So, I haven’t
been able to teach music-focused courses for a few years (budget cuts). This
means that I haven’t been forced to set time aside to listen to and think about
music as music, music for its own sake, music history for its own sake, etc.
And I miss that. So, this summer I’m going to try to post a strictly music post
every Friday. Basically, this is me geeking out, and sharing some of that with
you all. Hopefully I won’t get too busy or distracted to do this.
I thought I’d
start with Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer’s 1977 “I Feel Love.” It’s a
classic disco track, and one of the first electronic dance records.
Summer and
Moroder original:
Patrick
Cowley’s 1982 extended mix is the classic remix of this song:
What is that
sample around 10:54 and then again at 11:08-11? The descending triplets? I’m
pretty sure it’s sampled by Clint Mansell in the soundtrack for Pi the move. If
it’s not a sample, then they’re sure using similar equipment/patches/etc.
Mixed with
Yaz’s “Don’t Go” by Lemon 8:
I don’t have
much to say about it, other than it’s a brilliant track.
Covered by
Bronski Beat/Marc Almond:
The vocals
are even more regimented and “quantized” to the 4/4 meter than Summers’s
originals. The shift from black female (presumably hetero) singer and chorus to
openly gay white male singer and chorus is worth further consideration,
especially in light of the fact that gay white men often appropriate/identify
with black pop divas. What we need to think about in this context is the role
of the synthesizer, the fact that Moroder and Summers’s original is one of the
first electronic dance records. The
vocals in the Bronski Almond are definitely more “bluesy” and “soulful” than
Summers’s breathy, ethereal ones. There’s also much more of a bluesy/rock feel
to the rhythm section. It’s as though the stereotypical blackness in the
original was located visibly in
Summers’s (female) body, but had to be asserted musically by Almond and Bronski Beat. [There is also gestures here
at the beginning and end to the other Moroder/Summer collaboration, “Love to
Love You Baby”.]
Covered by
the Red Hot Chilli Peppers:
Sonically
there’s a lot in common with the Bronski Beat version; the sexual politics,
however, are vastly different. Here, does Summer serve as just another black musician
who white rock bands domesticate? This time, they’re domesticating Moroder’s
European-synth sound as well?
Madonna’s reworking
into “Future Lovers:
This is
clearly an attempt to trace her lineage back to Summer and Moroder. The interesting
thing is that when Madonna uses “I Feel Love,” it’s a 30 year old song that
still, in 2007, sounds futuristic.
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