Bonus New Year Episode - 'Love Shack'
Welcome to 2016! New Year Blues ? Look no further than the songschemes bonus episode, it's just the tonic for putting the groove back in your step as we feature the 1989 classic, Love Shack by the B52's, their breakthrough hit from the album Cosmic Thing.
This track is something of a contrast given the quantity of chords featured so far in songs such as Hit Me, or New York Minute but great songs are about quality rather than quantity. Love Shack is one such example; beautifully economic with only a handful of chords on the face of it, yet the song utilises a hooky combination of parallel major and minor harmony in the key of C.
The song form itself is something of an anomaly. It is in essence an AB form but the traditional verse/ chorus labels don't adequately capture the non-linear nature of the song as it skips along apace with scant regard for balancing sections in an even manner. The verse outlines just two chords, C (I) and Gm7 (v), and while this might simply be viewed as a C Mixolydian vamp (V - ii, as derived from F Major ) the 'chorus', so far as it exists, ("Love Shack, it's the little 'ole place where..") moves C to Eb ( I to bIII) then F to Ab (IV to bVI) and its this symmetrical minor third move that suggests that we are clearly in parallel major/ minor territory. The guitar riff that concludes this section outlines this duality with the use of a funky C6#9 tension in its refrain. Verse 2 features a one-off moment, a repeated bVII (Bb) to I (C) move that happens only once in the entire song - midway through verse 2 - certainly quirky, just like the tracks most memorable lyrical moment - "Tin Roof,.........Rusted"
To view the Love Shack songscheme click the image below, or download a hi-res PDF here.
The video for this bonus episode features my interpretation of the track, combining aspects of the moving bass line in the verse (also outlined on the songscheme). This is such a fun song to play and groove along too and you can experiment with the chords in a variety of positions to get a different feel and effect. Have fun with it.
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