Hi Steve,

This is....



... and then some!!!

I really love what you've done. The driving beat, the '10th Dan Black Belt' arrangement, your outstanding vocals and those really engaging lyrics. Everything about this was aural excellence for me... seriously!

As you've probably gathered by now from listening to my songs, I'm a pretty big fan of the interrupted cadence. In many of my songs, I've used this cadence to create an ending.

I'm not sure, but this might be called a 'deceptive cadence' in the States. It’s also called a ‘Surprise Cadence’ in my part of the world. The principle of this music device is to firmly set the audience up for closure and then not give them that closure. This lack of resolution then leads to delaying the final closure for as long as the composer wants. Mozart created some amazing endings using this approach. If you listen to the ending of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (below Youtube clip) from around 19:30, you'll hear what I mean. A number of times, the listener finds themselves thinking that the end is just around the corner but Mozart then teases the audience and it doesn't arrive as expected. When the ending finally does come along, the sense of relief felt by listeners is enormous and this brings with it a huge desire to applaud!



DIRECT LINK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1FSN8_pp_o


In terms of classical harmony notation, a popular chord progression for setting up this interrupted cadence is "I-IV-I6/4-V7-VI" where chord VI is, in this instance, the interruption to the ending and substitutes for what listeners think will be the tonic chord. Using chord symbols in the key of C major, the above progression translates to C-F-C/G-G7-Am. (For those who read this and who might be interested in translating the progression into a minor key, using A minor as an example, this interrupted cadence would be Am-Dm-Am/E-E7-F.)

The reason I mention the above interrupted cadence is because you’ve taken us on exactly the same ride with the chorus’s lyrics. I love that you started with the chorus and you totally took me by surprise when you got to the second last line.

Up until this second last line, the lyrics' rhyme has travelled in alternate rhyming phrases; namely, ABAB and then we get to “crazy” and “bet” and I was totally tuned-in into the next line (the second last line) rhyming with “crazy”. But it didn’t! You made me sit up and open my eyes with that second last line for two reasons. One: you don’t rhyme as expected; Two: you lengthen the line by an extra poetic foot and create lyric deceleration! Wow! This is very effective for highlighting these last two lines in sun-bright spotlights. This, in turn, makes the lyric content of those two lines stand prominently proud and tall. Amazing stuff and so very, very effective. Then, in true Shakespearean style, you close the chorus by using the last two lines to create a rhyming couplet; more spotlights! How cool is that!

The strategy that you’ve used for writing the chorus lyrics appealed to me greatly. I cannot remember ever coming across this layout before… I tip my proverbial hat to you smile

This is an outstanding work by every measure!

All the best,
Noel

MY SONGS...
Audiophile BIAB 2024