Little Shop of Horrors

1982

Rock horror / comedy musical

- through composed
- middle 8 - gospel section
- spoken sections with comping

- C major
- A minor in gospel

get louder throughout song - mezzo piano in sudden changes and forte in climax

- mostly semi-staccato
- staccato on 'feed me'
- more legato in gospel
- accents on semiquavers in the rising section and 'feed me' quavers in accompaniment
- tremolo on strings in final 3 sudden changes bars

- sustained soft strings on synthesiser - long extended violin notes create continuous sound
- bass and drums accompany Twoey's 'feed me' and are strong in motown section
- hammond organ and tambourine in gospel
- piano glissandos (eg. before 'come on Seymour don't be a putz')
- vocal portamento (eg. after 'I'm your willing slave')
- cymbal crashes on strong beats

- opening section - parlando
- colla voce in accompaniment
- 'feed me' hook - repeated C note
- blue notes
- melisma in gospel
- 4 note ascending chromatic bass figure in motown section
- lots of fills

- melody and accompaniment
- few moments of monophony when they speak without the band
- style of melody and accompaniment changes into running quavers with triplet feel in compound time in gospel

- very slow in sudden changes - increases to 94bpm for verses
- slows down for gospel section

- 2 quaver hook
- syncopation
- backbeat - motown
- triplet driving bass line in gospel section

- 4/4 in sudden changes
- 12/8 compound quadruple in gospel
- switch to double time in final section

- tonality is C major but first chord is an Ab spread chords
- slow moving chord changes
- inverted C pedal on synth strings

- tweaked 12 BB - G, Am, F, Eb
- descending chromatic chords in gospel section
- gospel section ends with dissonant G7aug chord
- faster rate of harmonic change in motown - one chord per bar
- motown section harmonies mostly primary chords but with added 7th notes

- opening line has no chord
- Db is the 2nd chord of the verse - built on flattened 2nd note of scale
- extended chords eg. Dm7(b5)
- second line of lyrics - chords in new key of Eb major

- verses - mostly semi-staccato
- choruses - more legato

- baritone and high tenor
- fast quavers on hi-hat
- castanets
- organ added in chorus
- glissandos

- range of minor 13th
- syllabic word setting
- mostly conjunct movement
- melodic inversion

- starts in C minor
- uses harmonic minor scale
- brief modulation to Eb major (relative major)

- hook
- more disjunct
- minor 9th range

- verses - running quavers in vocal part
- chorus - even crotchets and minims in vocal part
- strong backbeat
- calypso rhythm
- syncopation
- jewish tango rhythm
- steady repetitive bass line
- rest on 1st beat of bar at the start of each chorus
- chorus 1 - constant even quavers in accompaniment
- chorus 2 - semiquaver triplets to match with castanets
- 3 crotchet anacrusis

- mostly melody and accompaniment
- some monophonic
- some antiphonal between Mushnik and Seymour

160 bpm

- parlando at start
- mezzo forte in verses
- forte in choruses
- crescendos

- bassand drums added
- no organ
- 3 female voices with occasional shouting
- glissando in turnaround bar

G major - abrupt key change from flats to sharps

- based on G major pentatonic scale
- hook
- mostly syllabic in A section
- bass ostinato
- 2nd phrase of B section - D major pentatonic scale

- extensive primary cchords
- stock progression
- B section alternates between C6 and G6 with slower rate of harmonic change
- final 4 bars - bass line rises steadily from a G to an Eb but dissonant notes in vocals prevent chord being settled
- final Eb chord - expected to end on tonic

melody and accompaniment

160 bpm

- backbeat
- syncopation throughout
- calypso

- forte throughout
- bridge section louder

- semi-staccato in A
- more legato in B

- AABA typical pop song
- B section is 22 bars long instead of 8
- 4 bar intro
- 2 bar extension in final A section
- turnaround bar before return to A section

- extended chords (eg. Abmaj7)
- sudden D major chord

- ascending sequence repeated up a tone
- range of perfect 4th

- bars 1-6 - drum roll leading into slow moving chords
- bars 7-15 - setting the scene

legato chords

- starts triple forte
- decrescendo before voice - bar 6
- mezzo forte when voice starts
- build to forte before end

76 bpm - 'grandly'

homophonic - melody supported by block chords with same rhythm

long note values - slow moving minims and semibreves