TT 329: Open Thread No. 5

There is a Season

The comments section on this post is open for all readers (usually it is for paid subscribers only). The previous four threads were pretty active and interesting, so: Say what is on your mind, drop your hottest take, or ask me anything — but please keep it clean and civil.

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Every so often I hear a piece of pop music that I’ve known virtually my whole life — but I suddenly hear it in a completely new way.

In a grocery store three days ago the sounds of “Turn! Turn! Turn!” wafted over the shoppers. I stopped dead in my tracks and strained to listen. Yes. It’s true. In the hands of the The Byrds, Pete Seeger’s setting of the Book of Ecclesiastes is a masterpiece.

Seeger’s song is not in straight 4/4! There is an unpredictable 2/4 bar right after the lyric, “Turn, Turn, Turn.” Indeed, from deep in my memory banks, I just barely remember singing the song in school choir — what, maybe 6th grade? — and everyone, including myself, had trouble singing the song correctly. We wanted to wait or move too soon after “Turn, Turn, Turn.” (That darn 2/4 bar!)

Man, the 60’s were so damn hip. It was the end of the traditional Tin Pan Alley sound and the composers were doubling down on triadic harmony. For style and poetry, many songwriters emphasized irregular phrasing.

Irregular meter and irregular phrase-lengths was nothing new for folk, bluegrass, or blues composers, but the ‘60s was the first time this kind of thinking took over the larger marketplace. (See also The Beatles and Burt Bacharach.)

The basic verse and refrain structure in the Byrds’s massive hit is indelible. Drummer Michael Clarke plays a straight backbeat on the A and something more like a bolero on the B. Due respect.

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Again, the comments section is open to all for two or three days. Ask me anything! (Doesn’t need to be about irregular phrasing or the Byrds.) If you don’t chime in this time, I will host another open thread at the top of January. Sincere thanks for reading and listening.

Update: The comments are now closed. Thanks for reading!