Songs That Use Word Painting

[@DavidBennettPiano]

If you enjoyed this, check out my other video on Word Painting kzbin.info/www/bejne/hH6yfoODr7dppbs Thanks! 🎶🎵🎨

[@aislingoda6026]

Someone may already have pointed this out, but I just thought I'd say there's a typo in one of these transcriptions. Should be 'I before E except after C', not accept

[@DavidBennettPiano]

@@aislingoda6026 yeah... my mistake. Afraid I can't fix it 😅

[@jithinrangani866]

@@aislingoda6026 btw you surname is cool mcghee sounds like maggi and ghee

[@fredashay]

How about Wintergatan's Marble Machine song?

[@LilCalebW]

Luv u bro lol

[@rtg_onefourtwoeightfiveseven]

Once again, the most sophisticated use of word painting in musical history: "She hit the floor (she hit the floor), next thing you know/ Shawty got low low low low low low low low"

[@cheeseballpie2685]

Alex M. Shawty got low just like the melody

[@starsoullove127]

mozart is quaking

[@Memerath]

@@starsoullove127 shawty got LOW and mozart is QUAKING

[@foxandbarrettshow6916]

Lyrical genius pure wordsmith shit rite Der. Yall got Shakespeare QUAKING achin and Shakin.. it's the thesaurus was never invented

[@alankent]

"Ev'ry valley shall be exalted" from Handel's Messiah is a far superior example from music history

[@ConnorKreitz]

"The first note in the scale is DO, the second RE, the third MI, the fourth FA, and SO on..." Very smooth haha, kudos

[@DavidBennettPiano]

😉😉😉😉

[@KingoftheJuice18]

But the sheet music calls it "Sol"!

[@R_-qs4fo]

@@KingoftheJuice18 its pronounced 'so' rather than 'sol'

[@KingoftheJuice18]

@@R_-qs4fo Do you know why it's written "sol"?

[@pedrovassallo8406]

@@KingoftheJuice18 that’s how it is pronounced in other languages.

[@gabrielsa9751]

In portuguese, Spanish and other latin languages, the world "Sun" is "Sol" So, there's a lot (And really a lot) of songs that every time the word sun is being sung, they play the G chord like Segundo sol by Cassia Eller or Sol Major by piedropedra

[@lakrids-pibe]

Sol = sun in danish, swedish, norwegian, icelandic. But the german word is "sonne". Maybe it's just a coincidence?

[@guitaristssuck8979]

@@lakrids-pibe it's all about language families

[@AndroidsReview]

@@lakrids-pibe in russian solntse

[@fairekennings2347]

In Russian, “sol” means salt. “Fa” and “Sol” together gives you “pea” or “bean”. Dunno if you need to know this

[@SamStormsKBD]

Damn, I never noticed that there's this G in Segundo Sol

[@shauryae478]

Bohemian Rhapsody "Caught in a landsliiiide....no escape from reality" The note slides down,like, half a scale after the word "landslide" 😂

[@SarahElisabethJoyal]

You've just reminded me - when Stevie Nicks sings "the landslide brought me down" the melody actually goes up

[@teemusid]

Rush's drummer Neil Peart tapping out the title of the instrumental track, "YYZ" in Morse Code.

[@jadengaskell1051]

That's actually pretty cool. I never noticed

[@CANnickhughes]

The whole band actually joins in on playing YYZ in various forms throughout the intro

[@atomiccritter6492]

Interesting. Also in the opening music to the detective series Morse apparently the name of the killer is done in musical version of the morse code

[@that_trans_dude942]

My first thought when I heard rhythmic word painting

[@AntjedePantje]

I found another example: in Immortals by Fall Out Boy, they sing "I'm still comparing your past to my future", and the "my future" part has some sort of autotune filter thingy on it, making it sound 'futuristic' :)

[@joshu518]

Thought of Fall Out Boy when he got to the "knocking" part of the video. In one of the choruses of "West Coast Smoker," the drums stop and only come in for 1, 2, and then 3 times on the words "*Knock* once for the father, *twice for* the son, *three times for* the holy ghost."

[@joshu518]

I thought of Fall Out Boy when he got to the "knocking" part of this video. In "West Coast Smoker," there's one chorus where the music stops except for the drums coming in 1, 2, and then 3 times on these lyrics: *Knock* once for the father, *twice for* the son, *three times for* the holy ghost.

[@wyattstevens8574]

When I think Fall Out Boy, I almost always think of "[Remember me for] Centuries," which I'm *convinced* Dude Perfect has used as background music before- just sounds like the sort of thing they'd use!

[@giuliosmusic5037]

Awesome video! My favourtie example is in Michael Jacksons „Man in the Mirror“ where the key changes on the word „(make a) change“

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Great example!

[@davasg96]

I imagined this with the sparkly key change animation

[@DavidBennettPiano]

@@davasg96 Yeah! I featured the "man in the mirror" key change in my previous word painting video, along with the infamous "sparkly" animation 😉

[@fedsavi]

Ei ci sono altri italiani

[@Uber_Versace]

I always found the key change in that song so comical because it just pops up with no warning or hinting

[@marianaramos9183]

Olivia Rodrigo does word-painting on the song "Deja vu". She sings "Being annoying, singing in harmony" and the word "harmony" is sung in harmony with herself. Also, on the verse "Now I bet you even tell her How you love her In between the chorus and the verse" you can hear a very subtle "I love you"

[@justineddy5306]

"It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift" - Hallelujah.

[@clarinethro1695]

That was covered in the last word painting video

[@justineddy5306]

@@clarinethro1695 I didn't realize

[@ScaramoucheFandango]

@@justineddy5306 🤷

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Perfect example... like JC said, I covered it in my previous video kzbin.info/www/bejne/hH6yfoODr7dppbs 😊😊

[@lavender6625]

Here's a nice example 💜💜 In the song "Funny Honey" from the musical Chicago, the first line goes: "Sometimes I'm right, sometimes I'm wrong" And "right" is sung on the note D, which is part of the scale of G major, which the song is in. Instead, "wrong" is sung on D#, which is in fact off-key (wrong). The second verse repeates the same melody, on the words "Sometimes I'm down, sometimes I'm up", and D is in fact lower (down) compared to D# (up) 😊😊

[@anshulanilgaur1118]

Maxwell's silver hammer by The Beatles used repeated strikes of a hammer on an anvil as the lyrics go "bang bang Maxwell's silver hammer". Great video by the way

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Good suggestion. The anvil was “played” on that song by The Beatles assistant/body guard Mal Evans

[@bazicuber1037]

@@DavidBennettPiano Something interesting about Mel Evans, it's said that he helped on many lyrics that the beatles did, and was on they way to get a writers credit for sergeants peppers. He struggled finiacially afterwards leading up to his death in the 70s.

[@thechief00]

@@bazicuber1037 Mal is also responsible for playing many of the weird effects heard in Yellow Submarine.

[@AGeekyGirl18]

In a similar way, I always think of ‘Knock three times’ and the use of knocking on wood and metal

[@primemeow]

@@DavidBennettPiano That's actually disputed, with some saying that Ringo played it.

[@acidbass]

One of my favourites that I thought might have been mentioned already is in Dire Straits 'Sultans of Swing'. Where Knopfler sings 'he hears the time bell ring' the drummer switches over to the bell of his ride cymbal to mimic a bell ringing. Very clever, in fact there are also some other examples of word painting within the same song.

[@SarahElisabethJoyal]

Mark: "he's strictly rhythm, he doesn't wanna make it cry or sing" Also Mark: *proceeds to make his guitar do exactly that*

[@hydrogen3266]

Well if we’re going to talk about the obvious sound effects used for word painting, “time” and “money” by Pink Floyd use percussion of either a cash register or a clock. A less known example is in “tiny love” by mika. He sings a really high note on the line “you get me high,” but this section of the song is notably quieter as he says the words “tiny love.” Other parts of the song are louder and faster, but he uses those sections to show that it’s the little things in love that are huge. It’s a great song honestly.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Hydrogen thanks for your comment. There is a fine line between sound effects and word painting in my opinion and a lot of crossover. For me, a sound effect needs to be worked rhythmically or tonally into the music to be called word painting. For example, the sound effects at the start of “Money” have a rhythm to them making them musical and thus word painting. But on “Time”, the sound effects are more decorative and not worked into the music, so perhaps not word painting. At the end of the day though, whether they are word painting or not, they act to illustrate the song’s themes and build an atmosphere.

[@freyprevett8000]

Yess a Mika shoutout in the comments! Tiny Love is a wonderful song. Stay High on the same album also uses the same thing

[@Darth_Pro_x]

also in the intro to Pink Floyd's Time, if you listen closely, you can hear both the rhythm of a ticking clock and of a beating heart, the latter also being very related to the song as it's about wasting the limited time you have in your life

[@supermalavox]

A song in Portuguese that uses the sound of a clock is O Relógio, interpreted by Walter Franco, when he sings: "Passa tempo, tic-tac! Tic-tac, passa hora!". Something like: "Go by time, tick-tack! Tick-tack, go by, hour!". The Italian song C'Era Un Ragazzo Che Come Me Amava I Beatles E I Rolling Stones by Gianni Morandi has the word "Stop!!!" when the music pauses briefly.

[@whatdoyousuppose]

One of my favorite examples is sort of a reverse one: in “You’ll Be Back”, one of King George’s songs in the musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda, on the line “oceans rise, empires fall” the word rise is on the lowest note and the word fall is on the highest note!

[@samanthabudrik7462]

I like this example as well, I loved when I realised that for the first time.

[@angi4912]

Hamilton has quite a bit of word painting!

[@liv97497]

Like spoonful of sugar in mary poppins haha

[@noamrosen6550]

In Coldplay's "Adventure of a Lifetime", Chris Martin sings "I feel my heart beating" while the bass is playing alone, sounding like a heartbeat.

[@RA19993]

Not sure if this counts, but in “Farmer Refuted” from Hamilton two characters are arguing then one of them sings a high note and bends it up to a higher pitch - the music modulates with him. Later Hamilton says “don’t modulate the key then not debate with me”

[@misanthropicmusings4596]

Ha, good one - I was listening to this the other day and caught the music reference.

[@TheArtOfBeingANerd]

That's totally an example!

[@olical6856]

In the song “this is gospel” by Panic! At The Disco, the main singer sings “this is the best of my heart” twice whilst the bass drum in the drum kit plays a heart beat.

[@sadmac356]

I was thinking that throughout the video! (Also assuming that was a typo and you meant "beat")

[@joshu518]

My favourite Panic! At The Disco one is "Pas de Cheval," which translates to "steps of the horse." The clopping drum beat sounds like a horse galloping, and the muted guitar that ends the song sounds like a horse blowing/brrrring its lips.

[@tomadamson8296]

I love the use of a typewriter in dolly Parton 9 to 5, it fits perfectly with the pace and subject matter

[@brandonbuchner1771]

Here's a fun fact about that... that's not a typewriter. That's Dolly "playing" her acrylic nails to mimic the sound of a typewriter 😁

[@milandejong]

The song "a small victory" by Faith No More ends with "if I speak at one constant volume, in one constant pitch, right into your ear"... Which is sang... At one constant volume, in one constant pitch... Well you get the idea! Thanks for another great video!

[@Honey-BeeWitched]

I was really hoping he would mention Faith No More. Mike Patton is a genius!

[@emmbeesea]

One example that comes to my mind is "Too Much Time on my Hands" - Styx; not just with a clock metronome but also talking about the "12 o' clock news blues" with the vocals hitting some blues notes.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Nice! I'll check it out

[@tracyzimmerman7912]

Hey you took my suggestion...😏

[@loganressler9173]

@@DavidBennettPiano Also Lake's "Time Bomb"!

[@junelogalbo9740]

If we want to keep on clocks, The Night Chicago Died by Paper Lace used a clock ticking to show the tense hours passing while the characters in the song wait for word that their loved one didn’t get killed in the shootout.

[@angelamason9840]

I loved vocal band Home Free’s cover of “All About That Bass”. The bass singer Tim sang “about me” instead of the word bass. While everyone sang all about that bass, Tim sang, No treble, going up an octave 3 times! His five octave range is amazing!

[@TheArtOfBeingANerd]

That's unironically one of my favorite songs

[@yxnggod9444]

You are unbelievable man, your work is so high quality and I’ve learned things from your channel I would have never known. You’re much appreciated

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you! That's very kind!

[@walesforaunitedkingdom2556]

The weird thing is that I’ve always noticed this in music but almost unconsciously until you start pointing them out

[@aromanticfranziskavonkarma]

One of my favorite examples of word painting that I haven't seen anyone mention is in the final chorus of "Vampire Reference in a Minor Key" by Will Wood where the line "you could come knocking" is interrupted by the sound of knocking, super underrated artist IMO

[@Pugaroo85]

ABBA’s Dancing Queen could count with “Night is young and the music’s high”

[@krnkrp]

Although it's a low note, probably not coincidental.

[@conorkelly4902]

Actually they ment high as in loud

[@j_0anna]

it's the opposite, and i was thinking about it the whole time! you actually notice it more because it's low on the note high :)

[@silniland1015]

Both the usage of a clock and a heartbeat made me think of Time by Pink Floyd, and actually the entire Dark Side of the Moon album, where especially the heartbeat is used a lot throughout the music.

[@unacuentadeyoutube13]

I was thinking about the same song. I even thought about the "four sections' it has. The intro, where everything is calm and no one's worrying about time passing away. The first verse section until the solo starts has the same aura of lazyness, until the realization takes place and gilmour sings "no one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun" just before that desperate and desolate solo is played. Later, that desperation ends in the last drastic change where gilmour plays some "breathe" type chords and you accept the sun is gone, time is over, and you wish there was something more to say

[@Ingestedbanjo]

1:56 yeah but the letter "I" isn't sung on the note "I"...

[@lextatertotsfromhell7673]

He he

[@viggos.n.5864]

Hehe

[@XistoKente]

Hehe

[@lextatertotsfromhell7673]

XistoKente grr

[@viggos.n.5864]

@@lextatertotsfromhell7673 grr

[@emataverna]

Excellent video David!

[@clarinethro1695]

Another thing talked about in the last video for word painting, on Somewhere Over The Rainbow, it does symbolize the story of going up and down and all that stuff, but the notes themselves are shown to make their own little "rainbows"

[@rlf4160]

Excellent. You caught "I bought a flat guitar tutor". I didn't realize until I started playing along. A real mind blower.

[@martvanderwal7686]

For the percussion examples, I always really like Ed Sheeran's song Don't, where, after the second chorus, we hear three knocks and he continues to sing "on my hotel door".

[@pinkajou656]

Yes! I was thinking of this!

[@andrewthurber597]

The best one for me will always be Hot for Teacher by Van Halen. The drums so perfectly mimicking a car pulling up to the school and then the clash of the school as he walks in to see his teacher followed by the hectic pace and jumping heartbeat rhythm is so satisfyingly well done.

[@diegoparra6918]

in the same album of arctic monkeys, alex sings "key changes" at the start of a key change, and sounds super silly and fun, match the aesthetic of the song so well

[@bridgetbutler5486]

What is it called in Hamilton’s “You’ll Be Back” when the melody goes down on the lyric “Oceans rise,” and goes up on “empires fall”? Ironic word painting, maybe?

[@walesforaunitedkingdom2556]

Literally can’t get George III’s song out of my head :D And also Speechless

[@Cherri_Stars]

This happens in Mary Poppins too! I remember them making a point of it in Saving Mr. Banks, that in the lyric "A spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down", the sing a high note on the "down" to be counter-intuitive and grab your attention

[@shadowjinkus1070]

Everytime they say rise up in Hamilton.

[@moo4boy]

In farmer refuted hamilton says "don't modulate the key and not debate with me" referring to the key change that Seabury did a few bars earlier. The line there is "for shame (for the revolution) for shaAAME (FOR THE REVOLUTION)" with the key change where I switched to capital letters.

[@bv-swifty7704]

My thoughts exactly!!!!

[@CSGOSeries]

Since you’re big on Radiohead (I am too), on there, there the lyrics “there’s always a siren, singing you to shipwreck” are followed by those beautiful backing vocals

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Good suggestion! Perhaps my next word painting video needs a Radiohead section!

[@anirudh_iyer]

@@DavidBennettPiano Would the music on The Staircase be a word painting example too?

[@ieuanphillips4963]

@@anirudh_iyer yes

[@gavinmarkoff738]

"Backbeat the word is on the street that the fire in your heart is out." Absolutely classic example.

[@phoenixinthetrees1446]

'Pick up the bass' from 'Go Let it Out', to new bass player Andy Bell.

[@reidenouerfamily375]

I hope David Dieffenderfer never quits his sponsorship. I love hearing David B pronounce David D's last name. It's nothing like how we say it in PA German-land! 💖

[@rachelbrown3452]

The song one true colour by Enter Shikari finishes the song by not saying the word dead but the last 4 notes/chords are D-E-A-D so clever!

[@vib80]

There's a constructed language called Solresol that only uses the seven syllables of solfege, so naturally, any statement can be spoken by making the tones. Among many other systems for representing it... for example, the seven colours of the rainbow can also be used.

[@atomiccritter6492]

interesting

[@kodakohl]

In Hamilton the song “Ten Dual Commandments” has a part where there is counting 1-9 and the upper voices ascend up while the lower voices descend. They do so in a split manner as well. Every two numbers the melody splits notes. It’s really quite genius. I’m pretty sure there is more word painting in many many musicals but that’s the only one I can think of currently

[@aromanticfranziskavonkarma]

After it came out on Disney+ in 2020 I watched Hamilton every time I was home alone without fail for like 6 months and now I'm incapable of counting to 10 normally, lol

[@driesvanmiert4803]

In the chorus of "Helplessly hoping" by Crosby, Stills & Nash, they sing the numbers one, two, three and four. When "one" is sung, there is only 1 singer, when "two" is sung, there are 2 singers etc.

[@fenestrapain]

Wow thank you. I love that song and that example. And then the pun of “they are for each other”, not with four voices necessarily (unless Neil young was playing with them).

[@commonsensecat6555]

Yes! I have always loved that. Wish I could have been a fly on the wall the night Graham Nash joined Stills and Cros for the first time. Stills played at the wedding of a mutual friend. My jaw dropped when he launched into Love the One You're With. Can't imagine what the bride thought. I wonder how long the marriage lasted!

[@mushipancake5319]

I'm late but a good example I have noticed is in We Didn't Start The Fire by Billy Joel, when he mentions Psycho, the music mimics the Psycho theme song. Also when he says "British Beatlemania" the drums mimic Ringo's drumming style. When he says "Brooklyn's got a winning team" the sound of cheering can be heard in the background. When he says "JFK blown away" something happens in the background and I can't quite tell if it is supposed to sound like a gunshot or what, but something happens. When he says "Terror on the airline" a jet engine can be heard. Thats all I could find in the song but there may be more.

[@applehack97]

Talking Heads - Psycho Killer "Say something once, why say it again?" right before repeating the chorus *if only the "fa fa fa far better" part was in F tho...*

[@TakaComics]

One of the smoothest examples of rhythmic word painting I've seen is Tony Orlando and Dawn's "Knock Three Times." Not only do they sing "knock three times" with the snare hits when the chorus starts up, but the second part of the chorus cuts the lyrics entirely, leaving only the drum, after which Tony Orlando sings "...means you'll meet me in the hallway." More obviously, they add a percussive ding after "twice on the pipe" the second time around, in order to make both options have the sound effect.

[@theBastism]

I always wondered why "Ring of Fire" does the exact opposite and goes up on "I went down, down, down" and down on "and the flames went up higher".

[@JiveDadson]

As not to be trite or clichéd?

[@robertgerow670]

To subvert expectations maybe?

[@wyattstevens8574]

The same thing happens with Oceans *rise* Empires *fall* from "You'll Be Back."

[@jameserdman4652]

I assume its because when you go down whilst falling everything around you looks like its going upwards around you while the flame would be approaching you from the ground? That or it was just done to not be trite af

[@TheArtOfBeingANerd]

I do like that interpretation

[@paolarosariopena7581]

In spanish : *Silencio-Jorge Drexler: silencio means silence and everytime he says this in the song, the music stops and all you can hear is a silence until he beguins to sing again. *Tormenta-Alex Anwandter: In this song theres a part thats says "el pulso de tu corazón se acelera", in english that means your heart pulse is racing, and foward that you can hear the drums doing the heart beats sound.

[@jonp72]

"All Summer Long" by Johnny Rivers features the lyric, "and the jukebox playing Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" followed by a brief guitar riff quoted from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

[@tedswanson2115]

That was "Summer Rain."

[@allenbutler8520]

I love the lyrics in Close to the Edge by Yes. The part where he says "Now that it's all over and done / Now that you find, now that you're whole". It's like he's saying just as everything seems to be going fine...then all of a sudden the music takes a more serious turn. Like the drama isn't over yet.

[@HaniffMohd21]

In bohemian rhapsody, "Little high" note going down "Little low" note going up

[@tigerlight430]

Not only that, they are the same note :-)

[@mahraba874]

It’s in the video

[@RobyMBeki]

Yeah that's some genius word painting right there...

[@santibescho3122]

The "painting" is in the word "Little". It's a 3 note motif with the higher or lower note being in the first part. So when he sings "Little high" he starts on a higher note going down, and in "Little low" a lower note going up.

[@HaniffMohd21]

@@santibescho3122 they wanted the latter words rhymes with "easy come, easy go" If they use "Little low, little high" ...afterwards, then can be considered as word painting, sacrificing the rhyme at the end.

[@morganbendorf2948]

In "Stay Alive (Reprise)" from Hamilton, not only does the percussion mimic Philip's heartbeat throughout the song, but Alexander's comforting "I know, I know"'s also do that, although at a faster tempo, like he's trying in vain to will Philip to survive.

[@aromanticfranziskavonkarma]

I've always thought that was cool, 4 years after I watched Hamilton for the first time I finally got to see it live in Atlanta and when I got to that part it felt like the heartbeat filled the entire room, this is a really weird thing to say about such a sad song but it was genuinely magical

[@useraksu2963]

"Woke up, fell out out of bed, Dragged a comb acrosss my head"

[@cakemartyr5794]

Apparently that's Vladimir Putin's favourite line from any song, ever...

[@marivg8948]

@@cakemartyr5794 How on Earth do you know this?

[@Pandamasque]

@@marivg8948 Have you seen his hair?

[@MaladyKayjo]

The most common one I’ve seen is the “stop” thing, where everything stops on the word stop

[@AntjedePantje]

Yeah, he showed a lot of examples of those in his last video :)

[@RaccStarLogan]

wait a minute

[@walesforaunitedkingdom2556]

Stop. Hammer time.

[@depstein3847]

Billy Joel - All For Leyna

[@TheMister123]

That happens - or something like it - in Karn Evil 9 First Impression by ELP: "We've got thrills and SHOCKS!"

[@lordcrunchy4821]

One of my favorite examples of this is in Pink Floyd’s _The Wall._ Particularly, a few lines in “Comfortably Numb” use it beautifully. When waters sings “Just a little pinprick,” it is followed by a high chord to represent the shine of a sharp syringe in the light. This is immediately followed by “There’ll be no more AHHH!” in which a long, drawn out high note is overlaid with one of the band members screaming. And of course, one of the most recognizable lyrical elements of the song are the echo effects that start off each verse to give the listener an experience akin to listening to the song while under the influence of mind-altering drugs, much like the character which the song is focused around.

[@LittleLyrics1234]

One of my favourites - In “Guts” by All Time Low, in the second verse the lyrics go “tapping my fingers to the rhythm of a metronome, counting opportunities” and there is a sound of a metronome counting off in the background

[@marqvp]

Two more candidates: Elton John Circle of Life in which “circle of life” in the chorus forms a melodic circle, and Chicago Stronger Every Day in which the words “stronger”, “every”, and “day” are really hammered ... strongly.

[@alexpotterx]

Wordpainting is one of my favorite songwriting tricks.

[@BassSmiths]

I fought the law - The Clash The lyrics say: "Robbing people with a six-gun" then the drums hit 6 times the snare.

[@RickMason-yj7pv]

Bobby Fuller 4 was 4x...6 got 3 and gun got 1

[@mikemb123]

That was a cover.

[@faieezxkhan]

Well, it goes like this The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift Cohen is actually going to IV V degrees of the scale. The minor fall is a minor chord and major lift is a major. Pure Genius!

[@АндрейА-щ7л]

The Beatles use the word "painting", here: "I'm painting my room in the colourful way"

[@minahshaktisatya780]

Such an underrated comment

[@CutieWolf-359]

Word "painting" sounds like a weird innuendo with those quotes.

[@CherryVilla21]

Reading the title without drinking coffee in the morning made me think that the video is all about songs that has the word "painting" used in their lyrics.

[@biel6160]

Hey David! How about a video on Vivaldi's Four Seasons? It obviously didn't include any words, but the music made you imagine all of the natura changes a season of the year brings. Truly a work of art!

[@ameliag.2290]

That was very intentional, actually! Since there are no words to make it word painting, Vivaldi's Four Seasons is a very good example of what's called 'program music.' Program music is music that represents a thought, idea, memory, or anything like that. The name comes from the fact that most often a listener needs to refer to the title of the piece or the description in the program to fully understand what it represents. Another good example of this is The Great Gates of Kiev by Mussorgsky. Hope you found that interesting! :)

[@Jack-zx1vq]

"Don't" by ed Sheeran has three hits to symbolize knocking on door. And also, an italian song from the 60s, "Cuore" ("heart" in italian) by Rita Pavone, where she metaphorically talks to her heart about her love, the bass plays troughout the songs the same 2 notes, one higher than the others, to make it sound like a heartbeat. Anyway, I really enjoy your videos, you're very good at explaining!

[@bugface8565]

In Space Oddity, the guitar mimicks a cardiac arrest on a heart monitor at the end as the Major Tom overdoses on heroin

[@sadmac356]

I need to listen to that song again, I never noticed that

[@bread1882]

He overdosed on heroin?

[@anierrn6935]

Major Tom does what now?

[@lumpenharald]

In Queen's "Heaven for Everyone" there is the word "reflection" which gets repeated/reflected by a flangy chorus - I've always loved that part! :)

[@lumpenharald]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3qbnaWsgLGtnZI ... :)

[@JaakkoPaakkanen]

One of the most brilliant and subtle word paintings I've found (so far) is in "So Far" by Carole King. The bass note D is first SO, then FA, as the chord changes from G major to A major. Further on, when the lyrics say "at my door", the bass D becomes DO. Consequently, the chord "doesn't stay in one place", while the bass is left standing, "just time away".

[@SamStormsKBD]

In Nightwish's The Poet And The Pendulum near the end there's a lyrical part where it is said "I have only 3 minutes and counting" and then, 3 minutes later, we hear the sound of a guillotine and a heart beating slower until it stops. I dunno if this counts as word painting but it's quite an easter egg

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Nice!

[@kaitlynbriggsmusic]

The end of Silver Wings by Merle Haggerd fades out while he's singing "Fading out of sight". Ive started paying more attention to word painting in songs after watching this video, its so cool!!

[@XistoKente]

I noticed a few examples of this in metal, most recently in "Isolation" by Sepultura, where the song starts with drum hits that sound particularly like banging on a cell door, which connects to the lyrics about imprisonment.

[@LRM12o8]

And the bass drum at the beginning of Black Sabbath's Iron Man sound like the footsteps of a man made of iron. I think the most common example of word painting in metal would be what Metallica does with the bursts of 16ths on the kick in One: mimicking a machine gun with the kick drum.

[@reade_gauvin]

I like Ben Folds’ “Time” as an example. He sings “start the drums, band against the enemy.” And after the word “drums,” he hits the snare in a way that sounds like a military march.

[@EpicurusWasRight]

One of the most influential is Hendrix’s Star Spangled Banner. He wasn’t the first but he helped bring musical modernity into the 20th century in that performance.

[@thinkfloyd1973]

Hey David the first example of world painting I remember recognizing as a kid was in Brain Damage by Pink Floyd from Darkside around when I was first learning to play. It switches to a C as soon as we get the line "I'll SEE you on the dark side of the moon" The change happens right on the word "see" because they use the "I'll" as a type of grace note that functions as a little bridge of sorts to carry the change from the A7 chord right into the C which is what perfectly times the word panting.

[@Ea-Nasir_Copper_Co]

"Knock Three Times" by Tony Orlando and Dawn, where the words are sung staccato to sound like knocking.

[@SarahElisabethJoyal]

Now there's a song I haven't heard in a while. And now that I think about it, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense 🤔

[@Ea-Nasir_Copper_Co]

@@SarahElisabethJoyal If you were living in a New York City tenement where the steam heat pipes ran up the walls inside the units, it would make more sense.

[@SarahElisabethJoyal]

@@Ea-Nasir_Copper_Co I forgot about those, but I don't think I'd like to be touching a pipe full of steam anyway 😂

[@OhJodi69]

"twice on the pipes" *clink-clink* "if the answer is no"

[@aviationman7636]

In the song “i think we’re alone now”, after they sing “beating of our hearts is the only sound”, the base drum plays a heart beat

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Great suggestion!

[@jofkamiglaregidor5568]

how about when the melody does the opposite of the lyrics? i can think of a lyric from "you'll be back" by lin miranda where the melody in "oceans rise, empires fall" falls on "rise" and rises on "fall"

[@TatsuChi]

it doesnt though.. when an ocean rises it gets deeper like the note does, and when an empire falls it gets smaller again like the associated note

[@barbararperkins1379]

This is so interesting. This concept was famous during the 15th and 16th Centuries by composers such as Josquin Des Prez, Palestrina, Victoria and Monteverdi, particularly in liturgical music. It was also used by composers such as J.S. Bach and Handel during the Baroque era. So glad I recently found your videos. I'm thoroughly enjoying them. Thank you!!

[@katyyork934]

What about Yellow Submarine. After the line “And the band begins to play.”

[@wyattstevens8574]

What happens there that has to do with word painting?

[@katyyork934]

@@wyattstevens8574well a band begins to play

[@yambendov9158]

I really liked your word painting videos, and I have some more examples. In Taylor swifts song "Jump then Fall" every time she sings those lyrics the note jumps up and the next note falls down. In another song of hers "I almost do" when the chorus begins she sings the lyrics "slow motion" very slowly. Another one is in "You Need to Calm Down". When she sings "down", the notes fall down. More examples that are a bit less obvious to hear are in Harry styles songs. The first is "To be so lonely". After the first chorus there is a sound affect of a match lightning up and then being blown at, and then he sings the lyrics "I just hope you see me, in a little better light" The second one is in the song "Sunflower vol.6". In the first verse, he sings "I was, just tongue tied" and in the backround someone's choking. The third one again from this song is in the fourth verse when he sings the lyrics "Let me, inside", there is a guitar motive of the notes going down, just like falling in love, which is what the song is about. There is another one which is a bit more recognizable from the song "Falling". When he sings "Falling again I'm" the notes fall from high to low. Hopes this was helpful :)

[@leecooper7110]

2:49 "Do...Re...Mi...Fa...and So on"....Well played Mr Bennett!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Glad you spotted it 😁😁

[@AidenAprt]

Some of my favorites: Thunder by Imagine Dragons - the word “Thunder” is accompanied by 3 loud drum beats mimicking thunder Thunder by Timmy Trumpet - the lyrics “you give me thunder” are accompanied by the sound of thunder Stay by Zedd - the song uses a ticking clock as its percussive backing while Alesia Cara sings “stay a minute” and “the clock is ticking” during the chorus Jump In The Line by Harry Belafonte - the words “shake, shake” in the chorus are accompanied by the sounds of shaking maracas Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen - the words “don’t stop me now” are always followed with more lyrics and the song doesn’t end when “I don’t wanna stop at all” is sang Animals by Maroon 5 - throughout the final chorus when Adam Levine sings about hunting animals, he can be heard howling in the background Rise by Jonas Blue - The instrumental break is a series of ascending notes before lowering back down and starting again after vocalists Jack & Jack sing “we’re gonna rise til we fall” All Time Low by Jon Bellion - the word “low” is sung on the lowest note of the song and the lines of lyrics go up and down, mimicking the ups and downs in Jon’s life Black Frost by Asketa and Natan Chaim - the sounds of ice crackling can be heard during the chorus when singing about “black frost” IDGAF by Dua Lipa - the chorus builds up until and finally breaks on the words “shut up” which is followed by a brief pause Whistle by Flo Rida - a whistling instrumental break occurs after Flo Rida sings about whistling

[@superdrag65]

This is such a great channel, just amazing work all around.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you!

[@klsksosuejk]

I love how when you talk about a specific kind of word painting I think of a pop song and then you use it as an example

[@chainedhero]

Linkin park crawling when Chester sings “against my will I stand beside my own reflection” the lyric “my own reflection” repeats to make it seem as though his reflection is repeating his own words in a delayed manner

[@fenestrapain]

Rip Chester xx

[@LRM12o8]

Nice catch! My favorite example from Linkin Park is Mike rapping "coke heads couldn't do my lines" while rapping really fast and difficult lines in Reading My Eyes. Also in The Catalyst Chester does this incredible crescendo on: "like memories in cold decay /transmissions echoing away / far from the world of you and I / where oceans blead into the SKY" Where each line is higher than the previous one and it all builds up to the word sky which is even a big step higher than the rest of the line. Even a female pro singer struggled to hit that high note in the Linkin Park and friends celebrate Chester Bennington live stream!

[@vhtsouza]

moments of pleasure, by kate bush: when she sings "on a balcony in new york / it's just started to snow", the piano "paints" the snowflakes falling. it's so beautiful

[@ryanjackson5437]

“And sol on...” Smooth 👌🏼😉

[@DavidBennettPiano]

I’m glad that somebody spotted that 😄

[@omnipop4936]

@@DavidBennettPiano We all sol what you did there.

[@brankovt1bvt161]

John Williams - Double Trouble (Harry Potter): "Double, double toil and trouble" Double is repeated in the exact same way. AC/DC - Thunderstruck: "Thunder!" is sung in staccato with all vocals and drums accompanying it as to simulate thunder. Sabaton - The Red Barron: "Higher" Two notes in legato, the second one is higher. Sabaton - Bismarck: The lead guitar line in the chorus and solo simulate waves (not word-painting, more a musical onomatopoeia). "In the depths of the abyss" the instrumentation and the time signature changes to be calmer. Sabaton - Seven Pillars of Wisdom: "As the darkness falls" On falls the melody goes back down. "One man spreads his wings" On wings the melody jumps up. Queen - Stone Cold Crazy: "Crazy" is sung in a crazy way.

[@jameer8225]

Disney's Moana- When Moana sings see which actually sounds like C is being played on an e which is the c note of the e major family!

[@joermnyc]

"The Song That Goes Like This" from Spamalot has a few, they sing about changing the key... Which fails because the male singer can't sing in E, "that's awfully high for me" so the female sings "we should have stayed in D" in D.

[@nicolaicarius9001]

A little late, but anyway. A nice word painting (more of a "concept painting") is the whole Rocketman song. The way it builds like a rocket taking of during the lyrics "I'm the Rocketman" always get me. The second part, where he sings the second verse paints the idea of emptyness of Mars. The second pre-chorus has the snare playing like a marcial drum, as he sings "And all this science I don't understand, it's just my job 5 days a week", where always reminds me that astronauts are military crew, who maybe don't fully understand the science behind a rocket. And the fade out at the end: "And it's gonna be a long, long time". This is just pure genius.

[@thesuncollective1475]

Great vid..Can you do a video on songs without a chorus.. I think "Isn't She Lovely" by S. Wonder is one?

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Good suggestion - maybe I will!

[@eplecor]

thesun collective147 or the whole song is the chorus! Haha

[@LiamHagan]

@@DavidBennettPiano "In Dreams" by Roy Orbison is a good candidate for that video

[@joeyhardin5903]

harmonious descent by joey hardin (which i add is also a good example of word painting, at the end of the last verse, the melody changes slightly to fit the word 'descent')

[@thesuncollective1475]

@@eplecor Yeah that's true..it could be...certainly got me thinking

[@dslyon26]

Amazing Video! Another great example I remembered during the "Snares mimic knocks on the door" was Louis Jordans "Keep a Knockin", where the drums mimic a knock on the door right before the chorus ("Keep a Knockin") starts.

[@trixter21992251]

I've become so used to hearing David Dieffenderfer among your Patreon supporters, I feel like I'm getting to know him.

[@TheKrywolff]

Hook from Blues Traveler has so many clever musical lines. Flat out admitting "it doesnt matter what I say, as long as I sing with inflection".... "because the hook brings you back" and that it does.

[@jacksonsay37]

A Disney example: "Your lifestyle's high but your funds are low" from "Friends on the Other Side".

[@germyw]

FIRST one I thought of.

[@RetNemmoc555]

In Mary Chapin Carpenter's "Goodbye Again," at about 3:45, there's the lyric, "She broke the hallway light, and the pieces scattered everywhere" followed by a high tremolo violin and light piano arpeggio to paint the picture of shards of glass flying through the air in slow motion. One of the best examples of word painting I've ever heard.

[@Gorf_Denroh]

"I Think We're Alone Now" by Tommy James and the Shondells...also covered by Tiffany...(e.g., 'The beating of our hearts is the only sound'...followed by drums beating like a heart)

[@manix0260]

One of my favorites is in The Mighty Mighty Bosstones in Rascal King, when Dickey says "For love of god", a bell is rung almost as if a heavenly part.

[@chefmichaelt]

Another brilliant lesson. Thank you David!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thanks Mike!

[@moonlight22oa34]

In Hamilton's "You'll Be Back" they do a sort of reverse word painting in the line "Oceans rise, empires fall"; on 'rise' the note goes down, and on 'fall' the note goes up

[@youtubepeace]

One of my absolute favorite examples of this is Kendrick Lamar's "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst" where at the end of the first verse, which is centered around the speaker's fears of dying before their time due to gun violence, the verse is abruptly cut short by gunshots. Always loved the way that piece and the entire song was put together.

[@ingsve]

Here are a bunch of examples from The Beach Boys. You have the heart beat from the bass in "Don't Talk Put You Head on my Shoulder" at the line "listen to my heart beat...". The song Surf's Up has the line "The music all is lost for now to a muted trumpeters swan" which is paired with a trumpet. The the Smile version of "Heroes and Villains" (not the one from Smiley Smile) there is the Cantina section which uses a Tack Piano to give the vibe of an old western saloon. The Smile version of Vega-Tables uses the chewing of vegetables as a percussion part. The song Pitter Patter uses chimes to represent the rain especially around the line "Listen to the rain" The song My only sunshine (Old Master Painter) features a section which covers the song "You are my sunshine" but the lyrics are changed to past tense which makes the song sad and at the same time the song has been changed to a minor key.