Saturday 23 April 2011

A-Z blogging challenge "T" - Thru the Eyes of Ruby (anatomy of)



Today I decided to do a very crazy and obsessive thing: lay out the anatomy of my favourite song of all time, Trisha-style! I am not musically trained, beyond training myself and beyond the piano lessons I did as a child. But this is my interpretation of the anatomy of Thru the Eyes of Ruby, my favourite song from my favourite album by my favourite band of all time (the Smashing Pumpkins if you hadn't picked up on that already from previous blog entries :D).

So...without further ado...!

Intro to this song

"Thru the Eyes of Ruby" is a 7.5 minute epic wonder on the double album the Pumpkins released back in...1995. I was 15. OMG. Anyway, this song is from the second disc, which is known as Twilight to Starlight (the first disc is known as Dusk to Dawn), and for me it really epitomises all that is awesome about not only this album but this band in general. The song has something for almost everyone (I say almost because it has nothing for techno bunnies or fans of extreme death metal :D). Anyway...here's a little breakdown of why I love every single second of this song from 0:00 seconds to 7:38 seconds.

Song breakdown, Trisha style

0:00-0:07 - piano intro
0:07-0:14 - electric guitar intro (lead and rhythm)
0:14-0:21 - drums kick in for build up of intro
0:21-0:35 - crescendo of intro (incl. guitar solo)
0:35-0:51 - quiet verse, bass very noticeable
0:51-1:18 - quiet verse lyrics begin: "wrap me up in always…"
1:18-1:29 - pre-chorus 1: "breathing underwater…and living under glass"
1:29-1:50 - quiet chorus 1: "and if you spin your love around…"
1:50-1:57 - pre-loud verse 1: "…dreams"
1:57-2:13 - pre-loud verse 2: rock sound - lead guitar part
2:13-2:22 - loud verse: "I believe in never…"
2:22-2:25 - drums take to the fore! First of the "drum fills"

2:38-2:57 - post-verse crescendo; pre-lead guitar parts are alternated with lyrics: "and with this ring I wed thee true…"
2:57-3:07 - bridge 1/pre-chorus 2: "…dead…but no one's asking for the truth"
3:07-3:27 - loud chorus 1: "if you spin your love around…" with dominating lead guitar parts in the background
3:27-4:09 - bridge 2: bass dominant; soft drumming; "to the revelations of fresh-faced youth…"
4:05-4:09 dramatic ending of bridge 2, build up of drums, vocals

4:09-4:35 - loud chorus 2: "your strength is my weakness, your weakness my hate…"
4:35-5:28 - bridge 3, series of drum fills and dominant lead guitar
4:48-5:02 - quiet vocals: "the night has come to hold us young…"
4:55-5:01 - drum cymbals to lead up to crescendo
5:01-5:02 - drums to precede loud vocals
5:02-5:28 - loud vocals: "the night has come to hold us young" - SONG CRESCENDO
5:28- beginning of vocal crescendo: "…young!"

5:28- - bridge 3 outro, post-bridge crescendos
5:30-5:35 - lead guitar crescendo

5:40-5:54 - song outro 1; rich bass, electric guitar still dominant
5:54-6:54 - electric guitar fuzz cuts out, bass very dominant
6:54-7:38 - song outro 2; slide-steel guitar, bass and acoustic guitar outro, fading in as song outro 1 fades out


All lyrics © Billy Corgan, 1995

10 comments:

  1. I often plat "tonite, tonite" whenever I pick up a guitar, but I'm not that familier with this one. After your loving description, I had to bust it out, and it is a clever, versetile song. I miss that grungy guitat tone...

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  2. Cool! I have never seen a song broken down like this.

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  3. This is way over my head!! Music is like another language, one that I don't speak.

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  4. For a none musician this is amazing. I've never seen a song broken down and I've never heard this song. Good writing for the lyrics.

    Nice to meet you. Thanks for liking my book trailer.
    Nancy
    N. R. Williams, The Treasures of Carmelidrium.

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  5. hey all!

    I'd had this in mind since near the start of the A-Z challenge...pretty much the only entry I had planned, except for "G" :D But yeah I've never done it before either. I've always thought this song was super intricate and had so many parts to it, with never a repeat of any segment really. Even the verses were each done differently.

    Anyway, thanks everyone for stopping by!

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  6. My Dad has always said Smashing Pumpkins is his favorite rock band even though he's only heard one album. I don't think I've ever seen someone break down the anatomy of a song, and I've definitely never seen it in Trisha style. ;) I'll have to check this song out!

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  7. Hey Trisha, you have proved that music is a language, a beautiful language. You are very clever to have deconstructed this song. Love it.

    Denise<3

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  8. That was pretty amazing...my husband loves stuff like this:)

    http://www.doreenmcgettigan.com

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  9. This was like reading a play, the way it worked itself out. Cool post!

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  10. @Madeline, he should listen to more albums :D They are all quite different!

    @L'Aussie - thanks :D Glad you enjoyed!

    @Doreen - cheers!

    @Lydia - I hadn't thought of that, but I see what you mean. hehe. cheers!

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Thanks for your words, me hearties! and don't forget to leave a link to your blog somewhere I can find it!