Popular Song

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SONGWRITER

La Gota Fría: vallenato music masterpiece refashioned by Carlos Vives

La Gota Fría is one of the best-known examples of the vallenato genre that originated in the early 19th century in the...
SONGWRITER

Hasta Mañana: the origins of the best ABBA ballad

Hasta Mañana, an ABBA ballad released on their 1974 Waterloo album never quite managed to reach the top of international...
SONGWRITER

Harry Hippie: Bobby Womack's recollection of his brother tragic death

Harry Hippie is one of the best-known songs released by Bobby Womack who, throughout his sixty-year long career, has...
SONGWRITER

Mambo Italiano: Bob Merrill's meaningless lyrics composed on restaurant napkin

Mambo Italiano is a timeless hit in the mambo genre written by American songwriter Bob Merrill in the 1950s on a...
SONGWRITER

Muskrat Love: the polarizing song of America

Muskrat Love is a sweet and slightly strange song about a romantic relationship between two anthropomorphic muskrats,...
SONGWRITER

Makin' Whoopee: cautionary song warning against the trappings of marriage

Makin' Whoopee is an ironic song describing the successive transformation of the relationship between two lovers from...
Music Theory

6 songs combining harmonic minor and Aeolian mode

The polyphonic structure of Western classical music distinguishes it from other musical traditions such as Indian...
SONGWRITER

Livin' la Vida Loca: why is Ricky Martin's best song so catchy?

Livin' la Vida Loca is likely one of the best-known tracks in the entire repertoire of the Puerto Rican...
SONGWRITER

Three Little Fishies: origin of the cautionary children's song

Three Little Fishies is a well-known novelty song with cautionary tale lyrics that was first recorded by the Hal Kemp... 1 comment
SONGWRITER

Cali Pachanguero: meaning behind essential Colombian salsa by Jairo Varela

Cali Pachanguero is one of the best-known salsa songs that played a big part in the rising popularity of Colombian dance...
SONGWRITER

Ferry Cross the Mersey: Merseybeat classic arranged by the Fifth Beatle

Ferry Cross the Mersey is the best-known track of the Liverpool rock band Gerry and the Pacemakers released in the...
SONGWRITER

Oye Como Va: meaning and origin of the best-known cha-cha-chá song

Oye Como Va is one of the best-known cha-cha-chá songs, owing its unfading popularity to Carlos Santana who recorded his...
SONGWRITER

La Bamba: meaning and tragedy behind the best-known son jarocho

The widely known La Bamba epitomizes one of the most striking examples of the ways in which an old folk tune could be...
Music Theory

6 songs to unpack Ionian mode and the major scale

The polyphonic aspects of Western classical music distinguish it from other musical traditions such as Indian Сlassic...
SONGWRITER

El Manisero: essential rumba song behind Caribbean music world expasion

El Manisero or The Peanut Vendor is an essential rumba song written circa 1928 by the leading Cuban composer Moisés...
SONGWRITER

Caldonia: the song that spawned the term rock and roll

Caldonia is a 1945 song released by Louis Jordan, an American songwriter and saxophonist whose popularity in the 1940s...
SONGWRITER

Mairzy Doats lyrics inspired by 15th century nursery rhyme

Mairzy Doats is a notable nursery rhyme song written in the 1940s when parody and humor songs were in high demand. The...
FILM

Dum Maro Dum: psychedelic Hindi lyrics in Western arrangement that influenced generations

Dum Maro Dum is a popular Hindi song written by Anand Bakshi and composed by Rahul Dev Burman for the 1971 Bollywood...
SONGWRITER

Wabash Cannonball: the ballad of the railway Flying Dutchman

Wabash Cannonball, also known as The Great Rock Island Route, is an influential American folk song the first known...
Poetry

Guantanamera: meaning and origin of the Cuban song

Guantanamera means a woman from Guantánamo, the Cuban city that gives the song its title. The word is a demonym—a name...
SONGWRITER

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy: the reveille that defined a generation

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy is an iconic World War II tune written by Don Raye and Hughie Prince for the military musical...
Music Theory

Authentic cadence exemplified by The Beatles songs

In theory, a cadence refers to a harmonic turnaround that appears at the end of a musical phrase, and the role it plays...
SONGWRITER

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida: Iron Butterfly's longest song anticipated metal genres

Released in 1968 by the American psychedelic rock band Iron Butterfly, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida remains to be one of the most... 3 comments
SONGWRITER

Minnie the Moocher: essential step in the history of scat singing by Cab Calloway

Minnie the Moocher is an iconic jazz composition showcasing essential examples of scat singing—a vocal technique for...
Music Theory

8 songs to introduce Aeolian mode and natural minor scale

Over the past centuries, the composition of polyphonic music has been primarily focused on seven diatonic scales...
SONGWRITER

Foxey Lady and the Hendrix chord

Foxey Lady is one of the most distinctive Jimi Hendrix live songs played by him at almost every gig starting in 1967....
SONGWRITER

Taking off with Pistol Packin' Mama

Pistol Packin 'Mama is a fast-paced upbeat song with humorous albeit somewhat silly lyrics that became a hit in the...
Music Theory

5 songs featuring Dorian mode

Out of all seven diatonic scales, the major and minor scales have been the two most prevalent in Western music...
Music Theory

Popular songs using Lydian mode

In Western music, the vast majority of classical compositions and popular songs are written using only two diatonic... 6 comments
SYNTHESIZER

Plainsong: The Cure's psychedelic liturgy on the edge of the world

Plainsong is the opening track of the album Disintegration released in 1989 by the English rock band The Cure. The...

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