Week 4: Taking a Chance on Love

    


    This week I listened to "Taking A Chance on Love" by Benny Goodman featuring Helen Forrest. The songs starts out with a loud, jazzy brass band. Then, the music falls into a slower, more relaxed groove where there is a sort of call and response between the clarinet and trumpet. When Helen Forrest comes in on the vocals, she has a crooning, swung style of singing that adds to the smooth jazz feeling of the song. I quite enjoy listening to her sing accompanied by the band. I think they go together nicely and make the song fun to listen to. There isn't much singing, but the few lyrics in the song are very positive, which was common for the songs during this time period. In the song, it says things like "I'm taking the game up and the ace of hearts is high" and "We'll have our happy ending now taking a chance on love". The song gives a bright outlook on the prospect of love rather than focusing on the possibility of heartbreak. After the vocals end, we get a nice clarinet solo by Benny Goodman. It is clear that he is very experienced at his instrument and his playing becomes a big part of the song. Although Jazz isn't something I normally listen to, I really enjoyed listening to "Taking A Chance On Love". It has a great sound and feeling to it that brightened my day.

Comments

  1. Jesse Mckenzie5 October 2020 at 16:20

    yes typos is an awesome song because if all the contrast aand things going on its a really busy song! but I really like it! this was an awesome song choice it includes alot og the topics we have covered in class!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ethan Sutton5 October 2020 at 18:35

    Loved this song! such a good emphasis on the jazzy brass band! The transition in speed and made a big difference on the tone and how the song is taken. The crooning is so good and goes well with the rest of the song! I like the perspective of the song that you point out!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 2: Deed I Do

Image
            This week, I listened to "Deed I Do" composed by Fred Rose and performed by Ruth Etting. The song starts out with a nice instrumental with a trumpet playing over the top. Ruth Etting comes in with soft, flowing vocals that, to me, embody the popular sound of singers in the 1920s. It is a very relaxed style of singing that greatly contrasts to that of Ethel Merman who sings with a lot more volume and power. One thing that surprised me when I looked up this song, it that it has been recorded by over 100 various artists since it's initial release in 1927 and has been remade as recently as 2016.   The song has a pleasant sound and feeling that I enjoy. It is the sort of song that I would want to be playing on the record player in my living room during the 1920s. "Deed Do I" repeats the same melody over a few times with varying words. Each of these verses are all very positive as the words talk about the woman's love interest who make...
Read more

Week 7: The Twist

Image
         For this weeks blog post, I listened to "The Twist" by Chubby Checker. This song was originally released in 1958 by Hank Ballard and was a moderate hit. However, when Chubby Checker covered the song in 1960, it reached number one twice. He performed his song on the the popular television dance show, American Bandstand where it was a big hit. Checker's version of "The Twist" sparked an entire dance craze in the sixties and other songs correlating to dances popped up such as "Let's Twist Again" and "Mashed Potato Time".      The song "The Twist" has a fun feeling that makes you want to dance. It has the early rick n' roll sound that I sort of associate with Elvis. There are background singers throughout the song forming a sort of barbershop quartet backing. In the middle of the song, there is a fun saxophone solo that really fits well with the rest of the song. The lyrics of the song also encourage dancing. The singe...
Read more