Critical Judgemnts and Bibliography

Driving Wheels is one of my favorite songs, this is because my Dad liked to listen to it when I was young and it brings back memories of my childhood. Jimmy Barnes is an artist that my Dad listen to a lot when I was little, and he still listens to him. By default, I enjoy Jimmy Barnes' music, because of the memories I have associated with each song that I listened to when I was little.My father listened to Jimmy Barnes through out the eighties and the nineties, coming into the two thousands. Jimmy Barnes is Australian Icon, his voice and music has lasted throughout decades. 

Driving Wheels

Record label : Mushroom
Year : 1988
Genre : Rock
Style : Blues Rock, Pub Rock
Producer : Jonathon Cain, Mike Stone
Written By : David Roberts, Jonathon  Cain, Jimmy Barnes
Recorded At : Rhinoceros Studio

• http://www.jimmybarnes.com/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Barne
• http://www.coldchisel.com/band/jimmy-barnes/
• http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/barnes_jimmy
• http://www.discogs.com/Jimmy-Barnes-Driving-Wheels/release/1777071

Driving Wheels Analysis

In my last post, I am going to analyse the song Driving Wheels by Jimmy Barnes. He is a performer that is down to earth, and relates to the people that listens to him. He is very popular among truck drivers because of his husky and rough voice. He sounds like the typical Aussie bloke.
Driving Wheels is a pub rock sounding song, a type of genre that Jimmy Barnes is well known for. Pub Rock typical performing media includes electric guitar, drums, and piano. Driving Wheels is an upbeat song, with the time signature of four four, or simple quadruple time.

The intro of Driving wheels lasts for forty-two seconds, this is played by an electric guitar This gives the listeners an idea of what the rest of the song is going to sound like. The intro is rather drawn out, the electric guitar plays long notes to  make his listener feel as if they are out on the open road. He does this by playing long, strong notes and following them with chords.

The next sound evident is the percussion, building into the rhythm. A piano comes in and makes the texture thicker. At a minute into the song, vocals begin. Jimmy's voice is quite high pitched, but it still has this rough and manly quality to it. In the chorus Jimmy is accompanied by female back ups for a few sentences.



Barnes generally sings in a high pitch, this allows the song to build into the chorus.  The song is in a major scale, it is upbeat and happy. The melody is present through out the song and is kept in time with the percussion. The song flows, it doesn't sound disjointed, because it moves in steps, in four four timing.

The beat is easy to follow as it is common time, four four. The timing is mostly kept by the drums and percussion. The different instruments play at the same type of rhythm. The note values are very similar, they don't sound misplaced or strange. The timing of the song is not too fast or too slow, it keeps in good time with the melody which makes it a catchy song likely to get stuck in your head.





The music builds towards the high point in the chorus. After the first chorus, the song continues in a higher tone than as it began, this means that the next chorus has even more power. The second chorus does have more power and this is evident because Jimmy puts in more strength with his voice, making the sound stronger as well.  

The sound is rather thick, there is mostly the percussion and guitar evident through out the song, as well as the piano. These three instruments are easy to identify because they are louder and well known.

Driving Wheels Lyric Analysis

Driving Wheels
As previously mentioned, Jimmy Barnes was a voice for the 'Working Class Man'. This mainly referred to truck drivers, as seen in the music video for Driving Wheels. Driving Wheels was a largely popular song among truck drivers because the lyrics describe 'living on borrowed time' and 'he's been up and down this road so many times'. 

Barnes wrote his lyrics this way to appeal to the nature of truck drivers and to reach them on a personal level. Not just 'do your job' but 'I've been there'.   

The song tells a story and through this Barnes can connect with his audience and create a bond between the vocalist and the listener. The lyrics are what gets the point across to his audience.

Exert from lyrics:





Well he's following the broken lines
Living on borrowed time
Motel rooms and broken hearts all left behind
You swear he couldn't close his eyes
As he shifts into overdrive
He's been up and down this road so many times

Here Barnes is capturing the pure essence of what it is like to be a truck driver, this pulls his audience in the moment they hear the first line. The instant bond that is created is like a 'me too' type of bond. The lyrics are fundamental to the song, without them the song would have a totally different meaning. The next line gives us reason to believe that the man in the story hasn't been able to settle down because he is always on the move. 

You swear he couldn't close his eyes.
This again relates to truck drivers because they can work up to twelve hours in a day, then they must stop for at lest eight hours. Most of the time this eight hours is not enough and before you know it, you're back on the road. 


As he shifts into overdrive
He's been up and down this road so many times
If you couldn't get it before, now it is evident that the man is driving. The second line here refers to the singular run that many truck drivers are assigned. They get to know their roads perfectly, right down to every pothole. 

Anyways:
Stay tuned for next time's analysis of music!

My Buddy Jimmy Barnes

Hello there music students!
It has been quite a while since I have posted another music blog, but this time the blog will be about the legendary Australian Artist, my buddy, Jimmy Barnes.

Jimmy Barnes was born James Dixon Swan. Personally, Jimmy Barnes suits him much better. Barnes started out his career as a lead singer in the well known band, Cold Chisel. if you have no idea who I am talking about, I strongly suggest you look them up, you won't regret it. Just ask your parents about him, They'll go on about the good ol' days.

Cold Chisel was a great band, lasting from 1973 - 1983. They made some pretty legendary songs, Barnes released seven albums with his band.

After the band broke up in 1983, Barnes continued on to a solo career, less than a month after the band had split. He was very successful because he became a voice for the 'working-class man' (You'll understand this pun in just a sec). He hit the Australian charts as number one with his first solo album.

Working Class Man 1986

Jimmy Barnes

Jimmy Barnes collaborated with many artists, and expanded out of his comfort zone which was typical country music. With these collaborations he became a Rock and Roll / Blues type singer. His voice was gruff and different to what people had heard before and this made him quite popular. The artists he collaborated with inculde:

• Tina Turner - (Simply) The Best 1992
• Tin Lids ( His Children's Band ) - Back up singers for When Your Love Is Gone 19
• INXS - Good Times ( Soundtrack from The Lost Boys )

Jimmy Barnes became widely known by truck drivers for his country sound, his album Freight Train Heart was popular among truck drivers. An example of this is his song Driving Wheels, it spent five weeks at the top of Australian charts. 

Driving Wheels 1987

Jimmy Barnes

Stay Tuned for the next installment of My Buddy, Jimmy Barnes.

Tanisha


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Barnes