Had I taken this class this time last year, all of my work – my reviews, my infographics, my podcasts, everything – would have been about Led Zeppelin. At that time, they were the artist of the moment for me. Right now, though, I am on such an overwhelming Dylan kick that in everything I do which is even slightly music-related he is impossible to ignore. My friends get sick of me talking about Bob Dylan. While I AM a fanatic, I might as well go the predictable route. It’s what’s most enjoyable to me, and I think it results in the best possible work.

So anyway, I came up with the idea several days ago to create my infographic about Desolation Row. It’s very dense, which is to say that where other Dylan songs are very symbol- and motif-heavy, this song is character-heavy. There’s a lot to unpack here, and it’s easily unpackable. I just read the 33 1/3 book on Highway 61 Revisited, and while I admit that this had some bearing on the topic I decided, I can assure you that the opinions and interpretations of the song expressed in the infographic are mine. I thought some of the author’s ideas were kinda hare-brained anyway.

I wanted my infographic to loosely resemble a building, the dilapidated variety you’d expect to find in a place like Desolation Row. It was a bit difficult to figure out how best to orient the descriptions in relation to the pictures and everything else, but all things considered, I’d say it came out very well.

 

That’s it, really. If you, too, are sick of Bob Dylan after seeing this, I advise you to avoid my podcast.  : )

Black Gospel Traits in New Versions of The Black Eyed Peas Protest Song “Where Is The Love?”

“Whereisthelove cover.jpg.” Wikipedia.

The Black Eyed Peas protest song “Where is the Love” has taken its social commentary and call for revolution to a grander height in new versions “#WHERESTHELOVE” and “The Love”.

2016 version, “#WHERESTHELOVE,” addresses BLM protests and the plight  to restore civil rights amidst white supremacist violence coming in the form of trigger-happy cops or negligent congressman. “The Love” sonically, lyrically, and visually in music video persuades viewers to vote Biden as president. The song was released in October 2020, almost a month before the tense November election. It vibrates with the imperative to stop the landslide of America rolling downhill after wounding by the Trump administration. In the 20^th century, Black Gospel music has been a powerhouse in producing freedom songs. That includes directly commenting on segregation in America, like Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddam.” Freedom songs also include using religious hymns in an activist context, like popular gospel song “This Little Light of Mine” which doesn’t explicitly touch on racism. Black Gospel propels motives for social reform in its lyrics and sonic qualities. This genre holds the influence to inspire their listeners to forge social and political change by rattling the strongest of human emotions—sorrow, anger, and joy. The qualities of Black Gospel music in the reworkings of “Where Is The Love?” can explain its successes as protest songs that inspire its audience.

civilwarmed.org

The Joining Body as Instrument:

Clapping, Stomping, Slapping Knees, Snapping, You Name It

During the horrors of American segregation, it was healing to listen to uplifting messages on valuing ones inherent worth unwaveringly as well as the strong bonds of their community.

In “This Little light of Mine,” people are not measured on a value scale by the eyes of God or by the individuals singing this song. The line, “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine,” repeats over and over like a necessary ritual. It communicates that a person has to acknowledge their own inner power through the confident assertion that it exists and prevails: “This little light of mine.” More so, it has to become a practice and be done “Every day” for individual preservation. However, the other half of the line is just as imperative, which involves community. “I’m gonna let it shine” communicates the will and obligation a person has to share the best of themselves with others for all to prosper. Singers call out, “Everyday, Lord” as a promise to a higher power that they will care for themselves and others.

The effects of using our bodies as instruments are numerous, but one of the many includes establishing community. When “This Little Light of Mine” was sung by gospel singer and involved civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, she was never truly alone in this piece. Even when the choir has stopped chiming in and Hamer executes a solo lyric, the clapping from the community beside her remains steady within every second of this song. And I’m not using “every second” as an exaggeration here or descriptive language—I mean it literally. Clapping starts at 0:01 and ends at 3:03—the entire duration of the song—from the birth of a fresh breath to the last exhale in the dark. Hamer was not left alone for one second. Not during one breath was community and unity not there to be depended on as much as these singers lean on the Lord they are vulnerably relying on. Through faith in God, oneself, and others to in the end care for you—these singers assert that they will express beauty and virtue, or their light, by sharing it in the world. That’s a powerful message right there.

The Percussive Beat in “#WHERESTHELOVE” as

Community Building Sounds

In “#WHERESTHELOVE,” a raging beat pounds with unified voices in a steady pattern, sounding like the meeting of fierce hands. The punching beat resembles two cymbal plates hitting one another, but as a softer technologized beat. This technologized hard, loud cymbal comes in when the tempo crescendos to faster pace. There is also a softer percussive, technologized beat that resembles a drum stick lightly hitting a cymbal. In contrast to the gentle piano and guitar strums, these percussive beats call listeners to join together and participate in the music making. These beats offer the opportunity for listeners to stomp their feet, clasp the hand of another, or lightly pound their enduring heart.

The variation of beat volume is dynamic from hard/loud to light/quieter, signaling an appropriate variation in clapping type. Let’s consider if this song were to be heard outside the isolation of a headphone, somewhere with people together. On speakers in a live concert, peoples claps would be strong when hearing the hard cymbal beat and singers raising their volume and hitting high notes. People would clap softer when the light cymbal beat and singers change tone to lower octaves. The beats in this song resemble the varied clapping in-tune listeners would have when participating in a song. This is definitely a song to be played in an arena or sung together by protesters chanting “Where Is The Love?” while clapping in unison. The quality of community participation in Black Gospel music through clapping, snapping, and other creative uses of the body as instrument physically engages people to practice coming together, sharing an experience, and creating something new which is at the foundation of protest work.

Call and Response: Creating Music Together and

Revolution Together Through Conversations

“Fannie Lou Hamer’s Powerful Testimony | Freedom Summer.” Youtube.

Call and response is an effective trait to include in a protest song because activism only works with community support.

Leaders who call, proclaim, and preach cannot create change without the power of others affirming in consensus to wanting to create change and shift this shared reality. To call and respond is literally a conversation. Affective communication and the sharing of ideas formulates action plans that create social revolution. Call and response is at the core of Hamer’s “This Little Light of Mine.” Hamer sings the first line, “This Little Light of Mine” alone. Yet is quickly joined by other voices, men and women, in the second line, “I’m gonna let it shine,” alongside their synchronous, firm clapping.

Let’s consider this snippet of lyrics:

This little light of mine (Hamer alone)

I’m gonna let it shine, ohh (choir)

This little light of mine (choir)

I’m gonna let it- let it shine! (choir)

This little light of mine (choir)

I’m gonna let it shine (choir)

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine (choir) 

(Hamer raises volume and blends her voice with the choirs last word in the last line, “shine”)

Ohh, everywhere I go, Lord! (Hamer alone)

I’m gonna let it shine, ohh (choir)

Everywhere I go, Lord (choir)

I’m gonna let it- let it shine! (choir)

Everywhere I go, Lord (choir)

I’m gonna let it shine (choir)

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine (choir)

Hamer launches a guttural “Ohh!” while the choir sings “shine”

Like a preacher, Hamer occasionally sings a solo line, raises volume, or takes a solo high pitched high note to make herself present. Yet this song is in bulk community-based with consistent clapping, a choir singing the lyrics in unison, and some breaking in with a “whoo!” or “ohh.”

“Fannie Lou Hamer Risked Her Life for the Right to Vote.” Youtube.

The appearance of call and response in “#WHEREISTHELOVE” and “The Love” communicates an urgency for people to come together because the stakes are high— people’s lives are in danger and their civil liberties are being threatened.

The Game in “#WHERESTHELOVE.” Youtube.

Taboo in “#WHERESTHELOVE.” Youtube.

In “#WHERESTHE LOVE”, singers are in conversation, finishing each other’s sentences. The Game raps, “And every time I look around” and Taboo continues, “Every time I look up, every time I look down / No one’s on a common ground.” “#WHERESTHE LOVE” includes a huge map of voices with singers, rappers, and an entire choir.

Featured vocalists showing solidarity with the BLM movement include the following:

will.i.am, Jamie Foxx, Mary J. Blige, Puff Daddy, Cassie, Andra Day, Nicole Scherzinger, Tori Kelly, V Bozeman, Taboo, Jessie J, The Game, Ty Dolla $ign, Justin Timberlake, DJ Khaled, Usher, A$AP Rocky, Jaden Smith, apl.de.ap, and Fergie.

More so, if not participating vocally, the music video shows the appearance of countless famous artists and public figures, family of actual victims of police brutality, and people of countless roles from a white priest to a black military officer. These visuals broadcast that the hostile condition of the world we’re living in falls on our shoulder’s but the solution is also in our hands. Call and response vibrates strongly in this song through the choir of children. The choir is all made up of kids from a span of cultures— the voices of the future wanting a new world free of bigotry and hate. Like a preacher slamming wise statements, apl.de.ap is responded to by the current generation of children who agree with him. Their bone chilling exclamations is the repeated question of disappointment and anguish, “Where’s the love?,” over and over in response to apl.de.ap:

What happened to the love and the values of humanity? (apl.de.ap)
Where’s the love (choir)
What happened to the love and the fairness and equality? (apl.de.ap)
(Where’s the love) (choir)
Instead of spreading love we’re spreading animosity (apl.de.ap)
(Where’s the love) (choir)
Lack of understanding leading us away from unity (apl.de.ap)
(Where’s the love) (choir)

Another enduring example of call and response is the conversation between Joe Biden and Jennifer Hudson in “The Love.” Hudson makes active commentary of agreement with the incorporated recording of Biden’s speech. Biden’s words situate him like a preacher or activist leader and Hudson takes the role of community member and voter.

During the intro., Hudson sings the same lines as Biden, simultaneously, adding more power to his words. With embarrassment on Trump’s part Biden states, “Remember what the president said when asked? He said there were quote ‘very fine people on both sides’” (0:59-1:06).

Joe Biden in “The Love.” Youtube.

Donald Trump in “The Love.” Youtube.

Hudson responds with heavy lament when Biden repeats Trump’s statement on white supremacists, through a guttural “ohh” that sounds like a pang of pain (1:02-1:09). And those words did merit a scream, a cry, a deep groan because of the horrific racist ideology that still persists. We live in a time when the president of the United States— in the 21^st century— could not publicly denounce white supremacy. Will.i.am states the source of this agony clearly in a new lyric that wasn’t a part of the original “Where Is The Love?”: “I can’t believe they still hating blacks today” (1:50-1:52).

Jennifer Hudson in “The Love.” Youtube.

Through high notes and “mhmm”’s Hudson actively responds to Biden’s words. When Biden states the nation can reform and unite and take “A path of hope an light” (3:22-3:23), Hudson gives a satisfied “mhhm” (3:24-3:26), acting as a tonal “yes.” Hudson’s responses reminded us of the urgency of the 2020 election through her painful responses to the wounding by the Trump administration and positive affirmations toward Biden’s encouraging words. Hudson steers us listeners to also agree with Biden’s values and political plan for social reform and ultimately vote for him. The message is made clear, one candidate does not refute white supremacy and the terrors of its blows, while another articulates and validates the reality of racial injustice. The answer of who’s a better candidate here to further the aims of the Black Lives Matter movement and other minorities is pretty clear.

“Children at a BLM protest in Great Lakes Bay holding simple yet powerful messages.” Reddit.

“#WHERESTHELOVE” and “The Love” are absolutely successful as protest songs in its emotional pull yet rational, influencing listeners and convincing them of a certain political choice that will make waves in America’s future. The Black Gospel traits within these two pop/hip hop protest songs endure just as much as the plight for racial equality in America.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://create.piktochart.com/output/53581906-paramore-infographic

Here’s the link to my Infographic, which is a timeline of Paramore’s experimentation with music!

Paramore is a Grammy-winning rock-pop band formed in 2004, who have increased in popularity over the years. Nearly everyone knows the iconic heavy drums and guitar that start off their most famous song, the punk-rock, head-banging hit ‘Misery Business’ off their second album Riot! It’s just one of those songs that everyone has heard at least once. Starting in 2005, they released an album for every two years until 2009, following the release of their third album, Brand New Eyes. Following a series of band members’ departures and personal struggles that nearly led to their disbandment, Paramore reemerged in the music scene in 2013 with their self-titled album, marking a new Paramore with more musical experimentation. Lead vocalist Hayley Williams remarked that this self-titled album was a way of “reintroducing ourselves to the world.”

In comparison to their first three albums, 2013’s self-titled featured a deeper dive into the world of synth-pop, vastly different from the alternative, emo-punk rock roots that sealed Paramore’s introduction into the mainstream scene. Though elements of the latter remained present on this album, it took a backseat in comparison to the newer sounds the band clearly toyed with during the recording sessions for Paramore (2013). 

This was only further seen on the band’s 2017 album After Laughter, which showcased complete departure from the earliest forms of alternative rock that lead their earliest singles and albums. Here, we barely see any of these elements, as if they completely disappeared from the band’s existence. However, After Laughter enabled Paramore to experiment more with sound, rebranding themselves as a neutral-genre band that doesn’t fit into just one category anymore. What has remained is the lyrical content, often heavy, that is present on ever Paramore album, even if it lies under the covers of upbeat pop rhythms or a happy-go-lucky music video, never has the band ever strayed away from difficult subjects, such as anxiety, depression and mental health. They have the ability to write music that is relatable to their audience, from their earliest days in 2004 to now. The raw, truthful lyrics, accompanying music elements- both combined with the powerhouse vocals of Hayley Williams- equals a tremendously successful band with a loyal fanbase who can’t wait to see what album experimentation comes next.

The Infographic includes a timeline of the band’s albums, a few videos of the biggest songs from each album, as well as a small list of music sounds present that show the variation and changes from their first album to their latest.

[pdf-embedder url=”https://popmusic.commons.gc.cuny.edu/files/2021/04/Timeline-Of-Logic.pdf” title=”Timeline Of Logic”]

This is my slideshow Of Logic’s career path from his beginning’s to now and similar to what Victoria had said about Drake, it’s fascinating and pretty interesting seeing and hearing how some of your favorite artists evolve. Not only evolving as a person but with sound as well. Hearing their flow change, what they sing, or rap about. It’s as if you’re growing up with them each time they release a new mixtape or album. This is most likely a case with every artist in the music industry. And Logic is no exception to that.

To add on to something’s I had not spoken about in the powerpoint, Logic’s Under Pressure album which many see to be his pinnacle time of music was a very influenced work. Logic has credited Quentin Tarantino, OutKast, A Tribe Called Quest, and Red Hot Chili Peppers just to name a few that had helped him carve Under Pressure to be what is has become. The album focuses on his life’s beginning as a child growing up in Maryland. Topics are brought up such as drugs and gangs being involved with his brother as well as father in the song “Gang Related.” Also inspired by the movie Boyz in The Hood. The song “Nikki” relating to Logic’s personal addiction to Nicotine. Logic uses wordplay to make “Nikki” sound as if he were talking about a former lover rather than a drug. This album is considered to be what brought Logic from underground to the mainstream spotlight.

With The Incredible True Story Logic’s sound changes to a less serious but more fun playful sound as the theme for this album is a more space sci-fi theme yet exploring a mix of light and dark topics in a aesthetically pleasing manner. The track “Fade Away” is about dying and living life due to never knowing when ones time is coming. Yet Logic’s tone and sound in the track makes it hard to believe it’s a dark song if not listened to correctly. Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights” is borrowed as a intro track yet emphasized to make it sound like a grand entrance or ending rather to a movie. The Incredible True Story is similar to that movie you know can make you cry but you go back to due to the enjoyment.

Logic’s Bobby Tarantino 1 & 2 are both mixtapes that Logic has stated to be fun party “turn up” music where he can express his recklessness side making radio club music rather than the serious set of music he’s known to make on his albums. This has brought up many people claiming that mixtape Logic is a different persona from album Logic. This goes back to a quote from Logic which was mentioned in the slides. Logic talks about this briefly saying “Fans tend to think if you fall in love with a artist because they make a specific kind of sound but gets bigger and grows they change. Yet with me I create all types from the get go so you can never say i’m changing.”

With “Everybody” Logic or “Album Logic” as fans would say takes a sharp turn and begins to speak of more serious topics in his music specifically racial problems and humanity. Logic being born half white and half black talks about his personal issues that he’s had to deal with and tries to unify humanity with his favorite quote “peace, love, and positivity.” Everybody is cited to be Logic’s best work of all his albums and mixtapes. Logic briefly speaks about suicide in his famous track “1-800-273-8255” which is the actual suicide prevention Lifeline number. The song became one of Logic’s best becoming quintuple platinum and jumping higher after his 2017 VMA performance with it.

As shown with the graph, Logic has had a shift with his sales and can be heavily noted especially with his works with the “Bobby Quarantino mix tapes. Though Logic may argue he never changes with his sound, I say he definitely has yet in a good light through my eyes. I prefer “album Logic” to a degree more than “mixtape Logic” due to his aesthetic sound mixed with realism more compared to his “get lit” music which is still good to me but not as much.

https://create.piktochart.com/output/53416890-drake

That is the link to my infographic, I opened it to the public so anyone with the link can view!

Drake is one of the most well known rappers for the longest time now. It is very fascinating to see how he evolved into the artist he is today. Starting in 2008 is when he released his first album and he has released one new album every year since. Which is what the timeline represents, how he created new music and songs which lead to producing new albums. Other artists do not release a new album every year, most of them take longer than a year or even a break. This demonstrates how hardworking and passionate Drake is with his music. The question is though, why do his fans like old Drake better than new Drake? 

Let’s dive a little deeper, old Drake raps more than he is singing. Drake in 2015 and years prior his fans could feel his passion for music, the need to be the best, wanting to belong in the music industry, to find himself and lastly his lack of not committing to anyone or love. 

Drake’s album Take Care which was released in 2011, was on the Billboard Hot 100 for 98 weeks and was his second studio album he created. This album contains one of his most listened to songs “Take Care” with 2,569,000 downloads. This song is about trying to love someone who has been hurt in a previous relationship. Rhiana is featured in this song as well which made it extremely difficult for Drake because he became involved with and told her to deal with the effects of the abuse of her former boyfriend Chris Brown. The lyrics go back and forth with Rhiana and Drake singing to each other. Drake’s voice sound very passionate when he sings “I’ll be there for you, I will care for you / I keep thinkin’ you just don’t know / Tryin’ to run from that, say you’re done with that.” This is an example of who the old Drake sang and rapped from his heart because he meant and felt the words he was vocalizing in his music for his fans to understand the real him. This is why his old music was so successful it enabled the fans to know him and the artist he was becoming. 

New Drake does not seem to be as passionate as to when he was starting to become popular in the music world. Drake already has had numerous #1 singles, albums and won awards for his music. Maybe his passion is turning into a job and not something he enjoys. Is it just for the money? He has accomplished everything he has wanted so his songs do not mean as much as when he was finding himself at the start of his career. 

Now fast forward to one of Drake’s most recent albums Care Package which was released in 2019. This was his first compilation album which contains songs released between 2010 and 2016 that were not able to be purchased by his fans. This album debuted at #1 on Billboard Hot 100 but was on the charts for only 13 weeks only having about 109,000 unit albums sold. One of the songs featured is called “How Bout Now” and is one of the better songs on this album. This song is filled with different meanings than what his past songs and albums were about. This song is one of the slower ballads on this album he vocalizes his feelings towards a girl “I had no money left from actin’, I was focused on the music / I used to always try and burn you CDs of my new shit / You be like “who’s this?” I be like “me, girl” / You be like “oh, word, true shit?” / Then ask if we could listen to Luadachris.” The one thing that has never changed with Drake was his honesty in his music. At the time, there was drama between himself and another artist Ludachris about a girl they were both with. His meanings behind songs, vocals and style of his music changed. In this song he is singing and kind of talking which makes him not sound as passionate as the old drake was. 

After looking into Drake and his music, as a fan I personally do enjoy his old style of music better. I don’t really know any of his newer music which could be  because he is not as passionate and his song meanings changed. Since new music does not get as many downloads as his older music, people who are unfamiliar with it won’t get the chance to hear it on the radio or any form of media that plays trending songs. I think if Drake had the passion to create songs that really meant something to him it would allow his voice to sound how old Drake was when he rapped at the peak of his career.

 

The year 2020 has opened the eyes of many on the social injustices that exist between races. The events of 2020 made me want to examine the trends that exist in songs that are written about these injustices.

My earliest choice is Tupac’s “Changes” which was released in 1992. Tupac’s approach is quite different than my other choices, and I suspect it has to do with the time period and how taboo of a topic racial injustices were in the 90’s. If you notice on the chart, Tupac’s is the smallest because his tone and diction are significantly different than the other songs I mention. Unlike Hill’s explicit contemptuous tone for the way that African Americans are treated, Tupac takes a sadder approach in getting his message across. Hill uses the line “Rapings and beatings and suffering that worsens” against the melody of Christmas song “My Favorite Things” to express her obvious frustration with society’s treatment of African Americans. Tupac on the other hand takes a sadder tone and considering the time period, I understand why. In this time period, African Americans were painted as criminals. With this in mind he uses lyrics like, “Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares/ One less hungry mouth on the welfare,” to get his point across.

In “Changes” Tupac’s diction is more laid back, not because he didn’t care about these enduring issues, but because the time period didn’t really allow for social change. Tupac had to adjust his word choice so he uses words like, “That’s just the way it is/ Things will never be the same/ That’s just the way it is.” His diction created a chorus that everyone is still familiar with today. If you also notice, “Changes” has one of the higher points in danceability, which I imagine was done purposefully. Tupac probably felt that the best way for the song to catch was by making sure it becomes popular, hence why the song is danceable, and the others are not. Lil Baby’s “The Bigger Picture” on the other hand literally starts with snippets of media coverage. Lil Baby’s real and honest diction is calling out for a more immediate social change because African Americans are living in a state of constant paranoia.

The last two songs, Eminem’s “Untouchable” and Childish Gambino’s “This is America” are unique as they take a satirical approach to America’s racial disparities. Eminem uses his position as a white rapper to emphasize how society views people like him as “untouchable.” He includes himself in the white narrative by singing, “And just in case a chase might ensue, we got that tried and true/ Pistol drew right at you, we’d be delighted to unload it/In your back, then walk up and lay that taser on the side of you.” Here he is making fun of the excessive violence white police officers use African Americans. Eminem’s satirical approach is obvious in his lyrics, but for “This is America” you need to watch the music video in order to truly appreciate Childish Gambino’s satirical approach. In the music video, Childish Gambino shoots down several different people, but the guns are always handled more carefully than the human lives it just took. I believe that “This is America” is a statement to people who put priority in their guns over the gun violence that is happening against African- Americans.

As can be seen in the infographic, each artist has taken a unique approach to how they view racial injustices. While each song is very different, one thing is for sure, they are all making a heavy political statement.

 

I made my first infographic. Or a stab at one. My students are making some, so I thought I should try it too.

Bowie recorded “A Space Oddity”  in 1968. It was his first real hit record–in 1969 in Britain and 1972 in the U.S. Famously, it tells the story of Major Tom, a fictional version of an early astronaut. In 1961, the first human, Russian Yuri Gagarin, traveled to space and orbited the earth. After that, the Americans and the Russians entered a “space race,” vying for a series of firsts, including getting a human to the surface of the moon.

Bowie wrote his first hit in response to the space race–and Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey.* I started my infographic to test a hypothesis: Bowie used the eeriness of the first humans in space as an early experiment with performing as a persona. Throughout his career, he’d become famous for his theatrical personas, including Ziggy Stardust, The Thin White Duke, and Alladin Sane. I learned from Chris O’Leary’s detailed analysis of the track that it was originally written as a duet. When he recorded it, Bowie turned it into a duet with himself.

Through the process of composing the infographic, I became more convinced the song is a duet between Bowie and Bowie. But the experiment is more complex than I imagined at first. The second line of colored bars represents the song’s narrators, or personas. Blue is the operator at Ground Control, and pink Major Tom “floating in his tin can.” The purple bar represents a second hypothesis. After Major Tom sings “Tell my wife I love her very much, she knows,” the persona shifts.

At first it seems obvious that Ground Control sings the heartbreaking second half of the verse: “Your circuit’s dead, there’s something wrong / Can you hear me Major Tom?” But what if both narrators are singing? What if Major Tom is singing along with Ground Control? While Ground Control addresses these panicked messages to him, Major Tom joins in. “She knows” might signal the fact that his wife knows he loves her AND that she’s heard the news that something has gone horribly wrong. This is interpretive speculation, but if it’s true, the double narrators amplify the deep sadness of the story. Major Tom sings with full awareness that nobody on earth can hear him.

Throughout his career, Bowie was reverent about well-crafted pop songs; he also loved to experiment with form. You can already see that with “A Space Oddity.” The verses are catchier than the chorus. We get two full verses and a bridge before the chorus even comes in. Bowie is subtly upending the logic of the traditional pop hit, partly to emphasize the dialogue, or duet, between Ground Control and Major Tom.

Some of the complexities of the method become clear when you examine his various approaches to the vocal. The melody evolves from verse to verse. The first begins low and mysterious. After the first few lines, he doubles his voice, alternating harmony with singing the same melody in two octaves. The higher parts presage the higher, more emotive vocal of the B verse. In the C verse, the harmony continues for the first half, but then fades, with an intimate delivery of the line “Tell my wife I love her very much.” After this, the vocal is doubled again–this time in unison, duplicating the same melody. There’s a full two minutes of music after the final verse. As the vocal fades, his duet with himself feels unresolved as it’s overtaken by the chaos of the instrumental outro. Like Major Tom and Ground Control, we don’t know what’s going to become of the astronaut in his “tin can,” but the signs are not good.

*A literary note: Kubrick’s title is a play on Homer’s The Odyssey. He takes the classic tale of a warrior’s journey and gives it a bleak, futuristic twist. Bowie substitutes the soundalike, “oddity,” a wry contribution to literary history in keeping with his various outsized personas.

Acknowledgements

Chris O’Leary’s analysis of “A Space Oddity,” on his blog Pushing Ahead of the Dame, Bowie Song by Song, helped me understand the structure of the song. I got inspiration for the form of my infographic from Ethan Hein’s “track analysis” of Childish Gambino’s “This Is America.” 

Check out the song yourself. If you have other interpretations, I’d love to hear about them in the Comments section. Watching Bowie perform it is pretty moving. And notice that he includes an abstract visualization of the music in the video!