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January 12

Note of the word "brains" in "She's in love with the boy"

Leaving out of this discussion what key the song is actually in, I would like to know exactly what interval above the tonic the word "brains" is in the song "She's in Love with the Boy". Specifically in the line "When it comes to brains he's got the short end of the stick". Whenever I hear the song on YouTube this note is a flattened third above the tonic. But the sheet music at musicnotes.com says it's a major 3rd. Which is correct?? Georgia guy (talk) 01:58, 12 January 2020 (UTC)

It's a good example of a blue note -- a flattened third often played against an otherwise major chord. I've seen some hellish transcriptions involving #9 chords. --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆 𝄐𝄇} 23:14, 12 January 2020 (UTC)

It actually isn't a "flattened" third. This is misleading. This is a major chord (albeit a 7th-style change in transition to the subdominant) with a diminished 10th. In this case, if the key were E-major, the diminished note would be a G-natural (otherwise a G-sharp). It is not written, but certainly sung (implied) but Yearwood. The actual third within the chord remains: G-sharp - against the diminished 10th; giving it that blue note sound that jpgordon was referring to. Maineartists (talk) 02:35, 13 January 2020 (UTC)

That's a minor 10th, not a diminished 10th (which would be a G-flat). And it's absolutely flattened by common musical parlance, which has no problem talking about something like "Dorian flat 2" even if this is B Dorian and the "flat 2" is really a C natural. Double sharp (talk) 05:02, 13 January 2020 (UTC)

It's a blue note. It's not any kind of tenth. Perhaps I should have said "lowered" rather than "flattened". --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆 𝄐𝄇} 05:48, 16 January 2020 (UTC)

You are speaking as if the note itself defines the chord. You're thinking "scale" not chord. You don't "minor" a note; you minor a chord by diminishing the third in a triad. However, in this specific incident, the singer is indeed singing a G-natural against an E major chord (not the second in the chord, but second to her root). It's not the second in the chord when played out on the piano or accompanying instrument - that would imply the chord should be E-minor. You have to have a G-natural in the underlying chord (G#) for the diminished 10th (the singer's 3rd) to be "blue". It's a turnaround change into A. Academia jargon doesn't apply in this very natural understanding. Double sharp diminishing the 10th in E-major doesn't make it a G-flat. When you diminish a note, it goes by half-steps: G# to G-natural. Maineartists (talk) 14:42, 16 January 2020 (UTC)

@Maineartists: Nope. One semitone less than a major third is a minor third. One semitone less again is a diminished third. And the same for tenths. A diminished interval is one semitone smaller than a minor or perfect interval. We started with a major tenth (E to G-sharp); so E to G-natural is a minor tenth, and it is E to G-flat that would be a diminished tenth. What is sung here is a minor tenth above the tonic, not a diminished tenth. (Or we can just speak of thirds, modulo octaves.) The note is flattened one semitone with respect to the diatonic note of the key it is in; in this case it means G-natural instead of G-sharp. So we have a major chord harmonising the "blue note", creating a clash between the major and minor thirds that are played simultaneously. It's not a second, unless you want to insist on a tertian analysis and call it F-double-sharp instead of G-natural, which would make it an augmented ninth above the tonic E. But considering that the next note is an F-sharp, that would be silly. Double sharp (talk) 16:09, 16 January 2020 (UTC)

January 13

What do you call it when a vinyl record gets stuck?

I just heard it online. The sound stopped briefly and the problem was fixed, but I can only assume that was a recording because how could the person be monitoring it that closely?— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 20:35, 13 January 2020 (UTC)

Found it. Phonograph_record#Vinyl says "locked groove". Actually, that's more of a problem as I'd have to explain it.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 20:37, 13 January 2020 (UTC)

I also heard is called a "skip" - I know I'm not the only person who experienced this. Back in the 60's and 70's a radio DJ could put on a record - leave the booth for whatever reason - and a record with a skip might glitch for minutes at a time. Whoo wee I'm getting old. MarnetteD|Talk 02:49, 14 January 2020 (UTC)

Maybe there's more than one thing being discussed. A "skipping" record is one where the stylus jumps the groove so that it ends up repeating or skipping a short interval of the playback. See Skip (audio playback). Notably, though, the sound doesn't stop as the OP's post describes and I don't think I've ever heard of a stylus actually getting stuck, though I'm sure it's happened. Matt Deres (talk) 03:44, 14 January 2020 (UTC)

• I believe the OP means that it stopped briefly when the DJ noticed the problem (and lifted the stylus). --142.112.159.101 (talk) 08:21, 14 January 2020 (UTC)

Deliberate locked grooves do exist, although they're normally placed at the very end of a side, in the run-out groove. The needle gets stuck and something plays on endless repeat. There's a famous example at the end of side 2 of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. --Viennese Waltz 07:27, 14 January 2020 (UTC)

Maybe not as famous but there's also a dripping water tap noise at the end of "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" which runs ad infinitum. †dismas†|^(talk) 19:06, 14 January 2020 (UTC)

Another example: on Another Monty Python Record, the Piranha Brothers saga is interrupted by Luigi Vercotti, saying "Sorry squire, I've scratched the record," looping. —Tamfang (talk) 08:09, 17 January 2020 (UTC)

Assuming the DJ is actually there. Larry King once told a story of when he was an overnight DJ on a Miami radio station and left the studio while an album was playing. It started skipping in the final track, and it took him a noticeably long time to get back to the studio and fix it. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:52, 14 January 2020 (UTC)

If the recording did actually stop, i.e. producing a period of silence, it would probably because radio DJs commonly use slipmats, which allow the turntable to rotate beneath a record. If there was a big enough hole in the groove to stop the stylus (literally) in its tracks there would be silence until somebody lifted and replaced it further in towards the label. I'd imagine that this would result in stylus damage if it actually happened though. Incidentally, contrary what the linked article states Grandmaster Flash did not invent the slipmat, though he probably did re-discover it.Blakk and ekka 15:37, 14 January 2020 (UTC)

In Larry King's situation, he was playing a Belafonte LP. When it got to the "Jamaica Farewell" track, the skip made it go "Down the way, where the nights, where the nights, where the nights..." hundreds of times before he made it back to the studio.[1] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:10, 14 January 2020 (UTC)

When I saw Harry Chapin in 1979–80, he said DJs liked his songs because some of them are long enough for a serious potty break. One of my party, who had been DJ on (iirc) the student station WPGU, grinned and nodded vigorously. —Tamfang (talk) 08:09, 17 January 2020 (UTC)

Since the question is "what do you call it?"... another answer is "broken record". If someone repeated himself a lot, my mother would say he's "like a broken record". Looking in the OED Online, I find that they have cites for this phrase with this meaning as recently as 2004 (in The New Republic), even though a 1988 cite (in Newsday) acknowledges that "this comparison will have to be replaced as the compact disc gains pre-eminence and we forget what broken records sounded like". --142.112.159.101 (talk) 08:21, 14 January 2020 (UTC)

A quick survey of Newspapers.com (a pay site) for just 2019 indicates plenty of usage. And with vinyl records having made a comeback, it could be with us a long time. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 08:57, 14 January 2020 (UTC)

January 16

What instrument or effect is making the rat-ta-tat-tat type sound at the end of Guns N' Rose's November Rain

At the end of this song, there is this rat-ta-tat-tat type noise that persists for a few seconds while the music slowly fades. I'm wondering if anyone knows or can guess at what instrument or effect produces that sound.

Here is a cut to where I think it is most prominent. From this start, the sound can be heard for about 5 seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SbUC-UaAxE&t=532

128.229.4.2 (talk) 15:53, 16 January 2020 (UTC)

Willem Welsyn

I am please looking for the lyrics to Die Saad van die Onkruid by Willem Welsyn. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.131.40.58 (talk) 18:10, 16 January 2020 (UTC)

Wikipedia generally does not post lyrics. What have you found on Google so far? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:26, 16 January 2020 (UTC)

Nothing, that's why I am asking for help from my fellow Wikipedians to scour the WWW. Thanks. Anton

January 17

Continuity of the X-Men films

I am confused about exactly where the film Logan fits into the continuity of the X-Men films. Can someone please explain this for me? Freeknowledgecreator (talk) 01:31, 17 January 2020 (UTC)

This article will gives several possible timelines but I suspect there are plenty of other theories out there. MarnetteD|Talk 01:40, 17 January 2020 (UTC)