Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T12:09:00.467Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The singer and the song: core components in Jimmy Webb's ‘Didn't We’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2014

Thomas Robinson
Thomas Robinson*
Affiliation:
University of Alabama School of Music, Box 870366, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 E-mail: trobinson@music.ua.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the study of popular music, much attention is given to the cover version, a performance of a song filled with reference to and even commentary upon previous performances. Analysis of cover versions tends to reveal a lot about the performers and performances but very little about the work being performed. Because different versions of a song may vary widely, it is often difficult to determine what precisely is ‘the work’ in the first place, especially in the absence of a score. Using an original analytical apparatus, the pitch-prevalence contour, and using Jimmy Webb's ‘Didn't We’ as a case study, this essay attempts to quantify the ‘core components’ of a song, the parts of a song that are retained in most if not all of its versions. It is through the analysis of various performances, seeking similarities, that one is able to see the essence of the song revealed. What is more, isolating these components simultaneously brings the differences in the performances into greater relief. The methodology thus separates the singer and the song.

Type
Articles
Information
Popular Music , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , May 2014 , pp. 315 - 336
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Butler, M. 2003. ‘Taking it seriously: intertextuality and authenticity in two covers by the Pet Shop Boys’, Popular Music, 22/ 1, pp. 1–19Google Scholar
Cook, N. 1996. ‘Music minus one: rock, theory, and performance’, New Formations, 27, pp. 23–41Google Scholar
Cusic, D. 2005. ‘In defense of cover songs’, Popular Music and Society, 28/ 2, pp. 171–7Google Scholar
Forte, A. 1995. American Popular Ballad of the Golden Era (Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press)Google Scholar
Forte, A. 2001. Listening to American Songs (New Haven, CT, Yale University Press)Google Scholar
Griffiths, D. 2002. ‘Cover versions and the sound of identity in motion’, in Popular Music Studies, ed. Hesmondhalgh, D. and Negus, K. (London, Hodder & Stoughton), pp. 51–64Google Scholar
Headlam, D. 1995. ‘Does the song remain the same? Questions of authorship and identification in the music of Led Zeppelin’, in Concert Music, Rock, and Jazz, ed. Marvin, E.W. and Hermann, R. (New York, Rochester Press), pp. 316–63Google Scholar
King, C. 2012. A Natural Woman: A Memoir (New York, Grand Central Publishing)Google Scholar
Magee, J. 2000. ‘Irving Berlin's “Blue Skies”: ethnic affiliations and musical transformations’, Musical Quarterly, 84/ 4, pp. 537–80Google Scholar
Mosser, K. 2008. ‘“Cover songs”: ambiguity, multivalence, polysemy’, Popular Musicology Online, 2Google Scholar
Solis, G. 2010. ‘I did it my way: rock and the logic of covers’, Popular Music and Society, 33/ 3, pp. 297–318Google Scholar
Tagg, P. 1982. ‘Analysing popular music: theory, method, and practice’, in Reading Pop, ed. Middleton, R. (New York, Oxford University Press), pp. 71–103. [Originally published in 1982 in Popular Music, 2, pp. 32–75]Google Scholar
White, J.W. 1997. ‘Radio formats and the transformation of musical style: codes and cultural values in the remaking of tunes’, College Music Symposium, 37, pp. 1–12Google Scholar

Discography

Ammons, Gene, ‘Didn't We’. Brother Jug! Prestige, 2077922. 1970Google Scholar
Baron, Joey, ‘Alfie’. Great Jewish Music: Burt Bacharach. Tzadik, 7114-2. 1997Google Scholar
Feinstein, Michael, ‘Didn't We’. Only One Life: The Songs of Jimmy Webb. Concord Jazz, 2203. 2003Google Scholar
Harris, Richard, ‘Didn't We’. A Tramp Shining. MCA, 10780. 1968Google Scholar
Streisand, Barbra, ‘Didn't We’. Live Concert at the Forum. Columbia, 31760. 1972Google Scholar
Webb, Jimmy, ‘Didn't We’. Ten Easy Pieces. Guardian, 52826. 1996Google Scholar