If it wasn't for this track.... I would not be listening to They Might Be Giants today. "Dinner Bell" was the first song of theirs I heard, and I was instantly hooked. Maybe that's why I hold such a fondness for "Apollo 18". The thought that without hearing "Dinner Bell" I probably wouldn't have bothered to find more TMBG songs is quite mind-blowing, and I am very grateful that I did play when I was listening to Internet radio.
Written and sung mostly by John Linnell, with John Flansburgh providing the unusual backward vocal of the bridge, "Dinner Bell" 'indirectly refers to Pavlov's famous experiment involving a dog's reaction to the ringing of a bell after associating the sound with food.' Thank you TMBW. But I had no idea that it was about that when it came on about ten years ago. I just thought it was someone waiting for dinner. Anyway, the topic of the song wasn't what attracted me. It was the likable melody which changes against the major and minor key changes during the verses. The multi-tracked vocals panning from one ear to the other, one syllable falls right into the next becoming something of a tongue-twister. Its 2/4 signature, which keeps the track on a steady pace with every chord change occurring at the beat. And obviously the lyrics that seem to mean nothing at all, but sound right because they fit in with the song's music so well.
This welcomed me to the world of They, and I embraced it with open arms.
Nice. A song by "The Who" that's not on "Who's Next" for me to talk about.
"Quadrophenia" was the first Who album I downloaded in 2010. It was that year when I randomly started to listen to them when I started watching videos on YouTube.
I had briefly heard of it before when I was 13, when a member on YouTube - 'sxewill2' I think was the name of the channel - uploaded the album in sepearate parts. I can remember listening to "The Real Me" for a few seconds, but at that time I was a naive and foolish boy and went onto a different video. That person's account was later terminated from the website later that year.
"Quadrophenia" is another concept album written by Pete Townshend. The story of the album follows the protagonist "Jimmy", a Mod with multiple personality disorder. It's not just two personalities, or three, but four, with each one representing the personality of one member of "The Who". Now you see where the "Quad" comes in the album title.
In regards to the story, "Bell Boy" comes in after Jimmy goes to Brighton to remember the good old fights between the Mods and Rockers and sees a notable Mod that he looked up to back in the day. However, this Mod now works as a... you might have a guessed, a bell boy, and Jimmy is pissed off and dissappointed. What does he do next? You have to listen to the album.
Townshend also incoporates all these musical 'leitmotifs' which occur at different points during the album, depicting the clashes between the personalities. "Bell Boy" is Keith's theme, noted for being 'a bloody lunatic' in the liner notes of the album. "Bell Boy" was the first song I really got into when I listened to the album for the first time. I think the fact that it contained lead vocals by Keith himself played a large part, but also because for me, it was the easiest one to memorise and it's just got this thumping beat to it that doesn't quit. Especially in the verses and the instrumental breaks.
That's about it, guys. Hope you liked the post. Give me feedback, tell me whether you like the song, whether you like the blog or not. Anything really.
