Satellite by Dave Matthews Band.
I remember someone once mentioning that “Fool in the Rain” by Led Zep was an example of the “Purdie shuffle,” a certain kind of shuffle beat described here. Is “Satellite” another example of this beat?
No. It’s an ideosyncratic 6/8 groove with lots of syncopation and displaced accents on the high hat, but nothing that marks a Purdie shuffle.
To clarify, perhaps the most defining characteristic of what is known as “the Purdie Shuffle” is the snare ghosting in between groups of triplets. So, your standard shuffle beat has the high-hat playing on the first and last triplet of each beat. What the Purdie shuffle does is stick a ghost note on the snare (or even finger taps on the snare, if you’re cross-sticking) on that middle triplet (which is usually empty.) So it created this subtle, constant triplet pulse that grooves really well, if you play it with the proper dynamics and keep those ghosts clean and consistent. Otherwise, it ends up sounding like a mess.
Also, the Purdie shuffle often refers specifically to his half-time shuffle. Speaking in 4/4 time, in a regular shuffle, you have accents on beats two and four. In a half-time shuffle, the accent is on the three. That’s what you hear in “Fool in the Rain” and “Rosanna.”
Now, in variants, you can also displace the beat around the kit, so it doesn’t have to be shuffle on the hi hats and middle-triplet ghost notes on the snare. For example, in “Everybody Wants to rule the World,” the triplet shuffle is all in the bass drum, the middle triplets are played on the hi-hat, and the snare is on the two and four. I’m not sure I’d call it a “Purdie shuffle” per se, but it certainly is at least influenced by it, if not directly inspired.
Thanks for the in depth analysis - I appreciate it.
By the way, Jesus, these goddamn Youtube ads are getting out of hand. I feel like I get one at least every other time I play a song on Youtube. Man, these fucking loud, stupid, obnoxious, cheesy-assed advertisements for stupid video games and products really kill the mood when they come on before a song like “Linden Arden Stole The Highlights” by Van Morrison, just to name one example. It’s like they’re pissing all over the music by having the audacity to play this obnoxious shit.
Hah, I didn’t even check out your Wikipedia link. Those MIDI sound examples are perfect demonstration of how the shuffle sounds like a mess if you don’t have the dynamics (and looseness) down.
Here’s a good link to the Purdie shuffle and its genesis. You can check out a number of other videos on Youtube about what exactly the Purdie shuffle is.