FLIP SIDE BEATLES: presentations, books, musical analysis
  • The Beatles Minute
  • Calendar
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
    • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Blogs
    • Beatles Blog
    • Pop Music Blog
    • Star Wars Blog
    • Origami Blog
    • Shakespeare Blog
  • Contact

An Analysis of 'Out on the Tiles'

3/15/2018

0 Comments

 
Form: deceptive AABA/compound simple (AA'Bx2)

0:00-0:06 Introduction
   0:00    (d) Tag B (1)
    0:03    (c) Tag A (1)

0:06-0:25 (A) Verse 1
    0:06    (a) “As I walk...” (2)
    0:11    (a) “And a train...” (2)
    0:16  (a') “There is no doubt...” (4*)

0:25-0:44 (A') Verse 2
    0:25    (a) “Just a simple guy...” (2)
    0:30    (a) “A ray of sunshine...” (2)
    0:35    (a'') “There's nothing more...” (4*)

0:44-1:22 (B) Chorus 1
    0:44    (b) “All I need...” (2)
    0:49    (b) “All you gotta give...” (2)
    0:55    (c) Tag A (1)
    0:57    (b) “All I need...” (2)
    1:04    (b) “All you gotta give...” (2)
    1:08    (c) Tag A (1)
    1:11    (d) Tag B (1)
    1:13    (c) Tag A (1)
    1:16    (d) Tag B (1)
    1:19    (c) Tag A (1)

1:22-1:41 (A) Verse 3
    1:22    (a) “I'm so glad...” (2)
    1:27    (a) “Got me a fine woman...” (2)
    1:32    (a') “One thing...” (4*)

1:41-2:00 (A') Verse 4
    1:41    (a) “Standing...” (2)
    1:46    (a) “People go...” (2)
    1:51    (a'') “Total disgrace...” (4*)

2:00-2:37 (B) Chorus 2
    2:00    (b) “All I need...” (2)
    2:05    (b) “All you gotta give...” (2)
    2:10    (c) Tag A (1)
    2:13    (b) “All I need...” (2)
    2:18    (b) “All you gotta give...” (2)
    2:23    (c) Tag A (1)
    2:26    (d) Tag B (1)
    2:29    (c) Tag A (1)
    2:32    (d) Tag B (1)
    2:34    (c) Tag A (1)

2:37-4:06 (C) Coda
    (e)    [2-bar riff] x17 (repeat & fade)

I'm gonna try something new here, with a PDF transcription to accompany this structural analysis:
out_on_the_tiles_analysis.pdf
File Size: 70 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


There's an objective analysis; now for my subjective opinions and critique.

While I really like this song – it's a total rocker – they could easily have done a lot more with it. I usually prefer economy, but in this case the song could have been twice as long and twice as good.

Led Zeppelin is wonderful at spinning out large-scale formal designs (with a duration of 7:24, the previous track on ​Led Zeppelin III, 'Since I've Been Loving You', is a good example), but with 'Tiles' they take take the easy way out. The raw material is strong, and it begs for a large-scale treatment. I could easily see it employing a series of tempo changes and modulations. The unison guitar/bass riffs in the verses cry out for exploratory development. And they could've used the (e) riff from the coda as a transition to a bridge in the middle, or they could use the tricky rhythms at the end of each verse to execute a metric modulation to 12/16 or 9/16 bridge (rather similar to what The Beatles did in 'I Me Mine'). There's so much that could be done with this song, but they didn't do much of anything with it. 'Tiles' has the potential to be an epic, like 'Loving You' or 'Stairway' or 'Kashmir', but that potential is never realized. And I'm just not sure why not...

They could have omitted one of the weaker songs from the album, like 'Friends' or 'Celebration Day' or 'That's the Way', to make room. Not only would that have made the song stronger, it would have made the album stronger, too.

Zep dropped the ball with this song. It's really good as is, but it could've been spectacular.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Aaron Krerowicz, pop music scholar

    An informal but highly analytic study of popular music.

    Archives

    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018

    Categories

    All
    AABA Form
    Alanis Morissette
    Ariana Grande
    Asymmetric Rhymes
    Augmented Sixths
    Bass Line
    Beatles
    Beck's Bolero
    Billy Joel
    Black Dog
    Bluegrass
    Bolero
    Bon Jovi
    Brian Hebert
    Bring It On Home
    Cheap Trick
    Chordal Accretion
    Christopher Doll
    Country
    Dazed And Confused
    Functional Harmony
    George Harrison
    Good Times Bad Times
    Half-diminished Sevenths
    Harmony
    Have A Cigar
    Here Comes The Sun
    Hexatonic Pole
    Houses Of The Holy (song)
    Howlin Wolf
    How Many More Times
    How Many More Years
    Interview
    James Jamerson
    Jeff Beck
    Jimmie Rodgers
    Jimmy Nash
    Jimmy Ruffin
    Kiss
    Led Zeppelin (album)
    Led Zeppelin (band)
    Led Zeppelin II (album)
    Led Zeppelin III (album)
    Led Zeppelin IV (album)
    Linkin Park
    Los Lonely Boys
    Lou Reed
    Luke Bryan
    Madonna
    Mandocello
    Metallica
    Meteora
    Meter
    Milli Vanilli
    Mode Mixture
    Modulation
    Muddy Waters
    Multifunctional Harmony
    Muse
    Neapolitan Chord
    Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
    Organic Development
    Out On The Tiles
    Physical Graffiti
    Picardy Third
    Pink Floyd
    Pivot Chord
    Plagiarism
    Rhythmic Displacement
    Rock N Roll Animal
    Secondary Diminished
    Shapes Of Things
    Smokestack Lightning
    Something
    Sour Girl
    Stairway To Heaven
    Steve Marriott
    Stone Temple Pilots
    Structure
    Sweet Jane
    The Hunter
    The Small Faces
    The T-Bones
    Tom Waits
    Tragedy
    Welcome To The Machine
    What Becoems Of The Brokenhearted
    When The Levee Breaks
    Whole Lotta Love
    Willie Dixon
    Wish You Were Here

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • The Beatles Minute
  • Calendar
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
    • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Blogs
    • Beatles Blog
    • Pop Music Blog
    • Star Wars Blog
    • Origami Blog
    • Shakespeare Blog
  • Contact