Black Pop Songwriting 1963–1966: An Analysis of U.S. Top Forty Hits by Cooke, Mayfield, Stevenson, Robinson, and Holland-Dozier-Holland

Abstract

This chapter demonstrates that Motown's impressive chart achievements coincided with Curtis Mayfield's most prolific period as a pop writer while simultaneously overlapping with the final phase of Sam Cooke's career. Sam Cooke (1935-1964) was born in Chicago and began singing gospel music from age nine, first with the Singing Children and subsequently with the Highway QCs. As indicated in, which provides an overview of the rhythmic content of the songs analyzed here, the largest proportion of songs fall within the range 120-139 beats per minute (bpm), although Robinson demonstrates a preference for slower tempi, while Holland-Dozier-Holland (H-D-H) regularly use fast tempi Backing vocals are also regularly used to create call-response patterns that play an important role in the black pop crossover songs. The new crossover music is clearly characterized overall by a demonstrable shift in focus toward specific gospel techniques, rhythmic elements, and rhythm-based structures.

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