in fremantle i named my boat 'reckoner' after the 7th track off radiohead's 2007 album 'in rainbows'. i like the song, i like the title, i like how it looked on the stern, and the name stuck, so reckoner it was.
the process of introducing reckoner to shane made me realise that i probably don't fixate on individual songs enough. this is because in the past i would overplay a particular track over and over until i got sick of it, and i would invariably never listen to it ever again. i decided that this is not the way music should be heard. which is why i would never put a song on repeat no matter how much i liked it, and instead happily abuse the shuffle function.
and i like my music listening habits that way.
different people say different things about what they like about music. some like a steady beat to nod/headbang to, a chorus that instantly catches on, a soaring solo that should never end; some pay closer attention to the words, theme and overall mood and feel of the song. on the other hand some don't listen for the words, and in fact well that guy's voice ain't all that great anyway so we don't really need him, it's really the melody that makes this work. or it could be the technical virtuosity shown by the cellist with his stirring rendition of a partita, the no-holds-barred intensity of a drummer in a jazz trio.
i like to think there's no underlying rule to make a song 'acceptable' to me. i like to think i'm pretty open minded, and i'll readily listen to classical music, classic rock, country, electronica, jazz, indie, some really 'noisy' stuff like metal (full-on screams included), world music. if there were an underlying rule it would be that it cannot be tacky and commercialised, which is why i won't even consider what's on the radio and most of what is mainstream.
most songs i fall in love with have a distinctive feature to focus on. it would be that soaring petrucci solo that should never end, those simon & garfunkel lyrics that flow like a poem, that paganini theme that i can't get enough of, the eccentric time signatures in some of 65days' work.
the thing about reckoner is that it is a deceptively simple song. it has this hypnotic tune sung by thom's admittedly hypnotic voice, backed by basic c, e min and d chords and an insistent drum loop. the tune repeats itself a couple of times, and then there's the break in the middle where things slow down for a bit. finally the vocals pick up again and carry the song through to the finish accompanied by a swirling string section and a simple guitar riff that consists of about 3 notes. and that is what you hear on the first couple of listens.
after a while you decide to sneak a peek at the lyrics and decide that whoever wrote this is slightly off his rocker -
you are not to blame for
bittersweet distractor
- and maybe even needs some basic grammar lessons -
dedicated to all you, all human beings
and think "is this guy serious?"
after a year of listening, i'll say - he probably is. i'll now be a real nerd and analyse this song to death.
while the song is in a simple 4 beat timing, the drum beat opens on the 2nd beat, oddly enough. the urgent drum riff itself is complex, although it does stress the 2nd and 4th beats like most riffs do. i like how there are a couple of different subtle variations to the same riff through the song, especially the double chime that cues the vocals to enter the stage.
the guitar chords are simple enough. c maj, e min, d maj and an a maj chord to end the verse. the moody falsetto melody doesn't change, repeating for most of the song. someway through, keyboard chords fill in.
but here's where it gets interesting. the vocal melody and the guitar chords are 5 bars long instead of the usual 4. so its C, Emin, D, C, Emin. C, Emin, D, C, Emin. kinda messes with your head. the vocal line begins on the second bar coinciding with the Emin chord.
after "dancing for your pleasure" you hear 4 bars - C, Emin, D, A. with the keyboards joining in. same thing happens just before we enter the bridge. that A major chord is a queer one - it's usually A minor that goes with the other 3 chords.
you don't really see the bridge coming. suddenly everything dies away, leaving tom's mellow voice and a guitar (onetwo, three, onetwo, three). no wait, two of tom's voices. hey it's a whole choir of tom yorkes. it's beautiful.
because we separate like
ripples on a blank shore.
now the strings march in, expanding and swelling like a filling balloon, continuously rising. in rainbows, in rainbows. the bridge chords here are really fun to play and are pretty awesome on their own. the punchline repeats again, this time with more gusto.
"mmm... reckoner...!" wails tom. the drums kick back in. this time jonny's string accompaniment puts the final jigsaw piece in place and completes the picture. the song ends with everyone adding their own little individuality to the mix.
reckoner.
and i like my music listening habits that way.
different people say different things about what they like about music. some like a steady beat to nod/headbang to, a chorus that instantly catches on, a soaring solo that should never end; some pay closer attention to the words, theme and overall mood and feel of the song. on the other hand some don't listen for the words, and in fact well that guy's voice ain't all that great anyway so we don't really need him, it's really the melody that makes this work. or it could be the technical virtuosity shown by the cellist with his stirring rendition of a partita, the no-holds-barred intensity of a drummer in a jazz trio.
i like to think there's no underlying rule to make a song 'acceptable' to me. i like to think i'm pretty open minded, and i'll readily listen to classical music, classic rock, country, electronica, jazz, indie, some really 'noisy' stuff like metal (full-on screams included), world music. if there were an underlying rule it would be that it cannot be tacky and commercialised, which is why i won't even consider what's on the radio and most of what is mainstream.
most songs i fall in love with have a distinctive feature to focus on. it would be that soaring petrucci solo that should never end, those simon & garfunkel lyrics that flow like a poem, that paganini theme that i can't get enough of, the eccentric time signatures in some of 65days' work.
the thing about reckoner is that it is a deceptively simple song. it has this hypnotic tune sung by thom's admittedly hypnotic voice, backed by basic c, e min and d chords and an insistent drum loop. the tune repeats itself a couple of times, and then there's the break in the middle where things slow down for a bit. finally the vocals pick up again and carry the song through to the finish accompanied by a swirling string section and a simple guitar riff that consists of about 3 notes. and that is what you hear on the first couple of listens.
after a while you decide to sneak a peek at the lyrics and decide that whoever wrote this is slightly off his rocker -
you are not to blame for
bittersweet distractor
- and maybe even needs some basic grammar lessons -
dedicated to all you, all human beings
and think "is this guy serious?"
after a year of listening, i'll say - he probably is. i'll now be a real nerd and analyse this song to death.
while the song is in a simple 4 beat timing, the drum beat opens on the 2nd beat, oddly enough. the urgent drum riff itself is complex, although it does stress the 2nd and 4th beats like most riffs do. i like how there are a couple of different subtle variations to the same riff through the song, especially the double chime that cues the vocals to enter the stage.
the guitar chords are simple enough. c maj, e min, d maj and an a maj chord to end the verse. the moody falsetto melody doesn't change, repeating for most of the song. someway through, keyboard chords fill in.
but here's where it gets interesting. the vocal melody and the guitar chords are 5 bars long instead of the usual 4. so its C, Emin, D, C, Emin. C, Emin, D, C, Emin. kinda messes with your head. the vocal line begins on the second bar coinciding with the Emin chord.
after "dancing for your pleasure" you hear 4 bars - C, Emin, D, A. with the keyboards joining in. same thing happens just before we enter the bridge. that A major chord is a queer one - it's usually A minor that goes with the other 3 chords.
you don't really see the bridge coming. suddenly everything dies away, leaving tom's mellow voice and a guitar (onetwo, three, onetwo, three). no wait, two of tom's voices. hey it's a whole choir of tom yorkes. it's beautiful.
because we separate like
ripples on a blank shore.
now the strings march in, expanding and swelling like a filling balloon, continuously rising. in rainbows, in rainbows. the bridge chords here are really fun to play and are pretty awesome on their own. the punchline repeats again, this time with more gusto.
"mmm... reckoner...!" wails tom. the drums kick back in. this time jonny's string accompaniment puts the final jigsaw piece in place and completes the picture. the song ends with everyone adding their own little individuality to the mix.
reckoner.
No comments:
Post a Comment