David Way ([email protected])
Sun, 22 Nov 1998 23:02:10 PST
Bear with me as I respond to two threads at the same time. The first
was started by Brad, i.e., "the song that got you hooked". A great idea
because we all must have one song that pushed us over the edge (no pun
intended) from liking to loving the band and/or from loving to lusting
after the band (musically speaking, of course ;) Adapting the words of
Judd Nelson in the movie "The Breakfast Club", the song that "really
pumps my nads". (Metaphorically speaking - I don't have a sordid tale to
tell like the lead guitarist of Third Eye Blind who apparently lost his
virginity to the "War" album. Ironically, though, the song I'm going to
mention IS from that album.)
I've liked U2 ever since I heard "I Will Follow" in my freshman year
of high school, but that wasn't the song that hooked me for life. I was
at my step-father's house watching that new crazy channel on cable
called MTV, when I saw "Two Hearts Beat As One". As I was watching their
frenzied and excellent performance, I became transfixed to the screen!
All of their previous great songs went flooding through my head that I
had heard and/or seen before: "I Will Follow", "Gloria", "Fire", "Sunday
Bloody Sunday", and "New Year's Day". With this new song now thrown on
top of the group of older songs in my mind, the "critical mass" was
achieved: I was a fan for life! :) (Little did I know that during my
freshman year in college - just a year away at that point in time - my
life would be even more influenced by this band. Some people on Wire
already know these stories, so I won't post them here. E-mail me
privately if you would like to see them.)
The other thread I'm contributing to is the one I suggested
yesterday concerning Eno's "Oblique Strategies" Tarot deck. I suggested
choosing a card at the web-site:
http://www.dream.com/Oblique.html
and then listening to the albums he worked on with U2 ("The
Unforgettable Fire" through "Passengers", excluding "Rattle and Hum")
and seeing if a particular card's influence could be heard on any of the
songs, in your opinion. I picked card #77: "Convert a melodic element
into a rhythmic element." The first song I immediately thought of was
"Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World". There is a pair of guitar
bursts - one high, one low - that act almost as an emphasized regular
drumbeat throughout the song. In fact, it's my favorite aspect of the
song. I can't help but think that Eno picked card #77 while they were
recording the song. It fits too perfectly!
Staying on the same song, I noticed the apparent influence of other
cards:
#5: "Turn it upside down" - Did you ever notice that the bass is the
driving force in that song? That song has almost blown out the speakers
in my car stereo several times! Anyway, it seems that the melody and
harmony are inverted in volume in this song.
#19: "Accretion" - This is just a fancy word for "layering". At the end
of this song, I feel like my head is swirling from following all of the
layers at the same time! Try to identify all of the stuff going on at
once at the end - it's mind-blowing! :)
Well, you get the idea. I had too much time on my hands recently and
I wrote down all of the sayings on the cards. I suppose with enough
prodding I could e-mail a list to anyone who requests it; if there are
enough requests, I'll post it to Wire. I felt like I had an extra
insight into how the songs were created after I found out about this
deck and how Eno uses it. I think you will too! It's kind of fun doing
it and you may discover things about your favorite songs that you didn't
notice before - either through your own searches or by reading the
results of someone else's. Happy hunting! :)
David Way, aka, "The Man With Long Posts"
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Sun Nov 22 1998 - 23:04:36 PST