Novelty songs were running rampant in the late 50's and 60's and many of them did attain no.1 status. My criteria for choosing songs to analyze is by date. I look at the no.1 song during the first week of August, in 10 year intervals. Today, we land on August 8th, 1960. The song in question? The first novelty song encountered in this project!
Despite the silly lyrics and "campy" music, does this song contain common musical elements found in other no.1 hit songs through the decades?
August 8th, 1960: "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini" by Brian Hyland takes the no.1 position for 1 week!
I like to start by examining the form, or the overall structure of the song. The "typical" song structure generally entails Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, or ABABCB. There are numerous variations on this paradigm, but those are the basic building blocks of pop music.
"IBTWYPB" has all of these elements with a few twists. First notice the ending of the song. The outro, or C section, presents different melodic/harmonic material at the very end. Usually, a new section would "bridge" the first set of verse/chorus to the final statement.
While this new part serves as an epilogue to the story of the song, it strangely makes me want to go back and listen again. We saw the presentation of new material in songs like "Hello, I Love You (1968)," and "Old Town Road (2019)." It's an interesting way to leave the listener with a question rather than an answer, musically speaking.
Another twist that sticks out is the length of each section. Generally, music is grouped in 4 bar statements, resulting in 8, or sometimes 12 bar sections. Here, we see several 10's and a few 9.5's!
10 bar phrases - The verse itself is a clean 8 measures (not counting pickups), but each ends with a 2 measure spoken narration: "2, 3, 4, tell the people what she wore!"
9.5 bar phrases - Again, the chorus is a clean 8 measures....sort of. The end of the chorus ("she wanted to stay") contains a measure of 2 beat, instead of 4 (hence the .5). This is immediately followed by more spoken narration: "2,3,4, stick around we'll tell you more." This is the first song analyzed that features mixed meter, or changing time signatures.
Chord Progressions
The chord changes utilize the popular ii-V7. The verse is:
D / Emin A7 / Emin A7 / D / D / G / D A7 / D
I / ii V7 / ii V7/ I / I / IV/ I V7/ I
Aside from the ii-V7, the changes have a children's song quality. That's not necessarily bad, it's just predictable. As seen before, people generally like the familiar, as long as it comes with a few small surprises. I think the 2/4 measures, and some other elements, deliver those surprises here.
The chorus is simplified, alternating between V7 and I:
A7/ D / A7 / D / A7 / D / A7 / G walk down to D
V / I / V / I / V / I / V / IV walk-down to I
The walk down from IV - I gives closure and makes it feel "finished," just before we hear the spoken refrain. These changes are also used again, sans walk-down, in the outro section. Either way, the constant V7 - I motion gives a sense of finality when then last I chord is finally played.
The rhythm section lays down an interesting groove throughout the verses. It is kind of Reggae and definitely 50's pop rock.
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| Rhythm Section example |
The organ is playing all upbeats while the guitar plays a syncopated pattern of 2 (3)+ (4)+. There is this wash of 8th notes at the beginning of the bar and when the upbeat syncopation lines up, it sticks out.
The bass moves along in the two feel, sticking to roots and 5ths. The bass finally breaks away from this in the outro with a more syncopated line.
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| Outro Bass example |
The drums keep things simple throughout and present two different feels for the verse and chorus:
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| Drums - Verse and Chorus |
These patterns are not wildly different, but the shift of the 8th notes from beat 2 to beat 3 gives the chorus a sense of forward motion. Combined with the 8th notes in the melody, it energizes that section perfectly.
The intro of the song features full band unison going up the I chord arpeggio into a walk-down on the V chord. Again, the walk-down really helps in pulling the ear to the I chord.
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| Intro |
If you notices the key signatures above, there is a modulation in the song, which happens in the 3rd statement of the intro. The singers immediately shift up 1/2 step to Eb, where the song remains until the end.
Melody
The melody really makes me think of children's music. There is a classical nature about it too, in the way the pitches lead from one chord to the next. The opening bars set up a 3-4-5 pattern on D. When the chords shift to Emin, the 3rd of D (F#) is lowered to E, which also serves as the 5th of A7, ushering in the next pattern - 5-6-7 on the A7 chord.
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| verse 1 |
Verse melody - 3 note ascending patterns centered around chord tones, connected with descending patterns to the next chord tone.
The verse also features background harmonies throughout with syncopated "ba ba da's." The female singers enhance the texture throughout and are a contrast to Hyland's voice. We saw this texture contrast of singers work well for Elvis, just one year prior to this.
The chorus melody uses similar conventions. This time, we start with a walk up (in the last bar of the verse) to get to C#, the 3rd of A7. Here we get a 3-2-1 pattern (on A) which after shifting one note, morphs to a 8-6-5 pattern on D. When the chord returns to A7, we hear the 3-2-1 again, only in a different rhythm, leading back to D where we get shades of the verse with 5-3, passing through 6 instead of 4.
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| Chorus 1 |
After retreading the same ground in the second 4 bars, it ends with, wait for it....a walk-down back home to D. This is also where we see the 2/4 bar to accommodate the spoken part, hastily eager to "tell us more."
The verse and chorus repeat a total of 3 times each, with the last repeat up 1/2 step to the key of Eb. The ending of the song presents this new melody:
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| Outro |
Starting on b2 with repeated 8th notes, we hear a new melodic rhythm. We also get the widest leaps in the song, a minor 6th from the 3rd (D) to the chord root (Bb). The next line insinuates Eb, going from G to Bb, with a bump to C, then back to G, the 3rd of Eb. After another repeat of the first 2 bars, we end with.....a walk-down! The band hits the final chord on beat 3, sending us home for good.
Musical Sticking Points
There is, seemingly, not a whole lot happening in this song musically. On the surface, the changes are predictable, the melody sounds like a kid's song and the silly lyrics take center stage. There are, however, some key elements found in many no.1 hit songs.
There are repeated melodic motifs throughout. Diatonic descending lines, from chord tone to chord, are running rampant! They push the melodic momentum forward and help cement the home key. Strong V7-I motion is a hallmark of all music and this melody plays on that human precondition.
The sections are odd lengths, thanks to the spoken parts, but they don't sound odd. I have heard this song several times prior to this analysis and never once questioned the presence of a random bar of 2/4. These little changes are sneaky good and give the song this sense of depth that is not instantly recognized.
There is a modulation in the tune, and it comes out of nowhere! Modulations are a great way to break up potential monotony and "IBTWYPB" throws one in at just the right moment. Because it comes out of nowhere, and occurs on a familiar part, it doesn't sound out of place.
The outro presents completely new melodic material, begging for another listen. I like when a song says what it has to say and then at the very end, whispers a little tease, as if to say "listen again, maybe there's something you missed" (even though that's the exact opposite of what is being said lyrically). I wish the outro was used earlier in the song as a proper bridge. The contrast of the bass line is enough to peak my interests.
Lyrics
As a novelty song, the lyrics are not supposed to be groundbreaking or poetic, or have any real substance. In this case, the story goes that one of the songwriters, Paul Vance, observed his 2 year old daughter trying out her new yellow polkadot bikini. The scene inspired him to write the tune. [1] (Paul Vance also suffered a case of mistaken death and contention over the song writes to this song....pretty wild stuff)
The girl in the song is very self conscious of her new suit and gradually maker her way from the locker room to her towel and then into the water, where she refuses to come out, even though she's turning blue. The bikini was still a little risque in 1960, so I'm sure the story was relatable to young woman eager to sport the new fashion.
The story told in the song is humorous and succinct. It has a clear beginning, middle and end and includes an epilogue to remove all doubt of the sequel. People generally love stories, so the lyrical content certainly accounts for this song's initial popularity. As stated above, the music adds to the package and holds the attention of the masses.
The spoken parts could be labeled as ""refrains." Each verse ends with "2, 3, 4, tell the people what she wore," and each chorus ends with "2, 3, 4, stick around we'll tell you more." This repeated lyric, among changing lyrics, qualifies as a type of refrain.
The spoken parts could be labeled as ""refrains." Each verse ends with "2, 3, 4, tell the people what she wore," and each chorus ends with "2, 3, 4, stick around we'll tell you more." This repeated lyric, among changing lyrics, qualifies as a type of refrain.
Common Threads
How are the no.1 hit songs connected musically? Check out my "Round 2 Wrap Up" entry to see what the previous 14 analyses had in common. For now, I'm going to start fresh and see what common themes emerge. Here's what sticks out so far:
- Repeated melodic motifs - Descending diatonic scales from chord tone to chord tone are scattered throughout the song. I will be on the look out for use of recycled melodic material.
- Strong harmonic motion from V to I
- Background singers contribute to melodic/harmonic texture
- Modulation
- New material presented at the end
This list will no doubt change as the round 3 analyses (1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010, 2020) continue.
Final Takeaways
I don't hate this song. I don't love it, but can certainly tolerate it. It's fun and light hearted, telling an innocent story of self conscious behavior, which we can all relate to.
I am intrigued by Brian Hyland, who is still writing music. He was only 16 when he recorded this song and remained popular throughout the 60's. He also had the burden of being typecast as "the itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polkadot bikini" guy. The fact that he was able to change his writing style and find success after this song, with other types of music, is somewhat remarkable. [2]
What are your thoughts on "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini?" Does the notvelty of the lyrics outweigh the subtle musical variance happening throughout? Leave me a comment!
Round 3 continues! Up next: July 25th - August 15, 1970, a 4 week run at no.1, "(They Long To Be) Close To You" by the Carpenters! The 70's are filled with musical variance, this one should be fun!
