You think you know the so-called "simplicity" of Beatles songs? Think again. John Lennon was famous for strumming his guitar with no particular rhythm in mind except to accompany the verbal flights of fancy he was singing. It often resulted in songs with interesting detours in time-signatures that made it hard for the rest of the band to learn to play Lennon's compositions. Paul McCartney has commented that when the band learned a Lennon song, it would sometimes require their producer George Martin to conduct the band as they played (like an orchestra conductor), alerting them whenever the song was about to change time signatures, requiring them to count carefully as they played.
Three Lennon-written songs particularly stand out for their odd forays into strange times:
After the introduction of "Good Morning, Good Morning," which has the standard 4 beats per measure, when the verse starts, then it's a whole different thing:
The first three measures of the verses have 5 beats, which is followed by one measure of 3 beats, then a measure with 4 beats, followed by a measure of 5 beats, and a measure with 4 beats, before ending with two measure of 3 beats. Crazy, man.
And then you have "All You Need Is Love," which keeps alternating time
signatures: The first two times the words "Love, love, love" are sung in
the chorus, the first two "love, loves" are sung in one measure with 4
beats, but the third "love" is sung in one measure with 3 beats, and the
third line ("love, love, love") has the "normal" four beats. Weird,
huh? And the verses do the same thing.
Compared to the previous two songs, "Happiness is a Warm Gun" has three distinct sections, each one having its own time signature: Section One ("She's not a girl who misses much . . . ") is mostly in "regular" 4/4 time except for the last three measures of the section in which the first measure has only 2 beats, the second 3 beats, and the third 4 beats before it segues into the guitar solo, which has three beats per measure. Section Two ("Mother Superior jump the gun. . .") is characterized by its "Waltz Time;" that is, 3 beats in each measure. The Third and final section ("Happiness is a warm gun . . .") is the most straight-forward section, as it follows the standard 4-beat doo-wop format of early rock 'n' roll.
Thanks for sharing Rich! Always interesting.
ReplyDeleteGlad you're enjoying it, Dennis. Thanks for reading!
ReplyDeleteI never liked All You Need Is Love, I could not follow it and it made me angry to try and hear it correctly -
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