Help me understand "Tainted Love"

[mrbell321]

-this

-
yes it does-
it gives release from the previous minor cadence. it also supports that aforementioned major 3rd melody note.

To YOU, perhaps it does that... but not necessarily to me. We've played it both ways while trying to work it out and it doesn't seem particularly more or less interesting or colorful either way... different? yes. but providing release? meh. I'll talk it over w/ my guitarist(he's got a better ear than I do) and vocalist to see what they think.

Am is the complimentary minor of C, so you can use the same chord notation for Am and C, so Am - C - F - C - Dm would be VIm - I - IV - I - IIm and A - C - F - C - Dm would be VI - I - IV - I - IIm, so it's not really a key change, just using the VI instead of the VIm

That's an interesting way to look at it... but the C chord doesn't feel like "home" in that song. I tend to analyze the key based around that.

This is a much more refreshing conversation than the usual "can I just put my finger on the 5th fret and leave it there" type of deal.

Knowledge of keys, scales, and chord structure is what separates musicians from just simply "players". I'm sure that will be considered inflammatory, but it truly makes things easier.

I agree that it makes things much easier... up until I run into something I cannot reconcile... then my brain wants to crawl out my ear.

 

[Andy_Madison]

I'm partial to the Gloria Jones version. I love the way it mixes the minors & majors, most especially transitioning from the minor to the major chord during [minor]I give you all a boy could give you[/minor] [major]Take my tears and that's not nearly all[/major].

 

[joebar]

To YOU, perhaps it does that... but not necessarily to me. We've played it both ways while trying to work it out and it doesn't seem particularly more or less interesting or colorful either way... different? yes. but providing release? meh

no need for aggression-
we are trying to help; we are all entitled to an opinion.

 

[David Jayne]

I think......you're over-thinking it. : D

 

[mrbell321]

Sorry if that sounded aggressive. That was not my intent. I appreciate the help!

 

[elgecko]

I don't get "covers" of covers. I would suggest going back to the original song by Soft Cell & it might answer your questions.

Consider my mind blown! I read the text and expected a Soft Cell video. I had no idea they covered it.

 

[JimmyM]

So, my band is covering Imelda May's version of Tainted Love. The verse is in A-minor. The progression is A-min, C, F, C and D-min. In roman numerals that's i-III-VI-III-iv. Pretty straight forward.
However, the verse then switches to using A maj. So, maybe a key change? But it keeps the C, F and D-min. If the key changed to A-maj, then diatonically, the C should become C#-min, the F -> F-min, the D-min -> D.

So can anyone help me understand why this works?

Also, it's possible we haven't quite worked this out correctly, but this agrees with a lot of what we've found online.

You're putting way to much thought into it It is accurate, and it works because it works. Accept the chords for what they are, and just know that the key is temporarily rendered irrelevant by the use of "accidentals."

 

[Wooly John]

The Wikipedia article (Tainted Love - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia on Tainted Love says the original Gloria Jones recording was in C - but when I searched for it I found these chord progressions: C, Eb, Ab, Fm, F#m (Invalid Link Removed and Intro: Cm, Verse: C, Eb, Ab, Eb (Tainted Love Chords by Gloria Jones | Songsterr Tabs with Rhythm - both put it in the key of Cm, not C, but with a C major substituted for the Cm - so the Imelda May version is transposed to Am, substituting A major for Am
The 1976 Gloria Jones version pumps up the bass for the disco crowd:

 

[onosson]

Listen to the C# note she sings on the word "once" when the A major of the chorus arrives. It's the major 3rd of that A chord. No need to consult your guitarist. Please respect those trying to help you.

Exactly. The melody is paramount, and the chords are there to support the melody. Knowledge of music theory can help to describe the relationships therein.

 

[peledog]

Listen to the C# note she sings on the word "once" when the A major of the chorus arrives. It's the major 3rd of that A chord. No need to consult your guitarist. Please respect those trying to help you.

+1

 

[stringtapper]

I didn't know A-major and A-minor were "keys"....

 

[stringtapper]

Well, like I said this one does not fit exact in anything.

It does though. It's in A minor with a borrowed Tonic from the parallel major happening occasionally.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

The Wikipedia article (Tainted Love - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia on Tainted Love says the original Gloria Jones recording was in C - but when I searched for it I found these chord progressions: C, Eb, Ab, Fm, F#m (Invalid Link Removed and Intro: Cm, Verse: C, Eb, Ab, Eb (Tainted Love Chords by Gloria Jones | Songsterr Tabs with Rhythm - both put it in the key of Cm, not C, but with a C major substituted for the Cm - so the Imelda May version is transposed to Am, substituting A major for Am
The 1976 Gloria Jones version pumps up the bass for the disco crowd:

I thought the following recording was the ORIGINAL:
GLORIA JONES- "TAINTED LOVE" (1964)

 

[Whousedtoplay]

It does though. It's in A minor with a borrowed Tonic from the parallel major happening occasionally.

stringtapper,

Your precisely-correct answers don't support those long and emotional comments.
After your comments, usually there is nothing more to add.

 

[Wooly John]

I thought the following recording was the ORIGINAL:
GLORIA JONES- "TAINTED LOVE" (1964)

yes, she re-recorded it in 1976

 

[Whousedtoplay]

yes, she re-recorded it in 1976

???
"Tainted Love" is a song composed by Ed Cobb, formerly of American group The Four Preps, which was originally recorded by Gloria Jones in 1964.It attained worldwide fame after being covered by Soft Cell in 1981 and has since been covered by numerous groups and artists.

 

[Wooly John]

???
"Tainted Love" is a song composed by Ed Cobb, formerly of American group The Four Preps, which was originally recorded by Gloria Jones in 1964.It attained worldwide fame after being covered by Soft Cell in 1981 and has since been covered by numerous groups and artists.

Not sure what you are questioning here - I didn't say that Jones wrote the song, but she was the first to record it in 1964 - "Due to the newfound underground popularity of the song, Jones re-recorded "Tainted Love" in 1976 and released it as a single, but this also failed to chart."

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Not sure what you are questioning here - I didn't say that Jones wrote the song, but she was the first to record it in 1964 - "Due to the newfound underground popularity of the song, Jones re-recorded "Tainted Love" in 1976 and released it as a single, but this also failed to chart."

You've posted a youtube video with that "older"/re-recorded version of the song.
I've posted the ORIGINAL - 1964 - recording.
You can hear quite a few differences between those recordings.

 

[ThePresident777]

OP, if you have further questions, PM me. I don't do pointless over-analyzation of theory on forum here . It always happens with the same members here - and it's something that people playing regularly in bands never do.

Then the only thing left on the forums would be a bunch of people taking turns asking each other if they should get another P-Bass, and saying yes. You don't want that to be the only thing on the forums do you?

 

[Wooly John]

You've posted a youtube video with that "older"/re-recorded version of the song.
I've posted the ORIGINAL - 1964 - recording.
You can hear quite a few differences between those recordings.

bdwgml posted the 1964 recording earlier in the thread - I posted the 1976 version for the differences in arrangement, especially the prominent bass - I first heard this song performed by Emiliana Torrini in the 2005 film "Picadilly Jim" with Sam Rockwell and Frances O'Conner - I put it on my list of songs to learn, that's why I was so interested in the thread.
We don't see much of Torrini's performance in the clip: