"Bad Girls" - Donna Summer, 1979

Donna Summer is known as "the Queen of Disco."  As the mere mention of disco instinctually causes most music fans to hold their noses, this moniker is not entirely fair.  Donna Summer is more than disco, she was a trail blazer of dance and R&B music.  Her first appearance on the Hot 100 Chart came in 1976 with "Love To Love You Baby," a shining example of her disco prowess.  She would ride this wave to many more appearances on the charts, 14 of which cracked the top ten, with songs that would continue to evolve all the way to 1999.

By 1979, disco was breathing its final breath.  In walks Donna Summer and releases an acclaimed album, "Bad Girls."  The record had two no.1 hits, "Hot Stuff" and the title track.  These no.1 songs, combined with "MacArthur Park" from November of 1978 and "NO more Tears (Enough is Enough)" with Barbara Streisand in November of 79, would mark FOUR no.1 hit singles in just over a year! [1]

"Bad Girls" provides a defining template for several songs previously analyzed and for many, I presume, we will see in the future.

July 14th - August 11th, 1979: "Bad Girls" by Donna Summer goes on a 5 week run in the no.1 position on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart!

Take a moment to examine the "simplified form."  Essentially, we hear ABC three times, get a new section in D (bridge), and bring it home with one more A.  This strikes me as very "classical" with multiple returns to the A section with plenty of variation in tow.

Now look at "form," a detailed categorization of the sections in terms of modern song structure.  There are a lot of sections, with multiple delineations and variations.  "Bad Girls" takes the "7 Layer Dip" approach I have observed in the past few analyses.  Basically, an instrumental loop is garnished with additional loops that are combined for different textures and timbres.  Throughout the song, the base material remains and different instruments make occasional appearances.

The intro sets this in motion.  Bars 1-4 feature guitars and percussion.  Bars 5-8 add in the bass and piano.  Bars 9-12 feature the first of two prominent horn parts and the police whistle.  Bars 13-16 introduce a vocal ostinato that we will hear throughout the song.

I labeled bars 17-20 "PreChorus" which at this point, is really still part of the intro.  These 4 measures are the first introduction of a second prominent horn melody, a part which will reoccur before every chorus.  Look for more on this part in the "Melody" section below.

After the intro, the horn prechorus is generally preceded by what feels like a more traditional "prechorus."  This part, labeled PC', features some rhythm section "hits," and an altered chord change, which hosts a guitar solo in place of vocals in the back half.  This one was fairly challenging to map out considering it features long sections with lots of substance in each.  The "simplified form" tells the story much more succinctly, yet does not show all the variation this song has to offer.

Chord Progressions 

Like so many songs we have seen, this song thrives on, essentially, a static chord progression.  We hear this through the intro, verse and chorus sections.  The intro sets it up with this contrapuntal guitar web.

Intro Guitars

The signature disco guitar sound on the top sets up the chord progression, I v / iv v in Dmin.  The lower line, a funky muted guitar riff, reinforces the D minor sound with only 3 notes: root, minor 3rd and minor 7 of D minor.

Then, we get a brilliant bass line!  This line uses a main theme that gets a healthy dose of improvisation throughout.  This feature, to me, sets the repetitive nature of this song apart from others.  Even though it's the same chord progression for most of the song, the bass does not play the exact same thing, a clear sign that there are actual humans playing the instrument.

Here is a 4 bar segment of the bass line that occurs from m9 - 12.  Notice the improvised flourish in the last line.  We will hear variations of this throughout the song.  To get a sense of the big picture regarding the bass line,  check out this transcription from Scott Edwards. [2]

bass - m9-12

 The horns serve an important role in "Bad Girls," providing support for the chord progression as well as melody.  In the intro, we hear the first prominent horn background.  Rhythmically and harmonically, they support the guitar vamp.

Horn background 1

All of this is propelled by the drums, a hallmark of the disco sound.  They provide strong downbeats and added support for all those 16th note lines.

drum feel

Aside from the main chord progression, there is the PC' part, featuring full band syncopation that leaves space for some vocal flair and a rippin' guitar solo, later on.  Here's how the horns are added to the mix.

PC'

This part ventures to Bbmaj7 (VI) and Gmin7 (iv) before bringing us back home with the A7sus and A7 (V) chords, leading back to the D minor tonality.  In a way, this part could be called the bridge, as it harmonically bridges sections sections of the song together.  It happens so frequently though, and usually right before a chorus, that I felt it should get a "prechorus" label.  (In the "simple form" this is C)

Melody

The first vocalizations heard in the song come in the form of a spoken vocal ostinato.  This part part has been widely sampled and borrow from in more modern music, including R. Kelly's "Ignition Remix."

Toot Toot Ostinato

 We hear this throughout the entire tune, including acappella in the outro (coda).  This part is fun, sang by the background singers, and gives space for all the other stuff happening, yet fits in with the harmonic rhythm.

The next melody we get is from the horns.  This part, labeled "PC", is also featured throughout the tune and happens during the last vocal chorus at the end.

"prechorus" horn melody

This part is unique in its rhythm as well as note choice.  It works around the minor 3rd of Dmin, pausing on the G and E.  All in all, it gives the D minor feeling with the added flavor of the E, the 2nd of Dminor and the 5th of Amin, the passing chord in the 2nd measure - chord tone/passing tone.

After 2 introductory melodies, we finally get the hook, about 40 seconds into the song.  Like the bass line, the chorus evolves throughout, adding call and response as well as additional flourishes from Summer.  Here is the second chorus.

2nd Chorus

This melody plays in the D minor space, hitting it hard on the root - minor 3rd motion.  The echoes also exploit the minor 7 - root motion, much like the muted guitar in the intro.  There is lots of space in this chorus, which makes sense, considering all the movement in the supporting parts.  ("Genie In A Bottle" has a similar quality but features much less space in the vocal rhythm.)

The third chorus introduces a variation and features the background singers in unison.  They utilize the minor 3rd - root and minor 7- root motion while incorporating the added 4th we will see in the verse and even part of the "toot toot" ostinato.  This part has a "na na naboo boo" quality that makes it fun.

Chorus 3

Verses 1 and 2 are busier than the chorus, which only helps to contrast the 2 sections with similar chord progressions.  The verses feature phrases starting on the 5th (A) and venturing to the upper minor 7th (C) before making its way down to the D.  Some of the syncopation is reminiscent of the horn parts.  We even hear call and response, which increases in the 2nd chorus and 2nd verse.

Verse 1

As in case of third chorus, the third verse also gets a variation.  This section blends elements of the chorus and first verses with a greater focus on root-minor 3rd motion than in the first verse and an increased presence of background vocals.

verse 3 - first 2 bars

PC' features even more new melodic content.  This entire section is sort of a call and response between the horns and Donna Summer.  We get a pleasant ascending and descending contour with some wild melisma to end each phrase. 

PC' melody

We also hear Donna hit the highest note in the song as it moves from PC' to the horn PC.  She throws down some serious D minor pentatonic riffage here, which adds to the stanky funk of the rhythm section.  Over the horn line, she sings a B natural, the only non-diatonic note of the whole vocal melody.  It works though, as she descends slowly down the scale, all the way to the lower root.
She also takes a cue from the horns and accentuates the E during this part, adding to the 9th flavor!

She's not done yet!  More new melodic content happens in the bridge.  Here, she incorporates elements of other vocal melodies heard up to this point.

bridge lead vocal

We get some speaking parts ("toot toot"), phrases focusing around A and the high C (verse 1) and a focus on the high D (prechorus).  This section also features more space than other melodies, helping it to truly feel like a bridge, headed to the last chorus and coda.

Musical Sticking Points

This songs hits the mark, for me on having a great balance of repetition and variation.  The highly varied bass line provides a character that extends well beyond the modern loop equivalent.  There are also a ton of elements that are added and subtracted throughout: two guitar parts, a piano part (that has variation similar to bass), two contrasting horn backgrounds and plenty of auxiliary percussion (shakers and castanets).

Melodically, there are 8 sections that all borrow elements from one another.  Many songs include a verse, chorus and bridge.  Even if you add in an outro, that's only 4 sections of potential melodic content.  "Bad Girls" doubles that with tons of variation.  It comes from the same source material, D minor pentatonic, so it feels familiar and never out of place.

This round of analyses has featured songs with extended runs at no.1.  As we look back through the decades, the amount of time at the top is generally small.  A potential explanation would be the constant output of quality material from artists at the time.  Considering that, Donna Summer's presence on the charts during the year 1979 can be attributed to her musical sensibility.  You can dance to her songs, a plus for the disco enthusiasts.  Even as disco was becoming monotonous, Donna Summer figured out a way to extend her shelf life with danceable rhythms and enough musical substance to sate the tastes of people looking beyond the genre.

Lyrics

This song is also about prostitution.  That's right, the "bad girls" are ladies of the night.  Summer reportedly wrote it after her secretary was mistaken for one of these women, walking down the streets at night, in a bad part of town. [3]  When you take that into account, a lot of the nonsense lyrics make more sense:  "toot toot, beep beep" - cars getting the attention of the women; "hey mista, got a dime?"; and of course, the police whistle.

Summer does raise the societal dilemma of these "sad girls," offering the notion: "now you and me, we're both the same, but you call yourself by different names."  Obviously upset about the unfair stereotyping of her secretary that fateful night, these lyrics are slightly angry yet sorrowful towards the whole scenario.

The rhyme scheme for most sections is AAAB, with some being AAB.  Melodically this flow works great with the first phrases being similar and the last phrases being longer and drawn out, supporting the non-rhyme with flowing melody.


Common Threads  

I'd like to approach this section a little differently today.  This song has so much in common with the other songs "on the 9's,"  they deserve a look individually.

"Old Town Road" (2019) - both tunes share a repeated chord progression.  ("Bad Girls" does have one additional section.)  Both feature a layering approach with instruments that appearing sporadically throughout.  Both feature numerous melodies that borrow elements from each other, including a varied 3rd verse.  Both also have melodies that move step-wise through the mode, though "Bad Girls" relies more on the minor 3rd leaps.

"I Gotta Feeling" (2009) - both tunes thrive on repetition.  They also feature gang background vocals, offering call and response.  Both songs also utilize the layering approach to keep the repetition interesting.  They also feature spoken passages.

"Genie In A Bottle" (1999) - both tunes feature a web of syncopated rhythms right on top of one another.  Both songs have a repeated chord progression, enhanced by layered instrumental parts.  They also feature talented female singers who love to use melisma in their phrasing.  I would imagine Christina studied Donna to some extent.  Like "I Gotta Feeling," both songs feature spoken passages.  They also utilize stepwise scalar motion in a minor key.
   
"Right Here Waiting" (1989) - Both songs feature several statements of the primary melody (though Richard Marx holds the record with 6x).  Both songs also include slight variation in the delivery of musical ideas.  Both songs also feature instruments bearing a significant amount of the melodic responsibility, including guitar solos.

In addition to that, we still see the hook containing the title of the song, repeated melodic content and texture changes throughout.  In terms of common threads, this tune is significant to this project and utilizes many techniques seen through the decades.

Final Takeaways   
I really enjoyed this one!  This tune is super funky, with great instrumental material to latch onto.  I had completely forgotten I arranged this for a horn band I played in.  When I found it, I was definitely excited to see what I had done about 10 years ago.  Unfortunately, I don't think we ever played it at the one wedding we played.....but if we did, it would have killed!

To me, this song is significant to this analysis project.  As discussed in common threads, there are many similarities between this song and others that follow.  I was most taken aback by the technique used in layering instruments.  "I Gotta Feeling" was very "color by numbers," adding the parts in, cut and dry.  "Genie In A Bottle" did that nice trick with fading into the piano arpeggios so the opening felt brand new the second time around.  But this song just has more stuff to process.  The two guitar parts are so funky, and join and rejoin throughout.  The horn lines, three variations in all, provide a nice texture and timbre shift.  And that bass line!

What do you think of "Bad Girls?"  Do you see the common threads between this and no.1 hit songs to follow?

Moving back to the 1960's is an exciting venture as we close out the journey "on the 9's."  This round has been fruitful for discovering some potent music techniques used in crafting no.1 hit songs.

Up Next: July 12 - August 16th, 1969.  "In The Year 2525" by Zager & Evans goes on a 6 week run at no.1, only to be dethroned by "Honky Tonk Women" by the Rolling Stones.  This one I am clueless on.  I am excited to take a trip back to the psychedelic 60's!

[1]https://www.allmusic.com/artist/donna-summer-mn0000661524/biography
[2]https://basslessons.be/transcriptions.php?i=138
[3]https://www.songfacts.com/facts/donna-summer/bad-girls