Song analysis: The Beatles - Something

mike_l

Fuck me Clarky, that's some in depth analysis

 

probably good we didn't start with Octivarium 

 

 

Clarky

haaa... I actually thought that was a "brief" version.. lmao

mike_l

Actually I'm not a Beatles* fan (at all) but I might learn a coupleof their songs now.

 

*I like the song Let it be but that's it

Clarky

Here's another observation:
for music to be memorable it's generally accepted that some sort of small musical figure is required that is often repeated in the piece.
In contemporary music this is generally referred to as a 'hook'.
Generally the hook appears in the chorus because this is repeated.
Notice however in the song Something that the hook is not sung or in the chorus and that it is in fact played on guitar.
Also notice when looking at the form of the song that the hook:
- is the first thing you hear
- follows every chorus
- provides the means [via a variation] to enter the mid-8
- signifies the end of the guitar solo and forms the bridge into the final verse
- is the final thing you hear in both the modified and unmodified form [so it's played twice back to back]

The Beatles want you to remember this hook..
It hits you 6 times.. so they are seriously force feeding it to you..
They want you to walk away humming that little hook.. all 1 bar of it..
You may well notice that if you listen to the youtube link I posted of this song just one or two times, that you may have flashbacks of this hook for many days afterwards..

This is a seriously shrewd song writing tactic

There is no flashy playing in this song..
No mind-blowing performances..
No mind-bendingly complex chords..
No vast or complex instrumentation / orchestration..

On the surface it's simple..
easy on the ear..
memorable..
all very nice but maybe a bit unimpressive
don't let that fool you

from a compositional standpoint, this one is actually a bit of a wolf in sheep's clothing..
when you look around inside it you come to realise that it's actually quite the song-writing masterclass..
it's real beauty lay in the way a very clever composition is outwardly a very simple and rather pretty song..

Clarky

mike_l said:

Actually I'm not a Beatles* fan (at all) but I might learn a coupleof their songs now.

 

*I like the song Let it be but that's it

to be honest, I'm not much of a Beatles fan either..
however, I do recognise their skill as song-smiths..
also their evolution was quite amazing..
from the early days of their pop hit factory right through to what can seriously be considered as songs that laid the foundations of progressive rock.

that said..
the Beatles songs that I do like.. I like a great deal..

jaygtr

I have nothing useful to add, but thanks anyway. I will listen to it tonight when I get home with renewed enthusiasm.

Clarky

anyone else spot anything interesting...??

I know I've not found it all

mike_l

I'm struggling with this, particularly the open chords, any help please

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ryGCAruMu2o

 

or a live version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=EMzly9NNBKs

Clarky

wanna start a new thread with this one like the other thread suggested????

then it'll be easier for future reference...

viz

Other songs with that maj - maj7 - dom7 sequence: - Led Zep: The rain song - Raindrops keep falling on my head - Paul Ryan / The Damned: Eloise chorus

bigjon

mike_l said:

I'm struggling with this, particularly the open chords, any help please

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ryGCAruMu2o

 

or a live version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=EMzly9NNBKs

I'll post this in the Practice Studio Canteen thread at http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/115/the-practice-studio-canteen-for-your-quick-questions-on-theory-and-technique#latest and have a listen.

mike_l

Clarky said:

wanna start a new thread with this one like the other thread suggested????

then it'll be easier for future reference...

Good call, luckily Bigjon did that for me

TheOtherDennis

Crikey most of that stuff is way out of my league, but I thought it might be interesting to see how you think the George Harrison song compares to the song of a very similar title that inspired it -



A very young James Taylor turned up on Apple's doorstep one morning in 1968 with this as his demo piece and asked what they thought of it. They loved it and signed him up.

George later said that JT's first line was so good that although he only originally intended to borrow it so that he could use it as a starting point to write his own song from, it had to stay in the final version.

Col_Decker

Clarky said:

 C∆7

Bloody hell Clarky that's some great stuff yiu've done there! But what does the triangle mean in the 'C triangle 7'?

EricTheWeary

TheOtherDennis said:

Crikey most of that stuff is way out of my league, but I thought it might be interesting to see how you think the George Harrison song compares to the song of a very similar title that inspired it -



A very young James Taylor turned up on Apple's doorstep one morning in 1968 with this as his demo piece and asked what they thought of it. They loved it and signed him up.

George later said that JT's first line was so good that although he only originally intended to borrow it so that he could use it as a starting point to write his own song from, it had to stay in the final version.

That they came up with comprehensible, memorable lyrics is quite remarkable really. From what I read they worked on the music for a while and had that JT line as inspiration but otherwise the lyrics were just nonsensical stuff to fit the melody and were finished off quite late in the day.

Clarky

it's conventional chord chart stuff

C∆7 = C major 7

C7 = C dominant 7

Cm7 = C minor 7

Cº7 = C diminished 7

Clarky

Eric - yes I was actually aware of the song that inspired Something. I've not heard it though. I'll check it out later when I'm in the studio.

Clarky

TheOtherDennis said:

Crikey most of that stuff is way out of my league,

 

 

-- if you're interested we can look are what bits you don't understand and try to clarify them for you

this is the whole point of an analysis: you get some new knowledge from it

but given you can listen to this 'knowledge' being used in an applied situation it should become a little more meaningful and less academic than just endlessly reading about scales and chords and stuff without hearing them used.

This is where music theory becomes really useful..

to help trigger those eureka moments in a way that makes sense

kinda - "ahh so that's what's happening ! ! cool ! !"

 

so... feel free to asked questions about anything that didn't make sense to you..

TheOtherDennis

It's not that there's anything specific I don't understand, it's more the way that if I read each individual sentence I get it, but if I try to swallow it all I choke. And there's no way on earth I could have done it myself if you asked me to explain it all.

An interesting point though, that I remember from an interview with Macca once - he said "We had no idea we were writing in the mixolydian mode or whatever, we just put together some chords we thought went well together. We tried to do it in a way that wasn't expected, take people on journeys that made sense but surprised them at the same time."

That's not to diminish anything you've said, because it's all true, but they simply thought "So what can we play next that works but isn't obvious?"

Clarky

the interesting point about your interesting point is how true it is for most folk that have written great songs.

they don't always know the technical in's and out's of what they're doing.. but their intuition tells them that it's hitting the spot..

guys like Macca and Lennon would have been no strangers to Dorian and Mixo tonality..

all through the 60's and 70's Blues and Rock'n'Roll music had and was rubbing off on everything..

so even though they may not have known the names of things they knew what sounded right..

and those guys in particular had a very astute ear for melody and harmony..

some folk seem to have a bit of a gift for song writing..

others have to work harder at it..

all the theory knowhow don't help you to write songs...

but it does help to rationalise what you hear by putting labels on things..

so when you hear something that hits the spot for you, it's useful to be able to inwardly digest this..

and then this can lead to you learning by example and so come up with better songs of your own..

I remember when I was a noob guitarist.. learning to play songs, chords, riffs and licks by ear..

I recall seeing and hearing certain patterns being common and figured out how to use them myself...

at the time I had no idea what they were called.. 

that is until many years later when I found that I'd discovered several scales [maj / min / harm min / min pentatonic / man pentatonic]..

but the killer thing was that I'd also discovered the relationship between them and stumbled upon the fact that they had a centre key..

the essence of the relationship between the major and relative minor..

and also the relationship between scale, chords and key..

but then I was lucky enough to have a small gift with respect to aural perception..

years later when I did all the 'learning' all of these fragments of notions and intuitions all fell into place..

it was like seeing an image suddenly come into sharp focus..