29 - Weak And Powerless (A Perfect Circle)

Tilling my own grave to keep me level...

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Okay, I'm excited for this one. Weak and Powerless by A Perfect Circle, the lead single of their second album, Thirteenth Step. I remember when this came out, and uh God, there's so many things to say about this song. And there's a lot of clever stuff going on here. But just to start, this guitar is tuned down three half steps down. So it's in C sharp standard tuning, okay? Now it starts off with a really, really nice bass riff. So something to understand musically about this bass riff is that it starts in a four chord. So it doesn't start guys, I'm just gonna call this E. Okay, I'm calling this E minor, even though it's actually C sharp. Everything is everything what I say is down a step and a half. A full step and a half, so three half steps. So E minor, so so the bass riff doesn't start on the minor one chord, it starts on the four chord, gives it a nice lift, so it's like and the hi hat Josh Fries is incredible in this song, but this it's so nice because yeah, starts on the four chord, but the that's the fifth of so it's got that nice fifth, kind of holy, like grand sound. But in the context of the chord, it's the the ninth, so it just sounds sounds mystical too, like and then it goes to the sixth, uh so now that fifth becomes the major seventh, so it sounds like dreamy. So we got like mystical and dreamy, but both in really nice intervals from the key of the song. Again, that's the root, but it starts on the four, and then it goes to the sixth. That's the four. And then like Billy's doing really, really, really nice acoustic work in this song. Guitar, bass, drums are incredible in the vocals. Let's keep going. So that's the intro, right? So it's the four to the six to the four to the six to the four, and then tk tillin my own great to kill me level. The verse enters the one chord, the minor one chord, but they obviously they don't just go they make a riff out of it, and they they're in Phrygian. Phrygian is just the regular minor scale, but the second, the second is flattened to common in flamenco music, you get the flat second, so that's right. A lot of tool does that. A lot of like heavy bands got use that flat second. I love that's such a good theme of the song. Love that. Just pentatonic. Seventh to root, fourth to fifth, third to root. Oh! And another clever thing going on here that Billy's doing on the guitar is he does root, octave root. That top note, he's always changing it. So it's like root, octave root, root, fifth root, root. I don't know the exact like order of everything. He like He's always changing it, it's cool, and then So now he does the minor third, so he just went down the minor try it. He went, and then he went so octave to fifth and then to minor third. And then he goes back to the fifth, but the bass is going. So together it's like like it makes a really nice power chord just in that fourth time. And then Maynard, of course, his vocal melody. He's like, Tellin' my own grave to keep me level. That's just the minor skill starting on the fifth. And then jam another dragon down the hole. I just love that jump. It's just so Maynard. And the song's about addiction, right? It's early on in the song, like the album opens with the package, like, give me what's mine, and then we can pound so we can power this over you, over the drug. And I love like this is the poetic way he's talking about this. Like, tillin' my own grave to keep me level. Right? Jam another dragon down the hole. Dig into the rhythm of the echo of a solitary siren, one that pushes me along and leaves me so desperate. So right there, just like the intro, it goes to the four chord, okay? Right? So it's like instead of going desperate, right? It's desperate. So that's the four to the six, just like the intro, not the verse, right? Re And I love how he's singing the He's singing the ninth of that, so it's making like a like a C9. It's like the perfect interval, like magical. So manard. Revenus. There's that minor, that's the minor one. Revenus. That's a seven, okay? So we can power you goes back to the minor one. Okay, so the chord progression of the choruses four, six, root, seven. Now Billy's guitar part is so good. So under the it's and then uh like, oh my god, it's so beautiful. And I think it's an acoustic guitar and an electric guitar blending blended together to get that sound. It's just like it's essentially pentatonics, but the best part is when it goes and every tail end, because you know there's four tail ends in that chorus, it's always different, but it always starts with right, and then second time, best one. Ah and then that's beautiful too, and then fourth time, goddamn, like such a nice, it's like compact with beauty, that chorus. Now we move on to the second verse, but uh just right away I want to say that every chorus is different. Uh they add like a different chord, like it's such it's so clever. So it's like and then I love that. Again, I don't know the order of everything. They're always changing it. The bass in that section is crazy. The bass is going like it's like no, it's like it's doing this crazy cool rhythm. And what Josh Freese is doing, I'm not a drummer, so I can't really describe what he's doing, but it's just like so much like kick drum, and it's like it's so it's such a creative drum part. I love what he's doing throughout the song, especially in the verses. Um but I love how this verse is super short, just like someone feed the monkey while I dig in search of China white as Dracula as I approach the bottom. Like someone feed the monkey while I dig in search of China White. China white is like an expression for heroin, I believe. Someone feed the monkey while I dig in search of China white as Dracula as I approach the bottom. Love that play on words there. Desperate. Really nice harmony there, because it's like he's going like and then that makes the major third when you sing the ninth and the seventh. Beautiful desper, but it's over the sixth chord, so it's like desperate. Woo! And then finally here's the one chord. Ramana. So we he extends the weak. So we weaken. And then right here, powerless instead of going to the root there, powerless, he goes powerless. The relative major. Oh, so it's like, so it's like, so it's like gorgeous powerless over you. And remember. That's the sound of a perfect fifth. That's like Star Wars, right? Very grandiose. Love that. Just zero, two, four, open zeros for the rest. Now, right here, the bass goes. The four. Like the four is like a key interval, a key chord in the song, right? This is the root and the bass. And then it goes to the six. The band joins in on the six. And Billy's playing like C like C add nine. And then it goes back to the four, but Billy's doing a really nice chord. And then back to the six. But like obviously, like doing some really cool voicings. So that part is just four to six, four, just like the intro. Right? So it's like one more time. Four. I don't know that exact rhythm. Six. Back to the four. And then six. Now this little angel go that's just root to seven. Little angel go again.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

Some other day.

SPEAKER_02 11:53

It's so final. You go. I love minor one to seven.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Just that's all you need. That's the same thing. It's like come as you are, as you were, as I won't. Or be de beat, be defeated. Oh I wants to be free, right?

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Come again some other day. So epic. The devil has my ear today. I'm gonna hear a word you say. Now, another thing I want to say about the song is that it's in uh because I it's hard to remember every single detail, but uh it's essentially in 12-4. Or you could say, you know, four measures of three. Uh but it kind of feels like it's like in 12-4, like Tillin' my own grave to keep me level. Jamin, the dragon down a hole. Dig into the rhythm, right? Rhythm! So it's in 12-4 or 3-4. Whatever you however you want to label it. But I digress. In the interlude, Maynard is outlining the minor scale.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Little angel, go away. Come again some other day. The devil has my ear today.

SPEAKER_02 13:14

I'll never hear a word you say. Like, it's just a minor. Very minor and dark over this epic kind of chord progression. Go away, come again some other day. And Billy with his part, he's like, he's doing this gorgeous chord. So he's like, look how he's outlining the minor one to seven, right? Just something like that. It's really, really a cool texture. Promised I would find a little solace and some peace of mind, whatever, just as long as I don't feel so desperate. Instead of going desperate, it's the four chord, so it just like feels so much cooler. I feel so desperate. Here's the third. Here's the three instead of the root three. Our leg desperate. So right here it goes, so to in that changeover, right? The despair in the repeat of the chorus, he's like here like I love that.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

So right here, so again, powerless.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

You see what they do there? They held that six for the only time in the whole song. It's like such a nugget.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

So again, powerless to the three to the seven.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

Over you're you. Back to like the intro, right? But Billy's doing this gorgeous, like and then it ends on the sixth. Again, instead of ending on like it's not that final, it's more like it's like darker. It's more complicated than that, right? It's heavier. But that's such an intense moment when it's like so week. He's like, he's hitting the major seventh of that. We can power. It's like so beautiful when you strip it down, right? Obviously, it's like a gorgeous song, but like when you just bring it down to an acoustic and like you really see the harmony and the melody of everything, and like you break down the arrangement. Like, it's so nice. And I'm not even talking about the drums, like, and I'm not talking that much about the bass, but it's like it's compact. Like the song is not very long, it's very to the point. It's perfectly structured and like fleshed out. I had a lot of fun learning how to play this song and really like internalizing it, listening to it a bunch as I'm like walking around. And I appreciate you tuning in. If you'd like to work together on a music production level, I have this program called Own Your Sound where we work together to really define and shape your sound and like your artistic voice, and we produce your songs together. So just check out learn.dambarracuda.com slash own your sound if you're interested in that. Otherwise, I'll see you guys in the next episode. Thanks a lot for watching.