THE ALL TIME BEST “…2,3,4” in MUSIC

Pre-ramble

I doubt many people remember learning to count. Yet, I do recall being with my pre-school friend Pierceson as his little brother displayed his conquest over the fourth arabic numeral: He stumbled his way from one through three, then stared intently at his fourth finger, as though the answer was written there. Needless to say, a child learning to count cannot read either, but this is all beside the point. He remembered eventually, and I gave him a high-four.

Lucky for me, music doesn't often require counting much higher than that. Though a number of musicians can be called geniuses; most are likely average folks. I still suspect some have a brain made of the adhesive found on new credit cards, but even they can typically still keep the beat. Today I look to examine those rare occasions I could pull from memory where even the most experienced musicians had to say the beat out loud.

My brother provided excellent enthusiasm for the idea, and you should value his editing advice. I spoke to my father as well. From the depths of the 60s/70s music encyclopedia that also serves as his brain, he provided another one nearly immediately. Full disclosure on that one.

Given the rules, this means ABC by the Jackson 5 and The Comet's Rock Around the Clock are right out. Also, realize that this is typically a rock trope, and mostly a thing of the past.

I sifted through every bit of my own mind for a girl artist losing track of the beat, but came up empty handed(can’t find a girl, how totally foreign). I can thus definitively conclude they are just more gifted at counting time than men, not needing to vocalize it to keep track.

Lastly, I also accept that I am in for many sleepless night due to my failure to recall more punk songs. This is just punishment. I will mention one but I feel there's better out there.

If -anyone- happens to read this and thinks of another, please contact/comment and let me know!

The Junior Olympics

First we will witness the growth and evolution of the count in, though not in any sort of logical, chronological, or even meaningful order. However, if the second part of the list is a Chicken California with extra onion and side of Gourmet Fries from Charleys Philly Steaks, this first portion consists of Jimmy John’s. Still good, but not on the same level in my opinion. Keep in mind, this is critiquing the count-in, not the entire song.

To begin, some bands throwing their less skilled members under the bus with the ultimate vote of no confidence. Driven by a fear of tripping over the starting line, these artists cast aside any possibility of beginning their number out of sync. These first few provide a glimpse of the basic count-in to kick off the start of a song:

If playing guitar interests you, the chords in this song make great play-along practice for beginners. Listening a bit more critically than I did back then, something interesting struck me during this song.

The reverb following the count from left, to right, and then center reveals something. I think many people already understand that the hard panning on Beatles’ albums is due to limitations: Mixing consoles in that era only had L-C-R buttons to indicate where a sound came from. It takes no audio experience to hear that Good Lovin’ was mixed on such a console.

The idea that the intro was created just by pressing the buttons in time with the counting - possibly while first recorded - captured my attention. If in the 80s, I have to believe each person would be cordoned off in seperate sound booths to get a clean “two”, while seperate tracks on the console would be assigned to each individual word. Hearing these shifting echos, we can deduce they simply said it into one mic in the same room. At the same time, someone pushed L, R, and C. It almost feels lazy, but then again I’m possessed by a demonic spirit that insists on making the music creation process as convoluted as possible. Simpler times too, I guess.

*My mom does not have perfect pitch but has claimed some of their songs are not tuned to the standard A=440hz, and I believe her. That's my fact-checking for this article.

I include this because it essentially does the same thing: builds hype, and is in time with the song. Though it appears Mr. Jagger says 'one-two' on the fourth beat of the measure, they also say 'double eight' instead of 'eighty-eight' in England. Perhaps they have different rules for counting quavers across the pond. To sum up, this song rocks, and I beat up a lot of kids in wrestling practice to it. Would it still be a gas without the 'one-two'? Not a chance.

The Heavyweight Championships

These next few songs up the ante entirely by creating dynamic contrast. Often after the resolution of a large buildup or extended intro, the striking difference is offset by the throughline of the vocal count. Other times, it extends the energy through a break. While not my favorite songs in the world, I personally find the counts in these songs friggin’ awesome.

As for the song itself, I enjoy it more than most others in Springsteen's catalogue. I firmly believe saxophones served their duty to rock'n'roll in the 50s and were honorably discharged, but some people kept trying to drag them out of rock retirement. This song manages to pull it off, as well as a glockenspiel. There's a lot going on in this track.

(2:50) Amidst a repeated triumphant sounding section, the length of the repeat is suddenly cut in half - doubling the tension - while also moving up a half step! This astronomical level of tension ascension is too much for any artist to sustain*. Nowhere left to go, the band turns dark, performing synchronized chromatically descending steps towards their presumable doom. The penulitmate note stutters before sinking to the lowest tone, allowed to loudly declare itself before dying away. We fear the worst.

From the back of the mix, Bruce reassuringly yells "One-two-three-four" accompanied by a cymbal crash and snare drum smash. The mix that had just crumbled to pieces before our ears is again filled with life and fully-realized form. Well done, Boss. You're pretty good.

*Except umphrey's mcgee. MOTL.

Throughout the intro, the vocals creep up in volume as they slowly shift from the left speaker to the right. This crescendo recieves contributions from the drums and guitar before cutting to dead silence while the last line of the vocal rings out.

Your ear has been subconsiously guided towards the right speaker - the drums and guitar began there while the vocals expand in that direction. Subverting our expectations, the vocal comes popping back out of the left speaker with a fantastic count. Extra credit: they do it again later in the song. They understand its strength. Double points are awarded for omitting the "one" the second time, as I personally think it sounds cooler. The second is even a measure shorter, as they’ve used their anticipation trick already. They are not here to waste your time.

Of course, the explosive chorus is what makes it work. Believe me, a fantastic intro and cool drop makes not a great song. My backlog of unfinished EDM tracks demonstrate that quite well.

The only flaws keeping it out of the top spot are that it's slightly too loud(robbing me of my precious contrast), and he over-sings a bit. A shout, or a gritty vocal sound might have a cooler effect in my opinion. I have a total of zero billboard hits to my name though, so what do I know?

By coincidence, the next and final track on the list came out in the same year, 1967. Though some of the classic rock legends like Hendrix and Clapton were releasing music at this time, I’m of the opinion these songs were some of the most rockin’ tracks the 60s had to offer.

After Graham Nash left and formed CSNY(another of my brother's favorites), they explored other styles and had a hit with the country/blues-sounding Long Cool Woman In a Black Dress. (apparently they plagarized the crap out of a CCR song for that one, and only had to give up half the royalties! hmmm...)

Otherwise, I can't say I know much more about them past that. Bear in mind, I lived in the 80s for eight days and ten seconds(exactly) so don't take too much I say about the 60s and 70s with authority.

Hopefully between those four songs you will know one or two. With all that I mentioned above in mind, this song predicably has it’s own unique feel while still distinctly being the Hollies. On to the song:

We are greeted with an instrument that eludes identification, immediately setting an otherwordly tone. It is almost ear piercingly high pitched, but soft enough to not offend. The ethereal harmonium(the instrument) chirps its simple melody with soft chords layered beneath. Upon repeating its phrase, the vocals make their entrance. If you didn't pick up on the psychadelic feel yet, the voice is heavily processed to make sure you 'get it'.

Drenched in reverb, the voice and sounds combine to become trippy, dreamy, trance-like, and extremely effective. It feels as though we are glimpsing this man's distorted thoughts from inside his mind. Are we hearing the perception of the girl meant to be reading the letter? His last thought staggers on a tremelo effect that wobbles our brains before finally concluding into silence...

"2-3-4"

Writing a letter, to make you feel better

Sorry to hear that he left you that way

This splatters my mind to pieces. The slammin’ drums and visceral strums scatter my projectile brain bits to the wind. The in-your-face vocals fry any remaining grey matter to a crisp like a 1500-watt gas station microwave. The sections are so strongly contrasted that without the count, you may think your cat jostled the turntable. The count is just quiet enough to make the 'drop', if you will, that much of a *banger*. It knocks my socks off so hard they reach solar system escape velocity.

Though I mentioned the repeated counts and great buildup that Let's Live for Today offers, the effect created in the intro of Dear Eloise cannot be topped. The juxtaposition of the eerie prelude with the rockin' payoff could not be bridged more tastefully.

The Hollies presents me with a genuine, certifiable S-tier musical moment in my book. It's totally sick bro.

That concludes the list, except for the honorable mentions . Yet I have more to say regarding this song in particular. <Continue reading at this link> if you want to hear my ranting. Prepare for a massive tonal shift as I begin to deconstruct the things I dislike about this song in practice for further eviscerations of sonic abominations.

Honourable Mentions

These don't add creatively to the song but I figure I would mention them for any that are stimulated by these tiny details. These are also from musical memory and one from my old guitar teacher. With two of the three representing England, it only felt right to use the spelling honourable.

At the start of The Ocean by Led Zepplin, you can barely hear John Bonham saying:

"We've done four already but now we're steady and then they said, 'one, two, three, four'"

This is by far the least interesting part of the recording, as the music itself is totally kickass. Thanks to LR for pointing that one out to me back in the day.

She's Not There by The Zombies has the hidden remnants of what appears to be a real count for the take. It is very quiet, and I can't make up my mind on if it's intentionally left in or not. Surely the physical tape could just be cut closer, and if it's barely audible, why leave it in? Hmm.

R.O.C.K. in the USA by John Mellencamp(won’t do you wrong twice Johnny-boy) has one that is meant to sound authentic, yet seems… staged. I think they want me to believe this take 'just happened'. Maybe it did, and as I said I’m a fan of his music. My ears don't buy it, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. The count itself is mostly covered by the drummer tapping his sticks, but not hard to pick out.

Crack, boom, bang.

Thanks for reading!

psst. IIZ here. I have more to say about “Dear Eloise”….