A former bandmate once told me The Beatles used the Crab Canon a lot. Is there any truth to that? posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 8:04 PM on September 12, 2009
Cool! And here's me rereading Gödel, Escher, Bach again (this time in Hungarian; it's, um, really been slow going).
Now, could we get it scored for loons and cats? That would be the ultimate win. posted by Michael Roberts at 8:10 PM on September 12, 2009 [1 favorite]
No, I'm pretty sure that the Beatles did not ever write (or, at least, record) a crab canon. This is not to say that they were not intellectually or musically capable, because that's not even germane to the conversation. It's a really specific contrapuntal canonic technique, and the Beatles did not write in that style. posted by nosila at 8:23 PM on September 12, 2009
That is not to say that the Beatles didn't actually have crabs, a really specific venereal parasite that most rock musicians probably know better than Bach. posted by Faze at 8:43 PM on September 12, 2009
Ah, sorry, I was thinking more of a looser definition - such as palindromic chord progressions. posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 8:44 PM on September 12, 2009
"Ah, sorry, I was thinking more of a looser definition - such as palindromic chord progressions."
Oh, you mean like C - G7 - C. Yeah, I see what you mean. posted by charlesminus at 9:08 PM on September 12, 2009 [1 favorite]
Well, I was thinking something more complex than two freakin' chords ... but alright, I get it. posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 9:09 PM on September 12, 2009
Well, you know, this was during a period in Bach's life when he was heavily hitting the Klein bottle. posted by twoleftfeet at 10:06 PM on September 12, 2009 [11 favorites]
HAHAHAHAHAHA! That was wonderful! posted by milkwood at 10:28 PM on September 12, 2009
Bach's great musical answer to SATOR square. Gotta love him. posted by Matthias Rascher at 12:02 AM on September 13, 2009
great link. thx! posted by megob at 12:21 AM on September 13, 2009
Holy crap! I got a recording of the crab canon years ago when i read GEB. But this animation really brings home its intricate beautiful genius. Sadly my brain can't hold enough of the music to fully appreciate the backwards/forwards/inversion thing.... posted by storybored at 4:16 PM on September 13, 2009
A lovely illustration of Bach's genius. And no, none of the Beatles could never write a crab canon or probably any canon at all. Writing like this takes the big fellas. posted by QuietDesperation at 9:03 PM on September 13, 2009
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posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 8:04 PM on September 12, 2009