GCSE Music Area of Study 4 Set Work 2 Since You’ve Been Gone Russ Ballard (Performed by Rainbow) Work Booklet Name: Target Grade: 2 Contents Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………… 4 Context ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 5 Structure …………………………………………………………………………………….. 6 Band Members …………………………………………………………………………….. 7 The 3 T’s ………………………………………………………………………………………. 8 Lyrics ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 9 In Depth Analysis Intro bars 1-4 …………………………………………………………………………. 10 Intro bars 5-10 ……………………………………………………………………….. 11 Verse 1 ……………………………………………………………………………………. 12 Pre-chorus 1 ……………………………………………………………………………. 13 Chorus 1 ………………………………………………………………………………….. 14 Verse 2, Pre-chorus 2, Chorus 2 ……………………………………………….. 15 Bridge ……………………………………………………………………………………… 16 Chorus 3 ………………………………………………………………………………….. 18 Outro ………………………………………………………………………………………. 20 3 4 Context Rainbow was a Rock Band formed in 1975 by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore (formerly of Deep Purple) The band had a number of different members before they recorded their album ‘Down to Earth’ in April 1979. This album featured the hit song ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ which is one of our GCSE Set Works. The album was an instant success, selling 120,000 copies in the UK in its first week of release. ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ reached number 6 in the UK singles charts. Since You’ve Been Gone Composed by Russ Ballard Performed by Rainbow Recorded in 1979 5 Structure Listen to ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ and complete the table below to show the structure of the song. Intro Pre-chorus Outro Instruments Name all of the instruments you can hear in the song: 6 Band Members The musicians performing in Rainbow’s version of ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ were as follows: Name Role Graham Bonnet Vocals/backing vocals Ritchie Blackmore Guitars Don Airey Keyboards Roger Glover Bass/percussion Cozy Powell Drumkit 7 The 3 T’s (Tempo, Texture, Tonality) Tempo In the score stipulated by the exam board, the words ‘Moderately bright Rock beat’ are written at the beginning of the music. These words can therefore be used to describe the tempo if you are asked to do so in the exam. Alternatively, you could also say that the tempo is around 120bpm (beats per minute) Texture Throughout this song, the texture can be described as: Homophonic/melody and accompaniment It is described as homophonic because rhythmically the parts are generally moving at the same time as each other. It is also described as melody and accompaniment because there is obviously a main melody (the vocal line) which is the the most important part. The other in- struments are accompanying that melody. ** For more help with texture refer to the knowledge organiser in your folder** Tonality The tonality of the piece is major throughout. The key of the piece is G major There is a modulationinto A major for the final chorus. This technique of modulating up a tone for the last chorus is very common in popular music. 8 Since You’ve Been Gone I get the same old dreams same time every night Fall to the ground and I wake up So I get out of bed, put on my shoes and in my head Thoughts fly back to the breakup These four wall are closing in Look at the fix you put me in Since you been gone Since you been gone I'm out of my head can't take it Could I be wrong But since you been gone You cast your spell so break it Oh oh, oh oh, oh oh Since you been gone So in the night I stand beneath the backstreet light I read the words that you sent to me I can take the afternoon, the night time comes around too soon You can't know what you mean to me Your poison letter, your telegram Just goes to show you don't give a damn Since you been gone Since you been gone I'm out of my head can't take it Could I be wrong But since you been gone You cast your spell so break it Oh oh, oh oh, oh oh Since you been gone If you will come back Baby, you know you'll never do wrong Since you been gone Since you been gone I'm out of my head can't take it Could I be wrong But since you been gone You cast your spell so break it Oh oh, oh oh, oh oh, oh oh Ever since you been gone 9 In-depth Analysis Intro (Bars 1-10) Bars 1-4 Begins with famous four bar riff which mixes on and off-beat quavers and includes some syncopation from bar 33- 42 The riff is played by the electric guitar using distortion The keyboard very faintly doubles the guitar in the background— it is barely audible The chord sequence is very simple: G D Em C G D Em C D I V vi IV I V vi IV V All of the chords are played in root position With the exception of both G chords and the first D chord, all of the other chords are power chords Root position When the ‘key note’ is the low- Vocabulary est note in the chord e.g. in G the lowest note would be G. Riff A short repeated musical phrase Power Chord A guitar chord that only con- tains the root and the fifth note Syncopation ‘Off-beat’ rhythms of a chord. (Usually chords have the root, the third and the fifth). Distortion An effect on a guitar which creates a ‘fuzzy’ or ‘growling’ sound Often the root will be doubled up or down an octave. Doubles When an instrument plays exactly the same part as another, they are Power chords are often written ‘doubling’ that part with a 5 e.g. G5 Em5 etc. 10 Intro continued Bars 5-10 At the end of bar 4 there is a descending glissando on the bass guitar as well as a single hit of the snare drum on bar 44 The whole band joins in on beat 1 of bar 5 playing the same chordal riff. The keyboard doubles the guitar part The bass guitar plays the root notes of the riff, an octave lower The drum part is extremely simple. The tambourine plays semiquavers There are handclaps on every beat There is a change of time signature at bar 8 to 2/4 The time signature returns to the usual 4/4 one bar later In bar 9 there is a long, sustained D chord which is held for two bars (8 beats) This is an imperfect cadence (Chord I to Chord V) The drums and hand claps stop Over the sustained chord, there are two layers of backing vocals singing the word “Woah” Vocabulary Glissando A slide up or down a series of notes Imperfect Chord I to Chord V See Knowledge Organ- Cadence iser for more detail. The vocals are a combination of step-wise/ conjunct movement and an arpeggio of D7 Arpeggio A broken chord 11 Verse 1 Bars 11-18 The verse consists of two musically identical 4-bar phrases with chord changes every two beats. Bar 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Chord G D/F# Em D6 C G/B A D Instrument Role Vocal The lead vocal starts on a G (the tonic), and sings a descending stepwise line that follows a G major scale in bars 11 and 12, before breaking free in bars 13 and 14 The setting of the words is syllabic throughout the verses Each short phrase starts on an off-beat and is syncopated It is very common in pop and rock for vocal lines to follow the rhythms of speech Guitars Plays ascending arpeggios, without distortion, using an effect called Chorus instead A second guitar part (with distortion) plays supporting minims Keyboard Plays quavers throughout, using inverted chords and following the chord pattern almost exactly (e.g. in bar 14, it follows the bass by moving to the D chord a quaver before beat 3) Bass Plays the roots of the chords, usually on the beat Uses a mixture of dotted rhythms and minims, with occasional quaver patterns for decoration EXCEPT in bars 11 and 13 where it plays the 3rd of the chords on beat 3—this allows the bass line to descend in stepwise motion, down a G major scale Drums and A very simple two crotchet fill-in leads into the verse The drums then play a very simple rock beat Percussion The tambourine plays on beats 2 and 4 with additional quavers in bars 14 and 18 12 Pre-Chorus Bars 19-22 This is a short, 4 bar passage that precedes the Chorus Harmony Instead of resolving back to Chord I at the end of the verse, the dominant chord resolves up- wards to Eb major and F major, the flattened 6th and 7th in the key of G major. These are very common in rock music. In bar 22 the chord Am7(b5) is used. This is also known as a ‘half-diminished’ chord which are common in Jazz and Musical Theatre but not in Rock music The harmonic rhythm (the speed at which the chords change) has now halved to once per bar Bar 19 20 21 22 Chord Eb F Eb F/A Cm7 D Instrument Role Vocal The voice sings two 2-bar phrases that could be described as a sequence if we ignore the slight changes of rhythm to fit the lyrics The phrases are syllabic In bars 21 and 22 we hear the highest note of the song so far—a top C. Guitars The guitar adds an effect called flanger Joins the bass guitar and left-hand of the keyboard in resting for 4 1/2 beats and then playing a syncopated pattern.