Blog #4- Song Deconstruction

Elliot Smith- Between the Bars

Metric -Between the Bars (cover)

Listening Framework

Elliot Smith- Between the bars

Listening phase 1- rhythm

Tempo- (slow, medium, fast) – the tempo is medium/slow

Source-(where is rhythm coming from)- The source of the rhythm is the guitar strumming

Groove-(describe personality of rhythm)- the personality of the rhythm is slow and sad

Listening Phase 2- Arrangement

Instrumentation- (which instruments drive the song)- the only instrumentation in the song is Smith's voice and the acoustic guitar

Structure/organization-( order, patterns) the song has an A A B A A B verse style

Emotional architecture- the song starts out with a very soft guitar part fading in. the vocals also start very softly and eventually gain a little bit more at the end. However it is a fairly soft and slow song the entire way through.

Listening phase 3 – sound quality

Balance

-Height- (high and low of frequency)

The song has a fairly low range, because Smith's voice is fairly low. When he gets to the lines that start with “people” he reaches the highest note.

-Width-( stereo panning)

stereo panning is not used much in this song. It alls seems to sit fairly in the middle.

-Depth-(layers of instrumentation)

There are not many layers in instrumentation. The only instruments used are the acoustic guitar and Smith's voice.

Metric- Between the Bars cover

Listening phase 1- rhythm

Tempo- (slow, medium, fast)

The tempo is a bit faster in this one. It is a medium speed.

Source-(where is rhythm coming from)

acoustic guitar

Groove-(describe personality of rhythm)

this groove is not quite as gloomy. It also seems to be in a slightly higher key.

Listening Phase 2- Arrangement

Instrumentation- (which instruments drive the song)

Acoustic guitar and Emily Haine's voice.

Structure/organization-( order, patterns)

It has the same AABAAB structure that the original had

Emotional architecture- (draw how song builds up and drops)

She doesn't start quite as slow ans soft as the original. She also builds up a little higher and gets alittle louder on the last verse.

Listening phase 3 – sound quality

Balance

-Height- (high and low of frequency)

It is about the same range as the original, but her voice is higher because she is a female.

-Width-( stereo panning)

not much panning

-Depth-(layers of instrumentation)

again only two layers, voice and guitar.

I chose to do these songs because it is one of my favorite bands covering one of my favorite artists. What could be better? The song was originally written and performed by Elliot Smith off of his album Either/Or, and the band metric did a cover of it for a Rolling Stone interview. The two performances are very similar in many ways. The first way is that the lyrics are identical. The melody is the same progression wise, but is just about a half a step higher in the Metric version. The organization of the song is also exactly the same as the original version. There are also a couple things that are slightly different than the original version. The rhythm in the Metric version is a little faster as well. As I said the Metric version is a higher pitch, it sounds to be about a half step higher. I assume this is to accommodate for Emily Haine's voice which has a higher timbre than Elliot Smith's. It also goes at a slightly faster speed and is a little less gloomy.( which is hard to do with lyrics like those). They also keep the same instrumentation in the Metric version which I like,because it sounds good as a simple acoustic song. I don't think it would sound as good with full band accompaniment. It is really hard to say which version I like better because I enjoy both of these artists so much. I have thought long and hard about it, and I have to say I like the original version better. I hold this opinion simply because nobody can do Elliot Smith like he can. He just has this certain sadness that puts a unique emotional charge to the song that I have never really heard a cover accomplish. He has a unique timbre in his voice that somehow makes it just a touch gloomier. It might also have to do with the fact that he was the one who wrote the lyrics so he would have a bit of a deeper connection with their meanings while performing the song.