‘I Second that Emotion’: Modifiers as Expressive Devices in Songs by The Miracles

Abstract

By combining musicology, sound studies, and linguistics, this article goes beyond existing studies of voice and popular song to analyse vocal modifiers in four songs recorded by The Miracles in 1960 and 1967: ‘Way over there’ (1960), ‘Shop around’ (1960), ‘Who’s lovin’ you’ (1960) and ‘I second that emotion’ (1967). Vocal modifiers, a sub-category of paralanguage, are a nonverbal characteristic of speech that can alter meaning or convey emotion. By adopting a mixed methodology (spectral and music analysis alongside paralinguistics), I argue that aspects of The Miracles’ performative quality reside in their use of vocal modifiers, which occur in performance and are retained on recordings. Over time, specific uses, especially by the lead singer William “Smokey” Robinson, give rise to expressive tropes (significant or recurring themes, similar to a motive in Western art music). Expressive tropes are important for not only do they create aural connections across songs, they can also represent thematic content without the aid of lyrics and reveal subtle insights into non-lexical sounds that have long been acknowledged but have resisted analysis.