Elementary My Dear Watson

A perfect example of one song- Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner", that explains music's basic elements of melody, rhythm and texture. There's a kind of existential feel to the song too the more i listened to it.


Her original, a capella album-version of the song, although a little "breathy" (due to close-miking technique probably), has quite an unforgettable melody and monophonic texture (one voice singing a melody). One single 'melody' and therefore it has "one layer of sound" ie. monophonic.



The reprise version found on her sophomore album. The familiar melody, but with added 'texture' in the form of those keyboards generated 'tuk', 'ding', 'ting', 'ring-a-ling-ling'.



Her most popular version, the DNA version which has the familiar melody, but now with a 'dance' rhythm. The musical texture had changed from monophonic to homophonic ie. it has "many layers of sound" now with the addition of a (i) rhythm section, (ii) chords, and (iii) harmony.

from here

A delightful article of the song written by Ms Vega herself: http://measureformeasure.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/toms-essay/. Well, she certainly has a role to play in making the most popular music format that is now taken for granted by everyone.