Despite what I said at the end of my last Favorites post, I’ve opted to swap in another topic for the sake of a trilogy.
The Rule of Three is a powerful lure. And while the general, you know, oomph — sorry ’bout the technical language — of the previous two entries in this series could hardly be more different, they still both involve songs. I’m closing out the unorthodox triad with a brief ode to Firefall’s classic 1976 earworm, “You Are the Woman”.
Now, I love it chiefly because it’s just a killer little pop tune, but its construction fascinates me.
Most songs that run around three minutes follow a fairly rigid format of verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge and/or instrumental pass, chorus. While you might get two verses before the first chorus, a repeat of the bridge (if any), or even more than one guitar or saxophone or — shout-out to the kinda skeevy but undeniably groovy “Moonlight Feels Right” — marimba solo, it’s a familiar structure that only ever varies slightly based on the song’s length or ambition.
“You Are the Woman” delightfully turns this structure on its head. The song leads off with the chorus. For that reason and, I believe, Rick Roberts’ infusion of the verses with the sort of winningly tangential feel that gives bridges their special quality, both verses therefore sound like bridges in a veritable force multiplier of cool. So we have chorus, bridge-like verse, chorus, bridge-like verse, chorus, guitar solo, actual bridge, and chorus with coda in an embarrassment of riches.
Although I play it often, by the way, every time I hear the song its tempo’s just a little bit slower than I remember it being.
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I think your analysis is spot-on. The verses absolutely do sound like bridges.
ReplyDeleteI've always thought it a bit funny when I read that at least some members of the band thought of "You Are the Woman" as this slow-rock albatross when they rocked in concert, since the only other single of theirs I can think of is "Just Remember I Love You" which, you know, is also a killer mellow pop song. Of course I don't know their whole oeuvre and I have bands I feel protectively towards or defensive of in that way. I'm actually gonna add them to my list of stuff to remember to check out now.