Analysis of Shout-Johnny O'Keefe

1950's-Johnny O'Keefe, Shout



Tone Colour

• The instruments used in Shout, include:
• Drums-hit with sticks
• Main (male) vocals-sung, sounds husky and shouted
• Male backing vocals-sung, kind of shouted but still sound fairly smooth
• Electric guitar-strummed
• Tenor and alto saxophone-played using a reed 
• Bass guitar-plucked
• The band that accompanies Johnny O'Keefe is one that was commonly used in the 50's era.

Texture 

• It has a homophonic texture (accompaniment and melody). The main vocals has the melody and all the other instruments and backing vocals have the accompaniment.
• The main vocals have the main melody
• The band and backing vocals have the accompaniment
• Overall the texture is fairly thick
• The texture changes in the bridge where the dynamics are decreased therefore forming a thinner texture

Duration

• The tempo is quite fast, however it slows down in a new section that occurs after the first verse. The speed then returns to its original pace in the pre-chorus
• Time signature is common time-simple time signature
• The accompanyment is syncopated
• The backing vicals repeat they word 'hey' in the verse, 'shout' in the chorus and 'say' in the verse as well.
• The drums play a simple rock beat but at a fairly fast speed.
• The bass guitar plays an ostinato throughout the whole song.

Dynamics and Expressive Techniques

• The dynamics are fairly loud throughout the whole song except at 3 minutes where there is a huge decrescendo that the whole band is involved in. It then cresecendos to lead into the outro of the song. The lyrics used also relate to the dynamics, as when it decrescendos the lyrics are 'and a little bit softer now' and when it crescendos the lyrics are 'and a little bit louder now'. This technique is known as word painting.
• The backing vocals use staccatos and accents to emphasise the 'say', 'shout' and 'hey' parts
• At the beginning Johnny uses a vocal melisma as he sings 'well'

Pitch

• The tonality is major
• The melody is conjuct; moves in leaps.
• The accompaniment moves in steps
• The range of the melody is quite broad as it moves in leaps
• The main vocal lyrics 'come on now' are repeated several times in the piece of music

Structure

• Intro, verse, chorus, bridge and additional sections
• Each section is usually between 4 and 8 bars
• Lyrics and accompanying rhythms are repeated in each chorus
• The bridge is a totally new melody and accompaniment and therefore we can determine that it is the bridge