Backdated, archival post
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link to original on tumblr]
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About two weeks ago, I said I would write a post about the bass figure in "I Saw Her Standing There" and how it compares with that in Chuck Berry's "I'm Talking about You." This is that post.
In the verses of "I'm Talking about You," there's just the same measure repeated over and over (played a total of eight times):
During the choruses, there's the same phrase, but it's also raised a fourth (so it begins on an F) and then raised an-other whole step (so it's a fifth higher than the initial phrase and begins on a G). I wrote out the whole notation last month; it can be found
here.
McCartney uses this same phrase. There're eight eighth notes where the first two are the tonic note, the second pair is the note a third above the tonic and then the tonic, the third pair is a note a fifth above the tonic and then the tonic, and the fourth pair is the note a fourth above the tonic and then the note a half-step below that (a third above the tonic). Where Berry's figure is based on the C note throughout the verse, McCartney changes a lot, raising or lowering the figure, but keeping those same intervals. Here's the first verse of "I Saw Her Standing There" (the second and fourth are identical, and the third has only a minor difference):
There are two measures based on an E, one on an A, back to E for three measures, down to B for two, a section of four measures of quarter notes that's unrelated to Berry's figure, then back to that figure based on E for one measure, down to B for an-other, and then up to E again.
The same figure is also in the bridge (although based only an A and B notes), but I won't get into that. All of that is probably a prolix description anyway. The point, though, is that the figures are the same, just in different keys ("I'm Talking about You" is in C major; "I Saw Her Standing There" is in E major). I also think it's interesting that while the figure is raised or lowered, the foundational notes for the phrase are the tonic, subdominant, and dominant notes (C, F, and G in C major; E, A, and B in E major).
Here's Berry's figure again:
And McCartney's from the initial measure of "I Saw Her Standing There":
