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Steven S Buckingham Analysing Popular MusicDecember 2004 / January 2005 Dr. Frank Millward

Serenade

Ultravox - Serenade

Written by C. Cross, W. Cann, B. Currie, M. Ure

This study undertakes the analysis of Serenade, from Ultravox’s first album with

Chrysalis, Quartet. I aim to analyse the song in the context of the rest of the album,

the time it was written and the musical and technological devices and methods

employed. In particular, I am concerned with lyrical content and how this relates and

interacts with the music.

Released in 1982, Quartet was one in impressive run of seven top ten albums in five

years. It was an album that made use of new technology; though electronic music had

been developing throughout the 20th Century, synthesizers (which created new sounds

electronically, rather than manipulating recorded sound) were becoming

commercially available in the 1980s. The Yamaha DX7 is considered to be the first

of a new breed of affordable synthesizers1, and more followed from the likes of

Yamaha and Moog. Drum machines were also emerging, such as the now famous

Simmonds drums and Roland drum machines. Like many of their contemporaries,

Ultravox set about using this new technology to create new sounds, and Quartet is an

example of this production approach. Produced by George Martin and engineered by

Geoff Emerick, the album employs a variety of synthesizer sounds, both pads and

1 The first widely available FM synthesizer, the Synclavier, was prohibitively expensive, and out of the grasp of many musicians. Many are still used today, by top artists like Sting and Benny Andersson of ABBA, and in studios and post-production facilities.

MA Popular Music Kingston University 1


leads, as well as other electronic percussion and effects (the Yamaha CS80 being a

particular favourite of Billy Currie, Ultravox’s chief keyboard player). Under the

supervision of George Martin (previous albums were produced by Conny Plank), the

album saw Ultravox achieving a warmer, more commercial sound, and it is a great

example of their successful brand of electropop, following on from the hit albums

Rage In Eden (1981) and the first Ultravox album with Midge Ure on vocals, Vienna

(1980). The title track of Vienna was the single with which Ultravox had ‘effectively

cornered the burgeoning new romantic/electropop market’2 when it hit no. 2 in the

UK in 1981, so at the release of Quartet the band was on a wave of success.

Lyrically, Serenade, track two on the album, is rather ambiguous, in that the listener is

not presented with an overt message or simple story. The lyric appears to be an

observational commentary on some act of worshipful adoration, apparently taking the

form of music and dance. This is not a private act of worship, but ‘the chant of a

thousand-fold, the song of a million strong’. An apparent contradiction presents

itself, in that there is the implication of chaotic, riotous behaviour as ‘youth runs wild

with the beat in their hearts’, yet they ‘compose their gifted words’ and ‘orchestrate

their moves’ in order to ‘echo the perfect praise’.

One possible explanation of the lyric could be that the scene being described is one of

a multitude of hysterical fans greeting some kind of celebrity or group of celebrities.

The apparent contradiction of organised chaos could be reference to the fact that the

fans are effectively all of one accord and projecting their adoration on the same

subject, possibly singing and dancing along with them and thus ‘orchestrating their

2 Strong (2002), The Great Rock Discography. Edinburgh: Canongate, p. 1086.



moves’; whilst each appears, at least to the casual observer, to be out of control and

frenzied.

This kind of fan hysteria, perhaps first seen with The Beatles, would of course have

been familiar to the writers of the lyrics3. Ultravox had, by this time, experienced

relative success in the music industry, having released numerous albums and singles

between 1977’s Ultravox! and 1982, when Quartet was released. Though they were

not The Beatles or The Beach Boys, they would nevertheless have had a strong fan

base by this time, and would have at least some experience of the ego-boosting effect

of interaction with adoring fans. Midge Ure had also enjoyed success in Slik, Rich

Kids, Thin Lizzy and Visage before being invited to join the band. More importantly,

perhaps, years of daydreaming and fantasising about achieving high levels of success,

and being on the receiving end of the kind of adoration that accompanied it, would

surely have played a part in shaping their conceptions of what it is to be famous.

With this in mind, Serenade could even be seen as a cynical comment on the music

business. Probably disillusioned by the business after being dropped by their first

label, Vienna was the band’s comeback with a new singer, Ure, and with a new label,

Chrysalis. Though Vienna and Rage In Eden were successful, the band had now

experienced both the highs and lows of a career in music; it is possible, then, that this

experience of the fickle music business and fans may have influenced these lyrics,

that they could be read as a comment on the public’s eagerness to rush headlong into

frenzied, almost mindless, adoration of figures they actually know little or nothing

about.

3 All songs on the album are jointly attributed to all members of the band, so it is unclear if the lyric writing was the work of any one individual.



Another, in my view the most likely possible subject for the lyrics is that of a

religious group carrying out their acts of worship. The Cambridge Dictionary4 defines

the noun ‘Serenade’ as ‘a song or a piece of music played for someone’. As a verb it

means ‘to play a piece of music or sing for someone’. As a noun, then, it could be

applied quite literally to worship songs and hymns, which are usually sung not so

much about God, as to Him. As a verb, however, there are deeper, and perhaps more

cynical implications, as to serenade someone usually involves personal gain - most

commonly in the instance of a man trying to gain the affections of a woman (as in

Romeo serenading Juliet in Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’). This would imply

that the worshippers had ulterior motives in their worship, that they may have been

seen (by the writers of Serenade, that is) as selfish people, only out to get what

blessings they can from their chosen Deity, and not true worshippers whose worship

is born of a selfless love of their God.

That the lyricist was referring to the Bible, Koran or similar text is further alluded to

in the first three lines of the third verse;

The prophets tell the tale, the legend in the lines…

The fable and the rhymes.

Though the word ‘prophet’ is sometimes used of someone who correctly predicted

something (usually something undesirable, like a war or recession), the ‘prophets’

referred to here are almost certainly of the religious kind, as per the actual definition

4 Cambridge Dictionaries Online web resource, see Bibliography for details.



of the word5. This being the case, the use of the words ‘tale’6, ‘legend’7 and ‘fable’8 all

betray a lack of belief in whatever these prophets may have told of, thus effectively

discounting whatever religious text was being referenced.

The theory that lyricists in Ultravox held a cynical view of religion is further

strengthened through the lyrics of Hymn, from the same album. Taken at face value,

these seem to be a twisted version of the Lord’s Prayer;

Give us this day all that you showed me, the power

and the glory, ‘til my kingdom comes… Give me all

the storybook told me, the faith and the glory, ‘til my

kingdom comes.

The substitution of ‘Thy’ for ‘my’ would corroborate the idea that followers of

religion are more interested in their own fulfilment than in the glorification of God.

Furthermore, demoting the Holy Bible to the form of ‘storybook’ must surely be

interpreted as a derogatory swipe at the institution of religion. Though the Bible

could be described as a storybook (it is, after all, full of stories of heroes of faith, such

as those listed in the book of Hebrews - stories most people are at least vaguely

familiar with), referring to the book that whole faith systems (e.g. Christianity,

Catholicism, Judaism) are based upon as a ‘storybook’ implies a lack of respect for its

status as a collection sacred texts - particularly as the word ‘story’ is more often used

5 ‘A person who is believed to have a special power which allows them to say what a god wishes to tell people, especially about things that will happen in the future.’ Cambridge Dictionaries Online, italics added.6 ‘A story, especially one which might be invented or difficult to believe.’ Cambridge Dictionaries Online, italics added.7 ‘…The stories, not always true, that people tell about a famous event or person.’ Cambridge Dictionaries Online, italics added.8 ‘A short story, which tells a general truth or is only partly based on fact, or literature of this type.’ Cambridge Dictionaries Online, italics added.



today when referring to fiction, and lies used to cover up wrongdoings (as in “he told

me some cock-and-bull story…”). That the Bible is actually better supported by

other, trusted historic texts and archaeological findings than many other historical

events we take for granted as historical fact makes its description as a story book

seem all the more surprising; perhaps a conscious act of objection to it and its

teachings. The middle eight of Hymn provides further evidence of lack of respect for

organised religion or its followers, possibly implying that those involved practice the

customs without actually having faith; ‘Faithless in faith9… We must behold the

things we see’.

Continuing the speculation regarding worship of a god or gods, one could also argue

that the lyrics are not, in fact, referring to modern religious practice, but that Serenade

is lyrically based on mythology. The lyrics could well refer to the Greek god

Dionysus, also known as Bacchus (his Roman name). Bacchus was the Olympian

god of wine. Legend has it that, having discovered how to make wine from the fruit

of the vine, Juno struck Bacchus with madness and forced him to wander the earth.

He was cured by the goddess Rhea, and from then on went about teaching people how

to cultivate the vine, and building a following of his own. His followers, mainly

women, easily became disorderly during his worship and for this reason it was

opposed by many princes and kings. The American poet Henry Wadsworth

Longfellow (1807-1882) wrote about Bacchus in one of his poems, Drinking Song;

Fauns with youthful Bacchus follow;

Ivy crowns that brow, supernal

9 Faithless - ‘With no religious faith.’ Faith - ‘A particular religion.’ Cambridge Dictionaries Online, italics added.



As the forehead of Apollo,

And possessing youth eternal.

Round about him fair Bacchantes,

Bearing cymbals, flutes and thyrses,

Wild from Naxian groves of Zante’s

Vineyards, sing delirious verses.

With its references to youthfulness and delirious singing, the parallels within the

poem and Serenade are such that, even if the song was actually written about

something else, one could argue that the writers had at least some knowledge of this

myth.

That the lyrics of Serenade refer to some form of rhythmic organisation within the

chaotic praise is echoed in the rhythmic layout of the song. Quaver-based and in

fairly fast common time, the song has a steady pulse in the drums, with few

interruptions. It starts with a quaver build up played with a synth bass sound,

apparently made up of crotchets with a delay to give a quaver effect. From the start,

the bass is also steady and rhythmic; continuous quavers for the most part, with some

slap sound audible in the verses alongside the main synth bass. With no tempo

changes, the steady rhythmic pulse is interrupted only once, with a climactic high

point (at approx. 4:13) where the steady groove drops out. Here, a series of crotchet

triplet stabs across the two preceding bars leads to a one bar ‘break’, in which only

beats one and three are accented with bass drum and cymbal crashes, piano chords

and bass. Though this bar is not actually an extra bar (it is the first bar of the final



round of choruses), the syncopated build-up and subsequent dropping out of the beat

give an effect, which, with the emphatic cry of ‘serenade’, creates a high point in the

song.

As well as this break, there are some simple, syncopated fills at the end of phrases,

such as at 3:46, where snare drum hits on the offbeat of beats three and four of the bar

provide a subtle, simple fill to accentuate the end of a phrase. Drums and bass aside,

some rhythmic variation is also offered by the synth sound in the verses, which

provides a syncopated pattern recurring through each verse. The pattern, consisting of

two dotted crotchets followed by a crotchet, runs through alternating bars under the

verse phrases, ‘voices ringing in their heads’ and so on. Some extra offbeat quavers

on the snare sometimes coincide with these phrases, but the overall fluidity is not lost,

and the track remains ‘metronomic’, almost hypnotic in its steady pulse. This is, of

course, in keeping with the worshippers of the lyric – who were serenading ‘in rhythm

and swing’. Furthermore, the phrasing of the word ‘swing’ is sometimes lazily

dragged back a little; in contrast to the steady beat underscoring the lyrics, this evokes

an image of the singer swaying with the music somehow, linking the lyric and the

music.

Though it was never released as a single, Serenade is, essentially, a pop song, and

employs fairly simple instrumentation, quite typical of the era. The arrangement is

not overly ambitious. The rhythm track is tight, with the drums being steady and

holding everything together with the pulsing, mostly quaver-based bassline.

Occasional percussive sounds from a synth augment the rhythm track. With no

guitars employed, the main harmonic support for the melody lines comes from the



piano, which plays chords and more rhythmic patterns around which the synth parts

provide embellishment. The rhythmic piano part running up and down in quavers

through the refrains, particularly towards the end of the track, could be viewed as a

musical interpretation of the dancing of the worshippers; with an almost mischievous

air about it, the way the piano runs up and down gives a sense of spinning around.

This is partly due to the fact that these parts, whilst harmonic, also provide a form of

counter-melody to the vocal, and these melodies sometimes step out of the diatonic;

for example, underscoring the ‘serenade’ in the later refrains, the piano appears to be

running up in thirds using notes from Em and Am; G G F# A G B A C C B A E C B

A G. This is followed by two runs upwards over C and B, respectively; E F# G A B

C D E, D# E F# G A B C B. The piano melody over the C includes an F#, which

clearly doesn’t belong in the scale of C Major; this points to it being in C Lydian,

which, being related to G (IVmaj7), accounts for the F#. The following sequence of

notes (over the B) is partly following the scale of B Major, but the second part doesn’t

fit. The sequence has a diminished quality about it, and as a whole could be attributed

to the scale of B Phrygian Dominant, or even something like the F# Dorian b2 b5

mode. As well as creating melodic counterpoint and variation on purely diatonic

notes, this piano part helps to drive the track to its finish, keeping it energetic and

constantly moving; for this reason, it is not present through the whole track, as this

would detract from its purpose.

Given the background of the album and the technology in use, it is no surprise that

there is a strong synth presence in Serenade, perhaps the most obvious being the lead

line in the instrumental section. The synthesizer also provides the syncopated motives

in the verses. The bass sound throughout sounds like a synthesizer bass, and the



drums sound like they might be a drummer playing an electronic kit or combining

acoustic and electric drums; certainly, the drum sound is very dry, especially the snare

drum - though this could, of course, be down to techniques used in recording and

production. Ultravox did have a drummer, Warren Cann, who can be seen in

publicity photos on the set of the live album Monument with an acoustic kit, but this

does not rule out the use of electronic kit or a combination of electronic and acoustic

elements in the production of the album. [If the drums were programmed, they have

been made to sound very much like a human drummer. Though this is possible today,

in 1982 powerful sequencers and samplers such as the ones we have today were not

yet in existence, and a step drum machine would not easily have achieved quite that

effect.]

Melodically, Serenade is flowing and void of any major surprises in its contour, such

as large intervals. The vocal is delivered with expression and feeling, with a

passionate performance from Midge Ure. His pronunciation is often rhythmic,

pushing and pulling around the contrasting steadiness of the rest of the track; alluding,

perhaps, to the chanted praises of the multitude of worshippers of the lyrics. The line

‘with gracefulness and ease’, for example, is delivered in a syncopated, almost

chanted manner; indeed, alongside other tracks on the same album, all the verse

stanzas are comparatively rather monotonic - working around a small range of notes

fairly low in the singer’s register and using mostly smaller intervals. [The chanting is

also hinted at with the synthesizer underscoring the second half of the instrumental

section (2:09), sounding like an electronic emulation of human voices.] Generally,

however, the vocal melody and performance are more passionate in the refrains; the

melody curves up from the verses into the refrain, and the refrain melody moves



around more, covering a larger range of notes and using larger intervals. In doing so,

the melody also hits higher notes; particularly on the first ‘serenade’ and on the word

‘wild’ in ‘dance the wild dance’. It is on these passages that the singer’s passionate

delivery, combined with the shape of the melody and the use of larger intervals,

contrast to the vocal in the verses, creating natural focal points in the melody.

Serenade could arguably be summed up a fairly simple, energetic ‘80s electropop

number, and, never having been a hit single, it could be confined to history books as

just another album filler track. I would argue, however, that there is deeper meaning

in the song, and that close scrutiny of other Ultravox tracks alongside this one would

reveal the writers to be a group of people holding strong opinions on world issues and

expressing them through their art. That singer Midge Ure went on to write and co-

ordinate the Band Aid charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas and the Live Aid

concert with Bob Geldof, (and of course be involved in two subsequent re-recordings

of the track, Band Aid 20 being at the most recent, topping the charts at Christmas

2004) shows that he had a social conscience and a desire to affect the world through

his music. Meanwhile, the classically trained Billy Currie, one of the founding

members of Ultravox, has continued to pioneer in electronic music; showing a

continuing dedication to the art, not just the business, of music. This must merit

closer scrutiny to the developments, lyrical and musical, that this groundbreaking

band brought to the British and, indeed, the world music scene.



Bibliography

Bartlett, Ian et al. (1989), Harrap’s Illustrated Dictionary of Music & Musicians. London: Harrap Books Ltd.

Cook, Nicholas (1998), Analysing Musical Multimedia. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Strong, Martin C. (2002), The Great Rock Discography. Edinburgh: Canongate.

Wyatt, Keith and Schroeder, Carl (1998), Harmony & Theory. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard

Discography

Ultravox (1982) Quartet. Chrysalis Records/EMI: 7243 4 96823 2 0

Ultravox (1983/1996) Monument. EMI Records: 7243 8 38370 2 1

Ultravox (1996) Dancing With Tears In My Eyes (compilation). Disky Communications: DC 864602

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http://www.askoxford.com/ (last accessed on 22nd December 2004)

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http://guitar.about.com/library/bl091399.htm (accessed on 3rd January 2005)

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http://www.lexiconmagazine.com/NWC/ultrafoxx.html

http://guitar.about.com/library/bl091399.htm

http://www.dolmetsch.com/index.htm

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http://www.lexiconmagazine.com/NWC/ultramidge.html (last accessed on 20th December 2004)

http://www.lexiconmagazine.com/NWC/ultrabilly.html (last accessed on 20th December 2004)

http://www.ultravox.org.uk/(last accessed 26th December 2004)Serenade

Chris Cross/Warren Cann/Billy Currie/Midge Ure

SerenadeIn rhythm and swing, serenadeThe gift that we bring, serenadeYouth runs wild with the beat in their heartsDance the wild dance, beat torn apart

Voices ringing in their headsTheir crashing hands in timeIn sequence and in rhymeThe chant of a thousand-foldThe song of a million strongEchoes the perfect praise


From the mouths of babes and foolsHaunting melodiesWith gracefulness and easeCompose their gifted wordsOrchestrate their movesEcho the perfect praise, serenade



http://www.ultravox.org.uk/

http://www.lexiconmagazine.com/NWC/ultrabilly.html

http://www.lexiconmagazine.com/NWC/ultramidge.html


The prophets tell the taleThe legend in the linesThe fable and the rhymesThe chant of a thousand-foldThe song of a million strongEchoes the perfect praise

Serenade…


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