Thinking about a Few Particular Songs which were Hits and Continued to be Popular - Essay Example

Discuss why you think a few particular songs were hits and continued to be popular. Is it because of their lyrics or music? Do they have a certain resonance with the culture of the time? Are they associated with any particular famous performers? To this day, the songs “Over the Rainbow”, “My Funny Valentine”, and “The Lady is a Tramp” may still be heard and delighted in despite the million modern pop songs of various genres that dominate the airwaves. On one hand, it appears that “Over the Rainbow”, which first aired via “The Wizard of Oz” film in the late 1930s, has been popular to children through decades as the fairy tale story attached to it lives on while the show tunes “My Funny Valentine” and “The Lady is a Tramp” have had their times of flourishing within the jazz industry to become standards, whereby, several acclaimed jazz artists rendered alternative versions of the songs. Based on what and how these songs were popularized by, some may claim that they have endured due to people with consistent taste or fondness for such music whereas some others may naturally observe that the songs linger, being in profound association to both the culture and the artists whose encompassing influences have taken the songs along to echo down the generations. In my personal experience as a music lover, I recognize being drawn to the quality of a song on the basis of the lyrics constituting it as well as the compatibility of the lyrical content to the song’s rhythm and the manner by which both match and deliver the theme of the cultural setting that identifies it. To me, MGM’s “The Wizard of Oz”(1939) would not have been most stunning were it not for the musical score which enhanced the colourful and enchanting appeal of the film when Judy Garland sang “Over the Rainbow” in a level of graceful performance that made our world preserve its memory (Shoard). The song, apparently, is Garland’s trademark not merely as Dorothy Gale, but even as an actor who has since been identified with it so that her career blossomed to heights as she continued to share it through the passing ages, tingling the child in every listener. My own childhood was over half a century far from the time “Over the Rainbow” was born yet something about the trait of the song feels I am home with the lyrics and makes me understand it all throughout that I can sing the piece to the utmost tune I suppose the composers originally intended it to be. Children, in truth, often possess remarkable imagination and we know that when it comes to rainbows, no matter how peculiar and wild one child’s capacity is to visualize it compared to that of another, the experience ought to be a joyful one, by all means. Seemingly, “Over the Rainbow” resonates majority of the rainbow songs typically occupying the cares of our tender stubborn youth. Moreover, ‘somewhere’ in the line adds to the wonder of the song – a factor that alludes the idea of hope and yearning for something far better or happier in terms of peace and economic prosperity, especially since the song’s birth came around the period of war, at least prior to World War II. As I look into this aspect of world history, in relation to the song, I could feel an overwhelming sense of relevance, thinking of the tragic fate of the nations involved as people must have tried too desperately to be relieved of fears and all sorts of inner struggle that befell their lives. What kind of music could be playing in their heads amidst the bombings and the killings ‘somewhere’? Nothing but singing thoughts most likely in order to drive away tormenting thoughts with the beauty of a rainbow vivified by the dramatic meaningfulness of the words in the song. As a timeless classic that created Garland’s legacy, “Over the Rainbow” strives to capture more hearts and bring them to childlike realm of dreaming as before through versions by the late Israel “Iz” Kamakawiwo’ole, Kylie Minogue, and Eva Cassidy, among others. Composed by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart for the production of the musical “Babes in Arms”, the show piece “My Funny Valentine” achieved no spot as public hit until the jazz era of the mid-50s where well-known jazz musicians such as Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, and Chet Baker popularized the tune by recording a number of equally charming instrumental renditions, utilizing trumpet, alto sax, piano, and vocals designed to blend together in a fashion that established the song’s identity (Cunniffe). I particularly recall separate occasions of hearing Andy Williams and Frank Sinatra sing “My Funny Valentine” in suave voices and delicious manly style of humming the rhythm which felt like cool breeze of romantic spirit. Somehow, it occurs that all jazz artists, vocalists and instrumentalists alike, could not afford to fail on meticulously working with a range of horns and vocals to pull off the characteristic beat, tempo, and melodies that altogether distinguish the song above the rest. I believe this essentially justifies why “My Funny Valentine” attained its rightful fame, for the musicians who had brought it across with a balanced amount of shivers and sophistication. The way I perceive it, the song can be thought of as an artwork that had obtained its distinct charisma through the black struggle that refined the scheming of its sound and shape. Jazz, apart from the normal synthesis of a musical genre, had its complex and painful roots from a long-term battle of the blacks against social injustice. Within a period that spanned from the 50s to the 70s of the previous century, civil rights movement could be sensed to helped encourage spontaneous appreciation toward jazz and soul music, dating back from the Harlem Renaissance in which black artistry in literature and music prevailed as a means of combatting socio-political injustice upon the colored race. One who would constantly tune in to jazz may observe how the notes are conveyed with excruciating intensities of love, anguish, passion, and worship to comprise what we know at certain depth to be jazz rhythms. By the lines “Your looks are laughable, un-photographable … Is your figure less than Greek? / Is your mouth a little weak? / When you open it to speak, are you smart?” (LyricsFreak), we may find convenience to judge beyond doubt that the song has uniqueness in clever form – one that instantly earns approval of an audience with such fine taste. Upon discovery of Ella Fitzgerald’s own take of “My Funny Valentine”, I have become quite convinced about the potential of the black culture in reference to the approach of enabling jazz create powerful elegance on such a piece that could have otherwise been just another plain and predictable love song. As one other popular standard that originated via Rodgers and Hart’s huge theatrical project, “The Lady is a Tramp” proves its worth of unfading existence since the late 30s when the jazz culture engaged it with world class musical groups and solos. It had ridden along the road of success for Sinatra, being one of his signature hits that survived both him and Fitzgerald whose total performances struck across continents so that there is no way the song would ever be forgotten from the face of music history, especially in the light of recollecting the theme which depicted the realities of urban life in New York society during the early part of the 20th century. Having found that Shirley Bassey and Tony Bennett further executed “The Lady is a Tramp” with individual styles of exquisite melodic attempts, I am led to figure some confidence behind why the song could last a couple of lifetimes. Besides the fact that jazzists bore significant contribution on promoting “The Lady is a Tramp”, I suppose the intellectual substance of the lyrics sustains its perpetual appeal to the public. Honestly, it looks like a type of song that takes a great deal of time to inspire most people in this age of technology yet reflects a sort of genius that we may not wholly disregard from merely deciding whether or not it would be competitive or capable of generating revenues for the current state of music industry. The core subject of the song, I think, still applies to the present view of the middle class and the elite of even the non-American high societies. If there is real solid value to acquire from the song, that might probably be to picture a ‘tramp’ as common among us in a situation where we recognize deep crisis in weariness on account of large material concerns. Singing to the upbeat mocking jazzy tune “She doesn’t like crab cakes with barons and earls / Won’t go to Harlem in ermine and pearls / And I definitely won’t dish our dirt with the rest of those girls / That’s why the lady is a tramp!” (MetroLyrics), I can relate to the implication that not everyone in the upper class is likeminded in terms of priorities and principles about how life must be lived. A lady who, with rebellious nature, goes against the norms and liberates herself as much as would be noticed by the gossiping eyes and ears is, in truth, celebrated in a repulsive label according to the song. Works Cited Shoard, Catherine. “The Wizard of Oz: 71 Facts for the Film’s 71st Birthday.” theguardian. 12 Aug 2010. Web. 24 Oct 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/aug/12/the-wizard-of-oz-google-doodle. Cunniffe, Thomas. “The Dozens: My Funny Valentine.” jazz.com. 2014. Web. 25 Oct 2014. http://www.jazz.com/dozens/the-dozens-my-funny-valentine. LyricsFreak. “My Funny Valentine (Lyrics).” LyricsFreak. 2014. Web. 26 Oct 2014. http://www.lyricsfreak.com/e/ella+fitzgerald/my+funny+valentine_20045842.html. MetroLyrics. “The Lady is a Tramp (Lyrics).” CBS Interactive Inc. 2013. Web. 26 Oct 2014. http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-lady-is-a-tramp-lyrics-tony-bennett.html. Read More