…he’s the sweetest guy ever. Have you ever stared into his eyes? It was like the first time I heard The Beatles.
-Seth, Superbad
Why does everyone like The Beatles?
My answer is in a high school friend. He always spoke in phrases that encapsulated the extreme emotions and passions of teenage. If a girl blushed, he whispered “she wants.” When the loudspeaker announced early dismissal he’d jump out of his chair and yell “chyeah BLAT!” He had an impression of Herb the bus driver, who always complained about his old age, that went “Errr…I got some gout in my left tit!”
He was Italian and that's why I see him in 8 1/2, when the young boys sneak out to the wrong side of the tracks to experience a little sensuality. Imagine the energy of all these boys and of the music here put into one person: https://youtu.be/_n2s5i2i2Jg?t=1m42s. Especially the boy on the right, slapping himself again and again on the face. That was my friend.
If you’ve ever touched a piano, or any instrument, or even, if you've ever used your voice to emote, you know you can hit a chord and have it sound, and do the job, but you can also pound it exuberantly, emphasize the right keys, and the same chord does more than its job. It bursts with emotion.
That’s what my friend, Fellini and The Beatles do. When they want to get something across, they don’t just play the right note, they passionately express it.
For The Beatles, one of the best examples is “Twist and Shout”. Listen to how Lennon’s voice scratches when he says “shout” at :12, the yelling at 1:32 and the “shake it”s at 2:10.
Try to sing like that. You have to work yourself up to an uncomfortable level of emotion and volume to achieve that sound.
Try to sing like that. You have to work yourself up to an uncomfortable level of emotion and volume to achieve that sound.
The same for Paul’s singing in “Hey Jude” from 4:02 to 4:08. See how he sings “long” at 1:54 in “It Won’t Be Long”. See the exuberance and emotion in “Please Mister Postman”, in the “wait”s in the beginning and Paul’s vocals over the backing from :11 to :23. In “Money (That's What I Want)”, how John sings “I” at 1:05. In “A Hard Day’s Night” the way he rushes “get home to you” and sexualizes “feel alright” at 1:23. How Paul suddenly ups the emotional intensity when he sings “Got to Get You into my Life” at 1:03. The mischievousness and nervous energy of the “come on”s at 1:58 in “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey”. The intensity of John’s voice at 2:12 in “Yer Blues”.
The Beatles go all out at the appropriate emotional moments. That’s why everyone likes them. It's hard to find that level of relatable but still extreme exuberance in any other band.
I do hear flashes of it once in awhile. I hear it in Fall Out Boy’s “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)” at :55, when the band sings “fire”. I hear it in the final yelp of My Morning Jacket’s “What a Wonderful Man”. In Edith Piaf’s “La vie en rose”.
And there is an instrumental equivalent in composer Danny Elfman’s music.
And there is an instrumental equivalent in composer Danny Elfman’s music.
Listen to “Farewell”, which closes the first Spider-Man. At 3:50 the music ramps up to facilitate a visual shift from Peter and Mary Jane at the graveyard to Spider-Man in flight. The change in tempo, the introduction of new percussion, and the rise in the chords would have sufficed in bringing the music's energy back. But Elfman turbocharges the effect by adding fast-moving, rising background strings.
At 3:59, Elfman doesn't just hit a drum; he somehow produces the sound of a sledge hammer slamming a spike.
At 3:59 are the strings meant to evoke the webs shooting out of Spider-Man’s wrists when he webswings. Rarely do you hear violins played with such violence.
At 4:11 the chorus goes to an extraordinarily high pitch.
Even Elfman's cymbals, which are normally crashed to indicate climax, here crash, sustain and then crash again from 4:12 to 4:18. Not just a climax, but a sustained climax.
At 4:25 the webswinging violins make their last stand, break tremulously and exhilaratingly high.
At 4:25 the webswinging violins make their last stand, break tremulously and exhilaratingly high.
These musical choices, and the passion with which they are played, attain an enthusiasm rarely heard.
***
You could disagree and I'd understand. You could say, "you're just highlighting random points in the music and dolling them up with superlatives. You could do that with any beat of any song. Anyway, I don't trust your perception, you just praised Fall Out Boy".
I'd respond: "If only there was a piece of music that was recorded twice, once in Danny Elfman's hands, and once in someone else's. If you listened to them side-by-side, I could prove my point: Danny Elfman's would sound like Technicolor, the other version - black and white."
I'd respond: "If only there was a piece of music that was recorded twice, once in Danny Elfman's hands, and once in someone else's. If you listened to them side-by-side, I could prove my point: Danny Elfman's would sound like Technicolor, the other version - black and white."
Ahh, but that’s exactly what happened! Danny Elfman had "creative differences" and left Spider-Man 3's score to Christopher Young.
Young recorded a second take of Elfman's "Main Title" using the same score and instruments. You can hear its lack of exuberance in a side-by-side comparison with Elfman's.
Young recorded a second take of Elfman's "Main Title" using the same score and instruments. You can hear its lack of exuberance in a side-by-side comparison with Elfman's.
At :17 (on Elfman's) there is a very subtle difference in the fast strings. Young's are slightly more regular in rhythm, as if played by a machine. In Elfman's there is also more of an emphasis on the first note of each section. Furthermore, there is a greater difference in playing intensity between the downbeat notes and the rest, giving them texture where Young's are flat.
At :22, Elfman's percussion has much more character than Young's, is more wet. Elfman's rhythm also has a larger range between primary beats and secondary beats, resulting in a halting, destabilized feel.
This destabilization is more engaging of itself, but how it feeds into the next measures brings about another engaging effect.
Part of what makes the introduction of the Spider-Man theme at :38 so effective is how it brings together disparate strains of music. Because Elfman's rhythm is more destabilized, Elfman's Spider-Man theme has to overcome more destabilization than Young's. This makes Elfman's theme sound stronger than Young's.
From :27 to :38, Elfman's percussion blasts at the beginning of each measure are more forceful. The bass that accentuates these blasts is more prominent in the mix.
From here forward (with the exception of the newly introduced Sandman and Venom themes) Young's rendition continues in its inferiority. Elfman uses sharp brass from :57 to accentuate his rhythms; these are barely heard in Young's version. At the same time Elfman plays distorted, amplified brass that is absent in Young's. Elfman's visceral webswinging strings at 1:05 lose their edge in Young's.
Overall, there is less differentiation in volumes and intensities. Young's lows are less low, his highs less high. It's like listening to Elfman's on Xanax.
"Well," you might say, "Elfman beats his drum, pulls his strings and crashes his cymbals a little harder, so what?"
Listen, just listen to the Elfman version, and then the Young version. The same damn music! Which one gets you more excited? Musical theory says there are two dimensions to music: rhythm and pitch. Elfman shows us a third: exuberance.
Have you ever noticed how "A" can say the same words as "B", but "A" will leave you cold, where "B" will make you laugh, or cry, or elated? Next time you play guitar, clasp the fret at an angry chord, wring everything out of that bend, caress the strings in a love song; when you talk wreck the name of your enemy, whisper to mimic a shy person, laugh with your eyes bright.
PS - Another highlight of the Spider-Man score is "Revenge". At 2:27 Peter stares out from the top of a building. He's never webswung before, but he must now to catch his uncle's murderer.
The music builds tension with an aggressive rhythm that's a combination of Peter's pounding heart and the clock impatiently ticking for him to make the decision to jump.
When he finally jumps, all rhythm falls out, and the music flies through the air, untethered, at 2:48, just like Peter.
It's that extremely rhythm based build up that makes the subsequent rhythmless rendition of the Spider-Man theme at 2:48 so exhilarating, that allows the music to make us feel like Peter does as he flies through the air for the first time, heart in his mouth.
The emotion it gets across is something I've felt when I decide to go talk to a girl. There's that devastating build-up, "will I or won't I?", the merciless pounding heart, then, when you finally make the decision, the floor falls out, you have to improvise, there's an adrenaline rush. Then things stabilize and your confidence grows. Hopefully you keep the exhilarating dance going on for a couple of minutes, before you start talking about the Spider-Man score and she leaves.
At :22, Elfman's percussion has much more character than Young's, is more wet. Elfman's rhythm also has a larger range between primary beats and secondary beats, resulting in a halting, destabilized feel.
This destabilization is more engaging of itself, but how it feeds into the next measures brings about another engaging effect.
Part of what makes the introduction of the Spider-Man theme at :38 so effective is how it brings together disparate strains of music. Because Elfman's rhythm is more destabilized, Elfman's Spider-Man theme has to overcome more destabilization than Young's. This makes Elfman's theme sound stronger than Young's.
From :27 to :38, Elfman's percussion blasts at the beginning of each measure are more forceful. The bass that accentuates these blasts is more prominent in the mix.
From here forward (with the exception of the newly introduced Sandman and Venom themes) Young's rendition continues in its inferiority. Elfman uses sharp brass from :57 to accentuate his rhythms; these are barely heard in Young's version. At the same time Elfman plays distorted, amplified brass that is absent in Young's. Elfman's visceral webswinging strings at 1:05 lose their edge in Young's.
Overall, there is less differentiation in volumes and intensities. Young's lows are less low, his highs less high. It's like listening to Elfman's on Xanax.
***
"Well," you might say, "Elfman beats his drum, pulls his strings and crashes his cymbals a little harder, so what?"
Listen, just listen to the Elfman version, and then the Young version. The same damn music! Which one gets you more excited? Musical theory says there are two dimensions to music: rhythm and pitch. Elfman shows us a third: exuberance.
Have you ever noticed how "A" can say the same words as "B", but "A" will leave you cold, where "B" will make you laugh, or cry, or elated? Next time you play guitar, clasp the fret at an angry chord, wring everything out of that bend, caress the strings in a love song; when you talk wreck the name of your enemy, whisper to mimic a shy person, laugh with your eyes bright.
PS - Another highlight of the Spider-Man score is "Revenge". At 2:27 Peter stares out from the top of a building. He's never webswung before, but he must now to catch his uncle's murderer.
The music builds tension with an aggressive rhythm that's a combination of Peter's pounding heart and the clock impatiently ticking for him to make the decision to jump.
When he finally jumps, all rhythm falls out, and the music flies through the air, untethered, at 2:48, just like Peter.
It's that extremely rhythm based build up that makes the subsequent rhythmless rendition of the Spider-Man theme at 2:48 so exhilarating, that allows the music to make us feel like Peter does as he flies through the air for the first time, heart in his mouth.
The emotion it gets across is something I've felt when I decide to go talk to a girl. There's that devastating build-up, "will I or won't I?", the merciless pounding heart, then, when you finally make the decision, the floor falls out, you have to improvise, there's an adrenaline rush. Then things stabilize and your confidence grows. Hopefully you keep the exhilarating dance going on for a couple of minutes, before you start talking about the Spider-Man score and she leaves.
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