Unchained Melody: A Timeless Love Song Inspired by a Prison Movie - Research Paper

Introduction

Most songs produced always have a background history that inspired their composition. "Unchained Melody" by The Righteous Brothers was written in 1955 by Alex North and Hy Zaret. This love song was as a result of a prison film movie, and the composers focused on an individual who yearns for a lover he has not seen in a "long, lonely time." The best version of this love song was recorded by The Righteous Brothers in 1965 and performed by Bobby Hatfield as the lead vocalist.

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"With or without you" by U2 is a song that depicts emotional dilemma that humans go through. Songwriter, Bono, confesses that the song is about his struggles to reconcile his responsibilities as a married man and as a musician. The songwriter is also worried about the media and the fact that his openness can destroy the band. It is a 1980 song.

Al Green wrote the lyrics to the love song "Let's Stay Together, while Al Jackson Jr. wrote the music. This love song is all about unconditional love in which lovers are brave to be together through good and bad times. Many people play it during their wedding. This song composed in 1972 became a hit in the UK and USA.

In 1992, Whitney Houston recorded the song "I Will Always Love You" to be featured in the movie "The Bodyguard" in which she starred in with Kevin Costner. The song was a pop, soul, and contemporary hit. The song has sad lyrics. The singer will always be in love with someone she is singing to, yet she is aware that they will never be together and just let go. The song was written by Dolly Parton in 1974.

The song, "Crazy in Love" recorded in 2003 by Beyonce features Jay-Z. The star of this song musically is the horns sampled from the 1970 Chi Lites track, "Are You My Woman (Tell Me So)." The song talks about the things people do that are out of character simply because they are falling in love and they don't mind.

The essential elements of music include rhythm, melody, harmony, form, and timbre. Rhythm measures movement and gives motion to harmony and melody (Biasutti & Frezza, 2009). Music is an organized sound and silence. Therefore rhythmic notation can be said to be an equivalent of notes and silences or rests and is produced by the use of different note and rest values. A steady recurring pulse is called the beat in music. The organization of rhythms is known as the meter.

Melody is like the tune. It is what a person can sing or hum along as the song plays. Harmony can be said to be the chordal structure in the elements. The songs above used these essential elements to enhance the aesthetic value to them. The above songs were successful as they topped the charts in the United States of America and the United Kingdom. The singers became celebrities as the songs played on-air and people related to them. These songs feature in many movies. The application of these concepts in the production of the songs over the decades has revolutionized the music industry (Michalski Jr., 1971).

There are various types and style of music that range from traditional rock music to world pop, easy listening, and R&B. Most song styles have rich backgrounds or geographical importance, an out of the ordinary following or musical roots that can be traced back beyond the twentieth century. Some of the music genres include rock, reggae, R&B (Soul), pop, jazz, hip-hop (rap), country, classical, and blues, among others (Borthwick & Moy, 2004).

Most of the mentioned love songs above fall under the genre of R&B and blues. "Crazy in Love" by Beyonce featuring Jay-Z has a bit of rap from singer Jay-Z. The artists added flavor into their music by being creative, innovative, and energetic. They reinvented the older versions of most of the songs endearing them to their fan base and ensuring that the song came out as unique and pleasant to the ears of the listeners (Lena & Peterson, 2008).

It is not difficult to note the evolution of music genres and styles over the decades. Many famous artists and musical bands have contributed to the revolution of the music industry (Cross & Morley, 2009). In the 1950s there was the creation of rock 'n' roll type of music. In the 1960s, there was racial integration in music and the introduction of the music video. Rock music became famous in the 1970s with the fans entertained with aggressive displays in the song lyrics and performances.

Music Television (MTV) came into play in the 1980s in which video music played on TVs. Hip-hop music also thrived from this era further influencing the music industry. The 1990s had several genres of music coming up, and young artists became celebrities. The advancement of technology has enhanced the music industry since the 2000s through the introduction of the internet that significantly improved communication (Warner, 2017).

The sampled songs above over the decades shows the changing trends in the music industry as some of the songs written years back were later recorded in different genre and style by the singers. For example, the song by Whitney Houston, "I Will Always Love You," had previously been sung by Dolly Parton. Houston however, created a new version of the song enhancing its aesthetic value.

References

Biasutti, M., & Frezza, L. (2009). Dimensions of music improvisation. Creativity Research Journal, 21(2-3), 232-242.

Borthwick, S., & Moy, R. (2004). Popular music genres. An Introduction, 24, 95.

Cross, I., & Morley, I. (2009). The evolution of music: Theories, definitions and the nature of the evidence. Communicative musicality: Exploring the basis of human companionship, 61-81.

Lena, J. C., & Peterson, R. A. (2008). Classification as culture: Types and trajectories of music genres. American sociological review, 73(5), 697-718.

Michalski Jr, S. F. (1971). Development and evaluation of a visual-aural program in conceptual understanding of the basic elements of music. Journal of Research in Music Education, 19(1), 92-97.

Warner, T. (2017). Pop music-technology and creativity: Trevor Horn and the digital revolution. Routledge.