This is my analysis of Roger Waters' "Pigs On the Wing (Part I)," the opening track of Pink Floyd's Animals:
I think that after a cursory look, my Excel spreadsheet is pretty straightforward. The eighth note pulse is constant, starting with the 3+3+2 subdivision of 4/4 that is extremely common in strummy guitar rock music. It's often 3 eighths, 3 eighths, 4 sixteenths. Like the verses of this:
Oof. What a bad video. Or this:
Wow. Super shitty.
This song plays around with the same stuff:
Wow. Super shitty.
This song plays around with the same stuff:
Yes, of course I count in 4/4. But the underlying "clave" is 3+3+2.
It even carries over into the next track of Animals, just faster:
What I love about "Pigs On the Wing" is how the text dictates the time signatures. This is much like a lot of older country music, actually:
Which is, strangely enough, a lot like this:
If you don't know what I mean, just count to four. Until you can't.
The difference in Roger Waters' example is that the inconsistencies are much more unpredictable and expressive. If I did a similar analysis with "Hey Ya!" the phrases would line up cleanly and evenly. In "Pigs," the bottom of my chart is all gnarly. And that is a result of the text setting--using the eighth notes necessary to get the words out.
And then the album continues after that. For me, this is Pink Floyd's finest. I used to listen to this on cassette on long car trips. If I was cool enough, I'd cite a Syd Barrett album as my favorite. But I can't--Animals is the best.
As long as we're keeping score...listen from 1:41 in "Pigs (Three Different Ones)":
Don't need four beats to set your syllables? Then take one out.
Or maybe you need an extra beat?
"There's a restless feeling knocking at my door today."
If you don't know what I mean, just count to four. Until you can't.
The difference in Roger Waters' example is that the inconsistencies are much more unpredictable and expressive. If I did a similar analysis with "Hey Ya!" the phrases would line up cleanly and evenly. In "Pigs," the bottom of my chart is all gnarly. And that is a result of the text setting--using the eighth notes necessary to get the words out.
And then the album continues after that. For me, this is Pink Floyd's finest. I used to listen to this on cassette on long car trips. If I was cool enough, I'd cite a Syd Barrett album as my favorite. But I can't--Animals is the best.
As long as we're keeping score...listen from 1:41 in "Pigs (Three Different Ones)":
Don't need four beats to set your syllables? Then take one out.
Or maybe you need an extra beat?
"There's a restless feeling knocking at my door today."
