An Analysis of Old St. Louie
Author: Neil Watkins (but a lot of material from the TAP stream,
HC 2004). If I've missed anything out or got anything wrong, the mistakes
are all mine.
Rhythm
Obviously 12/8 (indicated by the shorthand at the top). So, a slow (as
suggested by the lyric) swing with stress mostly on the second beat of
the bar (but that may vary as we shall see). A strong 4/4 with the triplet
sub-beats. There may be opportunity to break this rhythm but it would
have to be a good reason!
Melody
The melody rises and falls quite naturally, creating a soothing effect
reminiscent of the waves on the river. This could be mirrored to good
effect with dynamic variation. There is some conflict between lyric and
melody as in bar 6 - a soft sweet - where the melody is rising. But mostly
the lyric and melody fit well together.
Lyric
The singer is a man ("you gateway woman") who is getting on in years.
St Louis is his home, always has been, always will be ("no shiny new city's
gonna take me from you"). He's lived here man and boy, ever since the
Fair anyway. (The fair could be a reference to any old fair but I believe
it to be the St Louis fair of 1904 which celebrated the centenary of the
Louisana Purchase and was an excuse for a lot of new building, exhibits
from all over the world and also, the 1904 Olympic Games. There is a neat
website that will give you a flavour of the times at http://www.crawforddirect.com/worldfairtour.htm)
The singer would have been a boy in 1904 and you can imagine his wonder
at the Exhibitions, the hoards of people, the river teeming with boats,
all with their own bands playing the music of the day - ragtime (9 of
the top ten hits in 1904 were The Something Or Other Rag). No wonder the
memory is so strong.
The lyric divides the song into three parts.
- First, we have a simple statement of the present day. He's sitting
by the river, in the evening, watching the sun go down, listening
to the sounds of the city as they roll over him.
- Secondly, he slips into a reverie about the past. He remembers
his boyhood of 1904. He can almost see the boats carrying their cargoes
and the others with their ragtime bands and their music floatin' over
the river. Presumably they were peopled by all kinds, fancy ladies,
snappy gents, card sharps, low lifes. He recalls the gaslights and
the narrow streets.
- Thirdly, he comes back to the present and makes an unambiguous
declaration of love. This is his home, nowhere else will steal his
heart, shiny or not!
There is lots of scope in the lyric for variety of treatment, dynamics
and, perhaps especially, vocal colour.
Harmony
The harmonic pattern in the verse is I - III7 - VIm - (III7) - VI7 -
II7 - V7 - I. A good solid circle of fifths variety.
In the middle eight it's IV - III7 - VIm - II7 followed by IV - IVm
6 - I - VI7 - II7 - V7. It just keeps on going round the circle! In bar
22 there is an 'illegal' chord, IVmM7, which it is suggested you change
for contest. It's shame to change it because the chord that's written
is the 'right' one for the song but foxy MUS judges might twitch a bit.
It is important to establish the 'harmonic pillars', by which I mean
those places where the harmony could have gone anywhere. For this reason
the III7 chords in bars 2 and 18 are especially important. (The same chords
in similar places are not quite so important because the 'surprise' element
has gone). I might ask the tenor in bar 2 and bari in bar 18 to lean on
those 3rds a little bit (because it is the 3rd that gives the chord it's
character and also it is not in the diatonic scale). The rest of the harmony
follows predictable circle of fifths patterns so, once the surprise has
occurred, the rest just follows naturally.
Structure and Form
The overall structure is A A B A tag. Not particularly exciting but that's
ok. A problem to be overcome in performance is the lack of a verse or
intro to set the thing up, you just launch straight into it. This demands
good preparation visually from the chorus and from the director (appropriate
posture, preparatory move, speed of movement etc.), so that the audience
know what's going to happen before it happens!
General Performance notes
Good preparation is the key to getting a handle on it from the start.
Despite the required back beat feel, a strong downbeat is needed at the
beginning to establish the 4/4 feel.
Bar 2 will probably have a downbeat feel too with the tenor leaning on
the C# a bit.
From bar 3, lay back into a smooth, almost unstressed delivery. Get it
in the groove. Take care with bar 6 where the lyric and melody conflict
somewhat. "Sweet" is a good opportunity for back beat stress. The first
note in bar 8 will fall on the last beat of a triplet and it's not easy
to get precision on it unless the triplet feel has been well established
by now.
From bar 9 continue unstressed but is a good opportunity to change something
- e.g. vocal colour. (He has slipped into his reverie now). In bar 12,
"still" is a good place for back beat stress.
Bar 14 - the word "cool". We feel that this means more than just 'not
warm'. It is also being used in the jazz sense of the word, echoing the
memory of ragtime melodies floating across the river. It needs an extra
little touch.
Bar 15 onwards. There are opportunities for back beat stress but probably
it is best delivered smooth, trying to echo the slow ebb and flow of the
river and the smoothness of the boats floating through the night.
Bar 21 onwards. If we are to break the rhythm and deliver this freely,
we need to know why, otherwise leave it alone. Lyrically, he is coming
to the end of his reverie here and slowing it down might help to make
that point and provide some contrast with the following lines where he
becomes much more pro-active. However, the same effect could probably
be achieved with dynamics and vocal colour and a slight placement pause
before "lane".
Bar 24. The bass pick-up needs sensitive handling and a crisp triplet
otherwise it will be just another bass pick-up!
Bar 25 onwards. This is really screaming for a different vocal treatment
(colour). He is no longer watching the world go by or dreaming about yesterday
- he is making a positive statement about the future. The 'woman' is just
a way of referring to the city - it's not a real woman.
Bar 26 - the word "No". Because this word is so important (if you don't
get it, the whole meaning is changed), we feel that it needs stressing
with, probably, a push beat feel to it (so you don't hit it on beat 4
but on the last triplet beat of beat 3).
Bar 30 - good opportunity to re-establish the back beat stress on "St".
Bar 31 onwards - general agreement that the tag can become a bit of a
dog's dinner unless well handled. Leads are singing harmony from the end
of bar 31. The tenor 'trill' in bar 32 is a decoration, not a great big
hairy deal and it works best if handled like that. If the tag gets too
slow, the whole idea of his affirmation is lost and it sinks into a bunch
of chords (or not, if not well tuned). Our 'story' at this point has him
getting up and crossing the levee to rejoin the human race and go home.
The sun has gone down and the night crowd is coming out to play. He doesn't
want to be a part of that. This is his parting gesture to the river, to
the city, to his memories.
Directing Skills
Obviously, if you go along with any of this, much of it would be trained
into the chorus during rehearsal. However, there are skills that would
shorten the learning time and be invaluable in performance.
- Because of the predominantly rhythmic nature of the song, a familiarity
with a 4/4 pattern is invaluable.
- In addition to the pattern, the ability to indicate the difference
between a down-beat stress and a back-beat stress would be very useful
and the ability to remember and show when it changes.
- Because it is slow swing, the ability to indicate smoothness of
delivery while keeping a handle on the pattern. The director can certainly
slip in and out of the pattern when necessary, but a smoothness in
the pattern would be good.
- There are lots of opportunities in the song for dynamic variation,
even if it only follows and echoes the shape of the melodic line.
Ability to show dynamic variation on an almost continuous basis, then,
would be good.
- The slow swing and extended notes at the ends of the phrases requires
excellent support and energy from the singers. Ability to indicate
that in a directing gesture would be good.
- Vocal colour is a difficult thing to deal with without training
it in but there are things the director can do which will affect it.
Even just the way the fingers are used will serve as a reminder to
the singers.
- Posture, facial expression and eye focus (or lack of it) will help
a lot to establish the different character of the three sections of
the song.
Hey, ho! There ya go.
Neil
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