14 - Santeria (Sublime)

Daddy's got a new 45! That slick bassline, tasteful solo, beautiful chord progressions with the secondary dominant, and Bradley's iconic vocal delivery. A true Sublime classic!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Let's talk about Santeria from Sublime, Bradley Noel. This song came out after he died. It's so crazy. And let's dive into the musicality of the song. So there's two sections. There is section A, which is the intro, and also the verses. Okay, that's section A. Section B is the chorus. Right? Okay, so that's section B. So let's talk about section A first. So we're in the key of E major. And that's the one chord, okay? Now they instantly go to a secondary dominant. And we'll we'll talk about this. So it goes, it goes. And then right here. That's just outlining E5, or just, you know, it's E major, but he's not playing the third there, but it's E major. And then it goes right here. So that's G sharp major. Now in the key of E major, right here. That's G sharp. That's the third note of E major, right? E, F sharp, G sharp. So that's a third note. So that's supposed to be in quotation, supposed to be G sharp minor. Okay? But instead, centeria goes, right? And then it goes, it goes to G sharp, but they make it a G sharp major, and the reason why is because it adds a lot more tension to go to the sixth chord. Right? That that is also naturally an E major, and so is this chord B. That's the V chord. So that leads the V chord always leads beautifully to the one chord, okay? And the V chord of C sharp minor is that G sharp major chord. And that's why it's a secondary dominant, because a secondary dominant is when you temporarily treat another chord in the key like it's the home chord. And so you use like the dominant chord to sort of lead into it because it's the V chord, okay? So it's a V chord of that particular chord. So here's E major. And then here's chord number two, G sharp major. Now this this chord is acting like the lead to it creates nice tension. It's like a store, it's like a story within a story, and then we go to the five chord. So there's technically kind of like two five chords in this chord progression, and this chord progression only has four chords. So we got the one, and then we got the five chord of six, because six is two, three, four, five, six, C sharp minor is the relative minor of E major, so it's the sixth chord, okay. So this G sharp major is acting as the V chord of C sharp minor, and then we go to the actual V chord of the key. B is the V chord of E major. Hope that makes sense. But so that's the intro, right? And then it goes do goom doom, and then it goes, Well I don't practice Santeria. So it just does these chords, but he does like the reggae.

unknown 3:14

Right?

SPEAKER_01 3:15

I ain't got no crystal ball. I had a million dollars, but uh I spend it all if I could find that hina. Like such beautiful, crazy lyrics. Like it's it's a beautiful melody, rather. I don't know if the lyrics are beautiful, but they're awesome. If I could find that Heina and that Sancho that she's found, like he's so melodic and his voice is like butter, right? Well look at these, like look at this beautiful melody, but like the lyrics that it's paired with. It's so nicely juxtaposed. Well I'd pop a cap and sancho, then I'd slap her down. Well, I'd pop a cap and Sancho and I'd slap her down. Okay, now we go to the B section. Oh, and I really wanna know. Uh baby. Like this section, like the chords are so well chosen because it's a beautiful contrast from section A. Section A's got the beautiful root chord, okay? And then we got this tension chord. Now we got tension leads to this nice minor release though. Perfect. Uh we want to resolve from the five chord to really nice, right? But when it goes, slap her down, no, this is like, oh, this is the four chord. Here's A in the key of E major. Oh, so we're going from the four chord to the five chord, A to B. Oh I really want that. Remember the five chord goes perfectly to the one chord. One. And then goes, that's the minor six chord. Uh baby, A, B, E, C sharp minor. So it's just like a really beautiful contrast between the two sections. Section A has a lot more um tension, and section B is like really nice release, and he like surfs through that release like beautifully. Well I really wanna know a baby. What I really wanna say I can define. Well it's love that I need soul will have to wait till I get back to find a high of my own. Daddy's gonna love one and all like beautiful and the bass line. Let's talk about the baseline for a second. So how is the bass gonna how does the basses choose to outline what's going on here? So we got and let's talk about section A, right? So he he go he goes one look at it's so it's so like jolly, like it's like it's I love it's so tasteful. It's so nice. Like sublime bass lines are awesome. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Listen to the bad fish bass line. And Bradley is a very underrated guitarist. People don't talk about his guitar work, like in Smoke Two Joints, his guitar work is so great. And his little riffs and his solos, well, we'll get to the solo soon. But I love when he goes, and I feel the break, feel the break, feel the break, and I gotta live it up. Oh yeah, uh Well I swear that I B section, what I really wanna know. Like that's beautiful. Anytime you go from like four to five to one, it's it's so nice. It reminds me of uh shake it on baby now, shake it on baby, twist and shout, twist and shout. You know what I mean? Like one, four to five. This goes four, five, one though. So it goes, what I really wanna know. Uh baby. I love the uh baby. Beautiful. What I really wanna say, I can define God love, make it God Oh well my soul will have to Now we go to the freaking solo, which is awesome. Now the chords in the solo are just the verse, and so what does he do? Here's E major, and he goes like oh my god. I like how he crawls up. Now right here, that's when it goes to the G Shy major. Like like I love that and then for the B he he does a chromatic rise. And I I just watched a video of the band talking about how Bradley struggled with this one lick, the one that goes so nice. That's a nice chromatic rise. Chromatic is when you do like just the notes right next to each other, kind of like ignoring any scale, right? That's just two, three, four, and then and this lick is really nicely formed. Look at that. Love that. That those two notes are just that's so nice, it's just the root and the third of that G sharp major chord. Just really nicely outlining the chords, right? And then like those triplets are great. Perfectly into what I really wanna know, uh baby, what I really wanna say as I've got mine and I'll love and I'll make it yes I'm coming up Right here, like like the lyrics with the melody. Tell Sanchito that if he knows what is good for him, he best go run and hide. Daddy's got a new 45. Daddy's got a new 45, and I won't think twice to stick that barrel straight down Sancho's throat. Believe me when I say that I've got something for his punk ass! Like, god damn, he just said whatever he wanted to, man. He said what he had to, and he had the melody to back it all up. Always, dude. Bradley Noel is was so talented. What I really wanna know, uh baby. Oh what I really wanna say is there's just one way back and I'll make it go. Yeah, my soul will have to end in the walk down way He ends on the seven chord instead of just this is the first time he's ever done the seven chord in this song, so instead of just ending on E, he makes it a dominant seven chord, so he adds the D on top of the E. Nice bluesy sound, right? But I love the walk down, he goes E to E over D sharp and then C sharp minor, B, which is the five chord, A, B, and then E seven. And I love the way he plays it. It's like I'm I think the way he plays it is like 0767 0. Like instead of he's going really nice. Just like such an awesome song. I've always loved it. It's filled with like so much spirit, and his vocals just seem so effortless and it looks smooth like butter. I've always loved Sublime songs. They're they're always really fun to sing, too. He makes very like singable melodies. But thanks for checking out this breakdown, guys. And uh please leave a rating wherever you're listening, that really helps the podcast a lot. And feel free to check out learn.damberricuda.com slash practice for some pre-ear training, and that's a good practice guide to coincide with my course, which is called Unlock Your Musician's Ear, and that's under learn.dambarricuda.com slash unlock. Thanks for listening, guys. See you in the next episode.