Analyzing Gershwin's "Someone to Watch Over Me": Form and Style
This paper provides a close musical analysis of the refrain of George and Ira Gershwin's "Someone to Watch Over Me," originally featured in the 1926 Broadway musical Oh Kay! The discussion traces the song's origins and early recording history before examining the AABA refrain structure in detail. Specific attention is given to melodic contour, syncopated rhythm, harmonic tension, repeated-note technique, and the late key change to F major. The paper also considers the relationship between Gershwin's compositional choices and the wistful emotional quality of the lyrics, and briefly explores the parallel critics have drawn between the song and Chopin's Prelude in E minor.
- Introduction and Background: Song origins, Broadway debut, and early recordings
- Musical Context of the 20th Century: 20th-century musical innovation and Gershwin's approach
- The Refrain: Section A Analysis: AABA form, melodic contour, and syncopated rhythm
- Bars 33–43: Title Phrase and Second A Section: Title phrase tension, descent, and second A repeat
- Section B: Rhythmic Contrast and Melodic Repetition: Square rhythm, note repetition, and lyric emphasis in B section
- Key Change and the Chopin Parallel: F major shift, melancholy mood, and Chopin comparison
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What makes this paper effective
- The analysis is closely tied to specific bar numbers and note names, grounding abstract musical claims in concrete, verifiable detail.
- The paper consistently connects technical observations — such as syncopated rhythms and half-note placement — to the emotional content of the lyrics, making the argument accessible to non-specialists.
- The inclusion of the Chopin comparison introduces broader musicological context without overpowering the primary analysis, and the writer appropriately qualifies their agreement with the critic's view.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates score-based musical analysis, moving systematically through the refrain section by section (A, A, B, A) and using precise pitch and rhythmic vocabulary to support interpretive claims. This technique — grounding aesthetic judgments in structural evidence — is the core method of music theory writing.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with historical and biographical context before establishing the analytical framework (form, melody, harmony, rhythm, texture). It then proceeds bar-by-bar through the AABA refrain, dedicating a paragraph to each structural unit. It closes by situating the piece within a broader comparative tradition via the Chopin parallel, then summarizes Gershwin's compositional achievement.
Introduction and Background
"Someone to Watch Over Me" (hereafter STWOM) was featured in the long-running musical Oh Kay!, with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin, which made its world debut at Broadway's Imperial Theater on November 8, 1926. The musical enjoyed great success, including a Broadway revival in 1990. STWOM, the best-known song from the show, was a hit three times in the following year: first with Oh Kay!'s star Gertrude Lawrence, whose recording charted for eleven weeks; then with a version released by Gershwin himself; and finally with an uptempo rendition by George Olsen and His Orchestra.
Interestingly, the Gershwin brothers originally intended the song to be an upbeat rhythm piece. George experimented with tempo one day, and the brothers quickly realized the song had more potential as a wistful, slower piece (McElrath). Of course, they were right. The purpose of this paper is to examine the score's refrain in detail, reflecting on its form, melody, harmony, rhythm, and texture, and on how these musical elements work in concert with the song's lyrics.
Musical Context of the 20th Century
Music of the 20th century was characterized by "entirely new approaches to the organization of pitch and rhythm and a vast expansion in the vocabulary of sounds" (Kamien, 1998, p. 282). For hundreds of years, musical structure had been governed by certain general principles, but these fell away as modern composers like Gershwin played with audience expectations. In earlier music, for example, a listener expected that a dominant chord would be resolved immediately by a tonic chord. Gershwin eschewed such musical conventions, and as a result his pieces seem as fresh and modern today as when they were written nearly a century ago.
The Refrain: Section A Analysis
The refrain of STWOM begins at Bar 29. The melody is in E♭ major, the same key as the opening of the piece, and the form of the refrain is AABA. The melody begins on beat 2 and ascends through the first beat and a half of Bar 30 before beginning its descent. The melodic ascent is rapid — from E♭ to F, G, then B♭, C, E♭, and high F. The descent is more gradual and makes use of repeated notes, a device Gershwin favored. As one analyst has observed, "repeated notes build melodic tension while emphasizing rhythm and holding the door open for harmonic ingenuity" (McElrath). The descending repeated-note pattern unfolds as F–F–E♭–D in Bar 30, E♭–E♭–D–C in Bar 31, and D–D–C–B♭ in Bar 32 — an effective means of communicating the emotion behind the lyrics.
The melody builds toward the word "longing," which receives emphasis by falling on the highest notes in the phrase. Rhythm, too, serves the lyrics: the beat is syncopated, and the word "longing" is rendered more wistful by an eighth note on the first syllable and a quarter note on the second — the reverse of what a listener might naturally expect. In Bars 30, 31, and 32, Gershwin places half notes at the ends of measures, coinciding with the words "see," "he," and "be." These half notes invite the singer to draw out those words, emphasizing the rhyme scheme.
References
Dvarionaite, A. (2007). Frederic Chopin — Prelude in E-Minor (Op. 28 No. 4). YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef-4Bv5Ng0w
Kamien, R. (1998). Music: An Appreciation. New York: McGraw-Hill.
McElrath, K. J. (n.d.). "Someone to Watch Over Me." JazzStandards.com. http://www.jazzstandards.com/compositions-0/someonetowatchoverme.htm
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