Written by Josh Homme and Mark Lanegan.
Produced by Josh Homme and Eric Valentine.
The first single and the second track from their third album, Songs for the Deaf released in 2002.
| Intro | 10 bars |
| Verse | 40 bars |
| Chorus | 16 bars |
| Post Chorus | 4 bars |
| Verse | 40 bars |
| Chorus | 16 bars |
| Bridge | 11 bars |
| Breakdown | 4 bars |
| Band solo | 12 bars |
| Verse | 24 bars |
| Outro | 2 bars |
The structure of this song isn’t anything mind-blowing, it is quite simple. This is what makes it quite good, as you never really get bored of the song or any part of it. The verses are not the exact same throughout the whole 40 bars of it, there are changes and the riff returns in some parts, so even though it is a big chunk of the song, it is still intersting enough. The only part of the song that can feel a bit dragged on, is the second verse, however with the changes in backing vocals, this verse feels a bit different to the first. There is only two choruses, which is quite uncommon for a rock song as the chorus is usually the hook of the song. This song’s hook is actually the guitar riff that is played sporadically throughout the track, this isn’t unheard of in rock music, but it gives the track another unique element. The shortened verse at the end is also a nice touch, as if it was a normal length verse it would feel too long. Also it is only bass and vocals in the first 8 bars of the last verse, which coming from the band solo is a nice dynamic change.
The panning on this track is quite simple, the drums are laid out like a drum kit is, and with the cymbals being recorded seperately you can really hear where the hi hat is in the panning mix. The interesting part about this is the backing vocals that are in the 2nd verse, there are two different tracks of the vocals that play in both sides of the stereo mix. The guitar, in the verse, sounds like it is played through the whole of the stereo mix. It may sound like this due to the guitar track being replicated twice or three times and then panning these seperate tracks of the same guitar to the left, middle and right. This makes sense as there is only one guitar part in most of the song, and a trick producers use to make something more powerful/louder is replicating the track and playing it twice or more. This would explain how it sounds like it is all over the stereo mix, as well as how one guitar part sounds so powerful. In the chorus, when the guitar riff is being played, each note that’s played switches the side that it is panned to. This makes it feel even more jumpy and frantic.
Instrumentation:
Lead Vocal
Backing vocal
Electric guitar
Bass guitar (electric)
Drum kit
Strings
Brass
This song is in C minor and the chords are not diatonic. The tempo of this song is around 175 bpm and is in 4/4 for the majority of the track. This song stays in C minor for its duration.
The chord structure in the verse is Cm, G, B. This is a modulation, as B sharp is in C minor, not B, so the guitar goes out of key for this note. I , V, modulated vii. The modulated seventh leads into the first chord nicely, as it plays similar notes in both chords. It is quite an uncommon chord progression. Every time there is singing, the song is harmony based however when there is no vocals the riff plays.
The lead vocal melody is slow compared to the rest of the instruments. As the instruments are playing on every beat, however the vocal melody is being slowly sung and it can feel as if he is dragging his words out. This makes the vocal stand out as it is doing something completely different to the rest of the song.
The harmonic structure of the verse goes, c for 8 bars, g for 2, b for 2, then playing the riff which is in c for 4 bars. This is played twice, then to lead into the chorus, it plays the g for 2 bars, b for 2 bars and then the riff in c for 4 bars. It’s is quite a simple harmony with there only being 3 notes, however the structure of the harmony is quite uncommon.
Some of the backing vocals that are present in the verse are whispered, these vocals just accompany the lead vocal and sing the same thing as them, which is quite unique and it gives the song an eerie feeling. The backing vocals are the only changes between verse 1 and verse 2. In verse 1, there is only the whispered backing vocals, which start at the second half of the verse. Then in verse 2 there is a completely different kind of backing vocal. Which sings a different melody completely to the lead. These vocals come in at the start of the verse, and they sing the same vocal harmony as the lead vocals, he is singing “ohhh” on beat 1 of most bars in this verse. The whispered backing vocals are also present in the second half of verse 2, however are less frequent. Even though it is only a small change, it is enough to make this verse feel new and different enough from verse 1.
The harmonic structure in the chorus is 2 bars of playing a riff which plays a different note every beat, and then 2 bars of playing the G chord. This is repeated four times. The guitar riffs and the drum fills work really well together as they are accenting the same beats. The guitar riff is the same the first two times, however the 2nd two it plays the same riff just different notes. The riff isn’t diatonic, as the guitar jumps between playing notes in the C minor scale and note that aren’t. This helps gives it the frantic and jumpy feeling that it has, as it is jumping between notes every beat, as well as jumping in and out of the key. In the 2nd bar of the riff, another guitar starts playing and this guitar gets louder in the mix as the chorus goes on so it becomes more noticeable to the listener, which gives the chorus some dynamic structure and gives it a thicker texture as it goes along, and keeps it interesting.
The chorus vocal melody and the guitar riff work together nicely. As sometimes they are in unison and the same notes are being sung and played, however sometimes it’s different. As the riffs are different, this chorus part does not get repetitive as the harmonies vocals and guitar work together differently each time. As well as the drum fills being different on the four repeats.
In the bridge part of the song, the time signature changes. There are 3 bars of 4/4, then a bar of 6/4, 3 more bars in 4/4 then 4 bars in 6/4, then the song returns to 4/4. This could be played in 4/4 and the band are just playing triplets, however from counting this out the time signature change seems correct. I couldn’t find any information to help with my discovery.
I have labelled this part of the song the band solo. In most songs, it is usually just one instrument that solos at one time. For example a drum solo, or a guitar solo. However in this solo, both the lead guitar, drums and the bass guitar are playing a solo. This is usually very difficult to pull off, which is why you don’t hear it very often. The rhythm guitar is just strumming the chords, in unison with the orchestral part which is very hidden in the mix. It includes brass and strings which accompany and build up with the guitar and the drums. These instruments that are just playing the chords to accompany the other instruments, really helps build the texture of this solo, and makes it so the other instruments can do what they want.
This song isn’t the most flashy with its production, as it has a very dry and raw sound. Most modern songs use quite a lot of vocal effects, such as autotune and other effects completely changing the sound of one’s voice. However the vocals on this track sound very dry, not many effects have been used. This links in to the genre of this song. It is a rock song, and usually rock will have a cleaner and more natural sounding vocal than other genres such as pop and R&B. However it is even more genre specific, as this genre is called desert rock, or stoner rock, it is a genre to come out of California (where there is a desert) and was pioneered by Josh Homme. Kyuss and Queens of the Stone age are the two most successful bands of the genre, and Josh Homme is in both of them. The sound they were trying to get was to move away from the glam rock and rock of the eighties, combine metal with rock and create a sound unique to the desert. This meant very dry production as it had to sound acoustic and “real”. This is a reason why his vocals have very little effects on them. However after the solo, when there is just the bass guitar and the vocals there is some kind of filter or effect on his voice for the lyric “Heaven smiles above me”.
All of the guitars have distortion on them, including the bass. Which is very common in rock music, as distortion is a common effect used in the genre. Especially in desert rock, practically all of the songs have distortion in them.
As it is a modern recording with modern technology, there is compression on this track. Compression makes the levels of the track balanced out. You can hear this on every instrument as there isn’t dips and troughs in the volume, this is also due to modern mastering which has been used here. However it is most notable on the snare drum and the vocals. As when you are signing, the volume of your singing goes up and down depending on how you are signing, compression makes it so it doesn’t pop out to the listener as really quiet or really loud. With the drums, no drummer can hit the drums the exact same volume everytime, however on this recording that’s what it sounds like, this is due to compression making them sound the same volume throughout. The drums also give off a very dry sound, which means there isn’t much if any reverb used on them.
As this song was made in 2002, there are modern recording techniques in play. This song was recorded digitally and in multi track. As well as modern mixing and mastering, this gives it the clear sound where all the instruments sound good and everything can be heard clearly or as intended. The drums were also recorded a different way, with the cymbals being recorded at a different time to the drum kit. This meant putting pads instead of drums when recording the cymbals, or vice versa. This is the key to the amazing drum sound of this song, as the cymbals are treat as their own instrument in the song and not as part of the drum kit. This makes the rest of the drum kit sound amazing as there is no cymbal spill into the other drum mics.
The guitar is played in the mid range in most parts of the song, so there isn’t many high or low frequencies coming from the guitar. This is played on the middle of the guitar. This means that the low end (bass drum and bass guitar) and the high end (cymbals )can stand out more.
Rick Beato (2019) YouTube Available at: https://youtu.be/kJvQixKHD4Q?si=e_4OjB-PpANEibl5 (Accessed 22nd October 2023)
Stanley C (2020) Medium Available at: https://medium.com/1ntune/getting-to-know-genres-desert-rock-798f45d5cce6 (Accessed 1st November 2023)
Dan Farrant (2023) Hello Music Theory Available at: https://hellomusictheory.com/learn/c-minor-scale/ (Accessed 19th October 2023)
ledzep426. (2020) Ultimate Guitar Available at:https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/queens-of-the-stone-age/no-one-knows-chords-1702063 (Accessed 19th October 2023)