Short and/or unfinished songs

[jdgladw]

Too long and missing something.

Perfect length and includes everything in the world (or at least in the room).

 

[rsclosson]

I would love to have heard this fully developed.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I do a short-song medley:

- Acid Commerial (Country Joe)
- Bow Tie Daddy (the Mothers)
- Naked If I Want To (Moby Grape)
- Variety Is the Spice of Life (the Doors)

In no particular order. Takes about two minutes.

 

[johnny k]

 

[hemingway]

 

[hemingway]

Literally unfinished.

 

[radiocaster]

I think "White Rabbit" is a good example of verse. There is no chorus or bridge in that song. I don't even think that there are any key changes.

There's clearly some change in the "One man on the chessboard tells you exactly where to go" part. Not sure the key changes (maybe, haven't tried playing it), but the rhythm does, so it's kind of a chorus.

 

[P Thought]

There's clearly some change in the "One man on the chessboard tells you exactly where to go" part. Not sure the key changes (maybe, haven't tried playing it), but the rhythm does, so it's kind of a chorus.

I might be wrong--I've been struggling for years to understand modes--but I think that's a modal change.

The song's in E, but it starts with the 2 and the Mb3 (F# and G), then employs 4 and Mb6 (A and C). The chessmen part, then later the head feed part, shifts to E and A, the 1 and 4.

@klasaine, did I come anywhere close?

 

[Telecaster88]

Eh. “Short” songs and “unfinished” ones are two different things. My little cover band just added CCR’s Fortunate Son and Travelin Band, and each is under 2:30. A lot of short songs are just right.

I was going to bring up CCR as a band that taught me the virtues of being succinct. Not every song needs a bridge, for instance. Get in, say what you want to say, get out.*

I'm working on a couple "solo albums" that consist of mainly instrumental tunes less than 1:30 long... and that's all right. We're writing music, not a rulebook.

*Maybe helps I grew up in punk.

 

[Tommy Biggs]

Keith Richards, Crosseyed Heart.
Nice country acoustic, decent lyric. Then at about 1:50 he just kinda stops and says “ that’s all I got” . First track on the album. It’s good to be the Keef!

 

[tubedude]

Before retirement I worked in a hospital repairing (& maintaining) medical equipment. An unfinished country song I would often sing to my nurse friends was, "Broken things always remind me of you, after all those crazy things that you do. Broken things always remind me of you." it was short song but a L&D Department hit!

As a former Biomed myself I can relate. My nurses however, would have not been amused at this, another reminder of their abuse of equipment.

 

[radiocaster]

I might be wrong--I've been struggling for years to understand modes--but I think that's a modal change.

The song's in E, but it starts with the 2 and the Mb3 (F# and G), then employs 4 and Mb6 (A and C). The chessmen part, then later the head feed part, shifts to E and A, the 1 and 4.

@klasaine, did I come anywhere close?

Interesting. But the "chessboard" part is not trying to be "Eastern" or anything, just a standard garage rock rhythm, so I'm not sure you can say much about modes.

Indian music just uses the same key but may change the note you start on, and may change the scale depending on if it's ascending or descending. "Modes" are a Western concept, which can sort of be used to explain that.

I haven't tried playing that in over a decade, and last time I tried was with some tabs from the net, and those are often wrong. But picking up a guitar and playing without listening to it from my memory of the song, it seems to start F, the F#, the F again (edit, listened to it, it's one semitone higher), then some note I can't figure out. The "chessboard" part seems to have a C chord somewhere, but not at the beginning. I'll have to figure it out.

edit: Ok, found a good tab. Pretty easy to play the rhythm part. I even had some words wrong. "Chessmen" part is clearly a chorus.
https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/jefferson-airplane/white-rabbit-tabs-10798

 

[klasaine]

I might be wrong--I've been struggling for years to understand modes--but I think that's a modal change.

The song's in E, but it starts with the 2 and the Mb3 (F# and G), then employs 4 and Mb6 (A and C). The chessmen part, then later the head feed part, shifts to E and A, the 1 and 4.

@klasaine, did I come anywhere close?

The chords are right but I personally think the 'overall' key of the song (White Rabbit) is A major.
I hear the "men on the chessboard" part as going to the V chord.

So in the key of 'A' ...
F# is VI, the G is bVII, C is bIII and D is IV
Having said that, I don't analyze rock songs like this as being modal. It just kinda splits the difference between major/minor and bluesy.

When I solo over a song like this I think of the individual chords, and/or 'blues' in the home key.

Maybe in another 30+ years, we'll have some sort of standardized rock harmony classification for progressions like this(?).

 

[P Thought]

Hmmm. It does end on the A....

 

[Refugee]

This was the last song that Buck Owens was working on in his home studio. It wasn't finished, but still pretty much a song. After Buck's passing, his family gave the tape to Brad Paisley to see if he could make it complete...and he did. From the grave here is the last song Buck ever wrote.

 

[hamerfan]

Hard to beat

 

[thunderbyrd]

ah...short or unfinished songs. this gives me a chance to rant about one that has annoyed me for a long time: just in time to see the sun by santana.

it's from santana's caravanserai album. the entire album is basically a latin-jazzish-rock jam by a bunch of fantastic musicians. i used to listen to it a lot in an altered frame of mind. the majority of the record is instrumental, but all of a sudden this emerges:




i think it's one of the best songs santana ever came up with and it has one of my favorite solos by him.

i think he should have added another verse, another 40 seconds or so, and released it as a single. but he didn't.

 

[natec]

Everything on Minor Threat's first EP. The best sub 10:00 min album. Ever.

1.	"Filler"	Minor Threat	1:32
2.	"I Don't Wanna Hear It"	Ian MacKaye	1:13
3.	"Seeing Red"	Jeff Nelson, MacKaye	1:03
4.	"Straight Edge"	MacKaye	0:46
5.	"Small Man, Big Mouth"	MacKaye	0:55
6.	"Screaming at a Wall"	MacKaye	1:32
7.	"Bottled Violence"	MacKaye, Brian Baker	0:54
8.	"Minor Threat"	MacKaye, Lyle Preslar	1:27