Wednesday, May 22, 2013

The Knickerbockers - "Lies" (1965)

What an incredible patchwork this song is! It's two minutes and forty-six seconds long and just constantly moving, maneuvering its way through eleven sections. Must have been a challenge to memorize!

The structure looks like this:

A - Verse #1
A - Verse #2
B - Chorus #1
C - Bridge
A - Verse #3
B - Chorus #2
A' - Solo (over verse chord progression)
B - Chorus #1 (repeat)
C - Bridge (repeat)
A - Verse #3 (repeat)
B - Chorus #2 (repeat, plus coda)

Of course, the verse structure is very short, with only two rhyming lines. The chorus is, too, but it's comprised of two distinct parts (the "Some day I'm gonna be happy" part and the "Lies, lies/Breakin' my heart" part). Perhaps the most remarkable thing is that it's heard four times over the course of the song, alternating between two different sets of words.

The bridge is also remarkable for its catchiness, which is on par with both the verse and the chorus. Catchy enough, in fact, that it's also heard twice in its entirety, sandwiched in between everything else.

1 comment:

  1. Just listened to this version of the alternate backing track w/out vocals:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_LN_SVVBjQ

    Man, it would have been hard to memorize based upon how you broke it down. Great work Tim.

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