"Breakdown"

Last week, I figured out the chords for "Breakdown."  I think they're something like:

|: A major | G major | F major | A major :|

|: D minor | C major | A major :|

|: G major | A major :|

And during the guitar solo and the coda:

|: A major | G major | A major :|

Nominally, this is in A major, but aside from A major itself, all of these chords have at least one accidental.  To some degree, these accidentals indicate the sentiments in the song:  "I breakdown in the middle and lose my thread... Nothing I try to do can work the same way."

"The Raven" and "Breakdown"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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Recently, I remembered something that I probably should have written about a few months ago.  Back in September, Alan Parsons posted a picture of a set list:

I noticed that he has "Breakdown/Raven."  I'm assuming that the slash indicates a transition from one to the other (like a medley), so it seems like he's aware that the same bass phrase is in both.  I figured this out and wrote about it last year, although where I was then just sort of suspicious that I had other sections wrong, now I'm pretty sure some of it's wrong.

"Breakdown"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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While listening to I Robot yester-day, I remembered something I'd noticed earlier about "Breakdown."

The second verse starts with the lines "Any time it happened I'd get over it / With a little help from all my friends," which is either a pretty obvious reference to some lines from the Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends" ("I get by with a little help from my friends") or an incredible coincidence.  Since Alan Parsons had some experience working with the Beatles (as a tape operator during Let It Be and Abbey Road), I'd have more confidence in the former.

"Breakdown"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

---&---

After I learned the bass part for "The Raven" (part of it, anyway), I discovered a phrase in it that sounded familiar.  And eventually I realized that the same figure starts (and frequently recurs in) "Breakdown."  There are some parts in my recording that aren't very accurate, but most of it is pretty close.  Really, I just wanted to record a version to point out that phrase:

(I'm still not very good at reading music, but I think that's the right notation.)

What's interesting is that the bass parts for "The Raven" and "Breakdown" were played by different musicians.  Joe Puerta played bass on "The Raven," and David Paton played bass on "Breakdown."