Editing Song cycle (section)

==Popular music==
{{main|Concept album}}
Song cycles written by popular musicians (also called [[rock opera]]s) are a short series of songs that tell a story or focus on a particular theme. Some musicians also blend tracks together, so that the start of the next song continues from the preceding one. Modern examples of this can be found in [[James Pankow]]'s [[rock opera]] ''[[Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon]]'' (for [[Chicago (band)|Chicago]] on their [[Chicago (album)|self-titled second album]]) [[Pink Floyd]]'s [[rock opera]] ''[[The Wall]]'', [[Dream Theater]]'s progressive metal albums ''[[Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory]]'' and ''[[The Astonishing]]'', as well as [[Marvin Gaye]]'s classic [[Soul music|soul]] album ''[[What's Going On (Marvin Gaye album)|What's Going On]]''.<ref name="wgo">{{Cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/WhatsGoingOn.pdf |title=“What’s Going On”—Marvin Gaye (1971) |first=Cary |last=O’Dell |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |date=2003 |accessdate=2024-03-02}}</ref>

The R&B singer [[Raphael Saadiq]]'s 2019 album, ''[[Jimmy Lee (album)|Jimmy Lee]]'', is composed as a song cycle with personal narratives thematizing issues affecting African Americans, including addiction, stress, domestic conflict, AIDS, perpetual financial hardship, and mass incarceration.<ref name="Kot">{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/greg-kot/ct-ent-raphael-saadiq-review-20190823-qgn3eawnozf2vpqqjc3gnw7bga-story.html|title=Raphael Saadiq bears soulful witness to his family's anguish on 'Jimmy Lee'|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|last=Kot|first=Greg|author-link=Greg Kot|date=August 23, 2019|access-date=October 26, 2019}}</ref><ref name="xgau">{{cite web|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=November 13, 2019|url=https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/consumer-guide-november-2019|title=Consumer Guide: November, 2019|work=And It Don't Stop|publisher=[[Substack]]|access-date=February 1, 2020}} {{subscription required}}</ref>