Waterloo Sunset-Ray Davies

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  • Created by: Bethan
  • Created on: 26-05-15 18:18

The Basics

  • Released by the Kinks
  • Refers to Londond landmarks
  • Part of the Britpop movement
  • There is a narrative element in the song
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Performance forces and their handling

  • The Kinks were a 4-piece 'Beat combo'
  • Lead vocals=quite restrained
  • Tone quality=clipped and 'tinny'
  • Backing vocals= **** style and some imitation with lead
  • Guitar sound created by tape delay
  • Imitation between guitar and vocals
  • More rock style guitar in middel-8
  • Guitar 'solo' between verse 3 and coda=no imprivisation
  • Bass guitar=more melodic
  • Standard rock drums
  • Accoustic guitar=accented chords on every beat of bar
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Texture

  • Mainly homophonic
  • Hetrephonic texture in middle-8
  • Backing vocals involved in 2 passages of quasi-imitation with lead vocals- middle-8 and coda
  • Pedal used frequently
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Structure

  • Intro=8 bars
  • Verse 1= AABA structure
  • Middle-8=textural and key contrast
  • Turnaround=dominant pedal and repeat of intro
  • Guitar solo
  • Coda=dominant pedal
  • Whole song based on 4 and 8 bar sections with repetitions of the main hook
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Tonality

  • A sections=E major
  • B sections- contrast with stressing of F# minor
  • Middle-8 modulates to B major
  • Turnaround returns to tonic by use of dominant pedal (B7)
  • Piece ends on an unresolved dominant 7th chord and a dominant pedal
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Harmony

  • Diatonic and functional
  • A=I, IV, V in E major
  • B also use II
  • Circle of 5ths in bar 18-20
  • Avoids perfect cadences prefering plagal cadences
  • Modulation to B major established by a perfect cadence
  • Harmonic rhythm moves in 1 or 2 bar units
  • Lots of pedal points eg inverted pedal in intro
  • All pedal points on B
  • 'Push and pull' rhythms create suspenion, usually 6-5
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Melody

  • Main hook=5 notes and dominates song
  • Notes of main hook, create feeling of E major pentatonic
  • Verse section Bs balance up and downward movements
  • Middle-8 is largely stepwise
  • No use of 'blues notes'
  • Syllabic
  • Vocal phrases mainly 2 or 4 bars in length
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Rhythm and metre

  • 4 beats in a bar
  • Medium tempo
  • Accompaniment realtively 'four square'
  • Hook and verses begin on an anacrusis
  • Accompaniment syncopation=most prominent in linking scetions into and during middle-8
  • Drum fills create rhytmic variety
  • Vitality provided by semiquaver pedals and quaver semiquaver rhythms in middle-8
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