Friday, November 21, 2008

Tricky Beats: The Crunge



Led Zeppelin: The Crunge

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Every once in a while it is essential to get the Led out, even on a blog like this.

According to Wikipedia this song resulted from a jam session where the band was trying to play James Brown-like funk. The famous line "Where's that confounded bridge" at the end of the song is a reference to James Brown, who often called out to the band, "Take it to the bridge".

The time signature on this song shifts and turns, lurches and bumps. It is class-five funky, but still coherent and interesting to listen to (although quite impossible to dance to). It is also a testament to Bonham and Page's technical brilliance. Here are the time signatures as they are listed at Wikipedia:

Intro measure:
1 x 5/8

Part 1:
7 x 9/8 (or 4/8 + 5/8)
1 x 8/8 (or 4/8 + 4/8)
Part 2:
3 x 8/8
1 x 5/8
1 x 4/8
3 x 8/8
1 x 5/8
1 x 4/8
3 x 8/8
1 x 4/8
1 x 2/8

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