24 - You Only Live Once (The Strokes)

I can't see the sunshine! Gorgeous track off the Strokes' third album. Check out the beautifully chords and melodies at play here. Special shoutout to my great friend Daniel Sanders for this one! Happy birthday dude. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Alright, let's talk about You Only Live Once by the Strokes. Now, I gotta shout out my great friend Daniel Sanders, who got me more into this band. I've always known this song and Reptilia and Last Night and Someday, but um he really like showed me like how awesome the strokes are, and Julian's vocal melodies are insane. And I love the guitar interplay between Nick and Albert Hammond Jr. Nikolai's bass work is awesome, he has great bass lines, and then Fab on the drums. I didn't know he dated Drew Barrymore. That's pretty cool. And uh they're just like a very like cohesive unit, and like they're very clean with their arrangements and very smart, a bit classical. And I know like in the first few albums, uh I think Julian like wrote everything, like including the guitar solos, apparently. If you know more facts, drop them in the comments. I'd like to learn more. Um but this song is awesome, it's so emotional. Let's break into the musicality. It's in the Kia B major, and it's it feels like really heavy and emotional because it spends a lot of time on the four chord, and I love that. So it's like that's one of the guitar parts, that's like the lead part, right? And that's just outlining that's like E, but it's like E6. So creative, like they're very smart. Nick and Albert Hammond Jr. are very smart with like what the guitars are doing, you know, like they they stay away from each other, but like maybe one of those a little bit higher, one of them is a little bit lower, but it's very clean and like kind of geometric and like angular. It's very cool. So it's like that's the four chord da da da da da da da da. So that is four chord again, and then quick one chord is the root, this is the key of the song. Five chord, and I know I'm overthinking this, um, but I love how like it's called You Only Live Once, and like the home key chord is so short-lived. Like, I don't think that was on purpose, but I just something that's kind of stuff like I'd notice. Some people think I'm always right. Others are quiet and tight. One five and it goes from the five to the four, so it's like four, one, five, right? Really nice. Um, and his melody. So he's landing on C sharp, which is the six of E. So when you play E major, the six is not in that key. Sorry, it's not in that chord, but when he sings it, it like adds some sophistication, it's kind of like a jazzy inflection. Some people think they're always bright, really nice. Oh, there's a quiet and uptight. Same thing here. Sorry. He's singing C sharp over that home bass chord, and that is the ninth, or it and it makes like a B sus 2. The second and the ninth are the same thing, they're just an octave apart. Like, if you weren't creative like Julian, and you were just doing like a simple melody that was like diatonic to the exact chords that you're playing, you'd be like, Some people think they're always right, others are quiet and uptight, or others are quiet and uptight. Right? But he goes, Some people think they're always right. Really nice. And I love this. Others, they seem so very nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice. That's so cool. Like it's so creative to go nice nice nice nice nice nice. I would never think to do that. Inside they might feel sad and wrong. I can't get enough of that suspended too. Sad and wrong. Oh, 29 different attributes. He's also very clever with his lyrics, and only seven that you like. Oh, 20 20, uh 20 ways to see the world. Oh, or 20 ways to start a fight. Okay, now uh don't, don't, don't, get up! Now, now begins the B section. It's the pre-chorus and the chorus have they have the same chord progression. So the pre-chorus and the chorus have the same exact chord progression. There's only two chord progressions in the song. As you know, the first one is four. Okay, so it's four, one, five, and then when it goes, uh don't don't don't get up. This is half of it, and then that's it. It this those it's those two like lines right there. C sharp minor E G sharp minor F sharp B D sharp F sharp E okay. It's so colorful. But if you were to just simplify it, it would just be But they're just doing like passing chords, but it's so colorful, and we got if you just want to keep it simple, like they're just doing the minor two chord to the five, and they go from the one four, but it's such a nice pre-course.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

I can see the sunshine, I'll be waiting for you, baby. Like I love that.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

I can see the sunshine, I'll be waiting for you, baby, cause I'm through. And now is the chorus. They like blend so seamlessly together, like the pre-chorus and the chorus, same chord progression.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

Sit me down shut me up. I'll calm down and I'll get along with you.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Now that four chord, and I'll and I'll get along with you. Now it lands on the four chord, right? And that's like the first chord of the verse now, verse two. So it's like a perfect, like seamless transition. But we gotta talk about the lead guitar part. I believe Nick plays it. It's so nice, so it goes it's like it's so strokey, it's like classical, right? Like it stands on its own. And then he goes, and then the second verse starts. It's so beautiful, it's like a flower.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

It's like shut me down!

SPEAKER_01 7:23

And his vocals are just blossoming.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Shut me up!

SPEAKER_01 7:28

I love when he go such a gorgeous way to say shut me up. Shut me up, oh calm down, and I'll get along with you. And then we progress to the second verse. Oh, men don't notice what they got.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

Women think of that a lot. A thousand ways to please your man. Oh, not even one requires a plan. I know.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

A thousand ways to please your man, not even one requires a plan. Countless odd religions, too. It doesn't matter which you choose. Oh, one stubborn way to turn your back. This I've tried and now refuse. Oh don't, don't, don't, get up when he goes ch ch ch he's like mimicking the hi-hat in that moment. It's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

I can't see the sunshine.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Great line. I'll be waiting for you, baby.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Sit me down So great.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

It's so classical, it's gorgeous. And then the outro is just the tonic, it's just B major. The one chord. Shut me up Shut me up uh uh uh uh like that's just like B major and then And I'll get along with you Gorgeous vocal notes like that is so nice That's just B major and then That's B major seven Dreamy and then B six he's singing the major six and now get along with you very emotional like you really see the elements at play that really contribute to just like the heaviness of the song. I love uh Julian, I love the compression on Julian's vocals all the time, like like he has a lower register, like more mid mid frequency, right? He's not like a high tenor, right? He can sing some of those notes sometimes, but like he has like generally like singing like more like in the mid-range. In the mix, you really gotta be smart with your decisions and have things kind of get out of the way of the vocal. So everything's very like well planned out so Julian's vocal doesn't clash with like the mid-range of the guitar. It's like there's a lot there's a lot of like high guitar work going on in the strokes too to to make way for Julian's voice. And uh yeah, it's just like very well crafted. Hope you enjoyed this episode, guys. If you would like some free ear training, just check out learn.dambericuda.com slash practice and uh you can get uh my free practice uh audio practice guide for understanding intervals and rhythm and chords. Thanks again, I'll see you in the next episode.