# Pop songs with good countermelodies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 8, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937 "2014-05-08T01:15:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2014, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937/21 "2014-05-11T13:29:24Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Sleater-Kinney also made extensive use of the simultaneous vocals with different melodies and lyrics technique, particularly on _The Hot Rock_ album. That’s what I was going to mention. Here is [Burn, Don’t Freeze](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STMNeSYywk8&feature=kp) which has two completely different [sets of lyrics.](http://www.metrolyrics.com/burn-dont-freeze-lyrics-sleater-kinney.html) ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2014, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937/22 "2014-05-11T14:16:08Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I think the Beatles’ “Help” is a great example. Taken to its [logical conclusion](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb1G_EMcrB8) in Joshua Rifkin’s **Baroque Beatles Book**. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937/23 "2014-05-11T14:30:45Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > As with most threads that get all technical about music, I have no clue what you people are talking about. > > Eleanor Rigby and Homeward Bound sound like perfectly normal, contiguous songs to me, as do Help and In My Life and Scarborough Fair. > > Weird. Only parts of these songs have counter-melodies. Perhaps you just didn’t notice them\*. In “Scarborough Fair,” in the middle verses, Art Garfunkel sings a completely different song (“Canticle”) at the same time Paul Simon sings the main melody. “Help” is an example of a slightly different thing – a relatively complex background vocal part in the verses (not a completely different song, as in “Scarborough Fair”). Try it yourself! Get together with a friend. You sing “my IN-de-pen…” You have to hold the “ennnnn,” while your friend then sings a different melody/rhythm: “My independence seems to vanish in the haze.” Etc. \*A mark if a successful song, you could say…the counter-melody is so well chosen and integrated that you didn’t feel anything going “against” anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937/24 "2014-05-11T14:49:32Z")
I don’t think anyone mentioned [**Baby It’s Cold Outside.**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTNheCEUP_A&feature=kp) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2014, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937/25 "2014-05-11T15:45:42Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > I don’t think anyone mentioned [**Baby It’s Cold Outside.**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTNheCEUP_A&feature=kp) Great example! I’d never heard that before. Here’s the aforementioned [All for the Best](http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D4fLThwiAr4). Counter-melody section starts around 1:52. ---
**Author:** ![MMaison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MMaison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MMaison)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937/26 "2017-05-20T00:46:16Z")
I think of a completely different melody running concurrent with the first (original) melody as countermelody. An example that comes to mind is the third verse of “You Got Your Troubles-I Got Mine” the Fortunes did in I think '65. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2017, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937/27 "2017-05-20T01:04:17Z")
Grace Slick, Paul Kantner and Marty Balin were masters of vocal counterpoint with the Airplane. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937/28 "2017-05-21T00:04:47Z")
How about ‘Time of the Season’ by the Zombies? mmm ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937/29 "2017-05-21T13:16:11Z")
I guess it’s not really a ‘pop’ song, and if I understand the concept right _The Battle of Evermore_ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-21AtiWV3TE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-21AtiWV3TE) ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937/30 "2017-05-21T13:43:00Z")
Offered as much to see if I understand the concept as anything else: Crosby, Stills & Nash: [Teach Your Children Well](https://youtu.be/UuBGEoxbFN4?t=1m29s) Ting Tings: [That’s Not My Name](https://youtu.be/v1c2OfAzDTI?t=1m35s) The second one is harder to pick up on but you can see what the man is singing [here](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/tingtings/thatsnotmyname.html) (“Jules in background”). It’s clearer in the ending of the song as well. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937/31 "2017-05-21T14:52:06Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > Oh yeah – “No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature” by the Guess Who – at the end they sing both simultaneously. Yes! You beat me to it. This is the example that always comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937/32 "2017-05-21T22:10:20Z")
Peter, Paul and Mary with[A’Soalin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBP70JyRH7s). Not just the vocals, but the guitar work as well. ---
**Author:** ![Moris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moris/32/2846_2.png) [@Moris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moris)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937/33 "2017-05-22T00:31:12Z")
Does progressive rock count as pop in your book? If so, [Knots](https://youtu.be/yUpREizsftU) by Gentle Giant is prime example. For more conventional rock/pop stuff, majority of Queen’s output from the 70’s. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937/34 "2017-05-22T03:03:12Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > Grace Slick, Paul Kantner and Marty Balin were masters of vocal counterpoint with the Airplane. Would Balin & Slick’s vocals on “Miracles” be a good example? ---
**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:** [May 22, 2017, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937/35 "2017-05-22T13:40:47Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Would Balin & Slick’s vocals on “Miracles” be a good example? Great example, and no doubt the only decent song the “Starship” ever recorded. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937/36 "2017-05-22T15:34:06Z")
_Suite Judy Blue Eyes_ and probably lots of other stuff by CS & N (and sometimes Y) _December_ by Collective Soul. Or at least the chorus does. Does anyone else find themselves singing the uh, counter part? I don’t always pick up on them right away but once I do I naturally gravitate to singing that part. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937/37 "2017-05-22T16:03:44Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Does anyone else find themselves singing the uh, counter part? I don’t always pick up on them right away but once I do I naturally gravitate to singing that part. During an in-car performance of “That’s Not My Name”, I sing the female vocals while my wife sings the male counter-vocals 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937/38 "2017-05-22T16:17:48Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > During an in-car performance of “That’s Not My Name”, I sing the female vocals while my wife sings the male counter-vocals 😃 Good one! I do that too, except I have to switch between the two because I’m solo. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Burden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/958977/32.png) [@Jack\_Burden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Burden)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937/39 "2017-05-22T18:26:12Z")
I’m not musically astute enough to know exactly what is meant here, but **Blinded by the Light** seems like a fit given the other songs mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937/40 "2017-05-22T19:32:42Z")
The ending of Meatloaf’s _Paradise by the Dashboard Light_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-songs-with-good-countermelodies/687937.md?page=3)