Song Details
- Album Release Date: 2012
- Genre: piano
Song Meaning of “‘Round Midnight” by Thelonious Monk
This classic jazz tune from Thelonious Monk is really a master class in conveying emotion and mood through music. It features Monk’s trademark harmonic voicings and incorporates a whole lot of ambiguity and dissonance into its melodic structure. Lyrically, it’s a nocturnal musing about the loneliness of the night, a time of day that has long been associated with a certain kind of melancholy and reflection, as well as moments of introspection and a sense of being out of step with the world. The music conveys these ideas through its rapturous but brooding melodies, its subtle changes in tempo and rhythm, and its big, sweeping chords all make up the song’s feeling of regret or longing for something that’s gone. As the night wears on, the music slowly builds until finally reaching a state of acceptance and even hope as the song moves to a gentle swing rhythm and comes to an emotional close. Listeners of ‘Round Midnight may be awarding Thelonious Monk with words of praise for having the skill to conjure the many nuances that come with nightfall in one simple yet remarkable piece of music.