Oh how songs change!

Post by **Keith Jordan** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 2:25 pm

I find it fascinating to see how songs develop from when they are written, performed for the first time, performed for the 50th time, recorded and played for the 100th time!

Released on 23rd January 1977 in the UK, the album "Animals" is one of my favourites. I think it is based on Orwell's classic, "Animal Farm". One of the songs "Dogs" started out it's life a few years earlier and, below, is a live recording from 1974 from the RoIO "British Winter Tour, 1974". It shows a different feel and lyrics and let's us see how the song developed!

Do you like the original "Gotta Be Crazy" version? What do you think of it's development?

Right-click and "save target as..." to save to your computer before playing.

<848kb> http://www.neptunepinkfloyd.co.uk/audio ... s_clip.mp3

decampos · Post by **decampos** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 3:03 pm

Sounds blinking awful. I'll definitely avoid that RoIO

Post by **Keith Jordan** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 3:13 pm

decampos wrote:Sounds blinking awful. I'll definitely avoid that RoIO

We are not talking about the quality of the RoIO but the version of the song and how it developed. Please stay on topic.

Ferfloyd · Post by **Ferfloyd** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 4:17 pm

It's very interisting when we listen to a new version of the music... I like one version of breath... I don't know in what ROIO I listened it, but the song is slower than the original one... it's very good!!! (And i prefer to make cover of this version - everybody like the song when I play lake that)

Bazil Shining diamond!!!

David Smith · Post by **David Smith** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 4:21 pm

I prefer You Gotta Be Crazy from the tour to Dogs. Dogs seems to go to long while YGBC has all the best bits in it and IMO more intresting lyrics. I know this may get some stick, but the lyrics originally were just odd and harsh, and as the song developed and they gained confidence in playing it it just got better and better. And Roger's voice definitly benefits from the live experience for his section of the song.

SomeGhostsStepOut · Post by **SomeGhostsStepOut** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 4:28 pm

Gotta Be Crazy is really good. As David said, the best bits. The lyrics were alright though.

Post by **mosespa** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 5:56 pm

To me...they're almost two different songs. Certainly the lyrics are largely different, but if I have to pick one, I gotta pick Dogs over YGBC, just for the triple tracked guitar solo in the slow sections.

Just as a public service, Roger Waters has denied on more than one occasion that Animals is based on Animal Farm...or anything Orwellian.

Just thought I'd pass that on.

MikeWaters · Post by **MikeWaters** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 6:30 pm

I really cant tell which one is better! I cant understand the lyrics and i cant really hear the music so ill have to wait to vote until i get a better copy o the song

Meddler · Post by **Meddler** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 6:38 pm

I think Live before a studio release and Live after are two different things. Live before is new, fresh, expiremental. After the studio version you don't have a wide as path to go down. Its pretty set. Even though some songs can kick some major you know what live. But I think in the end studio is the way to go. Even with the best live audio recordings you can't beat the studio sounds. Now if its before a studio, then its even better because you get to see trasformation, something new, sometimes completely different. Any way. Thats my two shillings.

ObscuredEchoes · Post by **ObscuredEchoes** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 8:02 pm

They ARE like 2 different songs; I can't choose one over the other because they are so dissimilar. I agree with Mosespa and Meddler on this one.

kupietz · Post by **kupietz** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 8:40 pm

Sonically I do like the live clip - what I can hear of it - but it really seems to have a completely different character than the recorded version.

It's much more "thick", an unchanging flow, whereas Dogs surges and ebbs orchestrally. I don't think the vocal melody of the live version is very interesting... it's pretty much one note in one unchanging rhythm, without any prosody. I also am not entirely sure what I think of the almost Steely Dan-ish, fusiony feel. I love Steely dan, but I love Floyd for very different reasons, and generally the twain don't meet.

That said, overall, I like the live version a lot, and could see listening to as much as I listen to any other Floyd if I had it in decent quality. I see the comparison very much the same as comparing Obscured By Clouds to Dark Side Of The Moon... similar territory is explored, one is just clearly much more glossy, polished, and painstakingly done... but that doesn't mean it's necessarily better. They're both great and have their individual, differing charms.

That'll be $.02, please.

jonesy · Post by **jonesy** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 9:18 pm

even though ive voted for the album version. i quite like the live one becuase its interesting to hear how ideas develope into structures that one day the writer will turn round and say thats the one. because at the end of the day its like when an artist paints. if he keeps adding paint and more ideas it will end up a brown mess. all over the show.
sorry i thought i was cantona for a minute.

Post by **drafsack** » Thu Jun 05, 2003 11:05 am

I love both tracks. YGTBC was the second song I ever heard them play live (Raving and drooling was the first) so I have been totally biased since then. The album version is brill but so is the live version. What the 74 and 77 versions show is progression that if you work on it, cut out the bits that dont work and add in bits that do you can create a master piece. its very much in the same vain as The Wall, listen to the demo's and listen to the released version, the later version is alot easier to listen to. Its also the same for any of their tracks that were toured prior to release. Listen to the first live version of Dark side and compair it to the released version, it progressed leaps and bounds. So it would be fair to say that YGTBC is a demo of Dogs

Oh how songs change!

Which version do you prefer?

Oh how songs change!

Mmm. Tough call.

animals