Analysis of Son House and Hobo Johnson
This paper was written for my ethnomusicology class at the University of Oviedo during my semester in Spain. It was originally written in Spanish (the original copy will be below) and I tried to translate it as exact as possible. I didn’t want to add any of my English writing mannerisms within this text. Please keep in mind that voice of this paper is probably different to the voice of my papers that were written in English. If you would like a version of the Spanish text, send me an email!
The prompt was to identify folkloric styles within two songs. For example: the inclusion of yelling, breaths, embellishments (melasmas), what type of orchestration, etc.
The two songs I've chosen come from different eras, different places, and different styles. The first a is a song by the blues artist, specifically delta blues, named Son House. He was a Mississippi guitarist in the United States during the 1930s-1940s and again in the 1960s-1970s after people had discovered his recordings that were recorded by Alan Lomax. He was an influence on many guitarists, for example, Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. He's primarily a guitarist, but this song, Grinnin' in Your Face, is just his voice and his hands. The other artist is named Hobo Johnson, a rapper from Sacramento, California. He uses an eclectic mix of sounds and instruments, spoken word, rap, and singing. I think the best way to describe his music is "slam poetry with music to accompany." This song, Peach Scone, was the first song of his to gain success, and is the reason he was on the "Tiny Desk" concert series on NPR. The song has very simple orchestration with the instruments with a very free vocal line. There are many expressions, emotions, and interesting rhythms inside the lyrics.
Grinnin’ in Your Face
Grinnin' in Your Face by Son House was released in 1965 after his music break. The song has a simple structure: chorus, verse, chorus, verse. Each part shares the same melodies with its type (e.g., verse=verse), with some embellishments and small variations in the rhymes. The song is just his voice and his hands when he claps. Son House used a very free tempo, there are parts where it accelerates and decelerates. I don't know if this is a decided choice or mistakes, but it adds to the feel to the song. There are at least 5 times when he changes the tempo of his applause in the 2 minutes and 6 seconds of this song, and probably more when we look at the parts without applause. He uses applause in specific parts, such as the second part of each chorus when singing “... a true friend is hard to find, don't you mind people grinnin' in your face”, and two applauses during the verse. He also applauds at random times, probably to give more power to the words he is singing. In the second and third choirs, there is a bit of a jump in his voice and the applause. In the final half of the song, it's more noticeable that the applause doesn't exactly align with the beats you'd expect. Also, if you try to clap with the rhythm of the beginning with the song, your applause would be between the applause of Son House.
Son House uses a lot of vocal techniques on this song. His voice is complementary to the style of this song, there is not much ornamentation, but there is a bit to demonstrate the importance of the lyrics in those places. At the end of sentences, he likes to use some vibrato in his words. For example, in the choruses and more specifically at 0:09 and 0:12 in the song, you may hear the vibrato in the words “mind" and “face", but almost every sentence ends with a vibrato. In the third line of the second verse "Just as soon as your back is turned"(1:22), he changes the melody to raise the tone in the last word “turned". This sentence seems a little angry. It sets the following lines, which share a similar emotion. In the second and third choruses, he used his falsetto in the phrase "Oh, just bear, oo this in mind, a true friend is hard to find" after “bear" on the sound "oo". Although, Son House sings this phrase twice in the last chorus, the first time, he does not use falsetto, but the second time he does.
Also, in almost every chorus, he uses exclamations in the same phrases with the same melodies. In the last “don't you mind people grinnin' in your face" before the phrase, “Oh, just bear, oo this in mind, a true friend is hard to find”, he raises the tone. After this phrase, we can hear him say "yeah" (0:13), the vowel "ooo" (1:03), and "oh lord" (1:52). There is an exception in the second verse after the very strong line that I commented on earlier. Then, "Just as soon as your back is turned"(1:22), he says, "yes." I imagine he uses these exclamations as a filler to lessen any unwanted silence, because this song is exposed.
He uses breaths and silences very naturally, usually at the end of sentences. There is a place where he uses a breath that is smaller than the others and this is between the first chorus and verse. It seems to me that he starts the verse quickly. But the breaths are not very audible in the recording. He has parts with silence, and I would guess it's so we can internalize the lyrics in these places. He uses the silence between the phrases in the first and second verses, “You know your mother would talk about you (space), your own sisters and your brothers too (space), they just don't. care how you’re tryin' to live (space), they'll talk about you still". But in the second verse he uses more space between the phrases, "You know they'll jump you up and down, they'll carry you all 'round and 'round, just as soon as your back is turned, they'll be tryin' to crush you down." While I think it is true that Son House wanted the lyrics to sit with us. I also believe that using more space between sentences is also a technique to prepare for the strength needed to sing the following “angry” phrases that I mentioned above.
The need to breathe often leads Son House to cut the end of words to the ends of sentences. This case is most prominent in, “don’t you mind people grinnin' in your face". We can hear that the word “mind" changes to"min" and “face" changes to"fay", and also "grinning" changes to "grinnin'" as in the title of the song. . Two other examples are the words “friend" and “around". "Friend” loses "d". "Around” loses the "a" and "d”, changes to "roun". The word cutting can also be attributed to their southern accent, like the Andalusians with their use of 's'. It is obvious with the word “bear". He says "bah", but this is possible because then there are the vowels "ooohs". Although sometimes he doesn't have the “ooohs,"he says “bow." Finally, with his accent this phrase "just as soon as your back is turned”, it is very difficult to understand the lyrics here for some. It sounds like "just as soon as ya back a tined". Delta accents in Mississippi and other places in the Deep South can be difficult to comprehend for people with other regional dialects.
Peach Scone
Peach Scone by Hobo Johnson is a song about a woman in the life of the singer, Frank. He is in love with her, but she has a boyfriend. This song is a story about the relationship between Frank and the woman, and Frank getting used to the reality that they won't be together. This version of the song was recorded by a competition by NPR that was presented at the Tiny Desk Concert studio.
The structure of this version of Peach Scone is the same as the studio version. It has an exposition before the first verse, verse, chorus, verse (twice as long as the first verse), chorus, verse (1.5 time than the first verse), chorus, epilogue. Each verse has a different part of the story, and with different emotions that you can hear in Frank's voice. The first part is when Frank and the woman meet for the first time. He tries to be soft, but there is a faint sound of despair in his voice after he learns that she has a boyfriend. She has a voice to the point of crying. The next verse, they have coffee together and Frank wants to profess his love to her, but he can't. He professes his love for buns. He has a lot of interest in pumpkin bun. In the last verse Frank meets the groom. The tone of this verse is that he is a bit distant with the groom. And then we observe in the last verse that Frank accepts that he won't be with her and that he's fine. In the epilogue, time has passed and now there is a new person in Frank's life. Also, in both the exposition and epilogue, Frank is speaking to the listener.
There are not many instruments in this song, just a guitar with nylon strings, a bass, electric drums (for high hats and applause) and a floor tom to simulate a bass drum, and the singer. Its parts are very simple and repeat more or less for the whole song. I think this is because the song is a story, and the lyrics are more important than the parts of the instruments. The guitar plays the same part during the verses and choruses, except at the end of the second verse where it cuts out for an intimate part. In this part the woman asks Frank about his thoughts on a situation between the woman and her boyfriend. He replies, "He was being mean at that part, but I'm sure he's gonna turn around at some point." This is a very interesting time, because Frank could have used this moment to break up the relationship. Although, he doesn't want to see her hurt. The choice that the guitar leaves in this part, is because it is introspective, and the listener should not have some distractions to the lyrics. There is another pause at the end of the third verse before the chorus, where Frank calls her a Peach Scone. This is to cause tension before the last chorus. For the rest of the instruments, they play only during the choruses. Sometimes the other members "sing", perhaps they shout, parts in the choruses in the phrases “... Being so alone", "... crying on the phone", "... doesn't get hurt”, but the phrase “... Being so alone”, is repeating many times in the choruses. Also, they shout, "Scones." They use this technique to show the importance and emotion within the words. Because all the phrases are very sad and we can hear in Frank's voice, but the fact that they are shouting them, added even more force. I mentioned the use of repetitive parts on the guitar and other instruments. This choice makes the use of improvisation in the vocal lines so easy. He can find the right place in the song, if there is less variation in the orchestration. This type of composition is very common by Hobo Johnson.
Hobo Johnson's style is very unique for rap and music in general. Rhythmically, the lyrics are free. There is a mixture of spoken, sung, and rap parts (although, in the song he says he is not a rapper, "... people like say I'm a rapper, I'm actually not"). There is no fixed rhythm because this mixes in the verses. There are rhythmic motifs as in the phrases, "So I don't know what to tell you, if I try to confess my love for..." Use space between each word in this part. This mix fits well with the limited instrumentals and the fact that it's a story. Parts with conversations seem more natural with this style. If it were direct singing or rapping, it would seem unnatural. But, because this one, there are errors in the lyrics, not only between this version and the studio version, but in the studio version. He keeps the mistakes in the final song, stumbling over the words, changing the lyrics, speeding up to be in tune with the music. In that way, it's similar with Grinnin' in Your Face, because he has rhythm errors in this song as well.
He changes some of the lyrics, some on purpose, others accidentally. Now let's look at the differences. Well, in the first part, the exposition, he mentions a man named "Bob". He refers to "Bob Boilen", a founder of All Songs Considered and Tiny Desk. Actually, he changes the whole of that part to introduce himself and the band. In the original, he gives us context to the song, about the woman and her boyfriend. The second change is that, in the original, Frank asks her if she is in love, but in this version, she asks if she has a man. The next change is at the end of the first chorus. I think this is a mistake because he sings the final sentence of the next chorus. In the second verse he omits filler words that appear in the original, for example "friggin'". In the part where he makes a list about the buns in the second verse, he is a bit quick, and he stumbles upon the words a little. Also, in the original there is a part about the pumpkin scones that are made by Elon Musk in his "little lab”, but he omitted in this version. And because of this omission, he needed to add more to be in time, because in the next sentence he says, “sorry for interrupting".
In the next chorus, he changes the first and second half, again, a mistake I would imagine. In the last verse, he talks a little more about his musical abilities in this version compared to the original. Also, it rambles on about the woman and her relationship with the groom a little more. In this part, you can hear him come to terms with your relationship. There is a tone. Defeated in his voice and his word fades. He says more than it's in the original, and he can because the simple nature of the orchestration, only the guitar is playing here. And when the guitar leaves, there is another reference to “Bob". In the final chorus, there are not many changes or mistakes, just add a repeated phrase and the last reference about “Bob". Also, he takes out the fragment at the end of the original.
The use of exclamations in this song has the same reason as those of Son House. They give strength to words. The most prominent exclamations are the phrases I mentioned earlier. But in the exhibition, he uses many to gain emotion from the listener. Do you use the sound "woooah", the word "goddamn", the phrase "what's up? ". In the first verse during the phrase “... or the type that ties you two together 'til tomorrow's end?” there is a small scream/stress in the words at the end of the sentence. Also, he says “man" after lines with a lot of emotion. Then his list about buns, where the part about Elon Musk should be, shouts "... it blows my mind! Oh man." He does not use breaths for a stylistic choice, but he can hear his reflections clearly because he is out of breath and the microphone is directly in his mouth.
Finally, about the pronunciations of his words. Hobo Johnson has a neutral accent in my opinion. Well, there are nuances in their pronunciations that we can observe. Almost always with a word with a "t" at last, it does not pronounce, for example, the word “heart” changes to "har". It is difficult to rhyme with this sound in English, and especially with this style. Although, many people in the United States speak like this, it includes me. He rhymes the words"life" and “type” and does so he put an "f" in the word “type", changes it to “typfe". Often with words ending with "-ing", cut the "g". It is also very common in the U.S. sometimes “v" pronounced as an "f" as in the word"love”, changes to “luf".