{"id":699,"date":"2018-07-22T00:39:26","date_gmt":"2018-07-22T04:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dantepfer.com\/blog\/?p=699"},"modified":"2019-05-28T00:10:49","modified_gmt":"2019-05-28T04:10:49","slug":"short-songs-with-absurdly-long-codas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dantepfer.com\/blog\/?p=699","title":{"rendered":"Short songs with absurdly long codas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Form-wise, the Beatles’\u00a0Hey Jude<\/em> is unusual. For 3 minutes and 8 seconds, it’s a conventional song, with melody, varying harmony, A and B sections that repeat in a predictable pattern \u2014 what you’d expect from a pop song. Then, for the remaining 3 minutes and 57 seconds, it’s something else entirely, a long vamp where the same static chord sequence repeats over and over again while the melody repeats with small variations and interjections. The proportion of these two parts feels like a bold move \u2014 there’s something about the length of the coda in relation to the body of the song that makes you question whether you just listened to a song or to… something else. Are we being tested? Are the Beatles daring us to walk away? If “art is what you can get away with” (Andy Warhol), are the Beatles pushing the limits?<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=upn2v_Minrk<\/a><\/p>\n

Listening to it today, I was reminded of Keith Jarrett’s solo version of\u00a0Treasure Island<\/em>, from The Bremen Concert, another piece notable for its unusual proportions. It’s a fairly conventional jazz song, with melody, lots of nice chords, a solo section, and then poof! 3 minutes and 8 seconds in (coincidence!), it suddenly turns into an aggressively minimalistic vamp, which vamp lasts for 7 minutes and 51 seconds with nary a change as far as the content is concerned (well, there’s a tiny bit of blowing at first, but by the 3:56 mark he’s all in). For seven solid minutes, we’re listening to Jarrett play the exact same 2 bars over and over again, the only change coming in the form of dynamic variation, both at macro (gradual or sudden changes in the overall dynamic) and micro scales (choosing to bring out different internal voices at different times).<\/p>\n