6 Songs with Confusing Intros
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- Опубликовано: 9 июн 2024
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Usually it is clear from the start of a song where the downbeat is, where the "one" is, but with some songs it isn't so clear.
Check out my previous video on Confusing Intros: • Songs with Confusing I...
The outro music to this video is my track "Clap" which you can hear in full on Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/0wKKJ...
Here are the cover versions I used in this video:
Take It Easy: • Take it Easy Official ...
She’s A Woman: • She's A Woman Performe...
Drive My Car: • Drive My Car - Guitar,...
Misty Mountain Hop: • Misty Mountain Hop (Le...
You Make My Dreams Come True: • 'YOU MAKE MY DREAMS' (...
Hold The Line: • ‘Hold The Line’ (TOTO)...
And, an extra special thanks goes to Douglas Lind, Vidad Flowers, Ivan Pang, Waylon Fairbanks, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channel’s Patreon saints! 😇
0:00 What is a "confusing intro"?
1:04 Take It Easy by Eagles
3:05 Misty Mountain Hop by Led Zeppelin
4:31 Drive My Car by The Beatles
6:00 HDpiano
7:55 She's A Woman by The Beatles
8:26 You Make My Dreams Come True by Hall & Oates
10:03 Hold The Line by Toto
11:24 Conclusion/Patreon
SUPPORT ME ON PATREON: / davidbennettpiano 🎹
The strangest side effect of starting this channel must be that David now is forced to have an encyclopedic knowledge of Beatles and Eagles cover bands.
Annoying, isn't it? Makes me never want to purchase a Beatles or Eagles recording ever again.
Beatles were always arrogant. Chapman got the worst of them.
But Paul McCartney is such a greedy man.
Don't forget Coldplay
@@emilyrln - easy to forget Coldplay
I thought they both sold their catalogs so it's not the bands doing this
8:10 if the beatles had written it without the beat, they'd just be les.
Did you know: in France they called Les Paul "The Paul."
this got me. underrated comment.
Congrats you just understood why they called themselves the Beatles.
@@auldthymerBut Les is plural, so it should be "The Pauls".
@@auldthymer So that would mean in the written form, they would write "Les Pauls" in order that the plural agrees?? :-)
Never been confused by the Misty Mountain Hop into.
However, the drum intro to Rock & Roll by Led Zep gets me every time.
Same here and i play drums :D
Isn't that the one where the drums and the guitars are in different time signatures, but sync on the 12th beat......or something!? 🤣
Right? We know it's coming and we still fall for it
@@dctbassthat's Kashmir, I think. They love pulling one over us like that
Bonham starts Rock and Roll on the & of 3 , so the 4th hit is the 1.
That intro to "Drive My Car" always drove me nuts.
They’d never have been able to play it live, it was probably a tape splice
@@richardfranklinmorse Paul plays it live in his shows all the time.
I suspect the reason why Hall and Oates start the song differently when playing live is to avoid the audience clapping out of time!
I'd bet money on it
They went to the Harry Connick Jr. School of crowd participation.
..or the live band screwing it up.. the Toto song seems like 6/8 to me
@@vjmacintyre I've arranged Hold The Line, and I hear it in 6/8 too, but 6/8 & 3/4 metrical games are my favourite kind of rhythmic gesture (like in Ravel's Chanson Romanesque or Bernstein's America). The difference between 6/8 and 12/8 largely depends on tempo, IMO, and Hold The Line isn't fast enough to need to feel a 12/8 pulse in 2 6s rather than 4 3s, at least for me.
I DON’T know much about hall & oats , but when I was a young’n I threw A-LOT of CORN in my day !
Waiting for the next time 'Hold the Line' comes on the pub jukebox, so I can rub my chin sagely, then nod, and say: "Ah, yes...a polymetric shift is required."
😂
@@DavidBennettPiano Jeff Porcaro (on drums - of course) plays this as a shuffle, so the beat is in 4 triplets per bar, so effectively 12/8 or 12/4; but the chord change is off beat and is at the last of the triplets, hence giving unexpected feeling because it jumps a moment too early.
I have never found the intro confusing, so I don't naturally hear any kind of a "polymetric shift" happening there.
I’ve been wanting a video on this for ages. Hold the line has always been a mystery for me (and a great song!)
My band used to play this song and I recall working on the intro for most of a rehearsal. As a singer, I never really understood what was going on there, and then I learned to write music a couple of years ago and watching this channel and it’s starting to make sense to me.
I never felt Misty Mountain hop was confusing, that guitar riff makes it clear
Yeah I thought the same thing, his counting hurt my ears haha, he did the same thing a couple years ago with Hendrix’s All Along the Watchtower
@@john-vincentsaddic6335 The counting did seem forced, or maybe I have just heard the song so many times that it seems natural to me? I KNOW when the drum is coming in.
Nah that’s just individual. I’ve always tripped up on misty mountain hop. Always comes to mind when I think of misleading beats. But some people just never felt it was misleading. Completely disagree that the guitar riff makes anything clear by itself.
Probably because a lot of people assume the first note starts on the 1, they are mislead when it’s actually on the 4and
I thought I wasn't confused because my counting lined up with the beat later but I just played the beginning of the song about 20 times trying to count and trying to observe how I count it and finally came to conclusion that I start it just as wrong as David but once the drums start, I subconsciously shift the counting by the eighth note without even noticing.
As for the All Along the Watchtower case, I remember very well that discussion how a lot of people got it correctly from the beginning. Here I'm completely on David's side, I tried like really hard to count it the right way, but even after I figured out exactly which note is the first beat and trying to count from there, I just physically couldn't. There's too much confusion.
However, I can't understand, how David can hear Hold the Line as being in 4/4. The groups of three are accented, at least on the original recording (can't really hear it on this cover version), so the 12/8 rhythm is clear... but I still start on the wrong 8th, so I do get confused, just not for the same reason.
Tell Me Something Good- Rufus
Lonely Boy- Andrew Gold
Beautiful Girls- Van Halen
Stairway to Heaven (middle breakdown section)- Led Zeppelin
The king of all will always be Black Dog- Led Zeppelin
No song ever again will be so accessible while being so rhythmically confusing. It’s really miraculous if you think about it. Most songs eventually “square up” in a listener’s head and make sense, whereas Black Dog constantly hides the “one” but for some reason nobody seems to care.
I came to say Lonely boy by Andrew Gold also. It's one of my favorite songs from the 1970s.
@@TimothyReeves Same here! Lonely Boy always messes with my brain till the verse kicks in.
@@tomfritzsch1928 I thought it was just me!
Lonely boy has driven me crazy my whole life!
@@Schlemiel-schlimazel I’ve known that it starts on the “and” of one forever, but I just can’t hear it right until about halfway through the first verse.
The Beach Boys’ “Caroline, No” is the one that trips me up every time, personally. The first tambourine hit make me think that’s the 1, when it’s really the 8 (or 4-and). I have gotten used to this, and now I imagine the intro is in 9/4 to make it easier for myself.
Spirits in the Material World still gets me every time, as even when Sting sings the first verse you think you’ve got it, and then the chorus kicks in and boom! - you’re completely off.
it's so weird, even at Stewart Copeland finds it challenging!
First song that came to mind for me as well. Even in video's where Stewart explains it I don't fully get it.
I listened to it and got it right, never hearing it before. It must be something in the brain that some people have and some don't.
It sure _is_ a tricky one, also because of the pause that follows on the '1' beat 😅
But as soon as I got the info that the intro starts on the '3' beat, I did have it sussed with my mind, too!
😊👍
Yeah that's a great example.
Daft Punk - Veridis Quo
It's so satisfying to hear the transition.
Fr, it took me so long to be able to catch the beat in that song.
I'm dating myself, but the 70s Disco era one-hit wonder 'Car Wash' has a tricky off-beat intro of hand claps and wah-wah guitar. The intro builds tension and anticipation, and when the song starts and everything lands on the downbeat, it just seems to make the song groove harder.
That's weird because I've always felt "Hold The Line" the "correct" way. It's fascinating how we differently perceive tempo
I've never had a problem with it either! Seems like a lot of people don't have 12/8 entrained!
Same here. Not an expert, but I think one could make the argument that it actually is in 4/4 and the beats are just subdivided into triplets…
@@ugnaught878 yes, exactly!
Me too and I think it's entirely because of the snare hit before the keys. If you're counting it in 4/4 the snare is on the 4, setting up the keys to start on 1
Same with the hall and Oates one, I had to watch it a couple of times to understand how it can be counted wrong😅
Just What I Needed - The Cars
Rock 'n Roll - Led Zeppelin - Greg Bissonnette does a good explanation.
Just What I Needed is great for this
Ah yes, very good.
I just mentioned "Since You're Gone" which messes around with it again at the end
@@dwc1964 - Their 'Touch And Go' is another great example! 😅
I see your Rock 'n Roll - Led Zeppelin, and raise you one Black Dog - Led Zeppelin.
Funny, I've never got that with Just What I Needed. Always heard that first BAH on the "and" of the 4
EDIT - on the 4 not the "and" - misremembered how it went.
Automatic Stop by the Strokes comes to mind!
literally came to comment this, it’s so weird
I think that’s another case like “She’s a Woman”…thinking the guitar is on the 1 when it’s actually on the 2
@@scottygordon3280 Yes, absolutely!
“Making Plans for Nigel” by XTC is probably the one that always trips me up the most…the drum intro starts on the 1 but doesn’t feel like it at all, then when the guitar comes in you get confused, and THEN when the vocals come in you finally figure out the rhythm.
This guy deserves 1 million subscribers, his content is so high quality.
This year I bet
Is this how we measure things now?
he’s heading that way
@@b00ts4ndc4ts it's youtube
musicians trolling on people who count the beat
One song not mentioned here is "Honky Tonk Women" by The Rolling Stones. That opening cowbell throws me every time.
Yesss!
I always counted Hold the Line correctly. It felt right.
I'm thinking of Pink Floyd's "Money". I _always_ hear the opening cha-ching and change in free time, then start counting when the sound effects start their regular 7/4 beat after that. But then a couple measures in, the music starts on beat _3_ of what I _thought_ I'd been counting, and counts its 7/4 from _there,_ shifting the rhythm over. ...All while the sound effects don't break their stride.
Excellent video as ever! ❤
It's crazy how it goes for 7/4 for three measures, then 2/4 for 1 measure, then back to 7/4. Thank God David Gilmours solo is in 4/4.
That's the most common song I use to explain "mixed meter" (as it used to be called) to people. Everyone knows "Money".
@mayorb3366 Soundgarden Spoonman goes back and forced between 4/4 and 7/4 . Nine Nails Nails March of the Pigs is in 7/8 and 4/4. How are you suppose to headbang to that?
@@dohanddonuts5716 LOL!
Gotta be careful. You don't want to get out of sync with a nearby headbanger!!
It could end badly!
@@dohanddonuts5716Rumor has ut Gilmour couldn't solo in 7. Meanwhile Dick Parry had no trouble 🎷.
It's adorable how excited he sounds when he's counting the beats, like almost breaking character
The Cars - Just what i needed intro always throws me off!
Then don't listen to "Touch And Go"! (TBF that song uses polymeters)
Another great example of this is the intro to “Minute by Minute” by the Doobie bros…the organ intro sounds like a quick 4/4, but when the drums kick in, it’s clearly a more laid-back 12/8. Great vid!
Michael McDonald explains it on Rick Beato's channel.
The worst one for me is Yours Is No Disgrace by Yes. My inner timekeeper has been hearing it wrong for 50 years and still insists that the fourth beat is the first one, even though I know perfectly well that it isn't!
Yes , did this all time especially with "Close To the Edge"....always loved their originality!!!
Right on for YES !
@@michaelanthony9068 Their music was and still is top shelf, but trying to transcribe and break it down would be living in a nightmare;-)
Radiohead: Videotape
Radiohead: Let Down
The Stills: Panic - that bass note not being on the downbeat always fucks with my head.
Radiohead: Identikit
let down is so underrated
I’d actually say Pyramid Song, I had to look up a video just to know the time signature, and it’s still hard after you know everything
How is Let Down confusing?
@@ClownWorldOrder The guitar riff is in 5/8
Kings of Convenience "I Don't Know What I Can Save You From."
Listened to that song for decades and still gets me every time unless I focus on starting my count from two.
It's funny I've never struggled to pick up on Hold The Line. But after hearing this analysis, I can definitely hear why many do! Also I remember at one point constantly restarting You Make My Dreams to try to figure out what beat it actually started on!
All Along the Watchtower, Hendrix version
So much of what’s going in the intro serves to confuse the listener. The guitar chords change on the 4-and. The crash on the 4-and going into the main groove before the drum snares on every beat. Its truly a masterclass in where’s the 1.
Absolutely on that song, it sounds like Hendrix just comes in at a random time...
Absolutely! I've spent a lot of time on that song intro, pretty sure I never figured it out!
Thankyou. I've been struggling playing the intro of "take it easy" on guitar, and FINALLY I know why!!!
I love stuff like this! It's informative, and also educational for anyone who's ever played an instrument in a band -- timing is everything!
Completely agree about the intro on ‘Drive my car’, I’m a drummer myself and have never been able to make sense of it - thanks for explaining!!
IMO there is a bar of 9/8, if anything. The intro riff is basically in free time. It's not intended to be felt in 4/4, it makes no musical sense like that.
Even when hearing the count-in to Drive My Car, I still hear the song start on 1.
@@gorgolyt To me it feels kinda like starting up the car -- the starter just turning freely until the engine kicks into its normal rhythm. 😎
Paul, who btw wrote & played it (not George), alays counts it in as 4/4, from "And-of-4". It makes perfect sense, it couldn't be more 4/4. You can train yourself to do it. Once you make the jump, you don't go back. Rolf Maibaum has a good lesson video, & gordrum has the Beatle track with 4/4 count-in.
@@jcarty123 "couldn't be more 4/4" lmao
Of course Paul counts it in, the band needs to play in sync. That doesn't make it 4/4. The fact you have to "train yourself to do it" proves the whole point.
Hold the Line is really easy to count if you organize the piano stabs as triplets (or sextuplets), each one being a beat of your regular 4/4
Actually, that's what he does when counting 'correctly'. He counts to 4, not to 12.
Exactly
The intro to Lonely Boy by Andrew Gold is another great confusing one.
Im loving this video, truly, please do a full series of it🙌🏻
Will do!
Where the drums come in on Everybody Wants to Rule The World by Tears for Fears. I’m a drummer and it’s still an interesting counting job. That and Manny Elias playing hi-hat on the middle note of each triplet grouping!
I made a short tutorial on that intro a few years ago if you're interested: ruclips.net/video/LJBKb64GD24/видео.html
Aaaah great example
The start of the middle part of Supertramp's "Crime of the Century", constantly fools me.
Oh yes. But once you have realized that the piano riff starts with an 8th pause it's actually very easy.
Same as the main motif in Beethoven's 5th symphony.
The quiet middle part in 'School' had done the same to _me_ when I'd heard it the first few times 😅
This happens in a bunch of modern songs too - I had a list at one point, but the one I remember most is : Citizen Cope - Son's Gonna Rise
I never knew it wasn't just me that got confused by the intros in these songs - thanks for making this video! Look forward to more.
One confusing intro is very famous. The beginning of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. First, it's in 2/4, a time signature not very common in classical music. But the famous notes start on the "and" of 1. The piece actually starts with an eighth note rest. I have a screen shot, but I don't know how to attach it in a RUclips comment.
2/4 is pretty common in classical. It's not very common in modern music, though.
I think it's best to think the first three notes as a pickup, and the long note as the downbeat. So, it's a three-note pickup and then a long note on the beat.
Start me up - Rolling Stones. Gets me every time
Me too. But that is due to Charlie Watts' elegant drumming.
@@ric8248 - I may be wrong, but I suspect Charlie himself was a bit confused during the intro! 😅
On "Honky Tonk Women" Charlie's playing with the cowbell is really confused 😂
Came here to say this!
@@whiskeywolfgangIt's Jimmy Miller who's playing the cowbell part
Love your videos! You're a gifted, natural teacher of music.
Brilliant. Never ever thought about it before but once you showed us I could completely get your point. Well done!
Thanks 😊
Some time ago, I trained myself to hear most of these correctly. Hearing them counted incorrectly was torture :)
Beetlebum by Blur. It's the perfect example of this kind of thing. And they do it repeatedly, so it's intentional.
"Stick it Out" by Rush has a riff that sounds like it begins on a downbeat, but then is later revealed to start on an offbeat. Very cool effect.
Great video. The intro to "Since You're Gone" by the Cars always trips me up.
Number City by Coheed and Cambria - I love how the drums coming in completely changes the feel of the bass intro riff
the intro to good vibrations by the beach boys confuses me a bit, because it sounds like there is a missing beat in the third line, but the first line actually has 5 beats which makes it sound kinda strange, but in a good way. Brian Wilson is the goat
The Beatles intro to "I Want To Hold Your Hand" always throw's me off when the singing comes in.
This may seem easy for some, but with 50 years in music, I find it difficult. What a great resource here........................thanks David.
There's also Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? by Chicago. First the piano solo, which has no time signature at all. Then the band starts on the upbeat of 1, has 2 three-bar phrases, then jumps into 5/8 for a few bars, tosses in one bar of 6/8, and finally back to 4/4
Ya gotta love Chicago for that and their ability to cross over genres.
One of my favorite confusing intros is Bone Machine by The Pixies. The drums actually start on the 1, but the drumbeat itself sounds so much like the 4-beat is the 1-beat. They keep this strange beat throughout the whole song, which gives it a unique wonky feel.
Great video. Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen popped up on the radio, and I naturally went back into counting the first note as the downbeat 😂
This is the top one for me. Intro to this song confuses me every time without fail.
Thanks you made my day because I have been playing these songs for years and I just thought I was an idiot because I could never feel the beat! Especially Take It Easy
Thanks
"I'm Free" by The Who always throws me off. I have to really fight to count it right.
Same.
Great example! 😀👍
Beat me to it! Another case of a song starting on the "and" of 4... It sounds like it should be similar to the start of, say, "Smoke on the Water" but it's really the 8th note *before* that.
ruclips.net/video/DhbHkEmfpPE/видео.html
We're the same kind of weird, I've spent so much time listening to the start of most of these songs trying to feel the time properly.
Excellent. The last one was a sweet surprise
Great video!! You gotta make this a format. So many good examples of this i actually made a whole playlist with songs like this with a friend in music school
The most confusing intro to me is still "I want to hold your hand". I've been told it starts on the "3-and" but I never managed to count and land on the 1 with the singing.
If you just count 1-2-3 duh-duh-duh, etc ..
But you need to keep in mind that the vocal intro "Oh, yeah" is on 3-4, and the "I" is on the 1 beat of the next bar.
I hope that helps.
👍
@@localbod Yes, the Oh Yeah on 3 + 4 plus the I on the 1 were always clear. Just when I count in like that I never reach the 3 on the Oh.
Probably my fault, but I'd just like to see a counter on the whole intro to get where I was thrown out.
Duchess by Genesis always gets me. It has a REALLY long intro that really establishes the wrong beat in my head; then I get completely thrown off when the drums kick in.
Wow. Thanks for explaining the "four-AND" thing. Now I can finally hear these riffs exactly the way these artists _themselves_ were hearing it when they played it!
Please do more of these David! They're great!
The song I thought of immediately was Rock and Roll by Led Zep.
Edit: You included that in your first video.
Confusing intro: Changes - Yes. Love your channel thanks 👌
The intro is in odd time. 4/8 3/8 then 4/8 3/8 3/8 repeating. 17 eighth notes (could also be counted as 7/8 + 10/8 or just 17/8). But what's REALLY cool in the 'Changes' intro is when Trevor Rabin's arpeggiated verse guitar part- in 4/4- comes in stealthily during the latter measures of the odd time stuff. Polymeter of 4/4 against 17/8 basically...mind-boggling. And somehow it WORKS.
Great stuff! You never cease to entertain me. 🙂
"Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey"!
I thought the same song, but I have a theory that the intro to that song was edited onto the basic track, and the funny timing during the first verse was just the band naturally falling out of time with each other before settling back into the groove. But thats just me
He already talked about this one lol
Checked if someone else was already mentioning this one and yes it was already mentioned.
I do the same thing with the intro to Chalkdust Torture by Phish. I have been listening to it for decades and I just can’t unhear it!
RE: DRIVE MY CAR: Oh my gawd, THANK YOU!! I gave up years ago asking other musicians (and better ones than me!!) how the hell that's counted. Nobody ever got it right. THANKS, DAVID!
Honestly it's so unintuitive it feels to me like they got it wrong in the studio and just left it that way. It's the only one of these examples that I can't hear correctly even after it's explained and I go back to re-listen.
@@hairpig It's hard, man, once you've "heard" it wrong for years on end! To this day, I still hear "Girl U Want" by Devo and my ears try to come in on 4, even though my brain knows darn well it starts on 1.
@@hairpig nope, i believe it was intended to be the way it is on the recording, and this is supposedly reflected in his live performances of the song as well
Hell's Bells is another example. Breakdown by Tom Petty and Burnin for You by BOC are two examples of songs that start on the 4th beat, like anacrusis but they are fully stressed.
Most of these are pretty easy because you can hear the accents, and if you know that 2 and 4 are accented you'll get it. It's also very helpful if you already know how the phrases fit into the bar, even if you can't hear the downbeat during the introduction.
So pleased you did Misty Mountain Hop. As a drummer I always knew it was odd but never tried seriously to figure it out until I 'got it' just a couple of weeks ago. To add to the confusion, Bonham's drum intro starts on the 'and' of one. (It's snare-kick-kick-tom-tom, with the timing: and-two-and-three--four.)
“Appetite” by Prefab Sprout always gets me.
Me too!
Interestingly enough, after I found out the correct beat for Misty Mountain Hop, my brain was able to naturally latch onto that beat.
Yeah, the same happened to me with all of the songs, except for Drive My Car. That's actually still confusing, even after I know how it goes. I guess the difference between the other songs and Drive My Car is that the other songs have a repeating riff that is also played over the drum beat, so it's easy to imagine the drum beat over the intro.
Frankie Laine's Rawhide does it to me. Going from the end of the verse to the chorus. Every time.
Another interesting one is “A passage through Bankok” by Rush starts with a syncopated bass line that is easy to misinterpret as the downbeat. It’s not until the drums come in that the real down beat is clear.
Rush has lots of examples of weird time signature stuff that could fit with many of David’s videos.
A Passage to Bangkok starts with guitar.
I felt an inordinate sense of accomplishment after teaching myself to count along with the intro to Drive My Car. And the most confusing intro to a song I've ever heard is "The Impression That I Get" by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. It's in straight cut time and the guitar part (which introduces the song) even begins on the downbeat. But the extreme syncopation between muted notes and open chords, first cymbal crash on the offbeat, and that weird horn melody make it extremely disorienting even after the drums come in. it's like Take It Easy on steroids.
I cant understand this video more than his counting sounded not in sync. I listen to the boss tones song and it sounded normal to me. But I wouldn’t be able to play along at the start.
For me such confusion is caused by "3s & 7s" by QOTSA. Is the downbeat on the 1sf guitar riff, on the 2nd guitar riff, or the bass riff? It's not helping that it starts with just a guitar, then there's a pause which I don't know how to count, and then a new riff with also ambiguous drums.
The song Ive always thought to be just crazy is "Changes" by Yes..... Love to see you break that one down brother!
Haha, yeah that one has a really 'exotic' intro. I'm not sure what time signature it's in, but it sounds like some polyrhythmic thing with the drums in a different time signature than the guitar. When I first got to hear that album somewhere in the 90s, I was really blown away, I had never heard anything like it before. I became a YES fan soon after that! 😅
I knew something was up for all these songs. Thanks for this.
I've heard of this referred to as "metric ambiguity", and it's one of my favorite musical devices. A lot of the time once I hear the correct pulse, I can't hear the wrong one anymore. There's two examples that get me nearly every time though, Wolf Parade's "it's a curse" right at the intro, and spaceghostpurrp's "been fweago" which happens about halfway through the song. The spaceghostpurrp one I swear I will NEVER hear it correctly before the beat actually drops.
Minute by Minute is a CRAZY ONEEE
Yep Doobie Bros. It always gets me even when I know it.
It's not one of the syncopated scenarios, but a great example of using a harmonic pattern that takes an odd number of measures to resolve before "settling in".
Michael Mcdonald explains this one in his recent interview on Rick Beato's channel.
Another Example is Stolen Dance by Milky Chance. The pulse at the start is offbeat, but we dont know until the other instruments come in.
The fact they made the song name rhyme with their band name
I always thought my confusion with these types of songs was a Me Problem. I'm glad to hear they aren't! Fascinating stuff.
A couple of others that I haven't seen mentioned yet (granted, I didn't look at all 1300+ comments) are Christine 16 from KISS and American Gigolo from Weezer. I play drums in tributes to both bands, and Christine 16 is easy to come in as long as I count off 1, 2, 3, 4 and the band comes in on the & of 4, but American Gigolo, I play the drum intro for 4 measures before the band comes in. So for it to make sense in my head, I've got to sing the melody in my head for a couple of bars before starting the drum intro. It took me WAY longer than I care to admit to figure that one out!
Murder by Numbers from The Police has one of the hardest beat to figure out, this time starting with just the drums. Hats off to Stewart Copeland!
Copeland is a drum genius
Or even hi-hats off to him. 😉
He is truly one of the greats and so idiosyncratic and identifiable.
Interesting video as always David. Automatic stop by the strokes has a rhythmically deceptive intro and is a great song too.
Another great example is "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon. The anacrusis without drums doesn't let you know where the down beat really is.
Confusingly interesting! Great job. Thanks.
Little Bones by the Tragically Hip still gets me every time it starts
I have always heard the opening vocal line of Queen's _Bohemian Rhapsody_ as syncopated: "(rest) Is this the real life" is three eighth notes after a sixteenth rest (!) at the start, then 'real' is a four-sixteenth note beginning a sixteenth before beat 3, with 'life' a five-sixteenths duration beginning a sixteenth before beat 4. The second line "(rest) Is this just fantasy?" is similar, then there is a full eighth rest (in a 5/4 bar) before "(pause) caught in a landslide, no es-...." then another 5/4 bar for "-cape from reality." When the piano enters on "open your eyes" in the next line, we're back to starting on the downbeat and back in 4/4. Never seen it notated this way, but having heard it hundreds of times, it seems intuitively right to me that the first two lines and the second two lines do NOT start on the downbeat, even though that is usually how it is (lazily, I think) notated.
The intro is actually in 9/8. "Is this the real life" and "is this just fantasy" both start on the downbeat. Same thing with "caught in a landslide" and "no esCAPE from reality" (where the syllable "cape" lands on the downbeat). Compare this to "I'm just a poor boy" and "I need no sympathy" (that are clearly in 4/4). It's the same exact rhythm all the time, but in the first four bars, one of the beats is extended by an 8th note.
I find it easiest to count as 3+2+2+2. Try it yourself.
All of the transcriptions I have seen notate it inaccurately. (BTW, this is not my discovery. Someone in r/musictheory figured this out and posted a thread about it. I first thought it was BS, but after trying it, it made perfect sense.)
I've never had difficulty with immediately "getting into the pocket" with songs. But watching this, I can understand the difficulty some people have with tempo.
Like syncopation, I've seen people try to write it out, which just makes it more confusing. It IS all just feel.
Keep it Dark by Genesis gets me every freaking time
Excellent video as always but sidenote, I had no idea you were self taught! That really inspires me and gives me faith that I can do the same 💜 when I move this summer and finally get my keyboard back, I'm gonna check out HD Piano!
Thank you! That’s great to hear 😊😊😊
Sting's 'Fortress Around Your Heart' always gets me - even into the first verse. I can get it right sometimes but it's not easy..
That's one song we played in our band circa 1990 where I wish we had the Internet and I could have found sheet music for. That one took a while to figure the chords out to for the verses where I was satisfied with how it sounded.
Yeah, that's another interesting one. I really only can lock into the rhythm when the drums come in with the bass drum and side stick at 33 seconds. But the timing always seems off when it comes in.
Great post! There are several like this which most probably don’t even notice. I see that Spirits in the Material World was mentioned but we also have Andrew Gold’s Lonely Boy, Jimi Hendrix’s All Along the Watchtower, and Semisonic’s Singing In My Sleep are a few more.
Yellow Jackets-Top Secret. When I first heard this song, it sounded like Robin Ford was playing the opening guitar riff triplets beginning on the downbeat. Then when the bass guitar and drum fills began to trickle in, it sounded like they were not on the same page. However, once the keys come in with the melody, you realize that the tempo is in a much slower 4/4 time. Brilliant.
I always liked Supergrass's "Lenny" & "Time" on their "I should coco" album
Great examples, and great band, too! 😀👍
Yes to "Lenny"! I was gonna name that song as well. They're all playing on the offbeat, but it sounds like the beat.
Any day is a good day to give praise to Supergrass
I paused after the intro and tried to guess what songs would be mentioned. I am proud to say I guessed Take It Easy and Drive My Car.
The only one that I've never felt "out of time" with when listening to is Hold the Line.
Agree - There has never been one moment of my life where I didn't hear it as triplets.
This is fantastic, thank you!
Glad you liked it!
If you want an example of an intro that has a fiendishly difficult to hear downbeat and that's extremely hard to count along to, listen to 'Murder By Numbers' by The Police. That is a monster. I still marvel at how they were able to pull it off, and so effortlessly.