Latest Live-mt Songs
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Everything about the musical style of "Modern Talking"
The Composer/Producer
Dieter Bohlen
is the chief mind behind "Modern Talking" songs, as well as many other
projects.
Having come from a non-musical background and as a self-taught musician/producer,
Dieter Bohlen has indeed accomplished a lot and now he is almost the "constant"
judge of all German talent-related reality TV shows.
However, after analyzing almost all Dieter Bohlen's compositions, the only word
that crosses one's mind is "simplicity" combined with "rigid
adherence to song structure" in such a way that sometimes it makes all songs
look the same.
Having said that, one can not and should not ignore the fact that music is "lawless"
and the world of opportunities and possibilities in music is endless so this should
not be interpreted as a "criticism"; maybe quite the opposite, you could
actually consider it a positive point because it takes a lot to write as many songs
as he has based on the very basic basics of music theory.
Song Structure
Genre-wise at a broad level, Modern Talking's music can be categorized as dance-pop
or Euro-pop but if one looks at it with more details and scrutiny, the 80's
Modern Talking could be well categorized under Italo-disco and Euro-disco. After
1998, Modern Talking can be mostly categorized under Eurodance for which they are
known, despite presenting American-style ballads.
Almost all the songs of Modern Talking follow the typical verse-chorus form and most of the times, they have 2 choruses
(one in high-pitch), except for ballads and songs like "Time is on my side",
"Avec Toi", "I'm not guilty", "Anything is possible",
"We take the chance" and some more.
The following figure shows an example of how a typical Modern Talking song
looks like.
Hints:
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In many cases the introduction, sections 2 and 3 are chord-compatible.
It means that Modern Talking has a highly-modular style and different parts of a
song can be performed on the rhythm of the other parts (e.g. in "Cheri Cheri
lady" almost all the sections except the introduction are chord-compatible,
based on Am,Em,Dm and G chord sequence while the introduction is based on Am,F and
G chords).The same as "Don't take away my heartt" on C-Em-F
and G.
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Sections 2-1 and 2-2 are complete mirrors of each of other. They are
the most important sections in the lyric because the title of the song and also
the main idea of the song are mentioned in them. For each song on this website,
the chords of this section have been listed as "Main Chords" in
the description of each song.
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Sections 3-1 and 3-2 are also complete mirrors of each other. The title
is mentioned here too. This section is performed by high pitch. Almost in all of
the cases these sections are chord-compatible with Section 2-1 and 2-2. There are
few exceptions for this state (e.g. "Sexy sexy lover", "Atlantis
is calling ((S.O.S for love)", "Fly to the moon", "China in
her eyes", "S.M.S. to my heart" and some more). Almost in all of
the ballads these two sections are omitted since there were no high-pitch choruses
in the ballads. There are also some dance songs with this characteristic (e.g. "Time
is on my side", "Avec Toi", "I'm not guilty", "Anything
is possible", "We take the chance" and some more).
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Sections 1 and 4 are compatible in notes, chords, the style of the rhymes
and also the number of the syllables in the sentences of the lyrics. Note that in
many cases the meaning is more important than keeping the same number of the syllables.
This is normally handled by changing the time duration of the notes in the music
and it is acceptable to some extent. Because of the compatibility in the chords,
these two sections should be also in correspondence in the content and also in the
feeling of the words. As an example you can see this structure in the lyric of "When
the sky rained firee" from the Victory album:
Oh baby, I feel guilty - there's no reason
why
Baby, cause I promised you - love will never lie
Oh, I send a wish to heaven - I can't stand the pain inside
This moment tells a story and I'm stronger than my pride
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Music is the answer, baby - if you cry
Can't you tell me where love goes - when it dies
And I know it's all or nothing - it was not a love affair
Lay your cards here on the table - if you need me I'll be
there
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In some cases at the starting point of section 4, many of the instruments
in the rhythm are omitted while the rhythm returns to it's normal form at the
starting point of the 2nd division of section 4 ( You can check this in "Time
is on my side", "I'm not guilty", "Angie's Heart (version
1998)" and "Should I, would I, Could I").
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Almost all of the Modern Talking songs focus on the positive side of
LOVE in the content. There are only a few songs that are focused on sport-related
theme (e.g. "We take the chance", "Win the race" and "Ready
for the victory") or a half-negative side of love (e.g. "Never fall in
love again", "Girl out of my dreams", "Crying in the night"
(of course if you consider it as a Modern Talking song)).
Chords
Normally, as usual
verse-chorus form would imply, the verse and choruses are repeated at least
once during a typical Modern Talking song and corresponding segments or modules
are "chord" and "mood" compatible.
In almost all Modern Talking songs, each phrase (i.e. verse segment, chorus and high-pitch chorus)
ends with a typical and common cadence (mostly ending to E or G), except for
"Cherie Cherie Lady" and "Everybody needs somebody" whose verses
are ending to Em as 2 exceptions.
Dieter Bohlen has been strictly loyal to some of his chord sequences almost all
of which are easy and common triads (except Dm7 in "I will follow you",
"We take the chance", "Rouge Et Noir" and "Superstar"
and G11 in the melody and chorus of "Brother Louei").
The following table lists some of the most commonly-used chords by Dieter Bohlen
in his productions for Modern Talking.
Am, Dm, G
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Everybody needs somebody
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You're my heart, you're my soul
You can win if you want
Brother Louei (G11 instead of G)
Jet Airliner You are not alone
Taxi girl
Cosmic girl
New York city girl
After your love is gone
Can't get enough
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You're my heart, you're my soul
You can win if you want
Brother Louei
Jet Airliner
You are not alone
Atlantis is calling SOS for love
Taxi girl
Cosmic girl
Ten thousand lonely drums
After your love is gone
Can't get enough
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Am, Em, Dm, G
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Cherie Cherie Lady
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Cherie Cherie Lady
Atlantis is calling SOS for love
Ten thousand lonely drums
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Cherie Cherie Lady
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C, Em, F, G
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My lonely girl
Love to love you
There's Something in the Air
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Don't take away my heart
Who will be there
SMS to my heart
Why does it feel so good
10 seconds to count down
There's Something in the Air
I'm gonna be strong
Black Bird
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Sexy Sexy Lover
Don't take away my heart
Who will be there
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C, F, Dm, G
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Time is on my side
Operator
Should I, Would I, Could I
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Should I, Would I, Could I
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Am, Em, F, G
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Time is on my side
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Sexy Sexy Lover
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C, Em, Dm,[Gsus4],G
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We still have dreams
From coast to coast
Higher than heaven
Life is too short
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From coast to coast
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C, Am, Dm, G
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Heaven will know
Can't let you go
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Heaven will know
SMS to my heart
New York city girl
Life is too short
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Am, Dm, G, C, F, Dm, Esus4, E
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Win the race
Last exit to Brooklyn
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Win the race
Last exit to Brooklyn
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Am, F, G, Em
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Roughe Et Nior
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Am, Dm, G, Em
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Just like an angel
With a little love
Who will love you
Part-time lover
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Just like an angel
With a little love
Who will love you
Part-time lover
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C, Em, F, Dm, F, G
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Higher than heaven
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It hurts so good
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Am, Em, F, C
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Angie's heart
I'm no Rockefeller
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Angie's heart
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Am, F, Dm, G
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Geronimo's Cadillac
Everybody needs somebody
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Geronimo's Cadillac
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C, G, Am, Em, Dm, Dm7, Gsus4, G
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I will follow you
We take the chance
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The Lyrics
From the viewpoint of a native English speaker, the lyrics of Modern Talking songs
look as "easy and cheesy" as any other European-made pop music may look
like and even sometimes the few grammatical mistakes actually "hurt" the
listener.
But wait! Is it bad? Obviously NOT. Such style of music has its own class of lyrics
which may look quite bizarre to a native speaker because of exaggerated dependency
on romance, which sometimes can make the songs look even "gay", and excessive
simplicity with either unusual or very usual rhyme selections but at the end of
the day, it's just another type of music.
At least, they have had the courage to have lyrics in their songs and not make 1-word,
1-phrase or 1-sentence songs.
If you wish to hear a song by Modern Talking's style, whose lyrics
have been written by you, yourself, you can give it a try! Why not!?
Before you submit your lyrics please read the above guidelines carefully, while
you care about the legal notes.
Then submit your lyrics by email to
.Normally
you will be replied in 3 days time..
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Have you ever imagined to listen to your own lyrics with Modern Talking's
musical style?
Your dream can come true.
submit your own lyrics now.
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