okay it's time for Don't Fear the Reaper
everyone get your cowbells out I'm gonna
have to really nerd out about this one
cuz I think this is one of the best
songs I've ever
[Music]
heard all of time have come
[Music]
here but now
[Music]
they seus don't feel the reaper nor do
the wind the sun of the rain can be like
they come on baby don't feel the reaper
baby take my hand don't feel the reaper
will'll be able to fly don't feel the
reaper baby on your man
la la la la
[Applause]
la
[Music]
la
okay what's going on why is it so good
well first that's the cowbell I'm
kidding it's so subtle the main core
progression is going g
l and that's moving pretty fast for a
chord progression I will
say and these are all
chords now whether they're played like
actual chords I would say not so much
but that's what they imply and this is
one flat 7 flat six and then you go back
up that's reason number one it's so good
flat six chord and then the
lick okay so the first two notes I have
to figure
out okay I think that's what it is but
I'll double check in a
[Music]
second yeah okay so it basically goes up
a a power chord that's
please and then this T note that's a
flat seven and then
they and I just freaking love how they
keep that note against this
chord but what's the third note when
they don't if
they oh oh oh oh oh
actually I'm hearing fullon
chords no
okay are they just doing that
I'm not certain
but that's my that's my that's my best
guess right now without like spending
too much time on this but I think the
most exciting thing about it is you get
the chords
basically
sorry
and yeah and and that's nice but then
you also get the down down against
everything so pretty
and then the vocals come in and this was
one of those deliveries I was talking
about before it's kind of like the um FL
Like an Eagle style it's so pretty I
think it's double tracked it's so M so
[Music]
um I love this melody uh very
syncopated du like most of those are
anticipating the beat
and the last note staying here is so
brilliant cuz if they they resolved
every tension they
go which is fine but isn't this
cooler I love it and there's a Harmony
on it I think
see
all yeah the lower Harmony so pretty I
think it's a sixth below so they're
going
duh but then at the end it goes up on
the bottom one but with everything
that's
but it's so pretty it's so good I love
that um what a great option to pick uh
for the harmony a lot of times vocal
harmonies are either above or below the
me Melody based on the range of
whoever's harmonizing um for him to sing
that same
note um in harmony above this line it
would be pretty
[Music]
high and you know so either it was like
just ridiculously high you know to do
that for a Harmony or it just they tried
it lower and they like this sounds good
and it just sounds great cuz sixths are
amazing
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harmonies I love love love love okay so
that's great the the
um so this completes the
[Music]
chord and then this last one has the
tension delicious
[Music]
but now
[Music]
they oh I forgot about that okay so
Seasons Don't Fear the
Reaper now the sin the sun and the rain
little dip down to five and the on the r
we can be like they are come on baby
so just a very just like this little pre
chorus basically season season starts on
Flat 6 don't feel
the and again he's ending on this
seventh this tth note
Reaper not Seasons Don't Fear the Reaper
or whatever just sounds I can't handle
it um
Reaper no the sun I for forgot which
elements he's talking about let's just
say the sun and the rain I the wind
following the court all the way up these
are the thirds of the Court we can be
like and now we're back home so we can
go back down and up the same way we did
before sorry I forgot the five again
then the sun and the my bad when the sun
and the rain so it's actually not going
like that my
bad we can be like they are now we got
to talk about this come on baby
[Music]
feap all right so once again the flat
six is stealing the show because the
melody it's the same notes right with a
every so often it
goes but it's mainly these two notes
which are also really prominently
featured in
Du
um these two and against the flat six
chord there's a dissonance that is just
emotional which
is that hear this trone yeah in this
case it's kind of a little bit like I
don't know it just
[Music]
feels come on baby and then the next
time it really hits good is back home
it's a there's a major second there a
ninth
[Music]
my
hand and then the
guitars oh the back and forth is so
great baby
hand
[Music]
baby these little guitar solos are so
pretty in this song I don't know if you
consider so but these these riffs cuz I
feel like they're feel like they maybe
change a little bit every
[Music]
time I like that last right
[Music]
so this is the verse
Melodies great
guitar this is the verse Melodies but um
the verse Melody and Harmony but just
saying la la la so now it's kind of
recontextualized and the guitar is just
killing
[Music]
[Applause]
it my SP
[Music]
seventh chord
sorry that's feels like such a 70s way
to end I don't know why organ so much
organ now you know it's going to pick
back
up I like that drum
fill
[Music]
satisfy is done
well be but now
they
okay one of the ways that this works so
well is that the melody gives so much
space for the instrumentation after
this there's an entire
next two bars and they use it they you
know the first time after this first
verse they did the an organ
swell second time there's a
guitar doing that like they just have
this beautiful call and response and
that also is the same way that the
chorus works I mean it's same the same
vocalist at least I think it is or maybe
it's just they're so double tracked and
there's so much Reverb anday on their
voices that they're all blending really
well but you got a group of voices going
Don't Fear the Reaper to fly don't feel
the right one one always singing Don't
Fear the Reaper and the other singing
the other lyrics basically and they I
think they're a bit panned or at least
they're just recorded they sit a little
differently so you do hear separation
but there's just a lot of that call and
response relationship I think between
all sorts of elements in this
songo
J extension now of this precourse
so before remember they goes baby
something baby don't feel the
reaper me in fly then it's into the
chorus already but this time they extend
it uh they extend the Precor lyrically
mostly um and then they but they take
that like repetition of
the with the same lyric and they just do
Romeo and Juliet I think it's so
smart I've never okay so I don't know if
I've listened to this on headphones
before but there's I hear maybe a
three-part Harmony on Don't Fear the
Reaper for this second chorus so instead
of just Don't Fear the Reaper I think
I'm also hearing don't feel the
don't feel the reaper at the top
listen and on Reaper there's also that
note being played and he's going uh so
that's three-part
Harmony don't like that pretty subtle
though
[Music]
baby I'm
[Music]
your Fuller Harmony
[Music]
now okay now this
part different key
n
[Music]
stop it here cuz it's very cool well
it's a different key I'll put it that
way I'm not really you could interpret
it a few different ways but what's
happening is like a an A F minor chord
and then I think a um G major chord
essentially but like maybe with the
seventh it's really cool it's really
it's different feeling it's like this
does feel like fearing the reaper this
is like the Wrath this is the you know
the power of death and it's just like ah
um timing wise you might think oh it's
also in a different time sigy I don't
think so I think it's still in 44 it's
just that now there's a poly rhythm of
um
[Music]
like so but it gives a very different
feeling now because now there's the this
liquidity of this triplet feeling over
everything and it's disorienting and the
the base that does
like whatever it is is also following I
think yeah it's also following that
pattern um so yeah you could you could
say no see it's there's nothing in for
and I would be like yeah sure but that's
not how I hear it so that's kind of how
I'm I'm describing it to you and then
the guitar is doing some really cool
stuff which makes me want to kind of
figure out almost like is this like
[Music]
a there's just some weird weird
Harmony uh
oh sorry
it's okay so
sorry that's the bottom part of this
chord or in verion of
it I love the delay on the
[Music]
okay
so I hit the wrong
one how exciting
[Music]
man yeah exactly sure how it would count
categorize what's going on right now
except that it does not have a typical
minor major sound
whatsoever now this
chord that's that same chord that is
used in or that happens I would say in
pyramid
song with that resolution
that right
so that's like a major chord with a flat
nine on
it so that's just so super
dank what it
[Music]
is what's going on there oh try to
[Music]
I love this part that note I love that
note it's
weird what was I
singing
B Dr
I got to figure out that L to
see
okay how's they going to get back I
can't
remember so we're here on G major
now okay you know what that does work
because so here's how they get back is
cuz they're playing the
F and then they're playing the G
G major is in the key of A minor it's
the flat 7 chord so it doesn't sound
weird to
[Music]
go see so they're here go that's nice I
was always
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
wondering more drums
now feel like there's just more
[Applause]
more kicks
maybe maybe more ghost
[Applause]
notes cowbell is drowned
[Music]
out another
extension but
now the back and forth is gone
[Music]
lycal
[Music]
[Applause]
structure oh God everything about it is
so great so the third time they extend
the precourse even more longer than the
Romeo and Juliet one then when the
chorus feels like it comes back in there
they're not singing Don't Fear the
Reaper anymore so there's sort of just
this feeling of like you've lost your
sense you lost your place completely I
don't know how many times they do it I
don't know when it's going to shift I'm
just sort of along for the right I have
to like let go um and it gives it this
incredible momentum forward and so there
there's the back and forth finally and
then when they saying Don't Fear the
Reaper it all comes together but the
section of Don't Fear The Reapers is so
much shorter than it has been so
essentially they end the chorus in a way
that feels almost premature you're
expecting it to keep going and instead
the guitar comes in and takes it just
like snatches it right out of existence
Come on
B she to
him back and
said she had Tak his hand
she come on baby
[Music]
gone great drum rhythm
here and this
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
the base oh my
God the base is
[Music]
like it was doing a lot it was doing
like arpegios at the end I'm sorry to
stop it I just had to figure it out
okay amazing amazing thanks for going on
that ride with me I've always wanted
always really like even when I was
listening to this song as a kid I was
just like why is this so good why does
it make me feel this way what's
happening now I feel like I've gotten
some
answers I have to like go lie down the
end