Moby

Why does my heart feel

so
bad
1999 album Play

General Points
- Uses two vocal samples which
were recorded by a 1950's gospel
choir.
- The first vocal sample is a male
singer who sings the words Why
does my heart feel so bad?. The
second vocal sample is a female
singer who sings the words These
open doors.

General Points
- Both of the samples are looped.
- It is a single from Moby's dance
music album 'Play'.
- Characteristics of dance music
include extensive use of samples
and loops and layered textures.
- The song consists of 6 chords.

Structure
Intro: Bars 1 - 8
Verse: Bars 9 - 40
Chorus: Bars 41 - 48
Verse 2: Bars 57 - 72
Break: Bar 73
Chorus: Bars 74 - 97
Outro: Bars 98 - 105

Structure Continued
Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? is
based on two eight-bar themes, A
and B. There are two versions of
theme B (Bx and By).

Harmony and Themes

Moby didnt use any theoretical
techniques to compose the harmony,
he just played chords and listened to
which ones would sound nice.
Tonality
At the beginning the piece is in C
major, but when the female vocals
come in the key changes to A minor.
The keys of C major and A minor are
related scales.

Theme A
Theme A
Theme A is based on the following
chord sequence

Am Em Gm/G D

Theme B
B themes are of two types, Bx and
By. Each B theme is also eight bars
long, made by looping a 2 bar
phrase.
They have the following chord
sequences (each chord repeated for
2 bars):
Bx
C
Am
C
Am
By

Variation
The themes are varied throughout
the song. Techniques include:
changing the texture - adding and
taking away instruments and voices
adding a synthesiser countermelody in
A3
adding electronic effects eg delay and
heavy EQ in A6, reverb in Bx2

Technological effects
Delay refers to any type of effect
that adds a delayed version of the
original signal, to create effects such
as reverb or echo.
EQ is short for equalisation. It is the
lessening or boosting of different
frequencies.

Texture
At the beginning of the piece Moby
starts off with quite a sparse ostinato
with just the synthesised piano and
the vocals.
After a while the strings come in and
so does the drum machine.
Near the end the texture thins out
again back to the sparse ostinato it
was at the beginning with a synth
organ

Rhythm
Rhythm/metre
4/4
The accompaniment of the main section is
based on a mostly unchanged drum loop
with an emphasised backbeat (beats 2
and 4).
There is syncopation in the other
instrument parts including vocals. A silent
bar (apart from echoes) adds variety

Instrumentation
In the piece there are no live
instruments being played.
All of the sounds of the instruments
were created using a synthesiser.
The instruments included strings a
piano and some drums (created by a
Roland drum machine).

Dynamics
The piece starts off in mezzo forte
Crescendos to when the vocalists
come in
Near the end of the piece the male
vocal go to mezzo forte again and
then decrescendo down to
pianissimo to give the effect of a
fade out at the end.