Blue Sky Mine analysis
The combination of exciting and aggressive vocals, repeated and slick melodies of the lead guitar; composed to encourage the motion of the air guitar and an enthusiastic 2-4 drum beat giving the songs a steady beat to tap along with, makes rock an unique and awesome genre. Rock combines characteristics of blues, country, folk, jazz, funk and classical music into one of the most thriving forms of Australian music. However, rock truly started during 1980’s, where composers experimented with their songs, creating a unique sound to the rest of the world. Furthermore, no one does this as well as the band Midnight Oil and their song Blue Sky Mine.
Blue Sky Mine was composed my Midnight Oil to reveal the damaging effects …show more content…
The song Blue Sky Mine, was written in 4/4, the most common time signature in the rock genre. However, it was also written in the key of C# major, which not often seen in common rock music. Although, just like common rock songs it is evident that the four fundamental rock instruments, drums, lead (electric) guitar, rhythm (acoustic) guitar and bass guitar are all present and are played enthusiastically, all clearly seen in bar 17 or at 0:42-0:55. Nevertheless, there are also vocals, a synthesizer and a harmonica present in the song giving the song a polyphonic texture. Although, the lyrics follow a strophic verse, chorus, verse structure that is often seen in rock but, interestingly has a vocal intro which has two lines that match the chorus (see figure 1). This form of vocal structure is not often seen in the rock genre giving the score a chorus, verse chorus, feel which, enforces the hook line “There'll be food on the table tonight, There'll be pay in your pocket tonight” creating familiarity, repetition and it’s world wide identification. Like common rock songs, the vocals have a course, brass tone and are sung from the throat seen at 1:10. This creates an interesting contrast between the smooth and clean harmonic notes played by the bass, …show more content…
This happens because, harmonies are often heard with relation to the lowest pitch i.e. the bass. Therefore, the bass can also define the feel of a song and if the bass plays incorrectly it can spell catastrophe for the band. Consequently, the bass in Blue Sky Mine is fitting for the strong and repetitive harmonies seen in rock music, using a combination of crotchets, quavers and a combined minim + dotted crotchet seen in bars 17 to 18 or 0:39-0:44 (see figure 4). This melodic pattern shares similar rhythmic characteristics with all other instrument such as the 2 crotchets at beat 1 and 2 (similar to the electric guitar and synthesiser), the quavers seen in beat 3 and 4 (similar to the acoustic guitar, harmonica and drums) and finally the long minim + dotted crochet (vocals and harmonica). During the chorus the bass uses the notes D, D, C, D, C, D, D (see figure 4) which, if played would be dissonante as the notes are sepparated by one tone. However, the acoustic guitar (chordal accompaniment to lead and another important layer of rock harmonies) plays the chord progression of Dm F Dm G Am F C (see figure 6) . This allows for the notes played by the bass guitar, to harmonise with the chords of the acoustic gutair as most chords present either have a D or C note within them. However, the F chord played by the acoustic guitar doesn’t allow for the D note