During the 1920s and 1930s, composers and lyricists fused earlier song structures to produce a verse-refrain form which, in the hands of more inventive composers, allowed for all sorts of interesting variations. How does a song’s form affect its style or musical interpretation?

What is a Song Form

Simply . . . Song Form arranges the structure of songs into an easy to understand framework. Song structure is important because it organizes how songs are written while aiding in how they are recognized and appreciated. Without a song having shape, songs are can become chaotic and unlistenable.

Why is this important? Simply, song form, allows the story to be told so that people listening can better understand and enjoy the experience of the song.

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel in order to be creative, however. That’s where song form comes into play. Think of the most common types of song structures as universally agreed upon roadmaps for songs. 

Song Form reveals to us where the song is going. 

Imagine song form as a map made up of locations that we know of as verses, choruses and bridge.
What are the parts we are generally concerned with then;

• Verses are similar but differ slightly from each other
• Chorus often differs from verse 
• Bridges can be very different 

When discussing song forms, a system of letters are assigned to the different sections of a song. Repeated sections get assigned the same letter as was assigned on the first occurrence of that section. The letters then create a map of the overall song.

The assignment of letters is not what you would think, however. We don’t use the first letters of “V” for Verse, “C" for Chorus or “B” for Break, but rather the first letters of the alphabet.

For example ;

A=Verse

B=Chorus

C=Bridge

Strophic / AAA / One-Part Song Form

Strophic . . . What was that? Strophic describes how each verse is sung to the same tune.

Strophic Song Form is also called AAA Form or One-Part Song Form. AAA song form is one of the oldest sectional song forms. How far back does it go? Originally it was used in the adaption of poems, with composers setting the poems to music to perform them for the entertainment of the royal courts of Europe. 

In Mary Had A Little Lamb has a  melody which is repeated, in Strophic Song Form, and each time the melody repeats different words are sung to the melody. This makes it an ideal song form for story telling.

The nursery rhyme was first published by the Boston publishing firm Marsh, Capen & Lyon, as a poem by Sarah Josepha Hale on May 24, 1830, and was possibly inspired by an actual incident

• “Mary Had a little lamb" by Stevie Ray Vaughn 1983, Traditional

AAB Form - 12 Bar Blues

The 12-bar blues form used in the AAB song form is strongly associated with the blues. Many Blues songs are in the AAB format. 

The fundamental structure of 12 Bar Blues is three four-bar lines or sub-sections. Often the first two and a half bars of each 4 bar section are vocal melody, while the last one and a half bars contains an instrumental melodic hook that gives a sense of completion for the line.

Unlike AAA or AABA song forms, which describe the overall structure of the song, AAB describes the structure of an individual verse. AAB is always used as a compound form.The common variants for 12-Bar blues are 8-Bar form and 16-Bar form.

Elmore James played a modified “Kay” hollow-body acoustic guitar, which sounded like an amped-up version of the more "modern" solid-body guitars of today. 

• “Dust My Broom" by Elmore James 1959, originally by Robert Johnston 1936

• See this article on the evolution of heavy metal sound

AABA Song Form / American Popular Song Form

This is one of the most commonly used forms in both jazz and early to mid-twentieth-century popular music. 

The AABA format was the song form of choice for Tin Pan Alley songwriters of American popular music, an East Coast USA songwriter scene based in New York City, in the first half of the 20th century. 
Tin Pan Alley songwriters included songwriting greats like Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, Sammy Cahn, Hoagy Carmichael, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, George and Ira Gershwin.

The dominance of the AABA song form faded during the 1960s. The rise in popularity of rock 'n' roll and the rise of groups like The Beatles changed the popular music landscape. Before The Beatles broke off into other song writing formats, they heavily used AABA song form in many songs.

It uses this song form in several music genres including pop, jazz and gospel.

• “Over the rainbow by “Judy Garland" 1938, 
• Wizard of Oz movie

• Eight Days A Week by the “Beatles”

Housekeeping; Euphemisms: where an unpleasant or offensive thing is described or referred to by a milder term.

The promotional catchphrase “race music” was first applied by Ralph Peer (1892-1960), a Missouri-born talent scout for Okeh Records.

Although a clear distinction can be drawn between race music and hillbilly music — each of which comprised dozens of specific styles — the two had several important features in common. 

• Both bodies of music originated mainly in the American South and 
• rooted in longstanding folk music traditions.

As they entered the mass marketplace, both blended these older rural musical styles with aspects of national popular culture, including the minstrel show, vaudeville, and other musical forms.

Race music and hillbilly music both grew out of the music industry's efforts to develop alternative markets during a national decline in record sales.

Music was now disseminated across the country by new forms of media including;

• electric recording,
• radio, and
• sound film

and by the process of urban migration, which affected the lives of millions of rural Americans during the 20s and 30s.

Both bodies of music provided the basis for forms of popular music that emerged after World War II (rhythm & blues, country and western, and rock ”n” roll ), extending their appeal across regional and, in the end, international boundaries.

Jazz's attraction as a symbol of

• sensuality,
• freedom,
• and fun

does appear to have transcended the boundaries of

• region,
• ethnicity,
• and class,

Creating a precedent for music phenomenas such as

• swing era music,
• rhythm & blues,
• and rock ”n” roll.

“Hillbilly music,” later rechristened “country and western music” or simply “country music,” developed mainly out of the folk songs, ballads, and dance music of immigrants from the British Isles.

The first generation of hillbilly recording artists was also familiar with the sentimental songs of Tin Pan Alley, and this material became an important part of the country music repertoire, alongside the older Anglo-American ballads and square dance tunes.

Recordings of the late 1940s and early 1950s included swing-influenced “jump bands,” Tin Pan Alley-style love songs performed by crooners, various styles of urban blues, and gospel-influenced vocal harmony groups. The reappearance of small independent record labels provided an outlet for performers who were ignored by major record companies.

These jump bands specialized in hard-swinging, boogie-woogie based party music, spiced with humorous lyrics and wild stage performances.

Music from 1930s -1940s

• "Tiger Rag" by the Washboard Rhythm Kings 1932, 
• was a virtually out-of-control performancer 
• This is just one of many recordings by spasm bands, jug bands, and skiffle groups that have the same wild, informal feel that early rock-and-roll had. 
• "Tiger Rag" had become a jazz standard and a widely covered song in the dance band and march orchestrations.

• "Oh! Red" by the Harlem Hamfats, recorded on April 18, 1936, 
• was a hit record made by a small group of jazz and blues musicians assembled by J. Mayo Williams for the specific purpose of making commercially successful dance records. 
• Viewed at the time (and by jazz fans) as a novelty group, the format became very influential, and the group's recordings included many with sex and drugs references

• "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" (recorded on November 23, 1936), 
• "Crossroad Blues" (recorded on November 27, 1936), and other recordings by Robert Johnson, while not particularly successful at the time, directly influenced the development of Chicago blues and, when reissued in the 1960s, also strongly influenced later rock musicians.
• "Rock It for Me" was recorded by Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb and His Orchestra in 1937. 
• Its lyrics mentioned a kind of music called "rock-and-roll": "Every night/You'll see all the nifties/Plenty tight/Swingin' down the fifties/Now they're all through with symphony/Ho ho ho, rock it for me!/Now it's true that once upon a time/The opera was the thing/But today the rage is rhythm and rhyme/So won't you satisfy my soul/With the rock and roll?"

• 
  "One O'Clock Jump" by Count Basie, arranged by Eddie Durham and recorded on July 7, 1937,
• based on a 12-bar blues that builds in rhythmic intensity and features, like many of Basie's other records, the rhythm section "all but invented the notion of the swing through their innovations"
• "Sing, Sing, Sing" by Benny Goodman, also from 1937, 
• written by Louis Prima, 
• featured repeated drum breaks by Gene Krupa, whose musical nature and high showmanship presaged rock and roll drumming.
• "Ida Red" by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, recorded in 1938
• Western swing band, featuring electric guitar by Eldon Shamblin. 
• The tune was recycled again some years later by Chuck Berry in "Maybellene"

• "Rock Me" by the Lucky Millinder Orchestra with Sister Rosetta Tharpe vocals and guitar 1938, 
• a gospel song done like a city blues 
• the way she rolled the "R" in "rock me" led to the phrase being taken as a double entendre, with the interpretation as religious or sexual.
• "Roll 'Em Pete" by Pete Johnson and Joe Turner (1938) 
• driving boogie woogie and a masterful collation of blues verses 
• one of the most important precursors of what later became known as rock and roll

"Flying Home" by Lionel Hampton and his orchestra (1939), 

• tenor sax solo by Illinois Jacquet,
• recreated and refined live by Arnett Cobb, the model for rock and roll solos ever since;
• emotional, honking,
• long, not just an instrumental break but the keystone of the song.
• The Benny Goodman Sextet had a popular hit with a subdued "jazz chamber music" version of the same song featuring guitarist Charlie Christian.

Since we can’t narrow our list of possible Rock & Roll candidates down to a two dozen or so, let’s see where it takes us.

Origins of "Riders in the Sky"

In this episode we take a look at the history of one of the most widely post WWII, "Covered" popular songs in the ASCAP publishing database.

From its humble beginnings as a European folk song to its re-appearance during the American Civil War asa melody for a drinking song, to its eventual use as she basis for a song about a cautionary tale warning a cowboy that if he doesn't change his ways, who will one day join the damned cowboys doomed to try to “catch the Devil”s herd across these endless skies.

Music Videos

While not an official video production from the estate of Marty Robbins, I really do think that this visual interpretation captures some the essence regarding "Riders in the Sky"

From a September 1990 episode of the CBS Television show "Hee Haw".  Glen Campbell & Roy Clark play "Ghost Riders in the Sky", with some help from Jeff Dayton. Glen & Roy's version of this song is on the soundtrack album for the 1985 movie "Uphill All the Way", available at finer retailers everywhere!

This is 1961... (Restored footage). Levang was hired as a temporary guitar and banjo player on The Lawrence Welk Show when Buddy Merrill left to serve in the United States Army. Welk was so pleased with his ability that he hired Levang on a permanent basis when Buddy completed his tour of duty in 1961. Levang stayed with the Welk Band until its final show in 1982.

That same year, at the Country Music Association Awards he was nominated for best artist on a specialty instrument, the mandolin.

He was also an accomplished studio musician, playing on several records for artists such as Glen Campbell, Frank Zappa, Bobby Darin, Bobbi Gentry, David Clayton Thomas, Neal Hefti ("Batman Theme"), Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, Neil Diamond and Noel Boggs. Levang died in Canyon Country, California at the age of 83.

The ill fated reboot of the Blues Brothers movie franchise in the late 1990s tried to recapture the romance and legitimacy of the original film by relying on trade and true musical icons such as "Riders in the Sky".

Filmed in Toronto, Ontario Canada, most of which was shot in the Cherry Street area of Toronto in what is now the "Distillery District". The timing was right and so were the surroundings. The area had been a staging ground and ancillary storage and processing to the nearby Docklands south of Lakeshore Drive.

I watched the movie filming evolve on a daily basis during 1996/1997 as I drove Cherry St. Daily on my way to work. Sets going up and then controlled destruction of the concert hall included in this clip.

One of the first appearances of "Riders in the Sky" came during a 1949 episode of the movie by the same name. Singing Cowboy Gene Autry sings the Western Classic song "Ghost Riders in the Sky" from his movie "Riders in the Sky" from Columbia Pictures 1949.

By the mid 1980s, Duane Eddy had entered a new career awakening after his work with the Art of Noise and their reworking of  the "Peter Gunn Theme". This time out we catch Duane flying his stylings all over our featured track. This video is from an American TV appearance in 1996.

In the USA, and more specifically, Texas is full of lore, legends, and ghost stories. The tale of the Ghost Riders is by far the saddest, most evil, not to mention, the most famous one in the country. This legend is sadly true, a senseless ghoulish tragedy which took place in Crosby County, Texas. You may know it as Stampede Mesa. The legend inspired the classic song “Ghost Riders in the Sky.”

Playlists

During the 1980s the Peter Gunn show was revived for television in 1989. A long-gestating ABC 90-minute pilot, Peter Gunn aired in April 1989 with Peter Strauss in the lead role that was written, produced, and directed by Blake Edwards, but the network failed to order a series despite strong ratings and reviews. Take a look at the promo spot for the TV series, pay attention the very 1980s aesthetic.

The Art Of Noise

Although I've loved this song and video by the Art of Noise, it took about 30 years for me to recognize Rik Mayall as the star of this video. Rik and his friends such as great British comedians Adrian Edmondson, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Alexei Sayle, Peter Richardson and Nigel Planer were seen on television screens in Britain and enjoyed immense success.

A rare appearance of both Duane Eddy and the Art of noise from their 1986 appearance on the British TV show "the Tube". BTW, Duane Eddy is still alive and kicking at age 82.

Blues Brothers

Originally performed for the seminal Blues Brothers movie, we catch the original members of the Blues Brothers band in a 1992 concert.

The Cramps

No collection of Peter Gunn videos would be complete without an entry featuring the Cramps lead guitarist Poison Ivy. She was the foremost female guitarist of the 1980s that left any mark on the alternative music world.

Cherry Wainer

Perhaps my all-time favourite version of the Peter Gunn theme is by the husband and wife duo of Cherry Wainer with Don Storer. This clip is from a German TV show during the mid 1960s. Cherry is so fun to watch. Clearly she loved to be on camera and to perform!

ELP (Emerson,Lake and Palmer)

While not taken from the 1977 Montreal concert where their live album was recorded, you still get a sense of their appreciation for the Classic Peter Gunn Theme. Emerson, Lake and Palmer opened their shows with the Peter Gunn theme as means of cheesing up the audience for what was to come during the rest of the concert.

Altec Lansing "Voice of the Theatre" Speakers

The speakers used to create the fabulous echo and reverse on the original Peter Gunn recordings were the classic -industry standard - Altec Lansing A-700 and A5 VOTT (Voice of the Theatre) Speakers. Read on for a look into the company, their speakers and the importance and impact they had on the music and film industries.

Altec Lansing, Inc. is a U.S. audio electronics company founded in 1927. Their primary products are loudspeakers and associated audio electronics for professional, home, automotive and multimedia applications. 

Engineers at Western Electric, who later formed Altec Services Company, developed the technology for motion picture sound that was introduced in 1927, with the release of The Jazz Singer. Originally, Altec Services Company serviced the theatre sound systems the company founders had helped develop. In 1941 the Altec Services Company purchased the nearly bankrupt Lansing Manufacturing Company and melded the two names, forming the Altec Lansing Corporation, and with the manufacturing capabilities of the former Lansing Manufacturing Company, they quickly expanded into manufacturing horn loudspeakers.

For a really good look at the design and impact of the Voice of the Theatre Speaker History check out this link. Although the article can get a little technical, the author does a good job of presenting the reasons why the technology became a standard in the audio world.

Playlists