Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 09:00:54 -0700 (PDT) From: Winslow Yerxa Subject: 16 bar blues - Blue Monday and Little Schoolgirl
James Daniell writes:
>ok, that shows up my ignorance - I always thought >that "16 bar blues" just meant an extra 4 bars on the >I - such as "Walkin' the Dog" "Dump that Chump" >and many stop-time blues and r'nb songs ->"Framed" "Riot in Cellblock #9" etc.
That's one possible meaning for "16 bars" taken literally. But it's still the structure of 12-bar blues, just with some extra "talkin' time" tacked on the front.
>What is the basic structure of "Blue Monday"?
if memory serves, it should be:
I I IV IV I V I V
Windsaver asks:
>On Van Morrison's "Too Long In Exile" CD he does a >great version of "Good Morning LIttle School Girl." >It does not follow 12-bar form as best I can >tell. What is the chord structure of this song? Is >it a 16 bar form? Definitely not just 4 extra on the >I chord.
I can't speak specifically about Van's version, but resurrected memory of John Lee Williamson (partially filtered thru Johnny Winter) gives me the following, in 2-beat time:
I I I I
IV IV IV (three, not 2 or 4 bar) IV lands under "home"
I I I I (I lands under "you", then harp riff)
V V IV IV (V lands under "mama", IV lands just before "I'm") I I I V (I lands under "too", then harp riff)
So it's really a 15-bar blues, if I'm remembering right. John Lee didn't always count things in even numbers, so you get this slightly sprawling quality. Note, too that because the IV section is shorter than the initial I section, and because it has the V-IV near the end like a 12-bar, it's easy to think of it as a slightly stretched 12-bar, even though it's really closer to classic 16-bar structure.
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