dent may / charles wright

Here’s a couple of songs with key changes that manage to perch each song in a heartbreaking place between major and minor. First up is Dent May, with his cover of Prince’s “When You Were Mine”. May may be a bit of a sweet confection for some, and in the wrong hands a ukulele can be finger-gnawingly twee, but I think he uses the instrument in just the way it should be – not played for laughs, but as a proud little foil to his wonderful croon. The song highlights Prince’s deft sense of humour – the line “When you were mine / You were all I ever wanted to do / Now I spend my time / Following him whenever he’s with you” captures perfectly and hilariously the idiocy of jealousy. And the key change, sung during “I know that you’re going with another guy”, is sad and resigned, unable to maintain the front of the major key the song started out in.

Dent May – When You Were Mine

I interviewed May for a post yesterday on the Guardian’s music blog about the rise of the ukulele, find it here.

Another key-change classic that I’m dangerously addicted to is “I’m Aware” by Charles Wright, most famous for “Express Yourself”. Wright is simultaneously resigned to and in denial about a break up, capturing the madness of longing with such candour that it’s almost difficult to listen. A jolly vocal melody and peppy rhythmn section are like Wright trying to cheer himself up, as he sings about having to ”keep on keepin’ on”.

But like Prince before him, it’s just a front, and the song slips into an emotionally unstable bridge before emerging with the original “I’m aware” refrain now cast in a minor key. Wright might try to be a man about it and return to the major key again, but he’s not fooling anyone. The bridge line “Yes you’re in my dreams / Every night it seems / When I reach for you / You melt just like ice-cream”, with its pained, scratched final note, is a real tear-jerker.

Charles Wright – I’m Aware