Someday (August 29, 1968)
Composer: Lamm/Pankow
Key: ?
Meter: 4/4
Lead Vocal: Lamm (verses), Cetera (choruses)
Form: intro, verse 1, chorus, interlude, verse 2, chorus, outro
Instrumentation: trumpet, alto sax, trombone, electric guitar, piano, bass, drums, tambourine, three voices
Overall form and style: “Someday” is the album’s climax, a culmination of the dark, dissonant corners of the album combined with distant rays of hope. The overall form is quite simple - a pop song with two verses - but with dissonant interludes; wild, constantly changing harmonies; and a fascinating arrangement. “Someday” uses a simple rock beat and predictable eight bar phrases, but with an unsettling, almost random chord progression.
The track listing lists “Prologue” and “Someday” separately. “Prologue” is a recording of the Democratic national convention in 1968, a violent, protest-marred event, and lasts less than a minute. The chant begun midway through - “the whole world’s watching” - continues into “Someday” proper as the band joins in to the rhythm of the chant, which then gradually fades out. The recording of the protesters’ chant returns during the interlude between the two verses, which is a reprise of the introduction. Given that the Prologue is just the stock recording of the protest, I'm skipping that and going straight to the composed "Someday".
Melody: The melody of “Someday” is a darkened version of the cheerier melodies of “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” and “Beginnings”. Like those tunes, the phrases in this one start on a strong beat, then are mostly a succession of upbeats from there. The first two phrases of the verse stay in a limited range, returning back to the starting note. These two phrases start sounding like they will be C pentatonic minor, then turn out to be diatonic to Ab major / F minor but due to the wild harmony they do not sound like any of those keys. The next phrases are shorter, the first a quick descent down the Ab major scale and the second and third down the G minor scale. Again, those are the notes used but not necessarily the key center.
The chorus begins with the title, sung on consecutive downbeats. The melody is so focused on upbeats that this emphatically sets the title apart. The rest of the chorus sticks to the upbeats like the verses. The chorus melody is similar to the verse melody, but is in a higher range, reaching all the way to A first time and C the second time. The range difference is handled smoothly by having Lamm sing the lower verses and Cetera take the higher choruses. The chorus is more diatonic than the verse, starting and staying within the A minor / C major scale throughout.
Harmony: The startling chord progression in "Someday" is the most distinctive part of the composition. Many of the chords seem to come out of nowhere, deliberate subversions of the expected progressions. Throughout, it is hard to identify a home key. You will notice that I’m not going to deal much with Roman numerals for this one because there’s no Roman numeral analysis that will make consistent sense.
The first notes we hear imply E-flat minor, as the bass enters on E-flat and plays an ominous, plodding figure, soon joined by piano and a mournful sustained note on the guitar. This introduction is repeated with minor changes as an interlude after the first chorus.
The very first chord of each verse is a C major triad. One would think that this chord by itself would be pretty innocuous, but the approaches to it are so oblique that that simple triad strikes the ear as dissonant. The chord is preceded by either E major or E-flat major, making two different third-relation cadences. Third relation is quite common in this progression. A possible interpretation of the E - C cadence is that of a reversed version of a deceptive cadence. Let me explain: a deceptive cadence is one that, in a major key, resolves from V to vi. You expect V to resolve to I, hence the name "deceptive". The vi chord is the relative minor of the I chord. In this E - C cadence, E could be V of A minor, which resolves instead to its relative major, C major. Is this a stretch? Maybe. The characteristic part of an authentic cadence is the leading tone resolving, which it does in a standard deceptive cadence, but not here.
Let's look at the first eight bars of the verse:
C Gb Absus4 Ab Eb
|: / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / :|
The violent lunge from the first chord to the second - whose roots are a tritone apart, a rare progression - stands out right away. Often in this piece, a few chords in a row will imply a key center, only for a conflicting chord to scuttle the implied key. The first place this happens is here: that Gb - Absus - Ab sounds like a half cadence in D-flat major, but that momentary key center proves fleeting since the next two chords (Eb, C) break up the D-flat major sound.
The next eight bars:
F- Db Gbmaj7 Bb D G- G-/F Eb G-/D C- Eb G E
/ / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
Again, every time we seem to hear an implied key center, it's broken up by the next chord. The first three chords could all be in D-flat major, but Bb and especially D shatter that key center and the progression begins tending towards G minor. G minor, though, is dispelled by the G major and especially E at the end of the phrase. Also notice, in the third and fourth bars here, three major chords (Gb - Bb - D) whose roots spell an augmented triad - the "Giant Steps" key relation.
The effect of this unique progression is a lurching, uncomfortable ride, as if you are locked in the trunk of a speeding, swerving car. Note that the harmony sounds dense and dissonant, but nearly every chord in the piece is a major or minor triad. It's not the individual chords so much as the progression.
The chorus, in contrast to the verse, is reasonably analyzable in A minor:
A- F Gsus4 G Ab
i VI VII VII ?
/ / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
A- F Gsus4 G E E
i VI VII VII V V
/ / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
The chromatic passing chord A-flat major stands out, but everything else sounds like A minor. In addition, the chorus is set up with V of A minor.
After the second chorus, the bass plays a rhythmic pattern, descending through the notes C, B-flat, F-sharp, and E (spelling out part of a whole tone scale). The piano and horns join in, first simply repeating middle C, then spreading out into harmony which also sticks to the whole tone scale. The piece ends suddenly on a C7 chord with a sharp 9th, sounding at this point like random notes.
Arrangement: "Someday" tempers its wild harmonic progression with a relatively simple arrangement. The horn section in this one has uncomplicated parts, but they are playing with angry, harsh blasts all the way through. Note the subtle difference in the ensemble sound of the horns with Walt Parazaider playing alto sax instead of the tenor. Each verse is 32 bars long, of which the second half is a repeat of the first half. The horn section, however, joins for the second half of each verse, adding force to the rhythm section, and some nice punctuation in the form of rhythmic figures. You might call this a BS&T-type arrangement, where you get to hear the verse simply before the horns add in. (See, for example, "Smiling Phases" or "I Can't Move No Mountains".)
The second chorus adds two effects not present in the first - a bright tambourine and a sound effect that sounds like heavy, pounding footsteps. The combination of cheery tambourine and ominous stomping feet adds a nice bit of conflict.
There are some nice background voices in the verses as well, singing sustained harmonies on "ahh" with plenty of reverb. One nice thing to listen for is how exact the arranger was with the vocal cutoffs. In the first verse, the voices cut off pretty quickly, but they sustain longer and longer in the second verse. The effect is rather subtle, but chilling once you notice it.
This is another tune where Chicago's lead vocalists traded off, with Lamm taking the verses and Cetera taking the chorus. Attention is not drawn to the change, but it's effective not just for the range difference but for the timbre difference as well. The dark verse and more hopeful chorus are underscored by their lead singers.
Chicago, especially on the second album, often controlled the pacing of the album by ending some tunes with sudden, uncertain endings and others with definitively final conclusions. "Someday" is one of the former. After the long buildup, it just kind of stops unexpectedly and anticlimactically, leaving the listener waiting for the next tune.
Other notes: I seem to recall reading somewhere that one member of Chicago, long after they made this album, denied that Chicago was a political band, and when the interviewer mentioned "Someday" with its incorporation of the protesters' chant, simply said that it was what was happening at the time, and not meant to take a political stance. Really? Not only is "Someday" obviously political, how about "It Better End Soon", "Poem for the People", "State of the Union", "Harry Truman", "Vote for Me", "The American Dream", and perhaps "Progress?" and "Mother"? How about the Chicago III anti-war poster and the Carnegie Hall insert informing people where they could vote in 1972? Not to mention "A Song for Richard and His Friends", which was introduced at the Carnegie Hall performance as a song about "...how we wish Richard Nixon would quit".
Chicago cheated a bit to get one more horn voice on the recording that they couldn't have managed live. On the chorus, if you listen closely, there are two trombones.
PM
Key: ?
Meter: 4/4
Lead Vocal: Lamm (verses), Cetera (choruses)
Form: intro, verse 1, chorus, interlude, verse 2, chorus, outro
Instrumentation: trumpet, alto sax, trombone, electric guitar, piano, bass, drums, tambourine, three voices
Overall form and style: “Someday” is the album’s climax, a culmination of the dark, dissonant corners of the album combined with distant rays of hope. The overall form is quite simple - a pop song with two verses - but with dissonant interludes; wild, constantly changing harmonies; and a fascinating arrangement. “Someday” uses a simple rock beat and predictable eight bar phrases, but with an unsettling, almost random chord progression.
The track listing lists “Prologue” and “Someday” separately. “Prologue” is a recording of the Democratic national convention in 1968, a violent, protest-marred event, and lasts less than a minute. The chant begun midway through - “the whole world’s watching” - continues into “Someday” proper as the band joins in to the rhythm of the chant, which then gradually fades out. The recording of the protesters’ chant returns during the interlude between the two verses, which is a reprise of the introduction. Given that the Prologue is just the stock recording of the protest, I'm skipping that and going straight to the composed "Someday".
Melody: The melody of “Someday” is a darkened version of the cheerier melodies of “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” and “Beginnings”. Like those tunes, the phrases in this one start on a strong beat, then are mostly a succession of upbeats from there. The first two phrases of the verse stay in a limited range, returning back to the starting note. These two phrases start sounding like they will be C pentatonic minor, then turn out to be diatonic to Ab major / F minor but due to the wild harmony they do not sound like any of those keys. The next phrases are shorter, the first a quick descent down the Ab major scale and the second and third down the G minor scale. Again, those are the notes used but not necessarily the key center.
The chorus begins with the title, sung on consecutive downbeats. The melody is so focused on upbeats that this emphatically sets the title apart. The rest of the chorus sticks to the upbeats like the verses. The chorus melody is similar to the verse melody, but is in a higher range, reaching all the way to A first time and C the second time. The range difference is handled smoothly by having Lamm sing the lower verses and Cetera take the higher choruses. The chorus is more diatonic than the verse, starting and staying within the A minor / C major scale throughout.
Harmony: The startling chord progression in "Someday" is the most distinctive part of the composition. Many of the chords seem to come out of nowhere, deliberate subversions of the expected progressions. Throughout, it is hard to identify a home key. You will notice that I’m not going to deal much with Roman numerals for this one because there’s no Roman numeral analysis that will make consistent sense.
The first notes we hear imply E-flat minor, as the bass enters on E-flat and plays an ominous, plodding figure, soon joined by piano and a mournful sustained note on the guitar. This introduction is repeated with minor changes as an interlude after the first chorus.
The very first chord of each verse is a C major triad. One would think that this chord by itself would be pretty innocuous, but the approaches to it are so oblique that that simple triad strikes the ear as dissonant. The chord is preceded by either E major or E-flat major, making two different third-relation cadences. Third relation is quite common in this progression. A possible interpretation of the E - C cadence is that of a reversed version of a deceptive cadence. Let me explain: a deceptive cadence is one that, in a major key, resolves from V to vi. You expect V to resolve to I, hence the name "deceptive". The vi chord is the relative minor of the I chord. In this E - C cadence, E could be V of A minor, which resolves instead to its relative major, C major. Is this a stretch? Maybe. The characteristic part of an authentic cadence is the leading tone resolving, which it does in a standard deceptive cadence, but not here.
Let's look at the first eight bars of the verse:
C Gb Absus4 Ab Eb
|: / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / :|
The violent lunge from the first chord to the second - whose roots are a tritone apart, a rare progression - stands out right away. Often in this piece, a few chords in a row will imply a key center, only for a conflicting chord to scuttle the implied key. The first place this happens is here: that Gb - Absus - Ab sounds like a half cadence in D-flat major, but that momentary key center proves fleeting since the next two chords (Eb, C) break up the D-flat major sound.
The next eight bars:
F- Db Gbmaj7 Bb D G- G-/F Eb G-/D C- Eb G E
/ / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
Again, every time we seem to hear an implied key center, it's broken up by the next chord. The first three chords could all be in D-flat major, but Bb and especially D shatter that key center and the progression begins tending towards G minor. G minor, though, is dispelled by the G major and especially E at the end of the phrase. Also notice, in the third and fourth bars here, three major chords (Gb - Bb - D) whose roots spell an augmented triad - the "Giant Steps" key relation.
The effect of this unique progression is a lurching, uncomfortable ride, as if you are locked in the trunk of a speeding, swerving car. Note that the harmony sounds dense and dissonant, but nearly every chord in the piece is a major or minor triad. It's not the individual chords so much as the progression.
The chorus, in contrast to the verse, is reasonably analyzable in A minor:
A- F Gsus4 G Ab
i VI VII VII ?
/ / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
A- F Gsus4 G E E
i VI VII VII V V
/ / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
The chromatic passing chord A-flat major stands out, but everything else sounds like A minor. In addition, the chorus is set up with V of A minor.
After the second chorus, the bass plays a rhythmic pattern, descending through the notes C, B-flat, F-sharp, and E (spelling out part of a whole tone scale). The piano and horns join in, first simply repeating middle C, then spreading out into harmony which also sticks to the whole tone scale. The piece ends suddenly on a C7 chord with a sharp 9th, sounding at this point like random notes.
Arrangement: "Someday" tempers its wild harmonic progression with a relatively simple arrangement. The horn section in this one has uncomplicated parts, but they are playing with angry, harsh blasts all the way through. Note the subtle difference in the ensemble sound of the horns with Walt Parazaider playing alto sax instead of the tenor. Each verse is 32 bars long, of which the second half is a repeat of the first half. The horn section, however, joins for the second half of each verse, adding force to the rhythm section, and some nice punctuation in the form of rhythmic figures. You might call this a BS&T-type arrangement, where you get to hear the verse simply before the horns add in. (See, for example, "Smiling Phases" or "I Can't Move No Mountains".)
The second chorus adds two effects not present in the first - a bright tambourine and a sound effect that sounds like heavy, pounding footsteps. The combination of cheery tambourine and ominous stomping feet adds a nice bit of conflict.
There are some nice background voices in the verses as well, singing sustained harmonies on "ahh" with plenty of reverb. One nice thing to listen for is how exact the arranger was with the vocal cutoffs. In the first verse, the voices cut off pretty quickly, but they sustain longer and longer in the second verse. The effect is rather subtle, but chilling once you notice it.
This is another tune where Chicago's lead vocalists traded off, with Lamm taking the verses and Cetera taking the chorus. Attention is not drawn to the change, but it's effective not just for the range difference but for the timbre difference as well. The dark verse and more hopeful chorus are underscored by their lead singers.
Chicago, especially on the second album, often controlled the pacing of the album by ending some tunes with sudden, uncertain endings and others with definitively final conclusions. "Someday" is one of the former. After the long buildup, it just kind of stops unexpectedly and anticlimactically, leaving the listener waiting for the next tune.
Other notes: I seem to recall reading somewhere that one member of Chicago, long after they made this album, denied that Chicago was a political band, and when the interviewer mentioned "Someday" with its incorporation of the protesters' chant, simply said that it was what was happening at the time, and not meant to take a political stance. Really? Not only is "Someday" obviously political, how about "It Better End Soon", "Poem for the People", "State of the Union", "Harry Truman", "Vote for Me", "The American Dream", and perhaps "Progress?" and "Mother"? How about the Chicago III anti-war poster and the Carnegie Hall insert informing people where they could vote in 1972? Not to mention "A Song for Richard and His Friends", which was introduced at the Carnegie Hall performance as a song about "...how we wish Richard Nixon would quit".
Chicago cheated a bit to get one more horn voice on the recording that they couldn't have managed live. On the chorus, if you listen closely, there are two trombones.
PM
Proudly powered by Weebly