American Responses MUSC-21600: The Art of Rock Music Prof. Freeze 3 October 2016 Songs of The Beach Boys

• Pet Sounds (1966) • “Good Vibrations” (The Beach Boys, 1966) • Multi-part form Tannerin • Wilson: “a song can . . . have movements, in the same way as a classical concerto, only capsulized.” (not theremin) • Unusual instrumentation, timbral richness • Several groove changes • Vocal layering in chorus • Quixotic harmonic shifts • Verse: stable minor • Chorus: shifting major • Narrative effect Urban Folk Music

• “Brave New Sound Sweeping Nation: Rock + Folk + Protest” (Billboard, 1965) • Folk Music Revival • Folk music = oral tradition of everyday music making • Documented by folksong collectors • “Urbanized” by record industry • “Goodnight Irene” (The Weavers, 1950): folk-pop hybrid • “Tom Dooley” (Kingston Trio, 1958) • Urban Folk Music • Appealed to increasing political awareness • Sophisticated lyrics, protest songs • Bob Dylan • Authentic delivery (raw vocals, metrical flexibility) • “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean” (Bob Dylan, 1962) Folk Rock

• Interest in non-folk, electric instruments • The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963): 1 track w/drums • Bringing It All Back Home (1965): 50% w/rock instruments • Newport Folk Festival (July 1965) • Highway 61 Revisited (1965): rock-oriented • “Like a Rolling Stone” (Bob Dylan, 1965) • Rock-oriented, but explodes rock conventions • Loose, improvisatory instrumental texture • Intricate rhyme scheme, musical structure • Poetic imagery and metaphor • Unique vocal style with dense delivery • “Mr. Tambourine Man” (The Byrds, 1965) • Dylan’s lyrics/music + folk harmony/vocal + Beatles’ guitar (12- string) and beat + Beach Boys’ production • “The Sound of Silence” (Simon and Garfunkel, 1965) • When folk goes unintentionally electric