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| "Kirby Super Star" (Click to enlarge) |
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Flash Player
"Kirby Super Star"* may be a short tune, but it's chockful of musical details. Let's inspect it from beginning to end. I've also included a half-speed version up there so you can hear certain details easier. We can see it's in C major, and in 4/4 time—not exactly unusual choices. But that doesn't mean it can't have a few surprises up its sleeve.
Harmony and Melody
Let's talk about the progression. (Click here for an explanation of the Roman numeral analysis shorthand I'll be using on chords.) We start off with a chime playing the SNES-era Nintendo jingle. The same perfect-fourth blip (albeit one whole tone higher) can be heard in Super Mario World underscoring the Nintendo logo, for example:
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| Super Mario World's Nintendo jingle |
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But whereas many games would have a separate jingle and title music, the chime in KSS integrates it into the main composition, putting a nice spin on things. It neatly spells out a Dm9, with what's left of the introduction playing out the rest of the classic ii-V-I turnaround. But what's that Db9 doing there at the end? It's what's known in musical circles as a tritone substitution, a technique that can add surprise and sophistication to a progression. It's commonly used in jazz and blues, although it's typically used instead of the V chord, not one after another, making this is a relatively novel use. We're starting off pretty classy, harmonically speaking!
Take a look at the rest of the progression, and marvel at all of the ♭VIs and ♭VIIs. For those wondering, they are extremely common in rock music, and are typically considered to be borrowed chords from the parallel minor key (in this case C minor). The rest of the chord set is rounded out by the stock diatonic chords I and IV. Notice how the only minor chord is the very first one, after that the track is dominated by pure major chords. It's an uplifting contrast and the lack of further minor chords gives the track a characteristic bounce. Furthering the rock factor, the normal cadential V role G would play is not called for again after the intro, instead using the venerable ♭VI-♭VII-I rock cadence in its place. Check out in measure seven how the C is subtly transformed into a C7 by the "vibraphone"; C now acts as the V-of-IV, which catapults us into the final IV-♭VI-♭VII-I progression. Progressions like these, along with the various "color notes" (sixes, nines, etc.) in the chords, swirl around and combine, giving the track its slick jazz-rock feel.
There's an interesting anomaly in the harmony too, glance over at measure six's first chord:
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| Measure 6 extract |
We can see the harmony section's unique notes from bottom to top (excluding repeated notes) are D and A♭ in the bass, a C in the brass, and an F on the vibes. Here's a reduction of the harmony tones into a single piano chord:
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| Measure 6 chord reduction |
Flash Player
Striking, isn't it? I've chosen to parse it as an A♭6 with a flattened fifth in the second inversion, though it's somewhat ambiguous (given the notes involved it could just as easily be a D minor 7th with a flattened fifth—the tritone's ambiguity strikes again!). Either way, it's a smooth flat-five chord used tons in jazz settings and it works well here, both defying our expectations and saving the unaltered form of the ♭VI for the ending walk-up, while tying the jazzier feel from the beginning into the main section. Smart stuff.
The harmonic rhythm is also pretty varied: the chords change mostly once a bar, but sometimes there's two per bar and it manages to squeeze in three in the penultimate bar! And they don't always fall where you'd expect as there are a few key offbeat changes. All this adds up to a more organic, lively feel. The melody stays within the key of C for the most part, but it does slip in some flattened sixth and seventh degrees over their respective chords, supporting the mixed major/minor flavor so much loved in rock music. And supporting this, B natural is nowhere to be found in the melody, permanently altered to a flattened seventh degree.
Also worth mentioning is the "xylophone's" chromatic ascension in the final measure, followed by its whole-tone drop. Due to the speed of the piece and a second voice trailing it by fractions of a second hitting notes a whole-tone below (which I didn't transcribe), we don't really hear so much the specific notes involved, but we do hear a general rising and falling line guiding us to the last chord. And it's a cool use of a whole tone scale to boot.
Arrangement
There's a keen appreciation for arrangement in the Kirby series, and this track is no exception. For example, the bass line is frequently hitting the root of the chords, so the composers wisely choose to voice the brass chords mostly in the first inversion, rarely having the root as the lowest voice and trusting the bass line to convey the chord's root adequately. And it does.
The strings are in charge of carrying the melody, though the xylophone part cuts in from time to time to offer a response melody. The harmony lines in the melody are nice and varied too; there's a nice mix of thirds and fourths, with the occasional fifth and sixth making appearances too! And the call-and-response is carried over to the harmony as well. The brass and vibes take turns defining the harmony while keeping things fresh with the constant timbre switching (which, as we'll see, is a favorite technique of the Kirby series).
Something to keep in mind are the strict limitations involved with composing on the SNES—a maximum of 8 monophonic channels, for one thing—so it's fun to see that the arrangement did not suffer, or might have even gained something from some of these limitations. The composers were obviously aware of the difficulties; there's a brass sample used in there that plays in fourths, used to squeeze out an extra bit of polyphony.
Last Thoughts
I'm very impressed with how much attention to detail was placed on this track. Even though it's incredibly short, it has heaps of detail and starts the game out on a high note. An oft-repeated maxim is that you've got to start strong and end strong, and as we've just seen, Kirby Super Star follows at least one half of that tenet to the letter. Join me next time as we continue to tackle this game's fantastic soundtrack.
*I'm using the names given to the soundtrack by SNESMusic.org's rip.
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