Listening Blog #10 – “Please Mr. Postman” – The Marvelettes

Instrumentation: Vocals (lead singer and backup vocals), Piano, Drums, Bass

Texture: The song has a relatively thick texture: each instrument sounds very full and builds layer upon layer to create a thickly textured song. This may be due to “wall of sound” producing, which was a type of producing commonly used on girl group songs that created a dense, echo-y sound through constructing and reconstructing the song. The lead singer also has a very thick, raspy quality to her voice, which also contributes to the song’s thick texture. Overall, I would say that the texture provides the song’s main interest.

Range: The song’s range stays in a fairly confined area: while the vocalist’s vocal soloing pushes both the high and low limits of the song’s range, and the backup singers sing fairly high, overall range is not the primary focus of the song.

Tempo: The song stays at the same tempo throughout the entirety of the song: overall, it has a driven yet laid-back tempo.

Meter: The meter is duple, which is established by the underlying bass line keeping rhythm with simple plucked notes, paired with the drum’s subdivisions played complementary to the bass notes.

Volume: The volume of the song remains at the same level throughout the song: this is definitely evidence of the song’s manipulation during production. While it provides a certain appealing stylistic attitude, it also takes away some of the excitement of dynamics in the song.

Form: Strophic

Lyrics: The lyrics revolve around the female protagonist begging the postman to give her some news of her boyfriend. This is typical of the girl-group lyrics, which often revolved around girl-boy relationships. These types of songs were crucial in opening up discussion amongst teenage girls of the 60s about important issues such as female freedom.