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"Here's That Rainy Day" by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke

"Here's That Rainy Day" by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke
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I am honored to be authoring a new column for All About Jazz revolving around the question, "What makes a song a standard?." Surely there are as many answers to that rhetorical question as there are scholars having opinions about it. My charge, as I accept it, is to provide some analysis of chords, melody, lyrics and overall gestalt of recognized jazz standards. Over time, my deconstruction of these songs will hopefully lead to a greater understanding of some timeless works of art, proffering support for why the songs have endured.

Some "standards" may have obtained the title in certain circles based, in part, upon enduring popularity of the individual who originally recorded the songs, while others earned the elite status based on pure excellence of construction which led to acclaim above other songs of the period. For the purposes of this column, I will attempt to explore some of my favorite, finely crafted, frequently recorded songs written by acknowledged key composers of the Great American Songbook. I make no attempt to offer more than one scholar's impressions of these wonderful works, and I by no means assume that breaking songs down into constituent parts always helps us appreciate them better—but it often does. Further, my choice of songs to explore is in no way meant to judge some to be superior over others. Any experienced musician knows there are many thousands of songs today that could be considered "standards," and there are no fixed criteria surrounding the use of the word. That said, I could not live long enough to publish an analytical synthesis of every song I consider to be a jazz standard! I simply must choose a few favorites and let that be that.

To me, the term "standard" is applicable to a song having enduring quality of some kind, causing it to be performed and recorded many times by many different musicians over a period of several years. Singers and instrumentalists may be drawn to a song for any number of reasons, but a standard boasts quality in more than just lyrics, melody or chord progression. The compatibility and well-aligned marriage of two or more of these elements often shine through the standard repertoire.

The fact that I am a music theorist, instrumentalist and vocalist reveals why I will deal with both the music and the lyrics as equals. For proper interpretation and thorough preparation, every instrumentalist performing any standard ought to know the original lyrics backward and forward, as they are inherently necessary in correctly understanding the composer's and lyricist's intent. Doing some research on a song before undertaking its performance greatly benefits both the players and the audience, so soloists, please learn your lyrics!

For the sake of space, I have decided to forgo attempts to subject a song to exhaustive theoretical analysis, so theory geeks, there's your warning. Instead, I will touch on some important points that I feel are noteworthy in an effort to leave some room for the inquisitive reader to finish the analysis on his/her own. Analyzing songs requires more than "simply" a theoretical analysis—it requires analysis of rhyme scheme, text usage, text setting and phrase structure as well. In order to give these lyric-based elements their due, one is behooved to seek balance in discussing both music and text in a column such as this.

The example with which I would like to begin is Jimmy Van Heusen's "Here's That Rainy Day," from the Broadway musical, Carnival in Flanders (1953). This lovely lyric (penned by Johnny Burke) shows a writer less concerned about catchy rhymes than about poignancy, evidenced by the fact that only four words in the entire song rhyme—far less than many equally clever songs. The wistful storyline spun amongst those four rhyming words ("day" with "way," and "near" with "here"—each eight bars apart) reveals that a heartbreak has caused the "rain" mentioned in the title. Brilliantly, though, the explanation of the title's significance is delayed until the penultimate line: "Funny how love becomes a cold rainy day..." Only at that moment do the song's mysterious allusions to unrealized dreams and disillusionment make sense—in the metaphor of rain (spurned love) spoiling one's hopes and plans.

Form

The form is ABAC with A representing the opening eight-bar melodic theme. B is a contrasting theme (also eight bars) which provides a completely unrelated melody before allowing the A theme to return. C is yet another eight-bar melodic idea, drawing the listener's attention to elements of both B and A (the contour and tension-release pattern of B match the pattern shown in the first four bars of C, but the melodic shape, contour and arpeggio idea of the final four bars of C resemble the scheme of A). By artfully uniting the elements of both A and B, Van Heusen placed a beautiful, unifying denouement (C) within the final eight bars of the piece. While the form (ABAC) is relatively common to songs of this era, this particular example is so magnificently done that it masks the sophistication of the songwriting technique its writers (seemingly effortlessly) employed.

Phrase structure

Phrase structure analysis reveals four-bar phrases, with each 8-bar theme having both an antecedent and consequent phrase. The antecedent phrase in each section creates considerable musical tension while the consequent phrase provides a bit of release. This masterful buildup of tension and release appears frequently in well-written songs and is particularly characteristic of the jazz standard.

Melody

Melodically, this song begins with repetition on the fifth scale degree, then outlines a major triad inversion in measure 2 (building tension as it ascends to an octave above the starting pitch), hovering on a sustained high note, then settling gently using a chromatic lower neighbor tone to add "dreamy" melodic interest (m. 3). The melodic tension built in the arpeggio is released in the last two bars of the four bar phrase. Pitch repetition followed by an arpeggiated pattern is again utilized in the second phrase (leaping through a root-position V7 chord this time), resolving to a sustained third scale degree (mm. 7-8). The tonal center abruptly shifts at m. 9 and the melody appropriately leaps a diminished fourth (enharmonically a major third) to mirror this unexpected harmonic shift. The melody note lingers repetitively (reminiscent of the opening repetition pattern) before dropping a sixth in m. 10 and chromatically climbing upward, then leaping upward again (a fourth) on the first beat of m. 12, resolving the tension in the same manner—by dropping a sixth and ascending chromatically. The second half of this B section appropriates the same contour as the first, starting with repetition on a note that was attained by upward leap, then jumping down a sixth and ascending chromatically, although in this case (mm. 13-16) the composer uses melodic augmentation, effectively stretching the pattern of "repetition, downward leap of a sixth, upward chromatic climb" to encompass four bars instead of the previous two, as seen in mm. 9-12. Measures 17-24 constitute the A theme again, and measures 25-32 represent a new theme (C) which resembles the other themes. Initial pitch repetition on a high note (the C theme begins on the highest melodic pitch the song attains) again establishes itself at the outset, and descending large leaps followed by ascending stepwise motion (the pattern presented twice in succession, as seen previously in the first four bars of B) constitute the first four bars of C, while a clear allusion to A (repetition of a low note preceding an ascending arpeggio that resolves downward to release tension) completes the section. The song's recurring pattern of a gradually ascending melody appearing next to a wide intervallic plunge (particularly obvious in their triplicate juxtaposition within both B and C themes) literally underscores the lyric: while it required a long time to build our hero's dream of love, it was all lost in a brief, devastating moment.

Harmony

Harmonically, "Here's That Rainy Day" is quite the sophisticated and complicated little piece. Although it innocuously begins on a major tonic chord, at measure 2 it surprises the listener by plunging into seemingly unrelated tonal territory (V7/bVI-bVI-bII—Roman numerals in this case are provided only for reference to the tonic key... there is more to say about this departure from tonic, but for the sake of space, I have chosen not to delve deeper than this). Chord roots hereby jump fourths through the circle to approach the ii chord by semitone at m. 5. This odd harmonic direction at the beginning of the song reflects the lyrics, pointing to the unexpected turn the protagonist's love has taken, modulating temporarily away from the comfort of the tonic key, leaving our squire not knowing which way to go. Throughout the piece the bass line often engages in jumping through the circle of fourths, suggesting an endless, directionless search for where to orient next. At m. 5, the more conventional ii-V7-I pattern helps to release the built-up tension from the distant key foray, and is followed by another ii-V7 pattern (based on the previous V7-I bass line) leading to a brief tonicization of iv (=ii of a new major key, which is bIII to the original tonic). Through the leaping fourths in the bass, which eventually bring us around to the original tonic's ii-V7-I, the harmony completes section B with a textbook turnback progression (I-vi-ii-V7) to begin the second A section. The second A is harmonically identical to the first. The cadential finish to the second A, however, begins the C theme with a major IV chord instead of a minor iv, which began section B. Through an aurally satisfying IV-ii-V7 progression propelled by a chromatically descending bass line to iii-vi-V7/V melting into ii, the protagonist's summation of his situation finally makes sense: his dreams of love have been reduced to feel like "a cold rainy day," and he is forced to accept it as the harmony sweeps him back into a familiar ii-V7-I resolution.

A songwriting masterpiece

When looking at how the song's various aspects complement one another to form a complete piece of art, it seems astonishing that harmonic, melodic and lyrical elements combine so ideally to reflect the song's meaning. Initially, the harmony illustrates confusion and lack of direction, then a slowly developing realization and acceptance arrives. The perfect marriage of mysteriously cagey lyrics with melodically and harmonically unified points of tension and release not only creates music whose antecedent and consequent phrases seem to reflect the subtext of the protagonist's plight, but also projects beautiful balance between contrasting paradigms: slowly ascending versus suddenly downward-plunging melodies, non-diatonic versus diatonic harmonies, gradually building dreams versus suddenly discovering them shattered, and conflict versus acceptance. This songwriting masterpiece represents an excellent example of form development, phrase structure, and harmonic, melodic and lyrical unity which would be a useful study for any aspiring songwriter, even today.

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