Members nat whilk II Posted August 3, 2014 Members Share Posted August 3, 2014 The "Perfect Songs" thread got a bit of traffic, so here's another brain-plumbing topic. This idea is a little harder - On occasion some song or other seems to come, not from just a small ways off the travelled roads, but from significantly further out - either the frontage road or the ditch - or even from some left field that just is not where anyone would think to look for something of value. Maybe "weird" is not the best term, but I'm not coming up with anything better at the moment. "Wild" is too specific, "astonishing" too melodramatic, "creative or innovative" too bland, "transcendent" too hifalutin. And I also don't mean necessarily aggressive or shocking or dissonant or offensive - the tune can be soft, winning, accessible, melodic, gentle, too. I just mean the sheer newness of the thing, whether it's a new combination of familiars, or extremely odd musical component bedfellows, or sounds that were never before considered "music" - any of these and more. One further distinction - some songs and artists were definitely from somewhere "other" when they first appeared, forging new paths that now are full of tired old ruts from countless imitators and followers. So these songs don't strike us with their weirdness or newness anymore. I'd like to recall these and get some of the old feeling back from when it was all new. And of course, anything that still strikes you as "weird but works" currently. I'm hoping the stuff people come up with is very polarizing. Play nice, kids! I'll kick this off with: Spirit Ditties of No Tone - DeerhoofMy son, the first time he heard this, just started jumping around the room. It's the joy in it - can you hear it? And weird, oh yes, weird. [video=youtube_share;PF3VFw9snvo] And I've always thought Hey Jude was more than a little weird. The melody is unlike pop or R&B or rock or anything along those lines. Those big intervals - it reminds me of The Star-Spangled Banner more than anything. And to end it with that long "na na na na nananaw-nawwww" cadenza or whatever. That's just really an odd song, and of course, totally, spectacularly works. [video=youtube_share;t5c-LVYnafg] nat whilk ii Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LCK Posted August 4, 2014 Members Share Posted August 4, 2014 Interesting concept. I usually think of such songs as "Where the hell did that come from?" type songs. (I don't know that I'd put "Hey Jude" in that category, but I can see why you might.) I think Hoagy Carmichael has written a few songs that might qualify. "Billy-a-Dick" is one. [video=youtube;FlW8zL_hreU] "Good Vibrations" certainly seemed to come out of nowhere. "Wonderful," from the SMiLE album is another. Sung wonderfully here by Rufus Wainwright. [video=youtube;mjxNh-u8Y1Y] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LCK Posted August 4, 2014 Members Share Posted August 4, 2014 Harry Nilsson wrote some wonderfully strange songs. This was a minor hit. [video=youtube;aA9OqUuA6a0] This wasn't even close. From the soundtrack to the Robert Altman film Popeye. [video=youtube;-_S7N-c37B4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_S7N-c37B4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members oldgitplayer Posted August 4, 2014 Members Share Posted August 4, 2014 If I was to reach for the Beatles catalogue for a groundbreaker, I'd suggest 'I am the Walrus'.Lyrically it's out there, but also musically. It starts with considerable melodic movement before the lyric begins, and then John gives his almost monotone delivery but with descending melodic movement carrying it underneath.This is in contrast to a traditional approach where the primary melodic movement is in the vocal melody. [video=youtube;Ap6kSV_U45o] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mbfrancis Posted August 4, 2014 Members Share Posted August 4, 2014 +1 to Good Vibrations and I am the Walrus, although Good Vibrations wins because it is *so* weird and yet *so poppy* at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Oswlek Posted August 4, 2014 Members Share Posted August 4, 2014 Wow, I never noticed how little movement there is in the "Walrus" vocal melody. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted August 4, 2014 Moderators Share Posted August 4, 2014 Listening to an old James Brown interview on Fresh Air, Terry Gross points out how Sex Machine has... No melody. JB proudly returns that that was a diliberate attempt. "it hit me, I don't need a melody, man!". On close listen, you'll notice that when he does focus on a pitch, it has no relation to the key. It's remarkable, awesome, groundbreaking... And kind 'o weird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted August 4, 2014 Moderators Share Posted August 4, 2014 Janis Ian's At Seventeen shouldn't have been a hit. It a self possessed, self pitying, whine from a high schooler. It's also one of the most honest and touching songs to ever achieve hit status. Great song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nat whilk II Posted August 4, 2014 Author Members Share Posted August 4, 2014 Wow' date=' I never noticed how little movement there is in the "Walrus" vocal melody.[/quote'] Geoff Emerick, the sound engineer for the Beatles at that time, tells the story of John introducing I Am the Walrus to the other Beatles and George Martin, singing it along with acoustic strumming. After a pause, Martin said, "what in the hell am I supposed to do with that??"smiley-happy But they figured something out. nat whilk ii Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nat whilk II Posted August 4, 2014 Author Members Share Posted August 4, 2014 The all-time king of the very unusual in my book - Thelonius Monk. This is so much what I wish I could accomplish, to bring forth such great material all under the inspiration of a highly unique aesthetic. At first, it sounds so weird, but who would ask "yes, but does it work?" [video=youtube_share;FOvKLvWuZjg] nat whilk ii Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted August 4, 2014 Moderators Share Posted August 4, 2014 ^^^ playing the cracks ^^^ For me, Monk sounded right once I clued into that. Love his outlook Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LCK Posted August 4, 2014 Members Share Posted August 4, 2014 Bob Dylan, "Subterranean Homesick Blues." [video=youtube;RS7-hbc9s7k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS7-hbc9s7k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LCK Posted August 4, 2014 Members Share Posted August 4, 2014 Lieber & Stoller's "Is That All There Is?" Obviously heavily influenced by Kurt Weill, spoken and sung wonderfully by Peggy Lee, with an orchestral arrangement by Randy Newman, who also played piano and conducted the orchestra. [video=youtube;4ny5z8gKM18] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members oldgitplayer Posted August 4, 2014 Members Share Posted August 4, 2014 Although Pythagoras worked out the science and mathematics of intervals on a string and thus the chromatic scale, it wasn't used by musicians until the 15th Century or thereabout. The public's ear was tuned to pentatonic, so those sharps and flats sounded very weird to them at first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nat whilk II Posted August 5, 2014 Author Members Share Posted August 5, 2014 I was in junior high when Axis:Bold as Love came out, and was immediately crazy about it. But I couldn't quite get "If 6 was 9" because the rhythm was so strange. It was years later that I suddenly noticed, "Hey, the first two notes in fast succession - that's not a pickup and a downbeat, that's a downbeat then a really quick echoing 2nd note." In other words, I had misunderstood where the downbeat was and that made it hard to get what Hendrix was up to. Maybe I was just being dense....anyone else have a similar experience with the song? I cut myself a little slack for this - I was pretty young, and the rythmic idea is very unusual to say the least. I can't listen to something properly if I can't locate the downbeat. Unless it's totally clear that there's not supposed to be a downbeat, or you're just supposed to pick your own downbeat - but I have to be completely convinced there's no absolute downbeat before my ear and brain will consent to go there. I guess I hear rhythm first or something. I pretty much got into listening to jazz because I loved drum solos and the jazz guys were the best at that, no question. But it was really hard to stay with the downbeat, listening to those complex jazz drum solos, and that drove me nuts. I'd listen to drums solos over and over and over until I could stay with the downbeat the whole way through. Obsessive, yes - maybe I should have been a real drummer, not just a steering-wheel drummer. Anyway, I digress as usual. If this is a slow 4/4 tune (count 1 on the first note of that double-hit, and 1 comes around again on the next double-hit) the first two notes are 16th notes, the "One-E" out of the old "One-E-An-Na". This rhythm is "out" in the extreme for rock. I guess Hendrix was making his point about letting his freak flag fly (in the meaning of the term circa 1967) both in the lyrics and in the song construction. [video=youtube_share;7iaJWrLsJlI]http://youtu.be/7iaJWrLsJlI nat whilk ii Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LCK Posted August 5, 2014 Members Share Posted August 5, 2014 Yeah, it's got a very strange rhythm, especially given the time frame. It reminds me of Thelonius Monk, for some reason. Here's a song that's had a very long shelf life despite its weirdness (or maybe because of it..?). It started out as a Turkish/Lebanese folk song, usually played on the oud (I think). Please feel free to crank it up! [video=youtube;-y3h9p_c5-M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y3h9p_c5-M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Oswlek Posted August 6, 2014 Members Share Posted August 6, 2014 I wouldn't call this weird, but I noticed today that it opens with the bridge. Unusual, but it works so well that it took probably 1,000 listens for me to even realize it. [video=youtube;-v67LpSz6Ck] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted August 6, 2014 Members Share Posted August 6, 2014 Lieber & Stoller's "Is That All There Is?" Obviously heavily influenced by Kurt Weill, spoken and sung wonderfully by Peggy Lee, with an orchestral arrangement by Randy Newman, who also played piano and conducted the orchestra. [video=youtube;4ny5z8gKM18] Big fan of Ms Lee in her prime, but I prefer this somewhat customized reading... [video=youtube;AybvLztacFM] Sadly, Lee was furious with the liberties and Leiber and Stoller entered into legal action to suppress Cristina's Kid Cole-produced cover for a while, but it's back in circulation, appearing on an album in 2004. The "James" referred to in the song is James Chance, no wave sax player and leader of both James White and the Blacks and James Black and the Whites as well as James Chance and the Contortions (all of whom, I imagine, had a sort of overlapping, (way non-union) 'hiring hall' membership). Of course, the realm of weird outsider songs is my province. But rather than trot out ever-increasing weirdness from the Residents and Pere Ubu and Eugene Chadbourne, Faust, et al, I'll just leave you with what I think is the prettiest, sweetest Captain Beefheart song in his very varied oeuvre, "Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles": [video=youtube;MRlWbzdmJQA] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted August 6, 2014 Moderators Share Posted August 6, 2014 Yeah, it's got a very strange rhythm, especially given the time frame. It reminds me of Thelonius Monk, for some reason. Here's a song that's had a very long shelf life despite its weirdness (or maybe because of it..?). It started out as a Turkish/Lebanese folk song, usually played on the oud (I think). Please feel free to crank it up! [video=youtube;-y3h9p_c5-M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y3h9p_c5-M That is so BITCHEN! So punk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nat whilk II Posted August 6, 2014 Author Members Share Posted August 6, 2014 I'll just leave you with what I think is the prettiest, sweetest Captain Beefheart song in his very varied oeuvre, "Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles": [video=youtube;MRlWbzdmJQA] [/font][/color] I like that quite a bit - it's like the songwriter is so distracted just thinking about the girl, that the song itself meanders a bit randomly. And that's a textbook dry 70s drumkit up front. nat whilk ii Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nat whilk II Posted August 6, 2014 Author Members Share Posted August 6, 2014 This one is weird in the classic sense. The Icelandic band mùm has a very glitchy, ghostly, poetic aesthetic going. Some people interpret this sort of material as spooky or creepy, but I get more out of it thinking of it as rendering adult experiences as if they were ephemeral memories of childhood experiences. A sensitive child, no blockhead, of course. A way to try and cut through to essences. The Ghosts You Draw On My Back[video=youtube_share;OO5LEKj0FL8]http://youtu.be/OO5LEKj0FL8 nat whilk ii Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted August 6, 2014 Moderators Share Posted August 6, 2014 KISS by Prince. It's... not weird I guess. But by pop standards, there's no bass, the structure is free-ish, the balance is so, PRINCE. I remember working a cover band in the 80's. On my break in a packed club the DJ was playing Everybody Walk the Dinosaur. Was/Not Was's awesome club hit. I was smiling. Then KISS came on. My first exposure to the new tune. HOLY F%^&*KKKK!!! It sounded small and massive and normal and completely whack. And as they say... Prince knows how to make a drum machine sound like it's humping your leg. Awesome hit song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LCK Posted August 6, 2014 Members Share Posted August 6, 2014 Big fan of Ms Lee in her prime, but I prefer this somewhat customized reading... Sadly, Lee was furious with the liberties and Leiber and Stoller entered into legal action to suppress Cristina's Kid Cole-produced cover for a while, but it's back in circulation... I'll just leave you with what I think is the prettiest, sweetest Captain Beefheart song in his very varied oeuvre, "Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles": That version of "Is That All There Is" feels like it's gone back directly to its Brecht/Weill roots. I loooooooove the Captain Beefheart song. Who knew he was a romantic at heart? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LCK Posted August 6, 2014 Members Share Posted August 6, 2014 KISS by Prince. It's... not weird I guess. But by pop standards' date=' there's no bass, the structure is free-ish, the balance is so, [i']PRINCE. [/i] I remember working a cover band in the 80's. On my break in a packed club the DJ was playing Everybody Walk the Dinosaur. Was/Not Was's awesome club hit. I was smiling. Then KISS came on. My first exposure to the new tune. HOLY F%^&*KKKK!!! It sounded small and massive and normal and completely whack. And as they say... Prince knows how to make a drum machine sound like it's humping your leg. Awesome hit song. Too bad there's no version of it available on Youtube! Meanwhile, why not nominate "Everybody Walk the Dinosaur?" That's at least a little weird. (In a good way...) [video=youtube;Io9b-rTjjAw] Though it ^ does owe something to this funk-on-colombian-marching-powder tune, that became a #1 hit, despite it's "weirdness" (weird in that there hadn't been anything like it on pop radio before). [video=youtube;6qdIwbuYA4Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qdIwbuYA4Y Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted August 6, 2014 Moderators Share Posted August 6, 2014 My parents had this album when I was 6 or 7 years old. And anything music became mine. no questions. Lee owns it now. So this album was mine. HOUSTON. It is SO faux country. I do not know where it was recorded but I can't believe it was Nashville. This is so HACK in such an awesome way. Usually this sort of baroque pop, and Hazlewood's output included, is awesome in its execution.... but on this afternoon in the studio... it a great song but... the execution still kills me. It's nasty. I knew it as a kid. What are these guys on??!?! Seriously awkward playing. AND I LOVE IT!!!!!! Plus Hazlewood's the coolest hep cat nerd ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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