# Help with identifying a musical genre **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 20, 2017, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-identifying-a-musical-genre/791757 "2017-07-20T21:49:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-identifying-a-musical-genre/791757/1 "2017-07-20T21:49:28Z")
On the Beatles album Abbey Road\* is a song, [“Oh, darling!”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zXxcVU0kKw) that starts out, > [@](#): > > Oh! Darling, please believe me > I’ll never do you no harm > Believe me when I tell you > I’ll never do you no harm… > etc. What do you call this genre of music? Is it possible to narrow it down more specifically than just “blues”? If I were going to invent a name for the genre, I’d call it “lamentation.” I was in a shop today and a song was playing with this pounding, slow rhythm and plaintive tone, and a woman agonizing over the sad state of her love life… and I really liked it. I guess that says something about me… If I wanted to find other music like this what genre (or what artists) would I search for? \*The greatest album ever recorded IMHO. I got it for my 21st birthday. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-identifying-a-musical-genre/791757/2 "2017-07-20T22:22:04Z")
From [Wikipedia’s page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh!_Darling#Influences) on “Oh! Darling”: > [@Influences](#): > > “Oh! Darling” appears to have drawn heavily on the New Orleans rhythm and blues sound popularised during the 1950s and early 1960s by African-American musicians such as Fats Domino; it also seems to have drawn on the Louisiana swamp blues sound found in songs like Slim Harpo’s “Rainin’ in My Heart” and Charles Brown’s “Please Come Home for Christmas”. Furthermore, it may have drawn on the related Louisiana genre known today as swamp pop, whose distinctive sound bears an uncanny resemblance to the basic structure of “Oh! Darling” – so much so that some in Louisiana originally thought the song had been recorded by a local musician. (When swamp pop musician John Fred met the Beatles in London in the 1960s, he was shocked to learn that “they were very familiar with Louisiana music.”) Fittingly, swamp pop musician Jay Randall eventually covered “Oh! Darling” for the Lanor label of Church Point, Louisiana. Here are the two songs mentioned above: [Slim Harpo’s “Rainin’ in My Heart”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgrYrEvh4FE) [Charles Brown’s “Please Come Home for Christmas”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp_3koMERic&feature=youtu.be&t=217) (P.S. The link you provided in the OP is to a cover version, not “Oh! Darling” as performed by The Beatles.) ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-identifying-a-musical-genre/791757/3 "2017-07-20T22:31:08Z")
There’s a lot of both honky tonk, and doo wop in the song too. It could easily be done by Ray Price, or Jerry Lee, or the orioles or another bird group. Funny I find it much more emotional and emphatic in the beat than most New Orleans music. it doesn’t put me in mind of the big easy anyway. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-identifying-a-musical-genre/791757/4 "2017-07-20T23:03:57Z")
I’d call it late 50s/early 60s rock and roll. No idea if the genre has a name, but the triplet rhythm and chord progression is very much of that time period and style. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-identifying-a-musical-genre/791757/5 "2017-07-20T23:19:57Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > From [Wikipedia’s page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh!_Darling#Influences) on “Oh! Darling”: > Here are the two songs mentioned above: > > [Slim Harpo’s “Rainin’ in My Heart”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgrYrEvh4FE) > [Charles Brown’s “Please Come Home for Christmas”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp_3koMERic&feature=youtu.be&t=217) > > (P.S. The link you provided in the OP is to a cover version, not “Oh! Darling” as performed by The Beatles.) Thanks for those links! I know that wasn’t the Beatles (I’ve listened to Abbey Road approximately 10,000 times)–I wanted a link that showed the lyrics and that’s the first one that popped up. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-identifying-a-musical-genre/791757/6 "2017-07-21T00:09:40Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I know that wasn’t the Beatles (I’ve listened to Abbey Road approximately 10,000 times)–I wanted a link that showed the lyrics and that’s the first one that popped up. It can be very hard to find Beatles studio recordings on Youtube, in any case, as their copyright people seem to be extremely zealous. Plus, according to Wikipedia, the song has never been performed live by any of The Beatles. If I recall, on this track McCartney is also using, what he calls, his “Little Richard” voice - a raw, loud, screaming, rock n’ roll sound in imitation of Little Richard. “I’m Down” and “She’s a Woman” are another couple of Beatles songs with McCartney using this vocal styling. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-identifying-a-musical-genre/791757/7 "2017-07-21T03:31:49Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > It can be very hard to find Beatles studio recordings on Youtube, in any case, as their copyright people seem to be extremely zealous. Plus, according to Wikipedia, the song has never been performed live by any of The Beatles. > > If I recall, on this track McCartney is also using, what he calls, his “Little Richard” voice - a raw, loud, screaming, rock n’ roll sound in imitation of Little Richard. “I’m Down” and “She’s a Woman” are another couple of Beatles songs with McCartney using this vocal styling. There is a run through with Lennon singing, improvising about his divorce coming through, that was on the anthology, from the Let it be sessions I think. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-identifying-a-musical-genre/791757/8 "2017-07-21T03:37:23Z")
Check it out: [if you need me - wilson pickett - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnK4k_EnXSo) The Stones covered this tune as well. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-identifying-a-musical-genre/791757/9 "2017-07-21T13:36:24Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’d call it late 50s/early 60s rock and roll. That’s exactly what I thought listening to it. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-identifying-a-musical-genre/791757/10 "2017-07-21T14:14:11Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > Check it out: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnK4k\_EnXSo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnK4k_EnXSo) Yeah, I’d wager that was an influence - the start and the end of each verse are very similar, as is the chord progression in the intro and some of the guitar/bass lines. ---
**Author:** ![SpeedwayRyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@SpeedwayRyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpeedwayRyan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-identifying-a-musical-genre/791757/11 "2017-07-27T20:01:00Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > There is a run through with Lennon singing, improvising about his divorce coming through, that was on the anthology, from the Let it be sessions I think. It’s something like this: Spoken: (I’ve just heard that Yoko’s divorce has just gone through – I’m free at last.) I’m free / this morning The papers told the lawyer / it’s okay ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-identifying-a-musical-genre/791757/12 "2017-07-27T22:29:59Z")
> [@SpeedwayRyan](#): > > It’s something like this: > > Spoken: (I’ve just heard that Yoko’s divorce has just gone through – I’m free at last.) > I’m free / this morning > The papers told the lawyer / it’s okay It was a real red letter day for Julian.