Those Magic Changes

"Those Magic Changes" is a pop song from the musical Grease which was performed by Sha Na Na in the film version.

In the movie version of Grease, "Those Magic Changes" is played at the high school dance scene, preceded by "Rock n' Roll Is Here to Stay", and succeeded by "Hound Dog". However, in the musical, it is set in Rydell High, and comes between "Summer Nights" and "Freddy, My Love". Also, Doody and the Burger Palace Boys sing "Those Magic Changes" in the musical, as opposed to Sha Na Na in the movie version. In the Broadway musical the song goes away from Rydell High to Doody's dream of being in a rock concert with the Pink Ladies, and Burger Palace Boys (the men's gang in the stage version) as his harmony singers. Furthermore, the song is placed in the forefront of the show, while it is background music for the movie.

To this day, Sha Na Na remain well known for their performances as Johnny Casino and the Gamblers in the film version of "Grease". "Those Magic Changes" was performed with important dialog over it, illustrating some subplots in the movie, such as building up the rivalry between The T-Birds and The Scorpions, as well as Sandy realizing that Cha Cha was one of Danny's past girlfriends, and leaves the dance upset. Later, she calls makes it up to him by getting a complete makeover, as demonstrated in "You're The One That I Want".

This song is built upon a simple, repeated, chord progression of C to A Minor to F to G7, which was the basis for most Doo Wop songs in the 50's ("This Magic Moment", etc.),^[1] known as the 50s progression.^[2] In the play, the other characters sing each of these letters in background accompaniment, and in the 1994 revival, this progression becomes the basis for the bridge with the letters being spoken as the words "see," "a" and "gee," and the first syllable of the word "effortlessly":

"C - C - See how much I want you;

A - A - A - A million ways!

F - F - Eff-ortlessly love you;

G - G - Gee, I'm in a haze!"

See also

• Grease
• Doo-wop
• 50s progression

References