"Good Morning, Heartache" by Irene Higginbotham

"Good Morning, Heartache" by Irene Higginbotham with lyrics by Ervin Drake and Dan Fisher remains one of the most well-known songs composed by Higginbotham, a highly prolific female songwriter of the Tin Pan Alley era, writing over 1,000 songs. Originally recorded by Billie Holiday in 1946, "Good Morning, Heartache" was later recorded by hordes of other vocalists including Diana Ross for the 1972 film, Lady Sings the Blues, in which Ross portrayed Holiday. Twenty-six years after it was composed and released the song finally reached #20 on the Billboard R&B chart and #34 on the pop chart, even achieving an Easy Listening hit in the top ten.

Melody And Phrasing

The song is organized into a long series of two bar phrases. Its melody opens with an ascending perfect fifth that then descends through a minor blues scale fragment. This arched melodic contour pattern (up, then down) repeats (with melodic and rhythmic variation) to complete the first two-bar phrase before opening the initial phrase interval wider to a sixth to start the next phrase. This juxtaposition of the melodic intervals of a fifth and a sixth continue to begin the initial two phrases in each A section of this AABA form. The melody maintains the arched contour for the first three subphrases, with pitches coming back down to the starting point within the minor phrases, followed by an ascending contour in the second measure of a major phrase ("thought we said... "), drawing an even wider divide between the melodic content of the two tonal areas. The third phrase begins with yet a wider ascending interval of a minor seventh for the lyrics, "I tossed..." The fourth phrase of A ends on the pitch where it began, using repetition of two notes spelling a m3 interval ("but here you are with the dawn"), reiterating the bluesy quality of this song.

At the bridge, the melody starts up a major third and continues the motif of alternating the starting note with a pitch a minor third above (the #9 of the dominant chord). Here, Higginbotham brings out a different version of the repeating minor third that is motivic in this song. Using the same rhythm in the next phrase, the melody alternates the same starting pitch with a note a major third above (scale degree 3), creating a mutation from D minor to D major. Dropping the melody a whole step at m. 21, the minor thirds alternation makes one more appearance (again using the #9 in the V7 chord) before changing to a mostly repeated note plus its upper neighbor tone in the next two (one-measure) subphrases. The bridge finishes with a neatly sequenced and step-progressed melodic descent by semitone (G—F#—F) to cohesively tie up this section of the piece with impressive unification of melody, harmony, and motivic usage.

Harmony

Harmonically, "Good Morning, Heartache" is quite unique—it possesses characteristics of the blues without being defined by a blues form. Starting on a minor chord that moves through three more chords sharing the same root but suggesting tonal instability, the first phrase's tension resolves at measure 3 in a major key a fourth above the original minor chord's root. There is a beautiful internal half-step progression in the harmony that connects a harmonic thread through the first phrase. If starting on a C minor chord, for example, the harmony moves: Cm—Ab/C—Cm6—Cm7, threading a semitone scale inside the harmonic movement through pitches G—Ab—A--Bb, which, in the ascending direction, builds greater tension as the phrase progresses. This "hidden" harmonic thread (which can be considered CESH, chromatically embellished static harmony) serves to smoothly connect the chords, knitting them together in a beautifully organized pattern while maintaining the same root. The strength of both melodic and harmonic originality contributes to this song's "standard" status. Its uniqueness makes its fun to play and intriguing for the musicians who perform it.

By the second phrase the harmony has arrived at a major tonic a fourth above the minor starting root (which is not really a tonic due to the first phrase's inherent tonal instability). The harmony continues with another jump of a perfect fourth interval to another major seventh chord in m. 3, beat 3 (continuing from the same Cm starting point above, this would land at FMa7—BbMa7 to open the second phrase). Then a ii7(b5)—V7(b9) pattern completes phrase two and propels the song to ii of the major key established in m. 3, moving through a series of minor chords before arriving  at a ii—V7—I cadence (mm. 7-8). The A section's harmony is repeated exactly in this strict AABA form.

At the bridge, the harmony moves to ii—V7—i in the relative minor key (Dm) of the major tonic (FM). Then, Higginbotham plays with mutation in the next phrase, repeating ii—V7 but landing in the parallel major key: Em—A7#9 (with the #9 as the bluesy melody note) | dm | Em—A7 | DM. In m. 21 (starting the second half of the bridge) the harmony abruptly mutates to dm to begin a ii—V7—I progression in C. Then a new ii—V7 sequence starting on a minor root up a semitone begins at m. 23, completing the sequence and step progression downward by semitone in the next measure with Cm—F7, but never resolving to the expected Bb root—the root motion simply restarts the tonally unstable CESH on the Cm chord that initially began the piece.

Lyrics

Amid the straightforward, two-measure phrases the song's rhyme scheme pairs the final syllables at the end of every two bars. The only departure from this scheme occurs at the end of the bridge, "Just leave me alone," has no rhymed match but instead is followed by "I've got those Monday blues straight through Sunday blues," which don't actually rhyme, but utilize the same word at the end of one-measure subphrases. The personification of heartache strongly places an emotion or problem in the role of constant companion (albeit an unwanted one) alongside the character singing the story. This thematic choice elegantly utilizes poetic device while maintaining everyday, casual, colloquial language (rather than poetry), rendering this song accessible by all.

Theme

The lyrics of this standard are both easily understandable and meaningful. Some scholars have suggested that the intended audience to whom the character is singing is not heartache from a broken love relationship, but addiction (the lyrics, "It seems I met you when my love went away," support this theory, as do "Stop haunting me now, can't shake you no-how... ") Given that Billie Holiday struggled with alcohol addiction, the song became somewhat autobiographical for her and remained associated with her throughout her career and well beyond her death.

"Good Morning, Heartache" remains in the standards canon due to a brilliant blending of subtle melodic, harmonic, and lyrical characteristics. The ambiguous harmonic opening suggests instability in the character's emotional, mental, or physical state, and even after a firm tonic is established, it does not hold for long, giving way to frequent mutations between minor and major keys. Motivic vacillations between notes (especially dissonant notes like the #9), suggest indecision or trouble. Even ii—V7 patterns do not always resolve cadentially (mm. 23-24, for example), but instead arrive at non-tonic chords, leading the music through a winding harmonic ride that reflects the character's searching for a stable foundation, but not finding it until the very end (mm. 15-16 to end the A sections and 31-32, finishing the song). Through the combination of CESH, a bluesy melody, unstable harmony, and thoughtful personification of the lyrics' subject, Higginbotham's "Good Morning, Heartache" achieved its own unique, well-deserved niche in the American Songbook.

Comments