This passage starts at 2.21.diagram 1 and, as you can see, its rhythmic mini-phrases are classic funk figures, animated, catchy and danceable. The part focuses on rhythm, with only four notes used in the melody - note how the first ‘F D C D’ phrase is played three times in the first bar, with the second iteration falling on the offbeat between beats two and three. I’ve notated the horn part in The ‘Uptown Funk’ instrumental break horn line, transcribed by Dave Stewart. A jaunty four-note lick parps out three times in quick succession, followed by an offbeat stab and a short descending run after a bar’s rest, the vocal hook ‘Don’t believe me, just watch’ is answered by a staccato, machine-gun-like burst of six repeated notes (doubled by snare drum) - this short call-and-response is repeated three times at the end of the break. It’s unlikely that Mark Ronson had any such qualms when co-producing ‘Uptown Funk’ with Bruno Mars: since the aim was to make a classic funk song, its seventies-inspired instrumental horn break comes as no surprise.
Despite initial concerns that this iconic sample might be regarded as old-fashioned, Beyoncé has since praised its crucial contribution to the song’s runaway success. Like all good stick-in-your-head riffs, the horn part is deceptively simple - a triumphant-sounding unison phrase played twice, the second time with an altered last note, over a standard C-major to A-minor chord sequence propelled by a driving, funky beat. The horn hook on ‘Crazy In Love’ is actually a sample of a lick from the Chi-Lites’ 1970 song ‘Are You My Woman? (Tell Me So)’. When asked in a 2004 MTV interview what made her ‘Crazy In Love’ song so lively and infectious, the Texan singer summed it up succinctly: “It’s the horn hook.” Earlier this year, when the same TV channel sought expert advice on the question “Why Is ‘Uptown Funk’ so catchy?” (a topic which never fails to provoke heated debate in the House of Lords), UK musicologist Joe Bennett opined, “The big release, the most exciting bit of the song, is the brass riff.” A simple, catchy tune with a funky rhythm may be all you need to create a highly commercial horn hook - but harmony is also an essential ingredient in brass arrangements.Ī great horn arrangement can galvanise a record, and Beyoncé Knowles knows it.
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