Back in the Sixties, one of the things I outfitted my room with was an oscilloscope that I'd found in my dad's garage. I loved to turn all the lights off, put on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, then sit in front of the oscilloscope, which I'd attached to my little stereophonic record player, and watch the waves travel across the tiny, round screen. The concept of seeing music excited me as I watched the bass line, a harmony, or Ringo's high-hat...When I found this picture online last night, I'd just downloaded the remastered recording of the LP and was listening to it through my headphones (I have the "cans" type that completely isolate the ears from outside sounds).
Wow!
The picture is a visual of A Day in The Life, the final track of the album. If you look at it carefully (click to enlarge), you can see the 24 measures of the two orchestral crescendos. At the end of the last one, you can see the single measure of silence before the final chord. That really excited me for some reason. You see the first crescendo's climax just after 2:15, an orchestral cadence (following John's "Ahhhh" passage) just after 3:15, then the second crescendo's climax just after 4:15. I love the symmetry in that and I love that music is a visual and aural art, as well as science and mathematics.
Following the final orchestral crescendo, the song ends with one of the most famous final chords in music history. Lennon, McCartney, Starr, and (Beatles assistant Mal) Evans shared three different pianos, with Martin on the Harmonium, and all played an E-major chord simultaneously. The final chord was made to ring out for over forty seconds by increasing the recording sound level as the vibration faded out. Towards the end of the chord the recording level was so high that listeners can hear the sounds of the studio, including rustling papers and a squeaking chair. (Wikipedia)Is it wrong for me to say, all I want to do now is find a little pot, turn off the lights and put on my headphones? This album will never stop being amazing to me because there's always something new to hear and learn, even after 43 years.
