You Can Call Me Al

• Context/composers intentions

  Fusion of different styles - brass/sax combo and african instruments such as penny whistle

  Title is play on names Peggy and Paul, often misheard as Betty and Al

  a man facing a midlife crisis mirrored by the insecurity felt by a person from developing nation seeing an unfamiliar culture
• Form and structure


  Verse and chorus form

  intro - brass/sax riff

  penny whistle and bass solos
• Tonality

  F major throughout, no modulation
• Melody


  Bass melodic ostinato

  Distinctive brass/sax riffs

  verses and chorus - melody based on notes in tonic triad

  small melodic range in verses

  bass run is palindromic
• harmony

  use of primary triads - in african tradition

  few G minor chords

  harmonic rhythm, regular and quite rapid

  perfect and imperfect cadences
• sonority/timbre


  large number of instruments - brass, bass and baritone saxes and penny whistle

  palindromic bass solo

  strong backbeat
• texture

  brass/sax riff - chordal texture

  melody and accompaniment

  bass ostinato - provides unity

  bass solo - monophonic texture for one bar
• tempo, metre, and rhythm

  moderate tempo throughout

  4/4 time signature

  syncopation

  speech-like rhythms

  short note values in vocal melody
• dynamics and articulation

  mezzo forte - choruses stronger

  fade out at end

  brass/sax riff - semi-staccato

  vocal legato