Being from northern New Jersey, I often visit Hoboken, NJ the birthplace of Frank Sinatra. It is not uncommon to hear his music on a regular basis in the area. In "Nancy" Sinatra has taken a different approach to his music of the time with the performance. His voice is mellow and calm and is accompanied by an orchestra. The orchestra introduction leads to an anticipation with the ritardando in the tempo and then the lead in of Sinatra's voice. Also the waltz feel and swooping feel of the strings keeps the mood low key throughout. The song follows the typical Tin Pan Alley 32-bar AABA form since it was co-written by Tin Pan Alley writers.
"Mambo No. 5" displays the uncharacteristic style of music from the time with the Latino influence and feel. In the 1950s American listeners started to transition their listening to various styles. Many can say that this was the beginning of Latino influenced music. Also, you can hear the Afro-Cuban feel with hand percussion/drums, trumpets, and few vocals with the band chanting the words. This song has been recorded by many modern musicians and have remixed their own versions.
Jump Blues became popular in regards to having a touring schedule with money coming in and because of the war there were shortages so the leaders of big bands began to downsize. Smaller combos and groups formed mainly with a rhythm section and a horn or two (could possibly be more). One of the most successful jump bands were the Tympany Five, which was led by Louis Jordan. Louis Jordan was well-known by the black listeners and was James Brown's biggest influence. The Tympany Five was featured in a number of films. "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" sold over 2 million copies and topped the charts for 18 weeks and reached number seven on Billboard's pop hit list. The form is a series of verses in twelve-bar blues and alternated with an eight bar chorus.
Chuck Berry recorded "Maybellene" in 1955 and decided to go a different route. This song was nothing like anything else out there. Berry used different elements to put this song together. An upbeat tempo, vocals, rhythm and blues, prominence of a guitar are some of the items. When writing this, Berry put a few items into consideration. With his background of growing up with rhythm and blues styles he wanted to add other elements of something that was not done before. Berry knew country music, which he also connected with the appeal of the white people. With this, he had both whites and blacks hooked onto his music. The song is about a lovers' quarrel in the form of a car chase.
"Long Tall Sally" is one of those fun songs. Right off the first note it is uptempo and energizing. Little Richard is aggressive in singing the vocals and having the energy throughout. I can see myself dancing to this song and the saxophone solo in the middle is a nice break of vocals while still keeping the structure and energy of the piece. This was also built on a 12-bar blues, while having the rock' n' roll feel and vibe to it.
"Don't Be Cruel" hooks the listener right from the beginning with the opening guitar riff. The next thing is with the vocals the back-up vocals are very percussive and enticing. Elivs' voice is very distinctive because of a few reasons. He had a blues type of voice, a 'regional' accent, an effect, which is called hiccuping. This is also when reverb was being introduced and can be heard within the guitar, and also the chorus like back-up vocals in the bop-bop and oohs and aahs. Most of "Don't Be Cruel is based off of a 12-bar blues but also has an addition of an extension, which includes 6 more bars. The strong influence of blues is also heard on the strong back-beat.
"Charlie Brown" is a fun song that tells a story. As it describes it is about that kid in the class that always wants to be the clown. When they get pinned on being it, they want to know why they are always being picked on. his is high energy and is in a sense a 'spoof' type of song that still is around today. Songs are still made just like this one.
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