Rick James "Super Freak"

In episode 12 of Anatomy of Tone, I discussed Rick James’ “Super Freak” and the use of mixed modes. The verse riff is based on the A Dorian mode, while the pre-chorus is based on the A Aeolian mode. This subtle change between modes creates a refreshing effect on the ears.

Let’s look at the verse riff:

Even though this verse is more riff-oriented and not directly chord-based, we can still see an outline of a chord cycle. The riff implies D major to A minor to G major to A minor. The “Super Freak” riff is more about the horizontal movement of notes than chords, even though chords are implied. If we look a little deeper and think about the sound of the verse riff, we can hear that the implied D major chord is major.

Since the D major chord has an F#, we find ourselves in A Dorian land. We can also view this progression as a play on an ii V I progression. An ii V I in G would be A minor, D major G major. Knowing Rick James' discovery path for this riff would be interesting. was it a play on an ii V I progress reversing some of the order of the chords? Or did it start from a riff and a modal thought?

When we get to the pre-chorus, we shift modes briefly. We’ll notice an implied F major chord. The riff implies D major to A minor to F major to A minor. We can think of this as moving to the A Aeolian mode over the A minor and F chords. Why am I thinking of “Super Freak” in A minor instead of G? It has to do with the stress of the A minor tonality. There is a lot of weight on ending in A minor, leading us to feel A minor is our home chord.

Looking back at my comment about how the riff may have been derived from playing with the order of chords from an ii V I progression in G, we can further consider this by adding the F implied chord. If we were in the key of G, F would be the bVII chord, sometimes referred to as a backdoor dominant. In “Super Freak,” the F chord is not acting as a backdoor dominant. I’m just suggesting that perhaps in the creation process of this song, there may have been a play on a famous jazz progression.

I’m looking at this in a couple of ways: curiosity about where the song idea came from, what the song is functionally doing, where the music and how to improvise with it.

What’s the takeaway? When writing a riff, you can switch modes to add variety to the sound. A subtle change such as in the pre-chorus of “Super Freak” which only lasts two beats wakes our ears up. The modal change isn’t too long to disrupt our listening flow.