Songs and movies that you know forwards and backwards.
September 23, 2011 1:16 AM Subscribe
Can you name any songs or movies which feature palindromic structures? In terms of music, I don't mean notes or lyrics, but the sections, eg, CVCBCVC. Movie patterns would be more loose, but one could be settings, eg, starts out in a house, then a car, then a plane, etc, ends in a car, then a house. Another pattern could be the entrance/exit of characters.
I'm guessing short films would be most likely here, and Memento isn't really what I have in mind (at least, I don't think...). Episodes of TV series could work too, if there are any.
Assuming I searched correctly, I can't believe there aren't any previous questions with "palindrome" as a tag.
I'm guessing short films would be most likely here, and Memento isn't really what I have in mind (at least, I don't think...). Episodes of TV series could work too, if there are any.
Assuming I searched correctly, I can't believe there aren't any previous questions with "palindrome" as a tag.
Shaun of the Dead pretty much storyboards the whole climax in the start of the film. Apparently Hot Fuzz does too.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 1:23 AM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 1:23 AM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
Not a movie (yet), but the book Cloud Atlas is structured that way.
Bjork's Bachelorette?
posted by benzenedream at 1:27 AM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
Bjork's Bachelorette?
posted by benzenedream at 1:27 AM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
Well, to your example about settings, let's get the obvious one out of the way: Inception.
You'll have to a little some digging to find this particular in-then-back-out pattern, but the Story within a story Wikipedia page will likely have several for you.
posted by Su at 1:42 AM on September 23, 2011
You'll have to a little some digging to find this particular in-then-back-out pattern, but the Story within a story Wikipedia page will likely have several for you.
posted by Su at 1:42 AM on September 23, 2011
...and now I look like I had a stroke while typing that last line
posted by Su at 1:44 AM on September 23, 2011
posted by Su at 1:44 AM on September 23, 2011
The plot of Showgirls has a loosely palindromic structure, the film ending with a sequence of events which mirrors the opening scenes.
posted by hot soup girl at 1:58 AM on September 23, 2011
posted by hot soup girl at 1:58 AM on September 23, 2011
"Bob" by Yankovic. But maybe that's cheating.
posted by BurnChao at 2:22 AM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by BurnChao at 2:22 AM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
UFO tofu by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.
posted by Elly Vortex at 4:23 AM on September 23, 2011
posted by Elly Vortex at 4:23 AM on September 23, 2011
Inception? They go into the various dream levels, then progressively leave them again.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 4:35 AM on September 23, 2011
posted by EndsOfInvention at 4:35 AM on September 23, 2011
There's this great pull-back shot at the end of Moulin Rouge which takes you back through the layers and layers of story-within-story-within-story that the whole movie has been slowly pulling you into, one after another, as it builds to the climax.
Not quite parallel, since it takes the whole movie to get in and a single shot to get out, but might be an example.
posted by gauche at 5:16 AM on September 23, 2011
Not quite parallel, since it takes the whole movie to get in and a single shot to get out, but might be an example.
posted by gauche at 5:16 AM on September 23, 2011
The Beatles would likely have done this some. She Loves You comes to mind first, And I Love Her, Rock and Roll Music, arguably Why Don't We Do It In the Road, I ME Mine ... I was pretty strict in interpreting and applying; there are other arguments (While My Guitar Gently Weeps but for the solo at the end, the main section of Strawberry Fields Forever, Cry Baby Cry except for the piece of Paul's vamping they tacked on to the end).
posted by troywestfield at 6:22 AM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by troywestfield at 6:22 AM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
Baroque Rondo form: ABACABA
So, look up a rondo from any Baroque composer and you will have 1000's of pieces at your fingertips.
(As an aside, palindromes in music with the actual notes was common-enough in the Baroque era, also, as many composer from the era liked the idea of musical games, riddles, etc, sometimes for fun, and often to give the finger to the church and their strict set of compositional rules.)
posted by TinWhistle at 7:24 AM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
So, look up a rondo from any Baroque composer and you will have 1000's of pieces at your fingertips.
(As an aside, palindromes in music with the actual notes was common-enough in the Baroque era, also, as many composer from the era liked the idea of musical games, riddles, etc, sometimes for fun, and often to give the finger to the church and their strict set of compositional rules.)
posted by TinWhistle at 7:24 AM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
Mozart's "Mirror" (or "Tabletop") Duet might count. It's a single page of score which the first player reads from top to bottom (traditionally placing the sheet on top of a table), while the second player plays it simultaneously from the other direction. Sick!
posted by drlith at 9:05 AM on September 23, 2011
posted by drlith at 9:05 AM on September 23, 2011
The ultimate example of this is surely Michel Gondry's video for Cibo Matto's (great) song "Sugar Water."
posted by Dr. Wu at 9:47 AM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Dr. Wu at 9:47 AM on September 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
klapaucius beat me to the Os Mutantes song, but my favorite example of palindromic structure is in Chapter V of Watchmen (the book, not the movie), entitled "Fearful Symmetry." The entire issue has a symmetrical layout, with panel arrangements mirroring each other going from the center "splash page" outwards, all the way to the beginning and end.
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:21 AM on September 23, 2011
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:21 AM on September 23, 2011
Blotted Science, a technical death metal band, ends their album Machinations of Dementia with Adenosine Breakdown (3:10) and Adenosine Buildup (3:10), which together make a palindrome. The second song is literally the first played in reverse.
posted by troll at 8:05 PM on September 24, 2011
posted by troll at 8:05 PM on September 24, 2011
I bookmarked this post ages ago because it reminded me that there was a Van Morrison studio track where a solo gets played one way, and then gets played again in reverse, but I couldn't remember the album. There might be more parallelism/palindrome action that is beyond me, too... I can't parse the music like I used to. I finally rediscovered the album the other day and it reminded me of your question!
Now that I'm listening to it, I think the whole theme might cover 2 tracks, but the moment I remember is in #15 below, right around the 3 minute mark.
Van Morrison - Too Long in Exile
14. I'll Take Care Of You
15. Instrumental / Tell Me What I Want
posted by juliplease at 8:40 AM on March 9, 2012
Now that I'm listening to it, I think the whole theme might cover 2 tracks, but the moment I remember is in #15 below, right around the 3 minute mark.
Van Morrison - Too Long in Exile
14. I'll Take Care Of You
15. Instrumental / Tell Me What I Want
posted by juliplease at 8:40 AM on March 9, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Leon at 1:21 AM on September 23, 2011