Oct 28

Oct 28 Oh I Wept, by Free

If you like your emotion raw and simple, it’s all in the Blues

After the noise and vibrancy of ‘Spice Up Your Life,’ I quickly returned to my more melancholy self with this one. I came across the song recently as part of the soundtrack to the brilliant TV series, ‘Devs,’ which aired in March 2020. (Season 1, Episode 5). However, the band, ‘Free’, is probably best known for it’s song ‘All Right Now,’ which, for those of us of a certain generation, is synonymous with a chewing gum advert. ‘Oh I Wept’ shows their deeper side, though, and I decided to send it to my friend during this stage of their cancer treatment, because sometimes you want music that reflects how you really feel.

How do they do that?

This is a song about sadness, but also about how it is possible to move on and leave it behind. How is this captured in the music? The first thing you notice is the very slow tempo. It goes at a funereal pace. Yet there is movement from the pulsing, gently syncopated (off the beat) rhythm in the bass guitar that rocks (or gently wracks?) the listener. The sadness is also inherent within the Blues style of both the harmonic structure (the chords used) and the way the vocal line is sung. The structure follows the 16 bar Blues, where the first 8 bars are all the same chord and which perhaps helps give that sense of being immersed or captured in a particular emotional state. The next 8 bars move to chords four and five (count up the scale from your home chord to the fourth and fifth notes. These are also known as the dominant (V) and sub-dominant (IV)). These have the effect of creating momentum just at the point where the lyrics speak of getting on a train and add a little brightness, a glimpse of optimism on the horizon. All ably supported by the awakening of the drummer and the instant conversion from almost pure Blues to very cool Rock.

The vocal is very much in a Blues style with many falls of a flattening Blues scale like grief drenching the music with tears. At the end of the second Chorus, this is taken up by the wailing of an electric guitar, again pushing us out of traditional Blues and into Rock for the climax of the piece. We are treated to a further verse and chorus, by which time we feel that we’re really moving on. The lyrics are more hopeful, the instrumentation is fuller, the drums more prominent and confident. And all ends rather calmly. Traces of tears still visible (audible), yet slightly soothed within the final chord.

Hope you enjoy it or feel inspired to listen to something new today.

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