Whole notes

I have listened several times over this evening to The Beatles' Hey Jude. It is a tremendous song, a true Magnum Opus for Sir Paul. It is perhaps my favorite tune ever.

In short, I kinda like it.

And what I like about it most is its magnificent simplicity.

We talk about diversity. We praise it, indeed beyond any worthwhile value. And I'm okay with such praise if all you mean is small-d diversity. But to anyone feeling only that I want to point out one small yet powerful value.

Whole notes.

We are all familiar with the four minutes or so of the na-na-na final, drawn out chorus of Hey Jude. It forces itself upon Jude's incessant pleas. But do you notice when it really begins? Do you notice the muted yet pronounced brass which begins with the fourth repeat of na-na-na?

Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, brass falling deeply in union from the treble to the bass clef it seems, drawing everything into itself. The whole song falling down to a unity which we all understand.

It continues beyond that, in the open background before fading away steadily, a trick used by editors to make a song sound as though it never ends. It makes songs fade into eternity.

Whole notes make that unity.