The Sun Didn't Shine

 The Sun Didn't Shine, performed by the Golden Gate Quartet is a masterful worship song from the 1920's. It gives an interesting interpretation of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in a bluesy rhythm. I imagine this song was sung in many church gospel choirs. This song jumps around the different events of the crucifixion. For example, the first line talks about the sun not shining on Calvary's mountain the day the Savior was killed and the next section explains Pilot's claim to not sinning by washing his hands of the event. I think it's especially interesting that they add a line about Pilot's wife having a dream but say nothing about it the rest of the song. 

The quartet uses different image invoking words to get their audience to really envision what happened on this important day in Christian belief. Things like 'They hammered His hands. The hammer was heard in Jerusalem streets.' And 'Jesus hanging on the cross.' 

In The Sun Didn't Shine, the whole quartet will sing the chorus but only one will sing a verse while the other men hum in the background. This way of performing the song is very effective because it helps the audience focus on the verses while enticing them with a catchy chorus with multiple singers that seem to invite others to sing along.  

 How Deep is the Ocean Bing Crosby

The fact that this song was so high on the charts for so long previews how revolutionary a song and Bing Crosby can be. Crosby is arguably the leader of the crooners. How Deep is the Ocean brought on a craze for crooning. It opened the doors to first person music, something that has stayed popular ever since. This song is romantic in the way it is told, and the next decade of songs seemed to follow suit. It brought in trumpet styles similar to Louis Armstrong, keeping the white listeners far enough away from 'Black music' while still giving them a taste. Bing Crosby embellishes 'How Deep is the Ocean' with rifts and rolls of the voice. I can imagine teenage girls listening to his voice singing about love and swooning- similar to how girls seem to do when Harry Styles sings today. 'How Deep is the Ocean' is a series of rhetorical questions. There are no sentences in the song. Only questions. Maybe this was the reason for its success. Ron Swanson claims that questions answered with more questions are most effective. That may not be true for everyone but for Crosby, it definitely was. The music goes from high to low quite often and doesn't seem to have much dynamic difference throughout the piece. However, this may have been due to the microphones of the time.

Intro to Me

My name is Paige Hafen. I'm from Herriman Utah and I graduated from high school in June of 2021. I love being outside on a paddleboard or camping. So winter is a bit of a bummer.

Just like any kid who grows up in a farming and ranching family, country music was my childhood and my favorite music now. I prefer 50's to early 2000's country and Brad Paisley has been my favorite artist since the time I was three.