One learns all sorts of things at the SXSW music convention: industry gossip, tips on great new bands and cheap, tasty restaurants, and which stretch of Waller Creek in downtown has the most turtles. Perhaps one of the most useful tidbits this year was “boots-and-pants bands,” a wonderful term. Apparently, that’s how a certain large Northwest indie label dismisses the innumerable robotic art-dance groups still cluttering up the Brooklyn scene. It refers to the fact that the music all has the same basic rhythm: “boots and pants and boots and pants and boots and pants.” What a find — right up there with “yarling“!
6 Responses to Boots-and-pants bands
Is “boots and pants and boots and pants and boots and pants.” a relative of “shave and a haircut two bits?” and does anybody know any other neat verbal aides memoire to sum up music rhythms? Or is that another topic entirely?
Indian music has the “taki gamala” system, which provides mnemonics for complicated time signatures by breaking them down into two- and three-beat portions. So a seven-beat pattern would be gamala taki taki.
I feel a digression into doo-wop nonsense lyrics coming on. No, I’ll save it for another day and just toddle off to bed with the timeless sentiment once so eleoquently expressed by Sly Stone – Boom-laka-laka-laka, Boom-laka-laka-laka.
Actually, as i was heading for bed I suddenly remembered that almost every bassline on The Byrds Sweetheart Of The Rodeo can be sung to the tune of “Mama’s Little Baby loves Shortnin’ Shortnin’”
Is that relevant?
And A WOP BOP A LOO BOP A BOP BAM BOOM to you, good sir.
This conversation has obviously come at a propitious moment. My friend John and I attended a singing picnic yesterday (a local amateur choir sang African chants and old folk songs etc etc in a church and we all took food along, joined in the singing and had a picnic indoors) and decided we’d like to do a similar afternoon but based on doo-wop songs, or at least songs with interesting back-up vocals. The choir mistress can do the arrangements.
At the moment it looks like Blue Moon (Marcels-style)is on the set list along with Martian Hop by The Ran-dells. We’ll do Runaround Sue because we already know the words and the chords, and now the task begins of filling the rest of the set.
I’ve obviously got a couple of fun weeks ahead listening to The Platters, Ink Spots, Mills Brothers, Danny & The Juniors and anybody else I can think of. Maybe I can even sneak in something off Rueben & The Jets…
Then there’s the rehearsals … well, it may never happen, but we’ll have fun singing some songs in the meanwhile.