An academic essay on Sister Ray

obscure · Post by **obscure** » 03 Feb 2005 20:00

I didn't write this, and I'm not sure if this has been brought up before, but here is a rather interesting essay I discovered on Sister Ray, check it out.

http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ehansen/VU/sisray.html

arjan · Post by **arjan** » 03 Feb 2005 21:49

Yeah, I've seen it before when it was originally put up and the links to the sheet music transcription still worked. I think it's a bit heavy on the (psycho-)analytical tip (since when does a regular C-F-G progression "subvert the phallic narrative assumptions of standard Western harmony"?) and the transcriptions were a bit dodgy too but then again it's also fun to see a rock song as subject of a serious musicologic article.

It's in Albin Zak's The Velvet Underground Companion as well, by the way.

Keepitwithmine · Post by **Keepitwithmine** » 04 Feb 2005 02:07

I wish the links worked.

Stephen Says · Post by **Stephen Says** » 04 Feb 2005 03:24

arjan wrote:since when does a regular C-F-G progression "subvert the phallic narrative assumptions of standard Western harmony"?

maybe since the author started getting a little boost from sister ray when writing his theories?

Doctor Bob · Post by **Doctor Bob** » 04 Feb 2005 11:19

The progression is actually G-F-C rather than C-F-G. Therefore I think the gist of his argument is this:

C-F-G is just a basic blues progression in the key of C

Sister Ray however stays on the G as the tonic chord so a I-IV-V analysis doesn't apply as the G is the I rather than the C being the I.

In the key of G, the F can only have the tenuous significance of being the IV of the IV (ie C is the IV of G and F in turn is the IV of C)

This is quite a flimsy significance however in the song it is an overt and aggressive change which anchors the whole riff

I guess thats how the song subverts traditional Western Harmony

Uhh so far so good but I'm afraid I don't know how the phallic business fits in...it was worth a shot though!

Homme Fatale · Post by **Homme Fatale** » 04 Feb 2005 14:16

That article was reprinted in the book The Velvet Underground Companaion: Four Decades Of Commentary. Very amusing.

arjan · Post by **arjan** » 04 Feb 2005 14:18

Doctor Bob wrote:The progression is actually G-F-C rather than C-F-G. Therefore I think the gist of his argument is this:

C-F-G is just a basic blues progression in the key of C

Sister Ray however stays on the G as the tonic chord so a I-IV-V analysis doesn't apply as the G is the I rather than the C being the I.

In the key of G, the F can only have the tenuous significance of being the IV of the IV (ie C is the IV of G and F in turn is the IV of C)

This is quite a flimsy significance however in the song it is an overt and aggressive change which anchors the whole riff

I guess thats how the song subverts traditional Western Harmony

Uhh so far so good but I'm afraid I don't know how the phallic business fits in...it was worth a shot though!

Hmm all I can view it as is an inversion of a standard blues progression, starting on the V instead of the I and staying there. That's upsetting because it literally turns the song around but it doesn't make G the tonic only because they stay on it for so long. And in my book, inversion doesn't quite equal perversion

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 04 Feb 2005 18:19

arjan wrote: it literally turns the song around but it doesn't make G the tonic only because they stay on it for so long. And in my book, inversion doesn't quite equal perversion

I guess that's where we differ Arjan--my rationale for G being tonic is

a) They start off in G
b) They stay on it for about 3 and a bit bars out of 4
c) The G is the basis of the drone they've created

But obviously you feel that the tonic is 'C' on the basis that that way the song has a harmonically stable construction.

Ok next week we'll discuss what key track 2 of Metal Machine Music is in. Same time same place folks 8)

arjan · Post by **arjan** » 04 Feb 2005 21:11

Anonymous wrote:I guess that's where we differ Arjan--
But obviously you feel that the tonic is 'C' on the basis that that way the song has a harmonically stable construction.

Well, I haven't analysed it that much -- I don't know for instance whether Sterling plays his pentatonics in G or in C. It's just that I think that a lot of the tension arises from using a well-known, regular, even boring chord progression and playing it "wrong way up".

I made a MIDI file of the opening bars of Sister Ray, btw, from the transcript in this essay way back in 1997 or so. I'll see if I can find it and upload it so everybody can hear what our musicologist is up to. Although entered literally, it sounds quite different.

CL · Post by CL » 05 Feb 2005 10:13

I think that at least Reed's guitar was downtuned, so that he actually started off with an A chord - which then sounds as a G chord (well, technically it IS a G chord).

At some point in the song I think you can hear how he uses the open mode on the lowest string on his guitar which does not match the G chord, but it does match the A chord. It's particularly evident on the "Guitar amp" bootleg version some 25 - 26 minutes into the song.

The progression (as played by Reed) would then be A-G-D instead, if I'm correct. Well, if I ever get to meet Mr Reed, I promise I'll ask him!