From: awp@world.std.com (Alan W Pollack)
Subject: Notes on "I'm Down" (ID)
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 13:05:18 GMT

	                 ============================
	                || Notes on "I'm Down" (ID) ||
	                 ============================


KEY	G Major

METER	4/4

FORM	Verse -> Verse -> Break (guitar solo) -> Verse -> 
			        -- 3X --
		Break (organ solo) -> Refrain (fadeout)
		


GENERAL POINTS OF INTEREST


Style and Form
--------------
- Tucked away on the lonesome B-side of the "Help!" single was this spicy 
  little surprise.  It's raucous, rough-shod, and in context of where the 
  Beatles were "at" as of the time of its release, it's even a bit 
  self-consciously regressive.  We had heard Paul screaming several times 
  before, "repeatedly", but never quite as primally this; at least not in 
  an L&M original.

- On the basis of the raw material alone it's tempting to assume that
  they threw this song together in less than a single afternoon.  The
  musical style is derived from one of the archtypal cliche R&B idoms
  of the 50's; a semi-improvisatory rave-up in which the exact words
  don't quite matter as much as the angry or naughty tone they set.  You 
  might even say that this quality of sounding as though it's being made 
  up on the spot as they go along is an essential part of the aesthetic.

- That said, there's still an impressive amount of carefully staged
  and choreographed variety applied to both the arrangement and the
  blues form here.  Nothing earth shaking per se, but indicative
  nonetheless of the type of care the Boys would take in sweating
  the details, even for a quick one-off.


Melody and Harmony
------------------
- The song is extremely bluesy in both departments.  The tune is shot
  through with flat 3rds and 7ths, and the chords are strictly limited
  to I-IV-V.

- Even though the tone of the song is very similar to those Berry and
  Penniman numbers in which every section is based literally on the
  same chord progression and phrase lengths, it turns out that a couple of
  slightly different forms are used here in alternation.


Arrangement
-----------
- The first and last phrase of each verse feature sudden syncopated accents 
  that are followed by dramatic momentary rests in the backbeat.  This
  effect provides a bookend-like symmetry to the verse itself.  It
  also provides contrast with the rest of the bouncy texture that is 
  otherwise used throughout and lends a certain amount of higher-level
  periodic rhythm to the overall composition.

- The backing vocals sound more like the Stones (circa "Between The
  Buttons" or earler) than the Beatles.  Every time Paul sings the
  title phrase, someone (John ?) doubles him on the second word in
  a sustained mock baritone voice, while two other singers (one of
  which is definitely George and the other might even be Paul overdubbed)
  provide a mockingbird like commentary in response ("I'm really down/
  down on the ground").



SECTION-BY-SECTION WALKTHROUGH


Verse
-----
- The verse is a fourteen measure long distortion of what would otherwise
  be a straight 12-bar frame of the 4 + 8 model if only the middle phrase
  were not extended by a third repetition of the title phrase.  If you
  don't believe me, imagine what the section would sound like with
  measures 9 and 10 excised:


	|G	|-	|-	|-	|
G:	 I


	|C	|-	|G	|-	|C	|-	|
	 IV		 I		 IV


	|D  G	|-	|D  G	|-	|
	 V  I		 V  I


- A couple of Beatle-esque verse variants worth mentioning: Paulie starts
  off the song in the first verse entirely solo without even so much as a
  single bassnote or drumbeat to help clarify to the listener the location 
  of either key or downbeat; no matter how many times you've heard the
  song, it's an effect which retains the power to startle.  In the second 
  measure of the third verse he anticipates the syncopated downbeat with a 
  little chromatic riff of F-> F# -> G; or is that actually George on 
  lead guitar ?


Break
-----
- Both breaks are genuine 12-bar frames though they differ on a choice
  of chord in one measure (the first break sustains the D chord through
  measure 10):


	|G	|-	|-	|-	|
	 I


	|C	|-	|G	|-	|
	 IV		 V


	|D	|C	|G	|-	|
	 V	 IV	 I


- The first break features the lead guitar in foreground against a backing 
  of fast organ triplets that is punctuated by Paul's screaming.  The first
  phrase of this break carries through the dramatic pause concept heard
  in the verse sections.

- The second break features the organ itself in the foreground, its
  rapid-fire triplets now punctuated by some wild off-beat glissandi 
  and even more of Paul's screaming than heard before.  In *this* break 
  the dramatic pauses in the first phrase are dispensed with making the
  section feel quite a bit looser than the previous break; an effect which
  nicely sets up the jam-session feeling which prevails for the remainder
  of the procedings.


Refrain
-------
- The thrice-repeated refrain section is yet again a 12-bar frame in
  the same flavor as the second break diagrammed out above.

- The only differences among the three refrains are in the improvised
  scat singing and improvised lyrics heard in each section.  From one
  repeat to the next, the mood gets successively wilder and less strcutured 
  with the final round dengenerating into the likes of "baby, baby, baby"
  and "I'm down, down, down, down, down, down ..."; the latter strung out
  nicely at cross-rhythm to the underlying beat.

- Some kind of congas, bongos, or other kind of slapped drums sound as
  though either added new at this stage of the song, or else they were 
  perhaps there all along and only now mixed a bit more forward. 



SOME FINAL THOUGHTS


- As Lewisohn points out (and well he should), "I'm Down" was recorded
  on June 14, 1965 at the same session as "I've Just Seen A Face" and
  "Yesterday."  Whether by coincidence or by design, it was indeed a
  day on which Paul's prowess in the versatility department was
  fated to be displayed with astonishing prowess.  Given that our
  current subject was 2nd in the batting order that day, maybe I'm
  still amazed that, with only a 90 minute break for dinner and
  a smoke, he was ready after all that earlier shouting to come
  back in to tackle Ol' "Scrambled Eggs."  But that's Our Kid for you.

- Of course such historic perspective and appreciative revisionism is 
  a wonderful but curious thing.  Memories of my own reactions to hearing 
  "I'm Down" for the first time way back in the counselor's lounge 
  at camp in the summer of '65 are quite different.  There, in spite 
  of the reverent popularity accorded to the A-side of the same single, 
  the lads would frequently gather round the juke box to listen to *this* 
  one strictly for a giggle.  We couldn't quite turn the sound down on 
  him, but it never did stop us from saying rude things :-).



Regards,
Alan (awp@bitstream.com *OR* uunet!huxley!awp)


---
"Get him out of here!"	            				110992#69
---

                Copyright (c) 1992 by Alan W. Pollack
                          All Rights Reserved

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