This week Tony and I went a capella! A cappella, or acapella, music refers to unaccompanied singing, a practice that originated in Renaissance sacred music and later developed across classical, folk, gospel, and popular traditions. While historically associated with church and communal singing, a cappella has evolved across genres and decades, from protest music to pop hits and soundtracks to serenades…
The Fleetwoods, Paul Simon & Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Originally written by Alex North and Hy Zaret for the 1955 film Unchained, Unchained Melody is one of the most recorded songs of the twentieth century. The Fleetwoods’ 1958 version, which predates The Righteous Brother‘s recording by seven years, presents the song in a restrained a cappella-style arrangement that employs close and intimate vocal harmony. Formed while still in high school, the trio are currently the earliest vocal groups to top the Billboard Hot 100 with all members still living!
Homeless emerged from Paul Simon’s Graceland sessions, and was recorded with South African vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Built around call-and-response textures and homophonic choral writing, the song introduced Western audiences to the Zulu isicathamiya singing tradition. Co-written with Ladysmith Black Mambazo band leader Joseph Shabalala, the piece blends English lyrics with Zulu text drawn from traditional melodies. While often interpreted as protest music, Shabalala described its imagery as metaphorical, rooted in cultural language rather than literal displacement.
Bobby McFerrin & Boyz II Men
Common Threads exemplifies studio-based a cappella construction. Bobby McFerrin layers his own voice to create dense and colourful harmonic textures, and punctuates these textures with percussive consonants, hocketing techniques, and sharply articulated entrances. The bell-like hocketing on the song is McFerrin overdubbing himself, distributing single notes across tracks so the harmony emerges as a composite texture. The song served as the theme for the documentary Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, about the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
Boyz II Men’s a cappella version of Can You Stand the Rain reinterprets the 1988 New Edition ballad as entirely a capella – with the allowance of finger snaps. The arrangement relies on homophonic textures in the chorus and controlled melismatic phrasing in the lead vocal. Boyz II Men were originally discovered after singing the song directly to New Edition’s Michael Bivins, and helped reestablish a cappella singing as a central element of 1990s R&B, bridging pop accessibility with vocal craftsmanship and harmonic flair.
Coope, Boyes & Simpson, & Pentatonix
Only Remembered traces its origins to a 19th-century hymn text by Horatius Bonar, which was later adapted by John Tams for the stage production of Michael Morpurgo’s 1982 novel War Horse. The English folk trio Coope, Boyes & Simpson perform it in three-part homophony, with clearly defined vocal roles across the texture. Known for their unaccompanied repertoire, the group frequently engaged with historical and political material, and this song has become closely associated with remembrance of the First World War.
Pentatonix’s version of Take On Me reimagines A-ha’s 1980s synth-pop hit through contemporary a cappella production techniques. Slowed to a half-time feel, the arrangement layers beatboxing, compressed bass vocals, handclaps, and pitch correction to replicate a full pop production without instruments. Included on PTX, Vol. IV: Classics, the track is a tour de force in modern a cappella studio engineering.
Billie Marten
The a cappella version of Liquid Love reduces Billie Marten’s original recording to a single harmonic center (F♯) and close vocal layering. Released as part of an acoustic EP following her album Flora Fauna, the track avoids overt processing, relying instead on minimal reverb and precise tuning. The repeated, mantra-like text and static harmony place focus on tone and phrasing, aligning the song with a contemporary indie approach to unadorned vocal performance.
Sublime vs The Beatles
Our soundslike this week explored the often-notes similarity between Lady Madonna by The Beatles (1970) and What I Got by Sublime (1996). The chorus in What I Got interpolates Loving (1990) by reggae artist Half Pint, who is credited as a co-writer. This is, however, the only songwriting credit given….
A Capella Quiz
For our quiz this week, you heard University/College A Capella groups singing famous hits (backwards) – guess the artist and song!
As always, find the show and blog at joebennett.net/5live, with occasional Instagram extras at @joebennettmusicology. With a new show comes a new Spotify mega-playlist, which contains all songs featured on the show:
And you can still listen to our old mega-playlist here.
- Words: Joe Bennett, John Pierce O’Reilly
- Audio production: Joe Bennett, Rafi Waters
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