Here’s a fun Keith Moon performance to look at today, which some consider to be one of his finest moments: “The Song Is Over” from Who’s Next. Already looking for an excuse to try out the latest MuseScore update, I decided to revisit this one after hearing about how the band recently played this tune live for the first time in… well, for the first time ever, surprisingly.
“The Song Is Over” is the closer to side 1 of Who’s Next, but it ostensibly carries a little more weight, as it was meant to be the finale of the long-lost, chimeric, borderline mythical Lifehouse album. Perhaps its importance to the Lifehouse story is why decades passed before it was revisited in concert.
I managed to tackle the entirety of this track — while it is over six minutes, there are long stretches with no drumming, which made the job much easier. To that end, the structure of “The Song Is Over” is pretty consistent, with tacet drums on the verses (or, whenever Pete’s singing, really), timekeeping for the first chunk of the choruses, and then a little drum feature for the chorus turnaround on B♭maj7.
As far as timekeeping goes, Keith’s grooving is downright austere by his standards, sticking mostly to quarter notes on the snare—four on the ceiling(?) if you will—and steady 8ths on the kick and hats. There is a little bit of ad-libbing, and it feels like it takes Keith a few beats to settle into the pocket each time the groove starts up.
Times like these make me wonder how many takes were laid down for albums of this era, but when dealing with tape, if you felt like a take was the one, you were often best off calling it there rather than recording over it and gambling on capturing a better one.
Starting with the guitar solo, Keith gives the quarter-note snare groove a little more energy by crashing on 2 and 4, providing backbeats, so to speak.
Regarding the fills, you can see some consistent motifs, mainly offbeat 16ths, 16th-note triplet singles, and about a half dozen “four-stroke ruffs,” all under (mostly) steady 8ths on the kick. Much like “Behind Blue Eyes,” there are a number of crashes on the “&” after 1, as well as on beats 2 and 3. I’m a big fan of the offbeat crashes in unison with the snare:
Just like the other Who’s Next track I wrote about, most of the tom playing is focused on two rack toms, with minimal use of floor toms.
The kick drum is quite hard to hear during the first run-through of the chorus, as if Keith were holding back a bit. Things get noticeably stronger at bar 38, which I have marked as più forte — typically this means “a bit louder,” but as with everything, it’s open to some interpretation.
Dynamics can become a bit wearisome to accurately notate using just the four standard dynamic levels, but you could also go insane trying to be as detailed as possible. I have also seen stuff like f + written on some scores, which is a neat if obscure idea, although I can’t help but think about going to some hoity-toity restaurant and asking for a steak “medium rare plus.”
Erm… getting back on topic, the finale of “The Song Is Over” takes us through a reprise of sorts for another Lifehouse tune, “Pure and Easy” (left off the original track listing of Who’s Next). Keith plays repetitive, swirling 16th-note fills around the drums, the first handful of which are barely audible; I did my best there. I think there’s both an increase in dynamics as well as an increase on the drum kit fader.
ICYWW, Keith avoids the ride almost entirely, save for one note at measure 109. I think he hits the ride here, at least — there’s a light cymbal tap that sounds like a ride, although I’m sure it was an accident.
One last thing: I did give the kick drum its own rhythm. Since I’ve been critical of this style in the past, I feel a need to explain myself whenever I use it. This style can make things messy, but it is very convenient when the kick drum is just chugging along with steady 8ths.
Edit: Well, maybe the timing of all this wasn’t great, since the gig I referenced at the top of this article may have gotten Zak Starky fired from his nearly 30-year stint as the Who’s drummer. A damn shame.
Edit № 2: Erm, I guess Zak is actually sticking around…? (Sticking. Hah.)
Edit №3: No, he’s been fired. Again. We get no respect, do we?
