Favorite Song Project

Cant Help Falling In Love

as performed by Elvis Presley

report by Steve Hall for Mrs L. Taylor AMU1O due May 16

1. Name the song, the artist, the composer or lyricist, the recording label and the recording date. Cant Help Falling in Love is a song performed by Elvis Presley. George David Weiss, Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore wrote it. Its recorded in 1961 and released November 21, 1961. It was included on Elvis album Blue Hawaii that was recorded with the label RCA Victor. It has been professionally covered many times. Most significant covers of the song are by the British reggae band, UB40 in 1993 and by the Swedish pop music group, A-Teens in 2002. 2. Is the melody weak or strong? Explain your reasoning. The melody is strong because you can get it stuck in your head very easily. In fact, the melody is based on an eighteenth century French melody. The reason the writers of Cant Help Falling in Love wrote it to this tune is because they had it stuck in their head themselves! 3. Explain the lyrics of your song. (see page 4 for lyrics.) The song is about falling in love with someone at first sight. Listeners can infer this because it says Wise men say only fools rush in, but I cant help falling in love with you. This means that people have said its foolish to rush into a serious relationship but the singer of this song cant help falling in love. When the lyrics say Some things are meant to be, this is talking about how the performer has found their soul mate. The lyric take my hand, take my whole life too, means marriage. This song can be interpreted in other ways as well. For instance, the performer could be singing to a relative or close friend. 4. Is the rhythm weak or strong? Explain. The rhythm somewhat strong because the beat is present throughout the song, however what stands out is the melody. 5. Does your song contain any harmonies that are dissonant? Yes, because at the bridge, there are chords such as B7 and A7, which are dissonant chords because they use both the 7th and the 1st note of a scale. Even if you are unaware of the chords, you can feel the dissonant vibe because the bridge is somewhat in a minor key. 6. Name some instruments that are playing in your song. How many singers are there?

Some instruments playing in my song are percussion (set and bells), guitar and bass. There are five singers. Elvis Presley is singing the melody, and then there are four men in the background. The men in the background are singing soprano, alto, tenor and baritone. They are not always singing the words with Elvis. Sometimes they are singing choral oohs and aahs. This song has been arranged for a quartet though, as you can see in the page attached (page . In this arrangement, the quartet sings Elvis part and the oohs and aahs are eliminated. 7. Analyse the form of your song. Cant Help Falling In Love performed by Elvis Presley is in time 4 Bar Intro 32 Bar (A) 10 Bar (B) 16 Bar (C) 10 Bar (B) 16 Bar (C) 8 Bar Outro This songs form is Rondo or ABCBC. ABCBC is a common form used in ballads, and Cant Help Falling in Love is a ballad. 8. What other factors make this song memorable to you? Some factors that make this song memorable to me are that it was one of my grandmothers favorite song and it was by her favorite artist. I used to listen to it with her and they played it at her funeral.

LYRICS Wise men say only fools rush in But I can't help falling in love with you Shall I stay, would it be a sin If I can't help falling in love with you Like a river flows surely to the sea Darling so it goes Some things, are meant to be Take my hand, take my whole life too For I can't help falling in love with you Like a river flows surely to the sea Darling so it goes Some things, are meant to be Take my hand, take my whole life too For I can't help falling in love with you For I can't help falling in love with you