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jakefish

(Untitled)

Nov 14, 2008 01:42

So right now I'm obsessed with The Band. I don't know why it took me so long to notice these but they were just incredible. I've been watching a shit ton of YouTube videos and I've noticed something weird. In the 90's, when playing their hit song "The Weight", they added one beat during the vocals break at the end of the chorus ("Annnnnnnd you put ( Read more... )

Comments 5

caseyplusplus November 14 2008, 14:21:37 UTC

Maybe they did it just to fuck with people.

jakefish November 14 2008, 17:06:11 UTC

The weird thing is seems like later on after they broke up (or died) the remaining members who kept playing all played "The Weight" with the extra beat, seemingly independent of each other.

If your theory is right, well, it's WORKING.

kissare November 14 2008, 20:39:10 UTC

Can you link to the video in question, with a rough timestamp for when this extra beat is occurring? I'm having a hard time imagining what you mean, but I'm curious...

jakefish November 14 2008, 21:04:51 UTC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-xQoNDFwlE

This is a video from 1970 with them doing it the old way. The 1st time we hear the vocal break in question is at 50 sec.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ism9itDvKTk

This is a video from the mid 90's (I believe). The bass player died is 1999 so it can't be later than that. The 1st time we hear the vocal break in question is at 46 sec.

My theory: after the original line-up broke up in 1978 the members kept going solo and reforming and they all still played this song. The original version really has a hidden bar of 3/4 in the vocal break while the way they did it later was in 4/4 the whole time. Maybe it was easier to teach constantly rotating rosters of new players without the bar of 3/4? Who knows.

kissare November 17 2008, 02:08:56 UTC

I see what you mean, but I don't think I buy the 'easier for newcomers' thing. I mean, that's a HUGELY well-known, popular song, and that momentary time-signature change is the most well-known part of it. A real musician, especially one good enough to fill in with the Band, should have no problem whatsoever with that. I think it must have been an aesthetic choice, though I personally strongly disagree with it. I also hate the 4/4 version. I am a total sucker for interesting use of time-signature shifts. That sort of thing musically gets me off like nothing else.