Indulge my nostalgia for the slightly out of tune
January 12, 2019 1:56 AM   Subscribe

Can y'all connect me up with some music played on an out of tune piano? As a kid, I had the pleasure of occasionally playing on an old upright out of tune porch piano with a stuck loud pedal. I loved the way it sounded.

Many years later, I lived in a drafty old wooden house with another out of tune upright with a couple of dampened keys. I was living with a reggae session musician who would play for hours. I adored listening to him play and the out of tuneness fit in fine with his relaxed style. I regret that I lost the tapes I had of him playing.

I still live in the old wooden house but the piano and the player are long gone. But, it sure would be good to again hear the sound of that piano echoing through the house.

I've found a few songs that scratch that itch:
Strange & Beautiful (I'll Put a Spell On You) played by MetaFilter's own greenish
Escape
by Under the Flood
See You Around by Zach Slaughter
60 & Punk by Death Cab For Cutie

Got any suggestions? I love rock, melodic metal, reggae, and folk music. I am not fond of jazz, country, ragtime, or church music.
posted by a humble nudibranch to Media & Arts (18 answers total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: How I made my millions Radiohead
posted by deadwax at 2:20 AM on January 12, 2019 [1 favorite]


Best answer: My grandfather playing at home c. 1980
posted by STFUDonnie at 3:28 AM on January 12, 2019 [2 favorites]


Best answer: You desperately need Desperado by The Langley Schools Music Project
posted by ouke at 4:36 AM on January 12, 2019 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Check out Jon Brion's soundtrack to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Lots of this kind of piano in there!
posted by limeonaire at 5:25 AM on January 12, 2019 [3 favorites]


OK. So it's not exactly like your samples but your question immediately made me think of these guys who have tons of stuff on YouTube.
posted by chasles at 5:40 AM on January 12, 2019


Not only on an out-of-tune piano, but about that out-of-tune piano: Corazón - Bishop Allen.
posted by howfar at 5:40 AM on January 12, 2019 [1 favorite]


(although the piano in the song linked above is in tune with itself, so I don't know if it will have quite the effect you want)
posted by howfar at 5:42 AM on January 12, 2019


Best answer: Curses. None of the versions on YouTube actually seem to have the piano on them... Spotify link.
posted by howfar at 5:49 AM on January 12, 2019


Fiery Furnaces - The Garfield El features an out-of-tune, tacked piano. It's the opening tune from the massively complex Rehearsing My Choir, and a little context might help.
posted by hydrophonic at 5:53 AM on January 12, 2019 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Bells for her by Tori Amos
posted by pangolin party at 6:58 AM on January 12, 2019 [2 favorites]


Best answer: The catalog of The Walkmen is rife with terrific examples of Paul Maroon playing a warbly, watery-sounding upright piano with a fairly flexible relationship to proper tuning. I could swear I had read that he uses a vintage Pullman railcar piano, but can't find a link on that right now.

Try We've Been Had.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:59 AM on January 12, 2019 [1 favorite]


If you're interested in something a bit more than "Slightly out of tune", look up "prepared piano". Music written for, and played by, a piano with stuff tangled in the strings.
posted by Gray Duck at 7:25 AM on January 12, 2019 [1 favorite]


Sonic Youth, Providence
posted by jonathanbell at 7:37 AM on January 12, 2019


Best answer: The National - You Were A Kindness
posted by btfreek at 12:18 PM on January 12, 2019


Best answer: Hi, I feel so strongly about this song that I finally joined MeFi just to answer this question! Empty Hearted Town, by Warren Zevon.
posted by fiddler at 2:27 PM on January 12, 2019 [5 favorites]


Best answer: Elliott Smith uses this, like in this tune.
posted by umbú at 3:23 PM on January 12, 2019 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Also—what a lovely, evocative question.
posted by umbú at 8:30 PM on January 12, 2019 [1 favorite]




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