Great Moments in Song - Verse 2

songs

The first Great Moments in Song post described critical points in a composition - a poignant lyric, monumental riff or exhilarating key change - that signal a shift to greatness. A few examples were offered and several excellent submissions were added by comment. Subjectively great? Objectively great? No need to debate the details.

Those moments are gathered below [edited lightly, credited further below], and are led off by a new offering. Perhaps the list will grow . . .

1. 4:51 of A Day in the Life by The Beatles. The legendary final chord, reverberating for an epic 42 seconds. Several Beatles pounding an E-major chord on multiple pianos. Sound engineers cranking the levels until you can hear the studio appliances humming. Sometimes great moments fade away with near-infinite subtlety.
2. 1:11 of Mother Mother by Tracy Bonham. Bonham delivers a scratchy-throated shriek that rivals even PJ Harvey’s Long Snake Moan. The fierce introductory strumming of Mother Mother gives way to an ignited pre-chorus, then a moment of calm before that storm of a lyric “Everything’s fine!!” - belted in full ironic glory. Subsequent intonations of that line are impressive, but none match the intensity of the first.
3. 3:59 into Red Hill Mining Town by U2. The iconic foursome have blessed fans with bleeding heart lyrics and earnest emotion long enough for us to know that this song was likely inspired by some nasty real-world experience. Sure enough, the Wiki entry indicates: “Bono has said that the song is about the 1984 UK mining strike and its strain on relationships at the time.” Even without the history, the driving beat of this track - off the near-flawless The Joshua Tree album - pulls the listener through blue-collar hardship, without a Hollywood ending in sight. The 2 lines at 3:59 - “Love, slowly stripped away/Love, has seen its better day” - just seem to stand a half-octave higher, if not in pitch then in sincerity. (And listen for Bono’s emotional inhale only a second earlier, at 3:58.)
4. 3:15 of Starship Trooper by Yes. Steve Howe launches into a finger-picking giddyup for about a minute, providing legs in the middle of an epic composition which, at nearly 10 minutes long, must rely on dynamics. This may be the most subjective of the 3 selections; never failing to induce toe-tapping, head-nodding pleasure in your humble author. (And while I’m here, 8:24 of this song finds Howe releasing with clarity and precision, a crisp lead that slices through an increasingly complex buildup of rhythm guitar, organ and percussion. His guitar takes the baton and leads us with authority to the fade out.)
5. 2:16 of Amanda by Boston. A few call and answer lead guitars launch into the harmony solo at precisely 2:22. This four measure break is simply the chorus melody stated in Tom Scholz’ trademark, saturated tone, yet it is one of the most emotional moments in rock guitar.
6. 1:26 of Narcolepsy by Third Eye Blind. A little known song from their debut album. The first minute and a half of this song features a beautiful clean toned guitar and a wistful vocal delivery. At 1:26 the full band kicks in to a much quicker tempo and an agressive feel. It just keeps building and building.
7. 3:50 of One Way Ticket by The Darkness. The Queen like vocal harmony scream sends a shiver down my spine and makes me laugh every time I hear it.
8. Wings of the Storm by Whitesnake. This extended Steve Vai solo is really quite marvelous in it’s entirety, but he launches into this amazing arpeggio riff over the double time rhythm that just lifts the listener right out of his chair.
9. 3:19 of Aerial Boundaries by Michael Hedges. The song takes flight. His two handed technique goes up the neck, and it’s all good after that…it’s actually good up to that point as well.
10. 4:17 of Dirty Laundry by Eagles. Steve Lukather guitar solo to the end. This is an excellent example of Luke’s ability to squeeze every note into a solo he possibly can.
11. 0:01 of Welcome to the Jungle by Guns ‘n’ Roses. The intro. Unmistakable guitar work here.
12. 2:39 of Angel by Sarah McLachlan. This is the point when she sings in this “sweet madness, oh this glorious sadness that brings me to my knees” this part hits home for me. It was played at a funeral for a 4 year old family friend. I can’t listen to this song without thinking of that child.
13. 3:03 of Fix You by Coldplay. When the song finally hits the peak that is has been building too, simple little guitar riff but it gives me shivers every time!
14. 2:26 of Gorecki by Lamb. It finally lifts off, such a beautiful voice.
15. 1:27 of Funky Tonight by John Butler Trio. The breakdown has a great little 12 string acoustic riff that then launches into the distorted solo, jeez that Maton gets a workout!
16. 1:30-2:00 of Divided Sky [video] by Phish. One of the best bands in changing direction (in my opinion) is Phish. They are great at building and building tension, and then POW release into sweet melodic magic! I love the part in Divided Sky when Trey builds tension by shifting up m7 chords switching up a whole step and a have step, and then BAM sweet solo. You can see what I mean in this live video from 14:30-14:00 (it is counting downwards from 16 minutes). But I recommend watching the whole video as it has tons of great moments of tension and release.

Submission credits:

• 1-4 by guitarBlog
• 5-8 by Jonsnow
• 9-12 by Eric
• 13-15 by Jon
• 16 by The Guitar Resource

Please submit your own moments of lyrical transcendence by way of Comment or email.

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guitarblog @ August 10, 2007