[Smt-talk] I - II- IV as a progression (counterpoint)

[Nicole Biamonte]

Isn't the very beginning of the "Simpsons" theme over a tonic pedal, like
the other examples you've mentioned?  I had never noticed the connections
between this theme and WSS--thanks for pointing that out!  I've
always thought of the "Simpsons" theme as inspired by the "Jetsons" theme,
not just because of the melodic similarities (1-3-#4-5 in the "Jetsons"
theme) but also the sequential semitonal key relationships and bass lines:
in the "Jetsons" theme, the 1-5 bass ascends chromatically, while in the
"Simpsons" theme, the 1-b5 bass descends chromatically.

Regarding cadences on II: a smaller-scale example is the Grateful Dead's
gospel-inflected encore, "Brokedown Palace."  The verse and refrain both
conclude with circular forms of the progression that started this thread, I
- II# - IV - I.   The progression in the first half of the refrain is I -
III# - IV - I - II#.  As in Walt's Vogues and BS&T examples, the major II
chord occupies the normal position of a dominant.  I hear it as functioning
as a substitute dominant that offers the "wrong" leading tone (to 5 instead
of to 1).

Nicole Biamonte
Assistant Professor of Music Theory
University of Iowa

On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 11:03 AM, Walt Everett <weverett at umich.edu> wrote:

>
>  Scott's right--soundtracks are an important source.  The "Simpsons" theme
> opens with a melodic ^1 - ^#4 - ^5 supported by I - II# - I.  The beginning
> of the theme is a quote of "Maria" from *West Side Story*, later
> corroborated by the trumpet's quote of ^#4 - ^5 - ^8 - ^b7 from "Something's
> Coming" [see opening and 0:51-52 at
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqog63KOANc&feature=related].  (Hats off
> also, I suppose, to the Georges Jetson and Antheil.)
>
> Interestingly, the I - II# - I neighboring idea is often performed over a
> ^1 pedal (in examples ranging from the last strophe in Schubert's "Gute
> Nacht" through many Broadway tunes such as "Tonight" in *WSS*, and in many
> rock songs such as those mentioned in the section devoted to the Lydian II
> in my *The Foundations of Rock*, pp 256-57), but instead of ^1, ^#4 is
> sustained through this idea early in the Simpsons theme--a signifier of
> wackiness?  I ascribe the sense of boundless wonderment to these I - II# - I
> examples.  What's also interesting is the pop-rock song in which a phrase
> can cadence on the major II chord (The Vogues' "Five O'Clock World," BS&T's
> "Sometimes in Winter," both cases leading into wordless fantasy passages).
>
>
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