| Notes and Quotes: "When I'm Cleaning Windows" (Formby, Glifford, and Cliffe) |
| "When I'm Cleaning Windows" comes from the film, Keep Your Seats Please (1937). The original version lacks the orchestral accompaniment of the later recording, relying instead entirely on Formby's ability to play, sing, and act at the same time. YouTube. |
| The music demonstrates consistency
with earlier musical forms with verse material at the beginning. Harmonically
and melodically related to the chorus material, the verse prepares the
listener for the chorus. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century,
the verse would have alternated with the chorus. However, here Formby
has reduced it to a mere vestige of what it once was. While the verse
still sets up the context of the song, preparing the listener for the
subject of the chorus, it no longer leads you into music. Indeed, the
listener has already heard the chorus material in the introduction. |
| The rest of the song follows
the classic A A B A pattern of "song form." Moreover, this A A B A form
can be seen at two levels. After the chorus and verse of the introduction,
the song settles into the sequence of chorus-chorus-bridge-chorus (A-A-B-A).
Formby sings this chorus-and-bridge pattern twice, then strums his ukulele
through one cycle of chorus-chorus-bridge-chorus, before returning to
sing the pattern once more before the band plays the chorus material one
more time as an ending. |
| One last observation: The
title of the song is "When I'm Cleaning Windows." The "hook" (a combination
of easily identifiable words and music) containing these words is repeated
nine times in this performance. The purpose of the hook is to help the
listener remember the song's title so they can purchase it after the performance.
Note the placement of the hook to help the listener remember the song's
title. |