Friend

tdfwiner · #1 06-14-2006, 06:49 PM

Is it just me or does this song sound like You Make Loving Fun?

David · #2 06-14-2006, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdfwiner

Is it just me or does this song sound like You Make Loving Fun?

Hmm. . . I never thought of it before. If you look at them both on paper, "Friends" does seem to be sort of imbued with the spirit & style of "You Make." The verses in both run through a minor 7 chord progression, & then both choruses modulate into a major with a similar descending pattern (the addition of the dominant 7 tone).

It's quite possible, I guess, that Chris approximated the chordal style of "You Make" in "Friend," much the way the Master used the dramatic French ouverture chords in minor keys to open various pieces: the Coriolan, Egmont, Creatures of Prometheus & King Stephen overtures & incidental music--over a period of several years.

+

= ?

HomerMcvie · #3 06-14-2006, 08:54 PM

Christine made some reference to "borrowing from her own musical past" on some ITM songs. I'm not sure if she meant Friend or not, though.

carrie721 · #4 06-14-2006, 09:11 PM

actually, she talked about "friend" in a radio interview she did talk about the relationship between it & YMLF. she said something like, "if you're going to plagiarize, you might as well plagiarize yourself!" lemme see if i can dig out my mp3 of it.

edit: i have no idea what happened to my copy of this ... does anyone else have it/know what i'm talking about?

**jbrownsjr** · #5 06-14-2006, 10:26 PM

they sound similiar to me in timbre and rhythms..... don't have good enough ears to hear the chord progressions

aleuzzi · #6 06-15-2006, 12:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdfwiner

Is it just me or does this song sound like You Make Loving Fun?

The bass-guitar riff in "Friend" recalls the keyboard riff in YMLF. I noticed that immediately when I first heard it.

I don't mind the borrowing at all!

macfan 57 · #7 06-15-2006, 05:39 AM

Both songs have a clavinet. Chris did mention that similarity in one of her interviews too.

macfan 57 · #8 06-15-2006, 05:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carrie721

actually, she talked about "friend" in a radio interview she did talk about the relationship between it & YMLF. she said something like, "if you're going to plagiarize, you might as well plagiarize yourself!" lemme see if i can dig out my mp3 of it.

edit: i have no idea what happened to my copy of this ... does anyone else have it/know what i'm talking about?

It was from an interview in The Guardian & she was actually referring to Steely Dan, although she could have been referring to herself a bit as well.

Like aleuzzi, I don't mind her borrowing from the past either. Here's the quote:

"One album that has stayed with her, though, is Gaucho by Steely Dan. "It sounds like very sexy music to me, much more so than their earlier albums, and every time I listen to it I hear something else in there. Since then they have been plagiarising themselves. But that's OK; I think they've earned the right. If you can't plagiarise yourself, who can you plagiarise?"

Gailh · #9 06-15-2006, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macfan 57

It was from an interview in The Guardian & she was actually referring to Steely Dan, although she could have been referring to herself a bit as well.

Like aleuzzi, I don't mind her borrowing from the past either. Here's the quote:

"One album that has stayed with her, though, is Gaucho by Steely Dan. "It sounds like very sexy music to me, much more so than their earlier albums, and every time I listen to it I hear something else in there. Since then they have been plagiarising themselves. But that's OK; I think they've earned the right. If you can't plagiarise yourself, who can you plagiarise?"

I think there was a radio interview where she said something similar - was it the World Cafe one?

Gail

macfan 57 · #10 06-15-2006, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gailh

I think there was a radio interview where she said something similar - was it the World Cafe one?

Gail

I just checked my CDs. It was the Bob & Tom show. The DJ told her how much he loved "Friend" & she came up with the "plagiarize" quote again. It sounds like she was borrowing answers from past interviews too.

carrie721 · #11 06-15-2006, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macfan 57

I just checked my CDs. It was the Bob & Tom show. The DJ told her how much he loved "Friend" & she came up with the "plagiarize" quote again. It sounds like she was borrowing answers from past interviews too.

really glad i'm not going crazy! and i found my mp3, fwiw:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/d0rwel

aleuzzi · #12 06-15-2006, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macfan 57

It was from an interview in The Guardian & she was actually referring to Steely Dan, although she could have been referring to herself a bit as well.

Like aleuzzi, I don't mind her borrowing from the past either. Here's the quote:

"One album that has stayed with her, though, is Gaucho by Steely Dan. "It sounds like very sexy music to me, much more so than their earlier albums, and every time I listen to it I hear something else in there. Since then they have been plagiarising themselves. But that's OK; I think they've earned the right. If you can't plagiarise yourself, who can you plagiarise?"

She's right about Steely Dan. Their most recent effort (from a few years back) sounds like Gaucho re-deaux. That's alright with me. I can hear Steely's influence on Christine's ITM all over the place--"Anything is Possible," "Bad Journey," "So Sincere," "You Are," and "Forgiveness" have that west-coast sheen that is sexy--not glossy. And, for what it's worth, "You Make Loving Fun" is the essence of the Gaucho sound three years before Gaucho.

Friend's debt to YMLF is interesting because both songs hold up very well on their own. She borrows herself in other places, too. The piano-bass-drum rhythm in "Got a Hold on Me" sounds a bit like "Hold Me."

aleuzzi · #13 06-15-2006, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carrie721

really glad i'm not going crazy! and i found my mp3, fwiw:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/d0rwel

Thanks for sending this. She's so damn self effacing!

carrie721 · #14 06-15-2006, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

Thanks for sending this. She's so damn self effacing!

no prob! she cracks me up - i love what she said about being "thrilled to bits" or something like that.

Gailh · #15 06-15-2006, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macfan 57

I just checked my CDs. It was the Bob & Tom show. The DJ told her how much he loved "Friend" & she came up with the "plagiarize" quote again. It sounds like she was borrowing answers from past interviews too.

Ah yes I remember it well!

Friend is one of my all time favourite Christine songs.

If that had been the opener on Say You Will and five more of Chris' songs were on there and three each of Lindsey and Stevie's had been ditched - then we might have had an album!

Gail