วีดีโอ

Thanks a lot for the great study! Such great work! I love to improvise on Nik Kershaws songs. There are so many creative changes and modulations bound together by strong melodies. But the chords for the intro/theme of Easy; how, who or what came up with them? It's a tough deal trying to create melodic content across these. Any good suggestions?

I'd like to understand this universe of music Just like you guys. I Love music but I can't understand the technical stuff.

It's not just this song, it's really what made Nik Kershaw stand out. Modulation is his trade mark! Try to improvise over the song 'Easy', Probably a challenge for most trained Jazz musicians..

Very Steely Dan I'd say, I think Nik was hugely influenced by them.

Hi, do you have the PDF of Langue Cloro Gentile by Scipione Lacorte and l'o t'am'anima mia? I'm from Brazil and I'm looking for madrigals for my maestro.please

Das ist ja mal großartig! Klar ist der Song geil, und dazu sind Stimmen, Arrangement und Abmischung außergewöhnlich gut :D

ig de la minita

First album I ever bought on vinyl was Human Racing, knew there was something special about this guy, thanks for the analysis!

Very interesting, always thought there was something a bit odd about this song, been a fan of Nik since '84. I've spent more hours that I would like to admit trying to work out the lyrics to "The Riddle" and only found out recently from Nik himself that it is in fact bollocks!

I think the bass riffing on Easy can be inspired by Parliament's "Sir Nose D Voidoffunk" ? th-cam.com/video/fpD19zBWimY/w-d-xo.html

This is like Nik Kershaw playing Parliament/George Clinton, a homage to P Funk

Classical composers will make themes returning during for example a symphony, and that is exactly what Kershaw is doing with Don Q and TR, I have to say that is excellent, making The Riddle almost like a concept album, in good old prog rock or fusion tradition th-cam.com/video/fpD19zBWimY/w-d-xo.html Kershaw is also utilizing arpeggios a lot more than other artists at the time, I think.

I love Nik. He's a legend. ❤

Keyboard effects confusing the hell out of classical musicians😂

❤

❤

That facepalm at 1:41 was way too accurate for my taste

❤❤❤

Well I've been obsessed with this song since 1985 and this is the first time I've found any analysis of it, which is fascinating. Always thought Nick's key changes were totally off the chart compared to almost anyone else from the 1980s. (I know a lot of those progressive rock bands in the 60s and 70s were doing a lot of weird things of that nature at the time).

Here's a strange thing: in this particular live performance from 2012 that change between the start and end of the song doesn't seem to take place [unless I've got it totally wrong]. th-cam.com/video/ARwFDv4SDdg/w-d-xo.html Does anyone agree, or have I got it wrong?

AMAZİNG! :D :D :D :D

Superb song. My old band and I used to play Wouldn't It Be Good, which is a also a masterpiece.

Cover Enya - flora's secret please 😢

Hi. Try "ASH - GOLDFINGER". Some crazy chord changes. I'm no expert but it sounds weird.

That is why I love this song since 40 years

This is amazing! I think tetratones really give that ravel-like oriental melody..!

The melody is the very riddle itself :D I have heard the shift in tonality between first and second part but I couldn't determine is it a full tone or more! As I see it turned out to be a half tone! I was always stunned with the harmony of the song so I decided not ever try to decrypt it by playing on the piano guessing the chords but instead just listen and enjoy the riddle of the riddle. Nick definitely left something to the music world. Cheers!

I never really listened to Gesualdo before but... Man, what a journey this was. A jarring surprise every corner. Extremely interesting music, even more so considering it comes from the late renaissance.

Sure we did. That is why we are fans.

Colour me surprised, I didn't realise the start and the end were a semitone apart!

The Riddle is a song that perfectly displays the travel of every lost sock in the laundry.

Loved this. Nothing like figured bass for exhibiting clarity! Thanks for posting. Just back from seeing Tristan und Isolde at Bayreuth. I love the B major smile at the end. The peace of the Buddha!

Thank you so much for making this video. Although I knew the chart hits from the 80s I never spent any time with Nik Kershaw’s music. Recently though I heard him talking about and playing some of his more recent work on the Strange Brew podcast. I was knocked out with his melodies, his harmonic changes, his rhythmic quirks and his lyric writing. He recently played a one-off gig 60 miles away so I bought a ticket and went. What a wonderful evening of music I didn’t know. I came home and went to his website and ordered the three most recent CDs. I’ll order the rest in due course. I want to learn from this master in order to inform and improve my own songs. Once again, thank you for your brilliant and helpful insight.

1.43 feels like a Debussy quote but can't put my finger on it

Thank you, pure art of a genius!!!

“Where the did that come from…” 😂

I absolutely love this song

Some combination of listening to 'Wouldnt It be Nice' and a couple videos of Victor Wooten explaining how all the wrong notes are actually right brought me here, and i have no complaints. Nice video.

Loved this series!! Do you have any plans to continue?

When you cover Supertramp on your channel, you will get my like and my sub and i consider you as a friend :) thanks

Wow, this is fantastic!❤❤❤❤

Mark Brzezicki was the drummer for LABATYD, and Simon Phillips was on violet to blue, so expect the unexpected.

this sounds NOTHING like "Fields of Gold" by Sting. Not by single note.

ermm, ok. I could throw here many various words that defy logic and pretend to be "one who posessed the magical knowledge" but I won't. This is VERY strange situation: I know the song since 80ies, I grew up with it, and I ALWAYS found it amazing, due to its happy melody and overall vibe. it ALWAYS had brought me positive feelings, no matter what. It was a remedy for problems and failures. However listening and watching this whole analysis is somehow weird. I have no knowledge about "music theory" but now it sounds like high D-level math. Matrixes and stuff. Whatever Nik has done to the composition, it worked perfectly, it was number 1 hit, everyone knew and sung it. Whether he used "minor A", or "sharp D flat" or "unnatural G", it was totally meanigless to audiences, because people do not know all that stuff. Listeners care about song composition, its catchiness, or power or depths, but dividing it into atoms, quarks and particles KILLS all the pleasure. You meantioned that we shouldn't w expect " minor X in E" or "sharp F" in G" (random names here) - but 99% of the society have NO CLUE why. Neither do I. This however does not stop me from enjoying one of the most important and exquisite compositions of pop music. I have just one advice: when you state "we should expect this instead of that", please explain WHY. Yes, this song deviates from popular "umpa-umpa , love me baby" stuff ( that's appreciated) and I would love to learn more about i,t but what you're stating here sounds like a Estonian to me (and probably the majority of regular folks around). So, if you attempt to teach people anything, please make it SIMPLE, cos we do not get all that highly convoulted stuff. Thank you. or Danke sehr. And I guess there is a reason it is called 'the riddle" ;)

Green sleeves

Nik Kershaw is the best songwriter!! The Riddle is a masterpiece

For the hell of being pretentious, if the B part was repeated after the long bridge section, the structure could be described as a sonata form.

The final keey change always seemed somehow "bigger" than others --- thanks for helping shed light on why!

If you listen to this live performance, the key change from beginning to end doesn't happen. th-cam.com/video/ARwFDv4SDdg/w-d-xo.html

As someone who has loved this song for decades and knows absolutely nothing about music theory... Yeah, I didn't notice just how different the first and last chorus are. I always felt that there was a different... I don't know, maybe *pressure* to it with maybe additional instruments, but hearing the comparison was WILD!