Call-and-Response Song: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Call-and-response is a form of music sung by (or at least from the perspective of) two or more people. Rather than sing the same part or do different verses, one person sings a statement, the other gives a reply to it. While this usually goes on until the end of the song, sometimes only a few lines in a verse are done this way. Though it doesn't necessarily have to be, often the lines in question are a musical argument of sorts.

 

 

 

If possible, please elaborate a bit on your examples. While just the lines themselves are fine, having what's being talked about in them as well is better.

 

 

** Also seen in 5:15: "(inside outside) Leave me alone/(inside outside) Nowhere is home/ (inside outside) Where have I been?/ Out of mine brain on the five-fifteen!"

* "Anything You Can Do" from ''[[Annie Get Your Gun]]'' is a classic example- both singers sing-argue about [[Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better|who can do anything better than the other]].

* "America" from ''[[West Side Story]]'' uses this. In the version revised for the movie, the characters taking turns being the Caller and Responder. The original version just had Rosalia as caller and Anita as responder.

** To be more specific, the movie basically divides it into men as the callers and the women as responders (or vice versa, depending on the stanza).

** "You Are Holy (Prince Of Peace)" is one of these songs.

* "The Name of Love" from the [[Musical]] ''The Mystery of Edwin Drood''. Rosa Budd and Jasper sing their lines one after the other, making sense when read out, but only rhyming in context:

"I call it lewd." ("a bit too crude.") }}

* The entire song is sung by just one guy, but "I Think I'm in Love" by [[Spiritualized]] can count. It has Jason Pierce singing by himself a line that goes like "I Think I('m) X", to which a chorus of Jason Pierces responds "Probably just Y", where Y undermines the X.

I think I'm on fire/Probably just smoking }}

* "If I Had $1000000" by Barenaked Ladies.

* "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" by [[Billy Joel]].

* "Minnie the Moocher" by [[Cab Calloway]].

** [[Dark Reprise|And later on...]]

* "Confrontation" from ''Jekyll and Hyde''. Notable, in that the two characters singing (Jekyll and Hyde) are performed by the same singer, forcing him to switch voices from one sentence to the next.

* "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues and Kirsty Mc Coll. Starts off as a duet about falling in love and finishes with a call and response about how much they hate each other.

* A type of Military marching cadence, known as "Jodies", are a variation of this. Starting with the [[Yanks With Tanks|US Military]], these have been known to get [[Refuge in Vulgarity|a bit vulgar.]]

* "Bohemian Rhapsody" from [[Queen]] has a section like this, with one side begging "Let him go!" and the other refusing.

* "Itchycoo Park" by the Small Faces:

''Tell you why!'' }}

* [[Crystal Castles]]'s Courtship Dating:

Make you participate! }}

''My man writes love letters'' }}

Till: "I don't understand you." }}

* INXS's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhvbRZWEtd4 "Need You Tonight"]:

''"Gonna live my life!"'' }}

* The [[Talking Heads]] song "Slippery People".

** Many Talking Heads songs are like this. For example, both "Once in a Lifetime" and "(Nothing but) Flowers" incorporate call-and-response elements. It is most likely due to the influence they drew from African music.

* "I'm Goin' North" (lyrics by Frank Loesser) from the wartime movie musical ''Thank Your Lucky Stars''.

"I'm caught again in the mystery - You're by my side, but are you still with me? The answer's somewhere deep in it, I'm sorry that you're feeling it but I just have to tell you that I... love you so much these days. [[Tear Jerker|Have to tell you that I love you so much these days, it's true.]]" }}

* "Sex (I'm A...)" by Berlin features a sung exchange between lead singer Terri Nunn and songwriter John Crawford.

"Remind me of the babe!" }}

* The studio version "Scarborough Fair" by Simon and Garfunkel is a curious take on call and response. The call (and far older than the duo), Scarborough Fair, is a traditional folk song (UK), and the response, Canticle, overlaps as a modified version of Simon's "The Side of a Hill," a contemporary (circa 1965) anti-war ballad.

(Sleeps unaware of the clarion call) }}

* "Tallahassee" (by Frank Loesser) from the movie musical ''Variety Girl''.

* "Happy To Make Your Acquaintance" (by Frank Loesser) from ''[[The Most Happy Fella]]''.

** "Good Girls Go Bad", between the lead singer and [[Gossip Girl|Leighton Meester]]. Saporta is the bad boy trying to [[The Casanova|convince Meester to dance with him]]. Meester is the [[Shrinking Violet|shy girl]] who knows she shouldn't trust him, [[All Girls Want Bad Boys|but can't resist anyway]].

** "New Edition" with the band's keytarist, Victoria Asher, getting in a few lines. Asher is the girl [[Single Woman Seeks Good Man|looking for a serious relationship]], whereas Saporta is [[The Casanova|the player who only wants a fling]] and [[Mad Love|needs some space]]. This leads up to...

** "Disaster Boy", where Victoria Asher is featured as the lead singer, with Gabe Saporta as the responder. Asher is is stuck in a relationship with Saporta, who plays the [[Jerkass|disappointing boyfriend]]. While they both agree that the relationship may not be the best for either of them, Asher sings more about [[Love Is a Weakness|staying by his side]] [[Love Hurts|despite conflicting feelings]], while Saporta retorts about [[Jerkass Realization|being unforgivable for screwing up the relationship]].

* "I've Got You Under My Skin", of all songs, has had this happen to it ''twice'': once when [[Stan Freberg]] used it to lampoon a call-and-response version of "On Top of Old Smokey" that was a hit at the time, and again [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkDshJNIdSM in a quite different way] on ''[[The Muppet Show]]''.

* [[Kanye West]] and [[Jay Z]] invoke this trope relentlessly on their latest dual project album, Watch The Throne.

* Ray Parker Jr., not enthusiastic about having to rhyme the word "[[Ghostbusters]]", finally hit on using this type of song to get around it when he saw footage of the commercial scene. So you have artistic reluctance to thank for "Who you gonna call?"

* While it's not done throughout the whole song, [[Flight of the Conchords]]' "Carol Brown" has a bridge that involves a call and response between Jemaine Clement and a group of backup singers representing his ex-girlfriends:

Who organized all my ex-girlfriends into a choir and got them to sing? }}

* Almost every song you learn in Girl Scout Camp.

etc. }}

* [[Sound Horizon]]'s "Hikari to Yami no Douwa (Märchen)" has Elise asking Märchen questions about the deserted village they're in

Then why does the well call out to people? (Calling out to people is what the well was born to do.) }}

* A common form for sea shanties--"Blow the Man Down" is probably the most well-known example.

* [[Lady Antebellum]]'s "Need You Now".

"Well, I said I wouldn't call, but I've lost all control and I need you now..." }}

* Used a lot in the czech musical Pied Piper, where most of the songs are conversations between one or more people.

** Excerpt: [http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&global=1&q=agnes+pied+piper#/d3beg6y (lyrics)] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvyYycwbP9Q (video)]

* "For the Last Time, I'm Dominican" from the ''[[Scrubs]]'' episode [[Musical Episode|"My Musical"]] is a tango between Turk and Carla that takes the form of an argument:

[[Lysistrata Gambit|So list all you know about me or no sex again.]] }}

* The song [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1run7lerSLA 'Mary'] by the comedy band Dead Cat Bounce is a song about a man having some trouble getting in touch with the eponymous Mary by phone. Some of the responses include a wrong number to a Chinese restaurant, and an automated message informing the caller that he ran out of call credit.

"-cents!" }}

* "It Must Be Love" by Ty Herndon features a "call" from Drew Womack and Doug Virden, then-members of Sons of the Desert:

'''All''': Oh, I don't know, but something tells me it must be love }}

* The verses to [[Shania Twain]]'s "Party for Two" are a dialogue between her and Billy Currington. An alternate version exists with Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray doing the male vocals.

[[Category:Music Tropes]]

[[Category:Call And Response Song]]