Dan Mangan: Oh Fortune
10/01/2016
I don't know if I would like this song as much if it weren't for those first two drum hits. You may not get it if you're not listening on a good system or with good headphones, but they're HUGE. Not really as huge in the YouTube sound as in the mp3, though.
What does this remind me of? It's driving me crazy. Maybe something Johnny Cash?
AMDG
Posted by: Janet | 10/01/2016 at 02:55 PM
I don't know. Nothing I can think of.
Posted by: Mac | 10/01/2016 at 03:36 PM
Yuge!!
Posted by: Louise | 10/02/2016 at 11:10 AM
Yes, the drums are great; and this reminds me of something as well, but I can't place it!
I have a link to a good drum song that I'll post later today.
Posted by: Rob G | 10/03/2016 at 09:44 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9SYgT7PNqU
The drums don't start until about half way through, and they start small then get gradually bigger. It's a very interesting use of them, almost like the drummer is playing a sort of controlled solo.
Speaking of which, when I first heard it on the radio years ago I thought it was about a woman. But after I bought the CD I found out that it was actually about his brother Stan, a well known Canadian folk singer who died very young in an airplane crash. That makes it far more poignant and moving than your typical "lost love" song.
Posted by: Rob G | 10/03/2016 at 03:40 PM
Haven't had a chance to listen to it yet but I will.
Posted by: Mac | 10/03/2016 at 08:57 PM
That's great. In the beginning I couldn't figure out whether the main beat was a very muffled bass drum or a very muted guitar. Maybe toward the middle it's both?
Posted by: Mac | 10/04/2016 at 08:37 AM
He's playing the guitar with some sort of loop gizmo, so I wonder if it's the heel of his hand hitting the body of the guitar in the loop -- to provide the backbeat, maybe?
Posted by: Rob G | 10/04/2016 at 09:07 AM
A loop gizmo might also explain the absolute metronomic regularity maintained for 10 minutes.
Posted by: Mac | 10/04/2016 at 10:23 AM
There's a live version on youtube with no drums -- just Rogers and a fiddle player, who's improvising along, kind of like the drummer on the studio version. It still has that very regular quality to it because of the guitar loop.
Posted by: Rob G | 10/04/2016 at 10:46 AM
ok, so on the live version it's definitely him tapping either the guitar itself or the muted strings that gives that bass drum sound.
Re: Oh Fortune -- is there a Mumford & Sons song that sounds a bit like this maybe?
Posted by: Rob G | 10/04/2016 at 06:40 PM
I just listened to it on my stereo--earlier it was earbuds. It definitely sounds like muted guitar in the early part, but I think possibly when the drummer comes in he joins in on that beat with the bass drum. At any rate the sound gets very noticeably bigger and more solid at that point.
Yeah, it may be a Mumford song that Oh Fortune reminds me of.
Posted by: Mac | 10/04/2016 at 09:12 PM