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Post by TheNewMads on Mar 23, 2012 18:11:42 GMT -5
As far as I know, a song that actually consists entirely of a single note or chord does not exist, but i've been trying to find one nonetheless. Some songs come damn close. For example, who could forget the timeless classic...
which flirts with the occasional D or A but is basically E 98 percent of the time. OR...
which has a slide guitar going up the scale but is basically C sharp all the way through. I did this with my band last night and the bass player had never heard it before but i just told him to play C sharp and he went through the whole thing fine the first time through. without having ever heard it!
incidentally, this song gets on "50 worst songs ever" lists pretty routinely, but i kinda like it.
and finally...
definitely the most complex and expressive song out of the three, and ironically, probably the closest to being a one-note song. there's a couple little changeups before the interminable coda, but once that gets started, it's just A, baby, all the way to the bank.
anyone know of any (nearly) one-note songs i might have missed?
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Post by mummifiedstalin on Mar 23, 2012 18:27:17 GMT -5
Certainly John Cage or someone like him did something similar.
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Post by TheNewMads on Mar 23, 2012 19:10:35 GMT -5
Certainly John Cage or someone like him did something similar. well, john cage did a zero-note song. kinda too much of a good thing, there. ;D i'm kinda a dyed-in-the-wool rock guy so i'm definitely interested in anyone more versed in classical/jazz/experimental-avant garde/etc. than me who knows of another song in any of those genres that's one note, or nearly just one note. phillip glass also strikes me as a promising possibility, f'rinstance. |
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Post by Mighty Jack on Mar 24, 2012 0:58:38 GMT -5
The Beatles attempted it with Tomorrow Never Knows. Chord wise it's primarily a C but it dips into a Bó
From Wiki: McCartney remembered that, even though the song's harmony was mainly restricted to the chord of C, Martin accepted it as it was and said it was "rather interesting". The song's harmonic structure is derived from Indian music and is based upon a high volume C drone played by Harrison on a tamboura. The "chord" over the drone is generally C major, but some changes to B flat major result from vocal modulations, as well as orchestral and guitar tape loops. The song has been called the first pop song that attempted to dispense with chord changes all together. Here, the Beatles' harmonic ingenuity is nonetheless displayed in the upper harmonies- "Turn off your mind", for example, is suitably a run of unvarying E melody notes, before "relax" involves an E-F melody note shift and "float downstream" an E-C-G descent. "It is not dying" involves a run of three G melody notes that rise on "dying" to a Bó, creating a óVII/I (Bó/C) 'slash' polychord. This is a prominent device in Beatles' songs such as "All My Loving", "Help!", "A Hard Day's Night", "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)", "Hey Jude", "Dear Prudence", "Revolution" and "Get Back".
Also the first use of the flange effect on record (at least a rock record)
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Post by TheNewMads on Mar 24, 2012 7:47:14 GMT -5
thanks! i'd totally forgotten about "tomorrow never knows," if anyone was gonna try the one-note trick for purposes of musical genius rather than musical asshattery (see White Zombie), it would be the Beatles. do you know who actually wrote TNK? it feels more like a lennon or even a harrison piece than a mccartney one, but i've been wrong on that before.
i'd always thought "pictures of matchstick men" was the first song to use a flanger but i think you're right, tomorrow never knows is a bit earlier.
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Post by TheNewMads on Mar 24, 2012 7:50:35 GMT -5
i'm technically wrong too saying status quo used a "flanger." they actually literally double-tracked and then put a finger on the tape flange of one track to slow it down, at least that's what ive been led to believe. the effect unit wasn't invented until later. someone should write a book about the history of the flanger/chorus/phaser, it's rock history in miniature.
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Post by Phantom Engineer on Mar 24, 2012 11:00:38 GMT -5
I think Willie Dixon's Wang Dang Doodle is a repeated riff in E all the way through. It's a cool riff so it works.
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Post by TheNewMads on Mar 24, 2012 12:52:42 GMT -5
i've never heard of wang dang doodle. it goes thusly.
cool tune! and it totally rates as an "almost one-note song." love the bass line.
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Post by Phantom Engineer on Mar 24, 2012 16:18:40 GMT -5
Thanks for that clip TheNewMads. The Grateful Dead and many other blues artists have covered that song.
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Post by Mr. Atari on Mar 24, 2012 17:29:36 GMT -5
This isn't a total one-note song, but it hangs on that root note in the bass for at least 75% of the song. Especially the extended solo which never leaves that chord.
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Post by Phantom Engineer on Mar 24, 2012 17:42:53 GMT -5
Neil Young's Cinnamon Girl is far from a one chord song but it is notorious for Neil's one note guitar solo. Which isn't really just one note, but almost.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Mar 24, 2012 19:06:59 GMT -5
do you know who actually wrote TNK? it feels more like a lennon or even a harrison piece than a mccartney one, but i've been wrong on that before. Yup, it's a John Lennon piece. |
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Post by TheNewMads on Mar 25, 2012 1:17:41 GMT -5
abacab is a work of one-note genius.
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Post by Phantom Engineer on Mar 25, 2012 9:52:57 GMT -5
abacab is a work of one-note genius. The only thing I would differ with there is the genius part. |
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Post by TheNewMads on Mar 25, 2012 11:03:25 GMT -5
abacab is a work of one-note genius. The only thing I would differ with there is the genius part. controversy! i think i overuse that word "genius" but i've always loved that song. |
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