Inside The Score - Banjo-Kazooie - Inside Clanker

Nasty Club

Time to get to the seedy underbelly of society. Or at least the underbelly of a literal whale accompanied with the continued emphasis of the cabaret aspects; but this time with the sultriness turned up to 11. The song gets sparser, the rhythms more intimidating and the orchestration nastier courtesy of the muddy timbre of the baritone sax, whose family of instruments are a staple in the nightclub circuit.

Just like in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the Banjo series presents us with a similar take on the womb inside a whale level—with Grant taking a more humorous route when it comes to the body sound effects one might find in these situations— It is only when we get inside Clanker that we realize the extent of the biological nature of this environment, with lots of organic compounds, parasites and the characteristic red color scheme of the muscles and what squishy stuff is made of. Mysteriously, in these levels things tend to be relatively spacious, well-lit, and full of breathable air. Naturally, when the outside of the creature involved is shown, expect it to be bigger on the inside. However, the cybernetic essence of Clanker adds a different twist to how these types of levels usually pan out. You can enter the body of through his teeth, his gills, or his blowhole.

The music, which in this case is not the usual rearrangement of the level tune since this is pretty much the other half of the world, continues with the Weimar-cabaret influence and shady minor jazz vibe from loud and proud Broadway villains. The main rhythmic motif of the melody is a usual staple found in other songs that assimilate these styles like Be Prepared from Lion King or the song Boris The Bat.

Of course bats are evil staples, just like these types of tunes

From spooky situations up to film noir. This all thanks to the Weimar German expressionists that migrated to America during war times and ended up in the film industry circuit.

Musical Analysis

Structure: I – {AA’ BA’ C A’’ O}

Tempo: 110

Melodic and Harmonic Profiles: C Harmonic minor; F# Ionian/Major; G Harmonic minor

The sassy percussion comprises the intro of the track, special mention going to the finger snaps associated with gang culture, burlesque and obnoxious patrons; Finger snapping at someone has long been used as a sign of brassy attitude or diva gesture, done to express a taunting satisfaction following what one has considered to be an impressive insult or diss; you can also use them to advance on someone in unison with your ruffian friends as an intimidation tactic or to creep out someone as was done to great effect. It has been used in slow, cool jazz and works such as the musical West Side Story, Spider-Man 3, Twin Peaks and The Adams’ Family.

The main motif is used throughout the question-answer blocks from the A section, altering the pitches but maintaining the ubiquitous rhythmic pattern. The featured instrument could be none other than the low timbre of the sax, favored by Grant Kirkhope to musicalize heavy characters and murky locations thanks to its raspy color in the lower register. The harmony focuses on the interplay between the C minor chord and the more seductive G major from the harmonic minor scale when compared to the more hopeless G minor. The full section can be thought of as going:

Cm – G – G7 – Cm

Fm – Cm – G7 – Cm – G

zThe full band enters accompanied by the countermelody of the otherworldly and classic monster movie sound of the theremin doing huge leaps through pitch bending as is characteristic of the sound coming from the instrument. During the final chord of this new A section there is a dissonance present between the walking bass line coming from the baritone sax, now playing an accompaniment tole, and the bassoon; the walking line ascends through the notes of the G major tetrachord while the bassoon stays on C minor (the B natural combined with C and Eb).

Compared to other theremin uses and in part thanks to the digital sample medium, Grant is also able to use the theremin as a chordal instrument, creating a synth pad bed that haunts the B section of the tune. The melody during this section also plays with the main rhythmic motif from section A, altering it just slightly by strategically removing and adding notes to the question-answer blocks. The harmony for this section is one not previously heard on the soundtrack; it has a more sinister aura. There are three chords that belong to the Db major scale plus its tritone chord G major. Nevertheless, the context and the Kirkhope cadence [ bII – V – i ] of the piece make it still gravitate towards a C minor tonality.

Db – G – Bbm – G

Fm – G – Fm – Db – G

Similar chords are used in other decadent places like Cauldron’s Keep from Banjo-Toole.

Back to the main A section. The only difference with the previous iterations is the way the walking bass line raises the tension by going towards higher pitches at the end of the phrase and the band ending with a diminished F chord.

C Section gives back the melody to the baritone sax in call in response fashion with the theremin. The piece continues with the same rhythmic motif, making it the first one on the soundtrack entirely based around a single motif. Like on other contrasting section, Grant chooses to go to the tritone chord of C and then use voice leading in the marimba arpeggios to create a descending by a semitone chord progression during the theremin solo that borrows from multiple profiles.

The harmony during the section is:

F# – C – Ebm – C

B – Gm – A – D – G7

It is only with that last strong dominant G7 chord that we realize we are hastily moving towards returning to the main A section and C tonality. The last A section is the subdued moment from this track. The swinging drum kit drops out and the skinny xylophone plays the tune.

The last section is closer to a proper outro than a full blown main section, with a call and response between the main motif and the theremin playing chords beyond the grave. The focal interplay is between the creepy tritone movement among F# and Cm and the more sad and pensive one between Fm and G. The chords are playing in inversions and voice leading that focus on descending movements and then ascending to connect smoothly the loop—which excludes the intro. The full sequence being:

Cm Cm – F# – Cm – F# – Cm

Cm Fm – G – Fm – G – Cm

As has been noted, the baritone sax and the marimba are the timbres more closely associated with the Banjo-Kazooie trademark sound, the marimba as part of the cartoon heritage and the raspy sax as the one giving that heavy, muddy twang. Here we saw the interplay between them that will only fully blossom on the next swampy world, auspicious for more of these two.