Cherry-Coloured Analysis

One of my favorite moments during the discussion of Dylan Thomas's "Poem in October" was when we discussed Thomas's deliberate obscurity, his technique of using words more for their connotations and rhythmic/melodic properties than for their 'meanings'. As soon as I heard that, I immediately made a connection to the music of the Cocteau Twins. Let's engage with, for instance, the song "Cherry-Coloured Funk" from their album Heaven or Las Vegas (1990). Here's an excerpt of the lyrics: Still we can find our love down from behind / Down far behind this fabulous, my turn rules. Wait,... What?

"Cherry-Coloured Funk", in terms of traditional Western harmonic analysis, has a tonality that's difficult to pin down. It seems to migrate between three keys directly related to the form of the piece. The song is composed like a traditional rock song: verse / refrain / verse / refrain / bridge / refrain. Each verse is in the same key, but unresolved dissonances and an abundance of dominant 7 chords lead me to believe that the piece doesn't have functional tonality, but more of centricity. The verse then would be centered around D major, chorus around f# minor, and the bridge around A major. Since the keys are closely related, the song flows well from section to section.

The general rhythm of the song is a strict 4/4 meter. Precise subdivisions in the vocals, accompanying instruments, and constant eighth notes from a bass drum emphasize the meter. Strong beats tend to be accented by cymbals, and weak beats are illuminated by tambourine.

These musical concepts certainly speak for certain aspects of "Cherry-Coloured Funk", but I want to explore more. I want to know what happens because of the dominant 7 chords in the verse; I want to know how the strict 4/4 affects the song; I want to attempt to analyze the lyrics. Comparing the formal analysis to my Joni Mitchell historical analysis, I feel like I'm more up the creek than I was before. Historical analysis at least personifies the music to some extent, but this formal analysis just seems like something a musician (with knowledge of this particular framing musical syntax) would go: "Oh,... I see," or would it be, "I hear"?