Monday, May 10, 2021

It's Only Make Believe, by Conway Twitty


Typical songs in most genres have lines in the verses that begin somewhere, then go up, and then go down. Up, then down. That's the usual. 

Right below this is Just Because by Lloyd Price, which defies that usual pattern by starting high and descending. Every line in the verse is descending. That's unusual. In this great Conway Twitty song from 1958, the opposite happens. Every line in the verse goes up. This is more common than the descending variation, but both are out of the usual pattern. 

Nice job, Mr. Twitty! 

It's worth mentioning that he's doing a great job here of incorporating just enough Elvis in his style so that it's there, and it helps, but it's not obvious. Very subtle! Lots of singers were modeling Elvis after 1956, but most of them lacked Conway's talent and personal sense of style.  

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