Cliffs Of Dover - Eric Johnson

● Genre​: Instrumental, rock

‘Cliffs Of Dover’ is an instrumental rock song composed, produced
and performed by Eric Johnson. It was released on his 1990 album
entitled ‘​Ah Via Musicom​’ and very quickly became the staple of
his reprotier. Although he had been performing it for five years
beforehand, Johnson’s perfectionist attitude forced him to obsess
over the recording of the song for a long time. The studio recording
is a actually a composite of many recording takes because he was
never satisfied with any one particular take.

The piece consists of an electric guitar, electric bass guitar and a drum kit. The piece
suddenly opens with a fast paced, free-time electric guitar solo. Johnson uses the
trebely bridge pickup on his guitar to demand attention. The bass and drum kit then join
in for the first verse where a 4/4 time signature at 180 bpm is established.
In the first chorus, Johnson switches to the neck pickup creating a smooth tone colour
to sound less aggressive. A motif is established in the melody of the chorus which is
repeated with variations throughout the piece.

In 1992, "Cliffs of Dover" won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental
Performance and is listed as 17th in ​Guitar World​ magazine’s 100 greatest guitar solos
of all time.

Sunshine of Your Love - Cream

● Genre​: Psychedelic rock, hard rock, blues rock
‘Sunshine of Your Love’ is a rock song composed and performed by
Cream. The song was built around the simple bass riff which opens
the piece. This iconic bass line was written by bassist Jack Bruce
after attending an inspiring Jimi Hendrix concert. ‘Sunshine of Your
Love’ was the band's biggest hit peaking at number 5 in the US
charts.

The song consists of an electric guitar, electric bass guitar and a

drum kit with the guitarist (Eric Clapton) and bassist (Jack Bruce)
exchanging vocal lines. The tempo is around 100 bpm as is considered to have a 8/8
time signature throughout. The tone colour of the bass and guitar are both thick and
smooth in accordance with the psychedelic rock genre. The unique drum beat uses the
toms to emphasise beats 1 and 3 (as opposed to the standard 2 and 4). This gives the
song an almost disorientating grove.

In 2004 Rolling Stone magazine named it the 65th greatest song of all time.
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Bibliography

Hooktheory.com. (2019). ​Cliffs of Dover by Eric Johnson Chords, Melody, and Music
Theory Analysis - Hooktheory​. [online] Available at:
https://www.hooktheory.com/theorytab/view/eric-johnson/cliffs-of-dover [Accessed 17
May 2019].

Owsinski, B. (2019). ​Cream "Sunshine Of Your Love" Song Analysis​. [online]

Bobbyowsinski.blogspot.com. Available at:
http://bobbyowsinski.blogspot.com/2012/06/cream-sunshine-of-your-love-song.html#a
xzz5ogr1nwoU [Accessed 18 May 2019].

sonfacts. (2019). ​Sunshine of Your Love by Cream​. [online] Available at:

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/cream/sunshine-of-your-love [Accessed 19 May
2019].

songfacts. (2019). ​Cliffs of Dover by Eric Johnson​. [online] Available at:

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/eric-johnson/cliffs-of-dover [Accessed 15 May 2019].