I was listening to the radio the other day when Eminem’s “Stan” came on. It’s a song I’ve always enjoyed listening to, but this time I heard it I realized how unique of a song concept it is. The song is laid out in a series of four letters, three from an Eminem superfan named Stan, and one from Em himself to this superfan.
The key thing for me is that it’s not necessarily the subject of the song that’s so unique, but the delivery of the song.
What are some other cool song concepts that you can think of that aren’t “A person singing about something.”
Rush’s instrumental YYZ (named for the code for Toronto Pierson International Airport, the band’s “home airport”) begins with the band playing the Morse code for the letters YYZ.
There is a particular chord/interval in music – the tritone – which is considered something to avoid at all costs. Bernstein said, “screw that” and used it throughout the score. The best example are the first two notes in “Maria,” but it’s used all over the place.
Bernstein’s use of it led it to be used more commonly in songs like “Purple Haze” and “The Simpsons” theme. But it was revolutionary when he used it.
Hmm, I will have to look that up tomorrow. When I was in school, the music teacher was entranced with the odd rhythm used in “America.” But it didn’t seem all too weird to me–I couldn’t have named it, but it didn’t seem as fancy as was made out. Wikapedia is calling it basically a 6/8 contra 3/4, but that’s not how we learned it. To me, it was simply an Austrian waltz time superimposed upon a march…(and we learned it as something inane like 12/8) but it was supposedly special. Anywho, right or wrong, I still remember every trill and nuance of that song because I had to hear it so many times.
Edit: For non-musicians, here’s the rhythm : 1-2-3 /4-5-6 /7…8…9…1-2-3/4-5-6/7…8…9… That’s it.
Similarly, the painting The Last Supper has music hidden in it if you overlay the five staff lines on it and note the positions of bread rolls (being held and on the table).
I don’t think that’s entirely accurate. The tritone was already in common use in blues and jazz. Blind Blake’s “West Coast Blues,” for example, is a rag in C major with many examples of the tritone. Although it boils down to just the F# and C of a D7 chord and the B and F of a G7 chord, his picking patterns were arranged so that these notes would coincide. Blake recorded it in 1926, and what Bernstein did in 1960/61 had more to do with bebop, which made even greater use of the tritone.
There was a time when the tritone was to be avoided, but I think it was over a century ago.
From a lyrics perspective, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones ‘Nevermind Me’ might well qualify. It’s about being mugged and encouraging the listener to feel sympathy for the mugger, not the singer, as the mugger has a harder life.
“What was taken I won’t miss or I’ll replace
Nevermind me. I’m alright”