The Xylophone of Rock
January 27, 2007“The Xylophone of Rock.” Sounds like a Tenacious D song or something, right?
I got to thinking about rock songs that had a xylophone prominently played in them. I came up with 5, but I’m sure there are more.
1. “Little Wing” by Jimi Hendrix. This is one of my favorite songs by Jimi. No other Hendrix songs have a xylophone in them, that I know of anyway. Why this one?
I don’t think the presence of the xylophone does anything for the song- to make it better or worse. In fact, Sting’s awesome cover version of this song has no xylophone and is still incredible.
2. “I Will Follow” by U2 (from the album, Boy). This is one of my least favorite U2 songs, because of the xylophone. It’s kind of distracting- if it were further back in the mix, maybe I’d feel differently about it.
I’d prefer to listen to that song in a live version, such as the one found on “Under a Blood Red Sky.” That version has no xylophone, blessedly. And it magically transforms into one of my favorite U2 songs!
3. “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen. This is by far my favorite Bruce Springsteen song and one of my top 10 favorite songs of all time. I think the presence of the xylophone adds to the anthemic, majestic feel of this classic song.
“I’ll love you with all the madness in my soul.” Incredible lyric.
4. “Wake Me Up When September Ends” by Green Day. I think Green Day added the xylophone to this song for the very reason it’s prominently heard in “Born to Run.” It adds an anthemic tone to the song. This song absolutely jams.
5. “Welcome to the Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance. This song has extroardinarily dense production value, excellent musicianship, and the xylophone adds to the anthemic value of the song, as discussed in the above entries.
But what is it about? I don’t get it. I guess I’m disgruntled with My Chemical Romance due to their lazy use of the “F” word at the end of their otherwise cool song “I’m Not Okay.”
To sum it up, if you want to record the next big rock anthem, how about sprinkling in some xylophone?
Don’t have a xylophone in my arsenal but I bet there’s one hidden in my synth pads. Good idea. Thanks.
I never realized those songs had the X-phone on them…and to think, just the other day I was telling someone that the instrument was dead. Now I’ve got to go and have a listen to those songs I have.
Dude, Xylophone is not the preferred nomenclature. Glockenspiel, please.
And Cory Arcangel is way ahead of you: he’s added glockenspiel to every single track on the Born To Run album, guaranteeing Bruce’s rock bombast stays at full strength throughout every song.
And I disagree strongly about “I Will Follow”! Sure, the glockenspiel is insistent, but so are the beer bottle sound effects, Bono’s echoed, background vocals, and a host of other musical flourishes. “I Will Follow” is not meant to be stripped down!
I have to agree, “I Will Follow” is a masterpiece. Sure, it’s a good live song as well, but it really shines on the Boy album in all of it’s glory.
You’re right, my friend. A glockenspiel is made of metal bars, a xylophone is made of wood bars. The above songs are played on glockenspiels. But I don’t know- “The Glockenspiel of Rock” as the title of this post? “The Glock of Rock” – that sound’s better!
And I thought xylophones and their prototypes were used only in new age music! Turns out that a 70s hit called “Moonlight Feels Right” by the group Starbuck has a brief xylophone riff. (Could it be a marimba? Marimbas have a deeper, richer sound, while xylophones have the same wooden timbre but a more urgent, high-pitched noise. I’d have to hear the song again.) The riff appears only once, but it’s very fast and controlled.
By the way, I never knew that “Wake Me Up When September Ends” had any glockenspiel used! Whether or not it does, it’s a freakin’ awesome piece. Amen to that!
Starbucks has a band?
Ug! How could I forget “Gone Daddy Gone” by the Violent Femmes?
First Week/Last Week…Carefree – Talking Heads: 77
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Janes Says – Janes Addiction (or are those steel drums?)
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Glock and Xylo Rock On!!!!
He put his eye to the hole. He just managed to spy some people sitting in deckchairs chanting, before a finger came out of nowhere and poked him in the eye. As he staggered back, the people started chanting, “Fourteen, fourteen, fourteen…”
Wow such an unexpected erosion! The unimpaired world stood still to say goodbuy to Michael! He is Elvis of our days!R.I.P MICHAEL!
Bleeding nice web accept here! My cobber actualy sent me a tie-up! Tolerable serendipity!
dude, Africa by Toto is all about the xylophone! I’ve got a playlist posted at http://www.deftjams.com/ Lot of rock xylophone goodness.