In Praise of Petula Clark
Aug. 16th, 2004 06:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellowThe next time you get a chance, listen - really listen - to Petula Clark singing "Downtown". Pay special attention to the instrumentation.
It starts with an understated piano, nothing else. After about four measures, Petula comes in, softly: "When you're alone and life is making you lonely, you can always go / Downtown". On the word "go", there's a single tap from a triangle. (A freaking triangle. How often do you hear one of those being effectively deployed?) On the last word, the backup singers come in and there's a soft drum riff in the background. The second line follows the same pattern: "When you've got worries all the noise and the hurry seems to help I know / Downtown". Then Petula amps up the volume, the drum starts to beat steadily (but still rather softly), and the background singers set up a continuing "ooh-ooh": "Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city / Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty" (a fast and heavy drum riff on "city"). The background singers and drums drop out, and it's just Pet and the piano: "How can you lose / The lights are much brighter there". The triangle (!) and the snares come in fast and heavy: "You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares, so go" (and now she's belting it out, the background singers return, the horns come in and the drummer goes crazy) "Downtown, things'll be great when you're/ Downtown, no finer place for sure / Downtown, everything's waiting for you". Petula lets the background singers carry it for a couple of measures before the second verse begins. It follows the same pattern, but there's a little stringwork and percussion throughout this time. We bridge to the third verse with horns, drums, and background singers, all letting out all the stops. The third verse is truncated but vigorous, and the horns show her out for the big finish.
That, friends, is music.
Now go listen to "I Know a Place". "Who Am I". "You'd Better Come Home". "The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener".
Good times. [contented sigh]
It starts with an understated piano, nothing else. After about four measures, Petula comes in, softly: "When you're alone and life is making you lonely, you can always go / Downtown". On the word "go", there's a single tap from a triangle. (A freaking triangle. How often do you hear one of those being effectively deployed?) On the last word, the backup singers come in and there's a soft drum riff in the background. The second line follows the same pattern: "When you've got worries all the noise and the hurry seems to help I know / Downtown". Then Petula amps up the volume, the drum starts to beat steadily (but still rather softly), and the background singers set up a continuing "ooh-ooh": "Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city / Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty" (a fast and heavy drum riff on "city"). The background singers and drums drop out, and it's just Pet and the piano: "How can you lose / The lights are much brighter there". The triangle (!) and the snares come in fast and heavy: "You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares, so go" (and now she's belting it out, the background singers return, the horns come in and the drummer goes crazy) "Downtown, things'll be great when you're/ Downtown, no finer place for sure / Downtown, everything's waiting for you". Petula lets the background singers carry it for a couple of measures before the second verse begins. It follows the same pattern, but there's a little stringwork and percussion throughout this time. We bridge to the third verse with horns, drums, and background singers, all letting out all the stops. The third verse is truncated but vigorous, and the horns show her out for the big finish.
That, friends, is music.
Now go listen to "I Know a Place". "Who Am I". "You'd Better Come Home". "The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener".
Good times. [contented sigh]
no subject
Date: 2004-08-17 05:18 pm (UTC)Wonder why this post reminded me of that? ;)
no subject
Date: 2004-08-17 06:08 pm (UTC)In all seriousness:
a) The key part of the whole post was in the first sentence: "listen - really listen". The rest was just a description of what you'd hear. (Note, in particular, that it was entirely positive.)
b) This is what I find to be true about critical activity: within certain limits, paying attention - at this level, at least - actually intensifies the pleasure I take in the work. There is a cost; some work simply won't stand up to scrutiny. But, thus far at least, for me, the benefits outweigh the costs.
c) The other main point is that what Petula Clark and her crew do is - at its best - interesting. I want music that does things with tempo, pitch, volume and harmony. I want to hear Bonnie Tyler suddenly changing gears from the screamed "I'm livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" to the softness of "Once upon a time there was light in my life"; I like the sound of Art Garfunkel's voice as it peels away from Paul Simon's in "The Sounds of Silence"; I enjoy the various exotic effects that the Moody Blues, Al Stewart, and Enya specialize in. And Petula Clark belongs in that company.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-17 07:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-19 06:40 am (UTC)I'd be willing to bet that you have also trained your ear to intentionally not listen at that particular level as well, making it an option you consciously choose or not, as your listening needs (or wants) change.
> There is a cost; some work simply won't stand up to scrutiny. <
Or the other cost--interference, at times, with the listening experience, by over-processing.
> But, thus far at least, for me, the benefits outweigh the costs. <
Sure, but.... what if you couldn't turn it OFF, or didn't know how to "throw the switch"... or even that there was a switch?
I've had this discussion with Guidz, who discovered (and not pleasantly) that once she had learned aural analysis, she couldn't listen to anything without that "running commentary" existing side by side with the music itself. I could relate to that; when I was first learning some of the basic mechanics of writing, I found the (largely unwanted) Inner Editor perching on my shoulder, distracting and interfering, when all I wanted to do was enjoy the dang story. However, I did eventually learn to throw the switch--bug off, IE!--or at least reduce it to a concurrent whisper, rarely all that annoying. I think Guido will learn the same thing. Just takes time and practice.
What say you?
no subject
Date: 2004-08-19 07:35 am (UTC)Downtown - Pet Clark + Tony Hatch
Date: 2012-05-08 03:22 pm (UTC)This song couldn't be better.
There are well-deserved praise for productions of George Martin, Brian Wilson, Phil Spector... but I don't think the genius of Tony Hatch gets enough "air play".
AL C.- Cleveland (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), Ohio