What’s The Frequency, Kenneth by REM reminds many of the infamous “Dan Rather incident of the late 20the century” whereby Dan was walking down a residential upper east side street, alone, and a stranger [aggressively approached him] and rather than ask Rather for money or threaten bodily harm, the aggressive stranger continued to shout at Rather—”WHAT’S THE FREQUENCY KENNETH?!” in repetition–how many times, I do not know. Maybe that’s what cause that swift-boat thing confusion, who knows, ya know?
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REM: What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
REM: What’s the Frequency, Kenneth? … anchorman Dan Rather, who jumped the newsman from behind on a Manhattan street and repeatedly hit him in the head, …
www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2478584 – 49k – Jul 30, 2006 – Cached – Similar pages |
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By tempo as compared to emotional expression, my theory can only predict that REM in this song, notwithstanding what anyone–even the band dudes– thinks the song “means,” are in full exploration of the meanemotion range, 90-97, of enthusiasm. I have heard the song 300 times and I still cannot make out a word. Well, a few here and there–but I get no “message” from the song–so said, it does soud full of confident enthusiasm in its expression–to me anyway. You be the judge.
Also, you might note on the graph how the song was recorded live, allowing for the linear trendline and natural speed movement. I have no idea if this is so, but it sounds as if the band members were all together, live, in the studio for the main part of this track.
The frequencies of What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?:
meanspeed=95.2 beats per minute
meanemotion=enthusiastic
meanspace=0.630 seconds per beat
meanphase=1.586 cycles per second
meanpitch=406.19 Hertz, 61 cents above G4=391.995 and 39 cents below G#4/Ab4=415.305 Hertz.
Ian Schneider
New York, NY
July 21, 2008
Categories: International Language · Music Psychology · Psychology · Rhythm · Tempo
Tagged: entertainment, Michael Stipe, Psychology, R.E.M., Rhythm, Tempo, WHAT'S THE FREQUENCY KENNETH
May 16, 2008 · Comments Off
Fall On Me is a song by REM that was first released on their Life’s Rich Pageant CD in 1986. This is a comparison of the song as REM performs on Crushed with Eyeliner,
The graphs here that contain more than one line, specifically, the eleven ribbon graphs, are exactly indicative of the results that I crunch for each of the 10 trials I use as a final mean speed on the two dimensional linear and logarithmic graphs at the top of this blog’s entry as per the thye live Crushed By Eyeliner version, with many charts comparing yesterday’s Life’s Rich Pageant version to this Crushed with Eyeliner live effort, where Michael asks the crowd to sing along.
In this live song the:
meanspeed=118.9 beats per minute;
meanspace=0.505 seconds between beats, 2.02 seconds per measure;
meanbeat=1.982 beats per second;
meanfrequency=1.982 Hertz as pulses per minute;
meantone=253.653 Hertz, 36 cents above B3=246.942 Hertz and 64 cents below C4=329.628.
The graphs are based on a spreadsheet generated with this method:
a) Calibration of groups of every common measure (four quarter-notes) ten times with Seiko 300-lap stopwatches;
b) Ten trials were averaged, coordinated and synthesized.
c) Speed graphs were created in Microsoft’s Excel for MacIntosh 2004 on an Apple iBook G4 as hardware printed and scanned on an Epson CX4600.
Life is mean.
Best
Ian Schneider,
NY, New York
2 July 2006
Categories: International Language · Music Psychology · Neurology · Psychology · Rhythm · Tempo
Tagged: creativity, Crushed with Eyeliner, culture, Michael Stipe, music, Neurology, pattern, Psychology, R.E.M., Rhythm, Speed, theory
May 16, 2008 · Comments Off
Fall On Me is a song by REM that was first released on their Life’s Rich Pageant CD in 1986. This is a comparison of the song as REM performs on Crushed with Eyeliner,
The graphs here that contain more than one line, specifically, the eleven ribbon graphs, are exactly indicative of the results that I crunch for each of the 10 trials I use as a final mean speed on the two dimensional linear and logarithmic graphs at the top of this blog’s entry as per the thye live Crushed By Eyeliner version, with many charts comparing yesterday’s Life’s Rich Pageant version to this Crushed with Eyeliner live effort, where Michael asks the crowd to sing along.
In this live song the:
meanspeed=118.9 beats per minute;
meanspace=0.505 seconds between beats, 2.02 seconds per measure;
meanbeat=1.982 beats per second;
meanfrequency=1.982 Hertz as pulses per minute;
meantone=253.653 Hertz, 36 cents above B3=246.942 Hertz and 64 cents below C4=329.628.
The graphs are based on a spreadsheet generated with this method:
a) Calibration of groups of every common measure (four quarter-notes) ten times with Seiko 300-lap stopwatches;
b) Ten trials were averaged, coordinated and synthesized.
c) Speed graphs were created in Microsoft’s Excel for MacIntosh 2004 on an Apple iBook G4 as hardware printed and scanned on an Epson CX4600.
Life is mean.
Best
Ian Schneider,
NY, New York
2 July 2006
Categories: International Language · Neurology · Psychology · Rhythm · Tempo · music
Tagged: creativity, Crushed with Eyeliner, culture, Michael Stipe, music, Neurology, pattern, Psychology, R.E.M., Rhythm, Speed, Tempo, theory
