A Guy Walks Into 32 Bars…

Mar 17

Background: Recently, I was watching a video that broke down all kinds of different song structures. We talk about song structure in every single blog, but this one gave me something new to think about: the existence of the 32 bar, ABBA structure. This is where there’s some sort of introduction (the A part), then you have two new parts that are similar, before returning to the introduction at the end. This is most commonly seen in Broadway musicals, with the A sections being a bit of talking and the B parts being a bit of singing. In this blog, we’ll get slightly more complicated than just having two parts, but it gives you the general idea. We haven’t discussed musical theater in my blogs, so I thought I’d touch on that. You may not write the next biggest Broadway hit, but in thinking about this, it immediately inspired a song of mine, and I hope the same for you!

“The Surrey with a Fringe on Top” from Oklahoma! (1943)

Lyrically: It took me forever to get my driver’s license, but I surely would not have been single in high school if I’d thought to woo my classmates with a carriage ride through the countryside. That’s exactly what the narrator does in this tune. He claims they’ll be the talk of the town when people see them driving by in the souped up buggy claiming “Their eyes will pop.” The chorus then goes on to say, “The wheels are yellow, the upholstery’s brown, the dashboard’s genuine leather. With isinglass curtains you can roll right down in case there’s a change in the weather.” More lyrical analysis to follow in the structural section!

Melodically: The song is written in G major, and is backed by an orchestra. The intro (often called a chorus back in the day, oddly enough), uses the chords G and D7, I, V7 in a four bar pattern that ends on E major. Then this song does something very different from contemporary song forms. It modulates the key of the song by moving up a sixth. It modulates from G major to E major to C# major to Bb major, then back to G major all the while repeating the I (tonic) and V7 (dominant) chord relationship in each key. The verses use G (mixolydian) for seven bars and one split bar of A and D (the I, II, and V). The first chorus (in modern day terms) uses C and D in two split bars, G7, C, to Em7 (two bars), then A to D in a split bar. The intro is repeated (as a bridge) followed by repeating the verse and chorus twice then to the outro that uses C, D7, D, and G, which are the IV, V7, V and I chords.

Structurally: The structure of this song is ABBC, BABBC, BD. The aforementioned talking section at the beginning allows for us as viewers (and listeners) to gain context in the song. In this case, that context is the narrator trying to convince a love interest to go out with him, setting up why that’s a great idea, which is covered in the rest of the song. This is the A section. This section is followed by the B section, the verses, of which there are two. This is followed by a chorus, the C section (please excuse the phrase), where he describes the interior of this surrey. This is followed by another verse (a return to the B section), and after that, they repeat the A section. This time, however, the woman in question (the narrator’s love interest) asks some followup questions about the surrey with the fringe on top: Is it made of silk? Does it really have a team of snow white horses? Both of those questions are answered by the narrator. There are then two more verses (B sections), followed by another chorus (the C section), three more verses (the B sections), one more C section, one more B section, and an outro, which I suppose you could classify as a D section. We have Richard Rodgers to thank for the lyrics and Oscar Hammerstein II to thank for the music. Interestingly, this song has become a jazz standard after recorded by jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal in 1952 that in turn, influenced Miles Davis.

“The Surrey with the Fringe on Top” is embedded below.

2. “Get Me to the Church on Time” from My Fair Lady (1956)

Lyrically: “Get Me to the Church on Time” is a song composed by Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner for the play “My Fair Lady” that opened on Broadway in 1956. The play was later adapted into the 1964 musical-comedy movie “My Fair Lady” that also included the song. The musical play and subsequent mover are based on the original 1913 play by George Bernard Shaw’s play “Pygmalion.” We will discuss the film version of the song. While musicals would get much thematically darker in the 80s and beyond, this is from an era of chipper-as-can-be musicals, and this number is a great example. He starts off by talking to himself, saying the whole town is running out of time to live their current lives, before his big event stops everyone in their tracks: “A few more hours, that’s all the time I got, and I’ve gotta track ‘em down in just a few hours” serves as the A part, before he dives into the part we all know and love, the B part of “I’m getting married in the morning, ding-dong the bells are gonna chime. Pull out the stopper, we’ll have a whopper, but get me to the church on time.” There are variations on this B part, such as “I’ve gotta get there in the morning,” despite all the girls who will try to kiss him on the way, and encouraging people to “Kick up a rumpus, buy me a compass, but get me to the church on time.” The C part is two lines. The first time around, he sings, “If I’m dancing, roll up the floor, If I am whistling, right out the door.” and the second time around, “If I’m flyin’ then shoot me down, if I’m wooin’, get the girl right out of town.” Just like he alludes to in the first part, the whole town needs to be on board with this mission, and sure enough, by the last chorus, everyone is singing along in unison.

Melodically: The song is written in G major opening on the G (I) chord for 8 bars then moving to D7 (V7) for one bar, a split bar of Ddim and D7 where the D7 continues another bar. The Ddim and D7 repeats twice before resolving to G. This section all repeats ending on the G for the two bars moving to C for two bars back to G for two bars, then to A7sus for a bar, A7 for a bar, do D7 for two bars, to G chord (Ddim and D7), moving to the . From that I chord, it transitions into a progression of Bbm6, D7, and G (the vi, I, and IV). This gets played twice. The C part uses C, G, A7sus, A7, and D7, which is a IV, I, II7, V7 pattern. Instrumentally, the song uses strings and horns.

Structurally: As is common with all the songs we’re discussing in this blog, the talking A part kicks off the song. This is followed by two B parts (the verses), the first C part, another B part, another C part, and closes with the first B part being sung again.

“Get Me to the Church on Time” is embedded below.

Also: when conceiving this blog, Joe Matthews and I were discussing the amount of musical numbers in “Family Guy.” The Simpsons did an entire episode dedicated to My Fair Lady, called “My Fair Laddy,” which includes a spoof of this tune. It’s worth your time to check it out (after you read the rest of this blog, of course!)

3. “Iowa Stubborn” from The Music Man (1962)

Lyrically: “Iowa Stubborn” begins as con man Harold Hill arrives in the fictitious River City, Iowa. They pronounce it Io-way, and he always thought it was Io-wah. “It is,” they tell him. “We just don’t like other people saying it that way.” (I’m paraphrasing slightly) It begins with that initial humorous chatter (more on that later), which includes someone telling him the center of town is “In the middle of the road” and when he asks if one person knows of a good hotel, he directs him to Chicago. He then asks what they do for fun, to which they reply, “Mind our business,” which sets up the premise of the song. They say, “We can be cold as a falling thermometer in December if you ask about our weather in July,” then add they’re “So by-God stubborn, we can stand touching noses for a week at a time and never see eye to eye,” but then encourage him to “Join us at the picnic,” adding “You can have your share of all the food you bring yourself.’ However, they later add that they’ll still help you out “If your crop should happen to die.” As someone who grew up in the midwest, I can affirm this is accurate. There’s not always the outgoing hospitality you’ll see in the south, but if you’re in a jam, people will absolutely help you out. It’s just a delightfully charming song.

Melodically: The song is written in G major and uses D, G, Am, C, and E, which is a V, I, ii, IV, VI pattern, which gets repeated throughout, albeit with a different cadence. Instrumentally, the song uses oboe, flute, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone (as far as I know, not 76 of them), timpani, drums, and strings. There’s a carefree nature about the song that lends itself well to the choice of the instruments mentioned, and the drums involved aren’t some big booming affected drums, but they do come in each time after the “If you ask about our weather in July” line to emphasize the point.

Structurally: Prior to any of the music coming in, the aforementioned conversation (the A part to the song) comes in. As is the case with the other songs we’ve looked at in this blog, the A part sets up the song’s premise: Iowans are stubborn and keep to themselves, so if you try to initiate a conversation, they’ll sarcastically push you away before they help you. If I were just listening to this song outside the context of the movie, I would still enjoy it, but the zingers from the locals become even funnier once you understand why they are the way they are. So although the A part isn’t necessary for the examples to develop, it makes the characters a little more three-dimensional, rather than just being a funny interaction Harold had when he first got into town.

“Iowa Stubborn” is embedded below. What the heck, you’re welcome!

4. “If I Were a Rich Man” from Fiddler on the Roof (1964)

Lyrically: Fiddler on the Roof follows Tevye, a Russian father of three girls, who is trying to find proper suitors for them. He loves his daughters, and he would, in a perfect world, like for them to marry for love instead of having to marry for money. (Their innocence and desire to find the perfect man is portrayed in the song “Matchmaker, Matchmaker”). But in “If I Were a Rich Man,” Tevye begins by talking to God, and asking him what would be so wrong with giving him a small fortune. He then proceeds to talk about what he’d do with that money: First, he says, “I wouldn’t have to work hard,” and he would “build a big tall house with rooms by the dozen right in the middle of the town, a fine tin roof with real wooden floors below,” and my personal favorite: “There would be one long staircase going up and one even longer coming down, and one more leading nowhere just for show.” Of course, Tevye prides himself on being a man of faith, he says he’d spend the time that he lacks “To sit by the synagogue and pray and maybe have a seat by the Eastern wall.” In a previous blog, we talked about if clauses, and looked at “If I Had a Million Dollars” by the Barenaked Ladies. This similarly uses an “if” clause and it’s charming for a different set of reasons.

Melodically: The song was written in C major but incorporates the parallel key of C minor to add a dramatic effect to the meanings and mind set of the singer. This C major and C minor contrast, as well as other harmonic movements (including the Klemer feel), work express a Jewish musical style which is highlighted best by the use of the IIb (Db) note with the Cantor-like chanting. Instrumentally, the song contains clarinet, strings (one of which is appropriately a fiddle), flute, horns, and percussion.

“If I Were a Rich Man” is embedded below. It’s not necessarily worth listening to, but worth noting that Gwen Stefani interpolated this song for her song “Rich Girl” back in 2002. So its influence on pop culture is definitely out there, beyond the theater world!

5. “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound of Music (1965)

Lyrically/Structurally: Ok, confession time: I have never seen The Sound of Music in its entirety. When I was a kid, some family friends and I were on vacation and they would sing it incessantly. I am fully convinced my knowledge of theory (at least as it relates to the major 7 note scale) would be a lot better if I’d let go of the grudge, but at this point, it’s just funny. Another Rodgers and Hammerstein tune, this song sees Julie Andrews’ character teaching children about the major scale and the notes in it. It was probably my first exposure to an education mnemonic, despite my determination to ignore it. The A part in this song is the intro: “Let’s start from the very beginning, a very good place to start…” but the main part we remember is the mnemonic in the chorus: “Do, a deer, a female deer, Re, a drop of golden sun. Mi a name I call myself, fa a long long way to run. So, a needle pulling thread, La, a note to follow so, ti a drink with jam and bread. And that brings us back to do.” After the chorus gets repeated by the children, she goes back into the A part, talking about how you can sing or play any song once you learn the scale. The chorus is then repeated. In addition to being a better music theorist if I followed what this song is teaching, I would probably be a better teacher too. When she’s at the A part, that’s her introducing the lesson, hooking the students. When she teaches the mnemonic, it slows it down, giving them something to relate to the sounds of the notes. Then, she makes it a little harder, but helps them create their own sounds, which is what one does when making a song. It’s truly well done.

Melodically: The song as sung in the movie is in Bb major, but the original published key is C major. The song starts on the V chord G over the “Let’s start at the beginning …” Then has several rhythmic chord changes between the G, G7, and C (V, V7, and I) chords. When the refrain begins with “Doe a dear,...” we are on the C tonic (I) chord and move to the G (V, V7, and V9) chord alternating lines for the first four lines, then it goes to the C (I) chord to the F (IV) chord to D7 (II7), F (IV), E7 (III7), Am (vi), C7 (I7), F (IV), Dm7 (ii7), G7 (V7), C (I), ending on the G (V) chord. This is the chord progress for all refrains in the song. In a previous blog, I mentioned breaking the fourth wall in songs. In somewhat of a roundabout way, this song kind of does the same melodically, as it’s talking about how you can recycle notes and put them in different orders, it does exactly that with the arrangement. Instrumentally, the song uses strings, as well as a flute.

Note: Although I didn’t talk about it in this blog, the song “A Few of My Favorite Things” was recently interpolated by Ariana Grande in her song “7 Rings,” and “Do-Re-Mi” has been spoofed multiple times as well. In addition to the original, I have embedded the Ariana Grande song for your listening pleasure.

“Do-Re-Mi”

“7 Rings”

4. “The Math of Love Triangles” from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2019)

Background: I’ve said on multiple occasions that all of my blog ideas tend to start with one song. In the case of this blog, this was the first one I thought of when thinking about numbers from musicals. Though this is from a musical comedy TV show, creator Rachel Bloom and writer Adam Schlesinger both had experience performing and writing on Broadway, respectively, so this was a good wildcard to end on.

Lyrically: The song, like all the ones in the show, is a representation of main character Rebecca Bunch’s perception of herself and how other people see her. This tune sees her trying to choose between her childhood fling, Josh, and his friend, Greg, both of whom she’s romantically involved with. The song is a conversation (again in her head) with a bunch of math professors, who are trying to teach her how triangles work. One of my favorite lines is the following conversation:

“This triangle’s scalene”

“That’s astute”

“So I need to find which one is more acute.”

The whole song plays on that back and forth, which is a theme of the whole series: her aloofness and everyone else’s concern over that behavior. I recommend the whole series for the plot, but it’s also just incredible to take in the sheer amount of music — which is all made possible by Adam Schlesinger (of Fountains of Wayne fame), who I have discussed many times in my blogs.

Melodically/Structurally: The song, like the others in this blog, begins with an A part with only piano, strings, and vocals. As the song progresses, there is a prominence of horns and a full orchestra. After the A part, there are two verses (the B parts), with a spoken word interlude in between (the C parts). A bridge then comes in (the D part), followed by another B part, another C part interlude, and a fourth verse (the final B part). The chords are simple, but there are a lot of them, so I won’t write them out here, but it’s written in the key of F major, and instrumentally uses horns prominently, as well as piano at the beginning.

“The Math of Love Triangles” is embedded below. Like many of the songs in “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” they’re homages to a certain style. This one spoofs “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” by Marilyn Monroe. Yet another example of Adam knowing the moment!

Mike Mielenhausen

A Guy Walks Into 32 Bars…

? and The Musicians

By The Numbers