How Martha Copeland's "Second-Hand Daddy" Is Like Jam On Toast

6/16/17

Friday

Night/Early Morning

Hazy

In a lot of ways, the song "Second-Hand Daddy" by Martha Copeland (and, in similar ways, any song) is like toast with jam spread on it.

First, notice that the song can be split into instruments and voice. The background instruments, namely the bass and the piano, make up the piece of toast. These parts of the song are very fundamental. Both the bass and the piano do almost all the keeping of the rhythm of the song, and the notes of the bass and the piano establish the key and chords played throughout the song. Even more illustrative of how much of a foundation these background aspects are is the style the instrumentalists themselves are playing:  the classic blues style, twelve-bar blues, is a very fundamental concept of all modern music:  jazz, rock, pop, all influenced from blues. However, on their own--*even with the flowery flourishes of the piano in the background--the bass and piano feel bare. A dry piece of toast.

It is in Copeland's voice that we find the juice of the song. Her voice really floats above the more repetitive, mechanical motions of the instruments. Disregarding even the lyrics, one can note the way her voice slides between notes and creates a single, smooth, glassy melody. The higher ranges of her voice are like the tangs we experience from, perhaps, a tart blackberry jam. The seeds really get stuck in your teeth, and you feel your tongue futilely trying to fetch them out from between your gums. The jam really adds a great flavor, and that flavor is balanced with the dry, but structural, piece of toast beneath.

It is noteworthy that the jam and the toast are both pieces of human creation, like all music. Regardless, when you bite through that sweet and tangy jam into some crusty bread, it is quite the experience. Give this song a listen.

*I have noticed--even when I find it on Google and copy-paste the little bugger of a symbol--that the em dash does not display on Blogspot. This is unfortunate for me, as the em dash is one of the more elegant forms of punctuation, but I suppose the double hyphen will work for the time being. Perhaps I will send Blogspot an email.