NZ Musician
2003 (Vol: 11, No: 2)

By Stephen Small

The old dilemma of where Pop stops and Rock begins is something that fascinates me. If you write a cracking pop song and add dirty guitars has it morphed into a rock song? Does distorted anything signify rock. Can you have rock with clean sounds, or is that pop?

Think about it. No, really – think about it. Not an easy one to answer. There are many myths about rock ; rock is a simpler type of music, rock is a more complex type of music, rock is more aggressive, rock has more integrity, rock is more authentic (what the …?), rock is more organic, et al. What do you believe? Can you make rock without guitars, or is that D.E. (dirty electronica – I just made that up)?
 
I don’t want to categorise Elemeno P for fear of denying them a part of who they are. Their kick-ass hit song Verona represents all that seems good in composing the popular song. It presents two main characters, her, and ‘me’ and refers briefly to the guy she’s dating – so we have a competing suitor – great, nothing like a bit of competition! This offers various possible outcomes – she will make her choice, and we will go the distance eager to find out who wins her hand. Okay, so I’m a bit of a romantic.

Without being negative, this song is about as four-square as it gets, but this is great in this context. All sections are in multiples of four bars. The structure appears thus:
 
Verse: 16 bars
Pre-chorus: 8 bars
Chorus: 16 bars
[Repeat all]
“Verona”: 8 bars
Chorus: 16 bars
“Verona”: 16 bars
 
No intro. Did you take note of that? No intro, no mucking about, straight into it. The absence of a double chorus makes the song appear longer than it actually is (2:45). The lack of repetition keeps us involved. Guess what? No outro either!

The song is in A major, with an abundance of the primary chords (A, D, E or I, IV, V) throughout. The verse is the most self-contained, offering only chord vi (F#m) as a foil to the primaries:
 
A   /   E   /  F#m   E   /   G#   A   D   (repeat)

The first inversion E chord at bar six is a simple but effective device to create energy as we approach the turnaround. The pre-chorus takes us somewhere else, using the secondary chords to create tension in the momentary dislocation from A major, thus:
 
C# (omit 3)    Bm    F#m    A    D    E    C# (omit 3)    D

The appearance of the primary chords within this (underlined) prevents the feeling of a modulation, and keeps us in the world of A, in preparation for the chorus:

D    D E    A    A E    D    DE    A    C# (omit 3)
D    E    F#m    A    F#m    E    D    E

This brings us to the “Verona” section, which has a verbal attitude reminiscent of My Sharona and Counting The Beat (two of my favourite songs) – without sounding borrowed. The three notes of the vocal melody (c#, b, a) make this eminently singable for all mere mortals. Now, just to digress, for those unfamiliar with Auckland’s Karangahape Road, Verona is an established café bar that at various times has served as the hangout venue de jour for Auckland’s actorly and musicianly types.

The “Verona” section looks like this: (You’ll be singing this bit before you know what’s happened!)
 
A    /    E    /    A    /    E    /   

 You know I like details, and here are some for you (well me anyway). In the second verse the vocal melody is doubled an octave above – check it out. I really enjoy the high backing vocal part that comes in on the repeat of the veronas in the last “Verona” section (if you get what I mean).

What is really classy is the way Elemeno P resist the temptation of a guitar solo – such restraint, such courage! The short burst on the open E string before plunging into the final chorus is a great teaser.

I like the abruptness of this song, the almost emotionless delivery of the vocal in the verses contrasting with the character of the “vero-o-o-na”, and the way the structure gives momentum by eschewing unnecessary repeats. Concise, economical Pop writing – sorry – Rock writing – whatever. All good. Enjoy.

Stephen Small is a professional musician and Coordinator of Popular Music Studies at the University of Auckland’s School of Creative and Performing Arts. He can be contacted at s.small@auckland.ac.nz