

Distortion and pitch bends for the guitar

Then an extended version of the previous few phrases with the guitar solo repeating small parts of the phrases.


The verse is followed by the chorus, though the underlying beat and basic open fifth harmony on F remains, the voice and guitar dialogue continuing:


There are two quavers accented in the percussion in every bar, beginning with the two quaver rests in the excerpt above. A short instrumental follows, playing a two-bar pattern four times. (repetition) The guitar is more in the background here and cannot really be called call and response. A clap is added to emphasise the last two beats of the Bo Diddly.

Then there is an instrumental break. The sound of the accordion can also be detected at this point. The guitar has been distorted to sound like the accordian and the melody is now major which adds to the tonal ambiguity.

The English words follow, sung to the same melody as the opening verse. Voice and guitar call and response. Back to a minor melody with major underlay. Nothing new from the spanish verse apart from the English words.

Now a long instrumental break. After this, the horn section is featured, though with the underlying Bo Diddley beat still very prominent. The horn section consists of four trumpets and two trombones, playing homophonically at this point, as summarised in this example, the balancing phrase ending on the high F. The brass uses a mute and the guitar is distorted to sound like them. Tonal ambiguity again.


A bass riff follows over a more straightforward backbeat. Beat not syncopated anymore (quavers in the snare and four-to-the-floor bass drum only) and much simpler with just the bass over the top.

The guitar enters with an extended solo, featuring clear rock guitar techniques, including pitch bend, glissando, vibrato, distortion and some use of the 'wah wah' or 'cry baby' effect.


The 'wah wah' effects pedal is used to create a distinctive tone quality that seeks to mimic the human voice. The technique originated in the 1920s when trumpet and trombone players found that, by opening and closing a mute in the bell of the instrument, they could produce a 'crying' effect.

Later, electronics enabled the effect to be applied to guitars, with the country artist Chet Atkins probably being among the first to achieve this with a self-designed pedal. A similar pedal was engineered by Vox in the 1960s, with Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix being among the first to use it on commercially released numbers. Because of the sound it produces, the 'wah wah' pedal is also known as the 'cry baby' pedal.


Structurally, the chorus is repeated


Then there is another verse with both the Spanish and English words. There is nothing new here.


It is then followed again by the horn section before the coda is reached.


The coda consists of some more advanced chords, including F9 (F, A, C, E flat, G) and F#9 (F#, A#, C#, E, G#). The coda is the "tail" of the piece. The song ends with the opening guitar melody, which was first played from bar 5. All of the previous guitar techniques are used.

Smooth

Melody

Largely syllabic

Melismas on "mood" and "you" and "smooth"



Harmony

Consonant harmony

Vocals and underlay (homophonic)

Piano and percussion provide the underlay

Call and response between vocals and guitar

Only four chords used; Tonic (A minor , subdominant (D minor), dominant (E major), some use of B diminished as a substitute for the subdominant

2-bar bass pattern, disjunct and largely decending, syncopated

Harmony sometimes drops of to leave only the congas

Harmony stays relatively the same



Tonality

A Minor



Rhythm

Syncopation in the vocals

Very straight drum kit part;

Snare on beats two and four

Four to the floor

Bossa nova rhythmn

1 2 and 3 4 1 2 3 and 4

Dotted rhythms over the top

Accents strong beats as there is always a dotted crotchet on beats one and three

Cymbals on all quaver beats

Polyrhythmic

Swung

Syncopated bassline

The layering of rhythms is the groove


Metre

4/4 time signature



Tempo

Andante



Texture

Homophonic


Instrumentation

Electric guitar

Vocals

Drum kit

Congas

Keyboard

Timbales (cascara – hitting the side of the drum to change the timbre)

Guiro

Trumpet

Trombone



Structure

Intro – electric guitar solo, keyboard, horn section (trumpets and trombones)

Verse

Verse

Chorus

Chorus

Instrumental

Verse

Verse

Chorus

Chorus

Break

Chorus

Instrumental

Outro



At the end of each chorus there is a gap before syncopated chords come in and the instrumental starts



Background

Written by Itaal Shur and titles "room 17"

Changed lyrics by Rob Thomas, vocalist for Matchbox Twenty, and titled "smooth"

Written for his wife

Released from Santana's album Supernatural

Lead single of the album



Influences

Traditional African folk music

Pop Rock

Latin Rock – instrumentation



Guitar Techniques

Hammer on

Pull off

Slide

Pitch bend

Vibrato

Distortion

Harmonics on top

Fast quaver-triplets and semi-quavers

Uses pitch bends on sustained notes

Counter melodies to the vocalist



Brass

Called the horn section but only trombones and trumpets

Close harmony chords

Counter melodies for the vocals

Octave doubling



Vocals

Effects used in the first two verses

Vocoder

Small range which fits well with the close harmony horns

Love of my Life

Melody

Origional melody from the third symphony by Brahms

Melismatic on the word "me"

Mainly syllabic

Syncopation in the melody of the chorus ( "every day, evry night" )

Long notes with ties which creates a thoughtful and meaningful mood



Harmony

Imitative call and response between the guitar and vocals

Bassline is four notes which go down in tones except the last one which is a semitone

Sustained chords

Gentle bass

Always ends in a perfect cadence

Consonant harmony but with added 7ths and 9ths

Percussion emphasises the backbeat but this helps us to hear the main bead



Tonality

Minor (G minor - Santana's favourite key)

Brahms wrote it in C minor



Rhythm

Snare on beats 2 and 4 for most of the song

Chorus - "every night" - syncopated

Syncopation in guitar solo

The verses although they are not dotted unlike Brahms they are syncopated



Tempo

Andante



Metre

In common time (4/4)

Brahms origionally wrote it in ¾ and alternates between upbeat and downbeat

Santana does it in 4/4 and it is only ever on the offbeat



Texture

Starts off monophonic with the guitar and keyboard but transitions to a call and response between the vocals and guitar/keyboard.

In the studio version the keyboard and guitar start off homophonic with the guitar taking the lead.

Ultimately in both versions it becomes homophonic.



Instrumentation

Drum kit

Keyboard

Electric Guitar

Vocals

Acoustic guitar

Congas

Bass Guitar



Timbre

Electric sound from guitar and keyboard.

Drum heavy.



African Influences

Heavy percussion

Congas

Syncopation

Call and response

However the melody comes from a western classical piece



Structure

Intro

Verse

Break

Verse

Verse

Break

Chorus

Drum fill

Instrumental

Chorus

Bridge

Instrumental

Repeats to fade



Guitar Techniques

Vibrato

Pull-off

Glissando

Pitch bend

1st verse – it plays a counter melody

2nd verse - it plays imitative call and response with the vocals (a fancy word for this is antecedent-consequent phrasing)

3rd verse – it plays a counter melody

In the Chorus the guitar doubles the voice



Bridge section

Instrumentation cuts out

Builds up gradually

Sus4 chords

Leads to instrumental



Instrumental

Improvisatory

Very wide range of pitches

Pentatonic scale

Syncopated

Pitch bends

Hammer ons

Pull offs

Note repetition often when doing a pitch bend

Congas added

Change in instrumentation

Glissandi

Within you, without you

Alap – the opening section of a classical indian performance

Gat - the opening verse where the vocals come in


Normal major scale pattern of tones and semitones – TTSTTTS

Mixolydian scale pattern – TTSTTST
(for information on the mixolydian scale see page on Modes)

Has no clear meter - in the exam, use the words metrical ambiguity to describe this

Polophonic texture

Vocal sections – a very relaxed 4/4 time signature

Call and response section - sounds as if it is in a 5/4 time signature (actually in 10 beat cycles)

Beat cycles - Classical Indian version of time signature


AI – Section A but slightly altered

The harmony does not change – same chord throughout – C open fifth chord (just the notes C and G played over and over again)
It has no third in it so it is neither major nor minor which reflects mixolydian mode

Uses the Mixolydian scale

Was originally in C major but when it was sped up, the pitch automatically went up as well so it is actually in C# major. (could never be performed in the right key or speed in real life because it was altered like this)

The use of the Tritone reflects the spiritual dissonance of the lyrics

Structure

Alap

Section A - 4/4

Section AI – Goes up at the end

Section B

Instrumental section – call and response between classical and - 5/4 - 10 beat cycles – longer than any of the vocal sections

Section AII – At the end there is a question asked but instead of answering it goes into an instrumental

Section B

Very brief outro of instruments and canned laughter

Instrumentation

Tambura

Violin

Swarmandal

Sitar – George Harrison call and response section

Vocals

Tabla

Dilruba – accompanies the vocals



Melody

Use of the tritone – augmented fourth/diminished fifth



Harmony

Same harmony throughout the whole piece

Open/root fifth chord

C# major

Uses the mixolydian scale


Texture

It is polyphonic as there are many different melodies and rhythms playing at once but the hazy quality to the song blends them so the overall effect sounds closer to homophony


Tempo/Meter/Rhythm

Mostly in 4/4

Instrumental section in 10 beat cycles – sounds like 5/4

Sped up from the original recording


Text

Use of the tritone reflects the spiritual dissonance of the text

Asks a lot of questions but doesn't answer many

Reflects the vagueness of Hindu philosophy

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

Technological Effects
Use of varispeeding

Structure
Introduction – electric organ melody – A major Electric organ plays spooky music at the start – melody has a dropped 7th and 6th
Verse
Pre-chorus- modulates B flat major
Drum fill – straight – 3 beats
Chorus – incomplete descending scale - modulates to G major – harmonies in thirds – chords I IV V
Verse
Pre-chorus
Chorus
Verse
Chorus- repeats to fade

Instrumentation
Electric organ
Vocals (adt and varispeed used)
Bass guitar
Drums
Acoustic guitar
Tamboura

Melody
Uses an incomplete descending scale
Dropped 6th and 7th

Harmony
Lots of modulation;
Starts off in A major
Modulates to B flat major in the pre-chorus
Modulates to G major in the chorus
Basic harmony in thirds in the chorus
Chorus – Chords – I IV V
Drone-like harmony in the verse gives a hypnotic feel

Texture
Homophonic with counter melodies

Tempo/Meter/Rhythm
In ¾ for the verses and 4/4 for the drum fill and chorus
Drum fill is straight not swung
A very on-beat bass guitar

Text
Very trippy
Inspired by LSD, John Lennon's son and Alice in Wonderland
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - the letters stand for LSD

With a little Help from my Freinds

(Intro – electric guitar, drums, vocals. Three chords C D E (all major) bass line goes up in step = very unusual because album is continuous and has to change from cmajor in the previous song to emajor)

(Verse – chords = I, ii, V, I 4/4 time signature. Counter melody form bass guitar.)

What would you think if I sang out of tune,
Would you stand up and walk out on me.
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song,
And I'll try not to sing out of key.
(Chorus - chords = I, VII, IV, I)

I get by with a little help from my friends,
I get high with a little help from my friends,
Going to try with a little help from my friends.
(unexpected instrumental)

What do I do when my love is away.
(Does it worry you to be alone)
How do I feel by the end of the day
(Are you sad because you're on your own)

No I get by with a little help from my friends,
I get high with a little help from my friends,
Going to try with a little help from my friends.

(Middle eight = Chords = vi, II, I, VII, IV)
(John and Paul sing in thirds)
Do you need anybody,
I need somebody to love.
Could it be anybody
I want somebody to love.

Would you believe in a love at first sight,
Yes I'm certain that it happens all the time.
What do you see when you turn out the light,
I can't tell you, but I know it's mine.

Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,
I get high with a little help from my friends,
Going to try with a little help from my friends.

Do you need anybody,
I just need someone to love,
Could it be anybody,
I want somebody to love.

Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,
Going to try with a little help from my friends.
I get high with a little help from my friends,
Yes I get by with a little help from my friends,
With a little help from my friends.