Originally Posted by
benross
RanRan 79 , the first similarity of Everyday People and Islands In The Stream is the instrumental introduction. Each recording begins with a sustained note, followed by two short notes, another sustained note and two more short notes. The opening of the Diana Ross & The Supremes’ recording of Everyday People repeats this sequence twice. While the Islands In The Stream imitation of this pattern is executed at a slower pace, the resemblance is unmistakable. This three-note motif continues throughout both recordings, lending a feeling of cohesion at best or a lack of imagination at worst.
The second similarity is in the almost childishly simple staccato structure of the vocals. In each case, there is a short phrase that seems to be mostly monotone although it may fluctuate over a few notes, followed by a second phrase almost twice as long with an extended string of several higher notes. Like the instrumental introduction template, this pattern is repeated twice in each verse.
Specifically, in Everyday People, the four-line verse is:
Sometimes I’m right – four syllables
And I can be wrong – nine syllables
My own beliefs – four syllables
Are in my song – eight syllables
while in Islands In The Stream, the four-line verse is:
Baby, when I met you – six syllables
There was peace unknown – ten syllables
I set out to get you – six syllables
With a fine tooth comb – eleven syllables.
On the even-numbered lines, the last word – wrong, song, unknown, comb – is emphasized and often is elongated over two or three syllables. This basic choppy format is repeated, verse after verse, in what can seem to be a tiresome, predictable way. Fortunately, there are some variations in the choruses that provide needed relief.
These songs can succeed when the vocalists’ interpretations and tones project life and liveliness and/or hint at intelligence in the sometimes clumsy rhymes and strict structure of their composition. Or these songs can fail very easily. To me, the Kenny/Dolly Islands In The Stream is a failure.
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