My relationship with "Livin' On a Prayer" is complicated

My relationship with Bon Jovi's "Livin' On a Prayer" (song and video) is complicated. Mostly I think it kicks major ass. But I must temper this enthusiasm. The following points outline my predicament.

PROS:
1) The song itself is pretty solid. I was not surprised to find Desmond Child's name in the writing credits.
2) The talk box guitar hook is a classic.
3) The bass line during the verses, pedaling on the tonic under i, VI, and VII in E minor is great.
4) For 80s hair/glam/whatever the hell this is, I like the sound of the recording. Solid band.
5) The video is a great concert video, complete with a "black and white rehearsal" versus "color concert footage" gimmick. Love that shit. Oh, and flying for no reason.

CONS:
1) The video has absolutely nothing to do with the lyrics. The song is about a young couple struggling financially. So much so the guy has to pawn his guitar. This video seems to be about a bunch of overpaid young guys from New Jersey flying for no reason.
2) The song's most distinctive feature is the talk box guitar hook. The song has the line "Tommy's got his six string in hock. Now he's holding in when he used to make it talk." GET IT? TALK?! Sort of on the fence with that bit. Mostly I think it's stupid.
3) The bass line in the chorus is dumb/bad/too much. The walky-arpeggio stuff. No one cares if the bass player knows what notes are in the chord. Really. I mean, people say they care...but...I mean...after that cool E pedal for the verse, the line in the chorus is over-clever and dopey sounding.
4) I guess someone thought that shitty arpeggio line going from I to IV was soooo great it's part of the guitar solo (3:02, 3:10)! What a goofy, stupid idea.

So I'm at an impasse. These sort of balance out. No...but...WAIT. WAIT JUST A MINUTE.

After the solo...going into the end-chorus-vamp-fade-amahjig at 3:23?!

PROS, TOTAL F'ING REDEMPTION:
1) They drop a beat before they do the modulation.
2) They go up a goddamned minor third!

So there you have it. "Livin' On a Prayer," Unbehind-approved.

Old Mother Hutty

I got this rhyme from my father. If you say it quickly and mess up you might say a naughty word.

Old Mother Hutty had a cutty putty hunt.
Not a hunt punt cutty,
But a cutty putty hunt.

If you trust Urban Dictionary (ha HA!), "cutty" means something synonymous with the dirty word.

I've found other versions, usually involving boats:

Old Mr. Hunt
had a cuddy punt
Not a cuddy punt
but a hunt punt cuddy.

But I like my Dad's version. He said it sorta like this:

And my brother did it this way:

Which is the point: get drunk and say this as fast as you can until someone accidentally says c***, then laugh and drink some more.

But something I noticed recently is that this sounds a lot like a snare drum marching cadence (audio here):

I haven't found much online. I can't prove there's a relationship here. But it's interesting.

More stuff that isn't really in 7: Pink Floyd and the Bee Gees

Music that is actually in 7 is hard to find, and the following examples are no different. Sure, 4+3=7. But you still hear the split. And unlike "The Ocean," there's no 7/8 "clave" splitting the measure up. These are made up of measures of 4 and 3, though the effect achieved in each is quite different.

The first song I ever heard "in 7" was probably "Money" by Pink Floyd, written by Roger Waters. It's anchored by the following bass line:

And that notation is ok. But without that dashed line my eyes get lost. Isn't this more accurate?

I like notation to do more than tell me what the notes are. It's always better when it gives me more, and clearer, information. In this case it's clearly 4 beats + 3 beats. Just listen to the drums. The really cool thing about this line is that it's 7/4 by deletion AND elision. It's really the following line minus the last note (deletion):

The note that you might imagine as the last note of the two bar pattern in 4/4 becomes the first note of the 7 pattern (elision). Pretty cool.


"Jive Talkin'" by the Bee Gees does something quite a bit different. Here's the sweet-ass major pentatonic synth lead during the instrumental breaks (1:16):

Wait. Is it this?

 Actually, listen to the drums. The drums play in 4/4 straight through!

 

So to my ears, this is the most natural way to bar it. I like the strong 4/4 bars at the beginning and end of the 4-bar groups. Take a few listens and see if you agree:

Though really, I just think it's a 7 beat line repeated and superimposed over 7 measures of a 4-on-the-floor drum beat. Wicked sweet.

I love dancing.

Marimba Mood

Here's a quick follow-up to yesterday's post on the iPhone marimba ringtone.

Let's say you hear it right on the beat, no pickup notes. With just the tiniest bit of tweaking and a walking bass line you get something reminiscent of this Glenn Miller classic. And in a much easier key for the bass! It's all about accenting every third note.

The first time I played this back I squealed with delight.

Marimba Mood (click for audio)

The iPhone marimba ringtone and the Dance Test

I heard the iPhone default ringtone today. I wondered if I could find a transcription online, and I found this article and this transcription:
                             
I'm not so sure, and I don't just mean the iffy notation of the second line. I have already started an informal survey. Please let me know if you disagree, but I hear the following, and I can't imagine being convinced otherwise:

When you hear it continuously without much of a pause it works well in 4 (just put those 16ths into the first full measure). With a bit more of a pause you could write it in 3, but I still prefer 4/4 with a measure of 2-ish (it seems to depend on settings).

I hear the first two notes as pickups, and in my mind it's in a sort of half-time. I've found quite a few videos from people that clearly disagree, including this cutesy nightmare (which...I won't get started on how annoying I think this is). But really? Hearing those first two notes as pickups seems far more convincing, which brings me to the dance test:

Ok, maybe that wasn't helpful. But doesn't this version (somewhat slower with simple drums) sound better?

I'm going to sit back and wait to find out how wrong I am.

Creed's new line of work

I found this at the laundromat:

My first thought was "Damn, what a career downturn." Then I thought of this:

Quick actual music side note: My only intent with this post was to make a dumb parody inspired by this flier. But when he sings "So let's go there," he sings a G really strongly over an F sharp. Which is an odd choice.

And yes, too with one o. I know.

The worst technically competent and impeccably recorded guitar solo I know

This picture cracks me up.

But this is not an anti-Nickelback post, or even an anti-Chad Kroeger post. Bless 'em. They make a good living doing that thing they do.

This is also not an anti-Alex Band post. I swear, I thought of this post before his recent calamities. In fact, I always thought this song was sung by Rob Thomas.

Huh.

Anyway. This post is about the guitar solo at 2:42 of this song.

The chorus has three chords: B flat, F, E flat (I, V, IV). Santana comes in blasting and bombastically frothing...on a G. Not just a sort of delicate, G to F appoggiatura over the B flat going to F, but no. This is a full-on super-gain overdrive G minor pentatonic statement that is completely foolish next to the lyrical content. Why don't you and I get together...AND DRIVE REALLY FAST AND LIFT WEIGHTS AND DRINK RED BULL AND SHIT! I mean, "take on the world" is...tough-ish. But not "play lousy minor pentatonic licks when it makes no sense" tough.

Here's my guess as to what happened here. Santana was certainly the last to show up for this session. Chad Kroeger wrote the tune, he probably recorded the vocals before Santana took a big dump on the whole track. The problem stems from the intro, which is used as an interlude later: that is in G minor. Carlos thought screw it, I'm going to leave little G minor turds all over this song (which he does), and then he keeps playing G minor licks all through the solo, even though the song/vamp is clearly in B flat major.

I could transcribe this If I felt like it. But I don't. If you don't hear how foolish this solo is than a transcription is not going to help. He almost rights himself at 2:54, but quickly reverts to his "G-centric" ways.

What an awful guitar solo. Sometimes "right" notes are just wrong. And besides the solo, his little interjections during the verse are quite problematic since the chord progression is I, V, flat VII, IV. The G minor thing does NOT work with that A flat chord.

He makes things worse at 3:40 with the "Stairway To Heaven" quotes. My gosh. Maybe that wasn't his idea.

Side note: Lee Sklar is the man and plays on this track. Good for him getting paid.

And I know I said no Nickelback bashing, but...this video makes my "top 10 things on YouTube" list.