A Sample of Good Songs
Background: Sampling in music has been going on for years. Notably, songs such as “Ice, Ice Baby” (which sampled Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure”) and MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This” (which sampled Rick James’ “Superfreak”) came under fire for sampling without permission from the original artist. In this blog, rather than looking at the songs that sampled other songs, we will look at the songs that got sampled, and what makes them “sample-worthy.” The first two songs in this blog feature songs that were sampled melodically. I tried to stay away from lyrical interpolations, such as Hootie and the Blowfish’s interpolation of “Idiot Wind” by Bob Dylan in “I Only Wanna Be With You” or Taylor Swift’s interpolation of “I Saw” by Matt Nathanson in “All Too Well”. However, my second two songs I look at will focus on songs that have been melodically interpolated. Those may require you to listen as you read, in order to understand what I mean, so you do you!
“Genius of Love” by Tom Tom Club (Most notable samples: “Fantasy” by Mariah Carey and “Return of the Mack” by Mark Morrison)
Lyrically: “Genius of Love” is sung from the perspective of a young woman who has just gotten out of jail, and is reunited with her boyfriend. She says that she’s “In Heaven,” and “Dreaming but not sleeping” when she’s with her boyfriend, describing the angelic music she hears when she’s with him, the titular “Genius of Love”.
Melodically: Speaking of samples, the original song itself was inspired by the drum beat of the Zapp song, “More Bounce to the Ounce,” and is distinguished by its funky synthesizer and guitar parts, backed with bass and drums. Overall, the song is written in G major.
The main riff, played throughout the whole song, is built around the chords G and Em (the I and vi chords), but verse two shuffles between D, and Em, and G and Em (the V, vi, I, and vi). The interlude is G played for all four lines, and the bridge goes back to the G and Em main riff (the I and vi chords). The end of the last verse plays an extra D, rather than ending on the D and Em progression mentioned above.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, interlude, chorus, interlude, verse, bridge, chorus structure. The presence of the chorus and the bridge mix it up slightly from the main riff that gets played almost throughout the song. However, the chords themselves remain pretty much the same throughout, so what truly mixes up the structure is the change in cadence present as we listen. But overall, the structure and the transitions between parts are very smooth, which makes it easy to listen to. The simplicity of the transitions is what makes this song work as a listener, and also what makes it such an enticing song to sample. The song has been sampled or interpolated over 47 times since its release, including “Fantasy,” by Mariah Carey and Mark Morrison.
Whatcha gonna do when you get out of jail? You’re gonna listen to this song! You can find it embedded below, along with the two samples mentioned above.
2. “Are You My Woman? (Tell Me So)” by The Chi Lites (Sampled most notably in “Crazy in Love” by Beyonce featuring Jay-Z)
Lyrically: “Are You My Woman? (Tell Me So)” tells the classic tale of a man whose woman seems to have another man. But instead of taking it in the direction of Bill Withers’ “Who is He (And What is He to You?),” the singer of this song says he doesn’t even care about that, all he wants is two things:
They want the other man out of the picture
They want to know if she’s his woman or not
However, it seems as though he already knows the answer to question number two, and even if he doesn’t, it doesn’t matter, because she is no longer his. It hurts him, but he has to move on.
Melodically: The song uses C, Am, B, G, and E, and is written in the key of C major, but during the first chorus modulates to E major in the second part, before coming back to C major with the horn riff. It places a heavy emphasis on the funky electric guitar, bass, piano, and drums throughout the song, but perhaps the most notable instruments in the track are the horns. Especially on her album Renaissance, Beyonce put a heavy emphasis on African rhythms, and there is a lot of that in the Chi Lites song. However, the part to this song that Beyonce sampled in “Crazy in Love” (released 19 years before Renaissance), was the horn part, which appears throughout both songs. I’m not always a huge fan of songs that sample other songs, but Beyonce always does her research when it comes to these types of things, and I think she used the horns to tremendous effect.
Structurally: The song follows a verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus format. I often talk about knowing what is right for every song as you write it, and the structure of this song is great proof of that. It clocks in at about 3:00 minutes, and the premise is set up pretty quickly. As a result, none of the verses have to be too complex. In the pre-chorus, we already know how the guy is suffering, and can go right into the chorus. We don’t need a bridge to provide us with any new information, because we already know “(His) life will never be the same.”
Both “Are You My Woman” and “Crazy in Love” are embedded below.
3. “Float On” by Modest Mouse (notably interpolated for the chorus of Lupe Fiasco’s song, “The Show Goes On”)
Lyrically: “Float On” was described by lead singer and songwriter Isacc Brock as “A very conscious thing”. It was 2004 and a lot of people’s hopes were dashed due to the political climate, paired with the news of the actual climate being in peril, so the song was written as a kind of a beacon of hope in those dark times. It starts out saying, “I backed my car into a cop car the other day,” and both verses describe how dire his situation is. But the chorus’ conclusion is that “We’ll all float on.”
Melodically: The song is written in the key of F# major, with the capo on the 6th fret. (Hooray! High notes sound happy!) The intro uses F#, A#m, Badd9, and A#m, a I, iii, IV9, iii pattern, which gets played twice as an intro and gets repeated throughout the song. However, the last few times he sings the chorus, there are no instruments at all. Instrumentally, there is electric lead guitar, electric rhythm guitar, bass, drums, drum machines, and other percussion, including keyboards.
Structurally: “Float On” uses a verse, interlude, chorus, verse, interlude, chorus, outro format. The interesting thing about the narrative format of this song is his emotional constancy. It could have used a structure of “This bad thing happened, and I’m gonna tell you about it in a minor key,” then the chorus is positive. But the overall message is that whatever comes his way, he’ll float on and be fine. There’s never a doubt that he’ll do that, so keeping the tone positive throughout adds a layer of coolness and musical counterpoint to the fold.
On a personal note, this song always makes me think of Open Mic Night at Saint Mary’s University (my alma mater). This was one of the songs they always played while we cleaned up afterwards (the other one I remember was “Lisztomania” by Phoenix). This song is naturally a happy one, but thank you for giving me an added level of joy by letting me talk about it.
I have embedded “Float On” as well as “The Show Goes On,” for your listening pleasure.
4. “Dragostea Din Tei” by Ozone (Most notably interpolated by T.I. and Rihanna in T.I.’s song, “Live Your Life”)
Lyrically: The song, translated into English from its original language, Romanian, means “Words of Love,” and the first verse, which says, “Hello, Salute, it’s me, your Duke. And I made something that’s real to show you how I feel.” He also compares himself to Picasso, saying he will “Paint my words of love love with your name on every wall.” Conversely, in the chorus, he says that when she leaves, his “colors fade to gray.”
Melodically: Chord-wise, the song uses F, C, G, and Am (a IV, I, V, vi pattern) throughout the entirety of the song, and is played on synthesizers. As a whole, it is written in the key of C. The song is probably best known for its intro call of “Ma-ia-hii Ma-ia-huu Ma-ia-hoo Ma-ia-haha,” the cadence of which has risen to fame in two different contexts. First, pre-YouTube, Gary Brolsma went viral on EbaumsWorld with his dance and lip-synching to the original. Then, in 2008, T.I. and Rihanna used it in their song, “Live Your Life,” changing the lyrics, as you can hear below. Like many popular songs, it’s irresistibly catchy. The foreign lyrics, paired with the cadence of the letters, also make the song one easy to interpolate. But the original is absolutely gorgeous, lyrically.
Structurally: The song follows an intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, chorus, format. The intro and the bridge are the iconic “Ma-ia-hii Ma-ia-huu Ma-ia-hoo Ma-ia-haha,” and the chorus uses “Numa-Numai,” hence the nickname of Mr. Broisma as “The Numa Numa Guy”.
I have three songs embedded below. The first is the original “Dragostea Din Tei,” the second is “Live Your Life,” and the third is a YouTube link to relive the joy of The Numa Numa Guy.
