"More Than a Feeling" is a song by the American rock band Boston, released as the lead single and the opening track from the band's 1976 debut album by Epic Records in September 1976, with "Smokin'" as the B-side. Tom Scholz wrote the whole song. The single entered the US Billboard Hot 100 on September 18 and peaked at number five.[4] The track is now a staple of classic rock radio, and in 2008, it was named the 39th-best hard rock song of all time by VH1.[1] It was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame list of the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll" and is ranked number 212 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time", updated from its previous position of number 500 on the 2004 version.[5]
Background and writing[]
"More than a Feeling" took Scholz five years to complete.[6][7] Scholz wrote the lyrics based on the idea of losing someone close, and on the way in which music can connect a person to memories of the past.[citation needed] Though not based on any specific event in Scholz's life, he did take the name Marianne from his cousin.[8] It is one of six songs (five of which eventually appeared on the Boston album[9]) that he worked on in his basement from 1968 to 1975, before Boston got its record contract.[10] The drum parts were originally developed by Jim Masdea, although Sib Hashian played the drums on the official release.[9] The song is in compound AABA form.[11]
Content[]
The Book of Rock Lists suggests that the chorus riff may itself be a subtle homage to the Kingsmen's classic, "Louie Louie." Scholz has stated in multiple interviews his fondness for the James Gang, and in particular that band's 1970s album, James Gang Rides Again.[12][13][14][15] Accordingly, the signature riff for "More than a Feeling" bears a resemblance to that composed by Joe Walsh for the "Rides Again" track "Tend My Garden".[16] Scholz credits "Walk Away Renee" by The Left Banke as the song's main inspiration.[17][18]
Boston's website says the song is about "the power an old song can have in your life",[19] with Scholz elaborating that "it was sort of a bittersweet ballad."[20] Ultimate Classic Rock critic Michael Gallucci points out that this is a common theme in Boston songs.[21]
The lyrics express the author's discontent with the present and his yearning for a former love named Marianne, whose memory is strongly evoked by an old familiar song. In an interview Scholz was asked, "Who is Marianne?" He replied, "There actually is a Marianne. She wasn't my girlfriend." He explained that when he was 8 or 9 years old he had a much older cousin whom he thought was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen and that he was "secretly in love" with her (laughs),[22] but he has also stated that the lyrics were inspired by his emotions after a school love affair ended, and were influenced by the lyrics of the Left Banke song "Walk Away Renee".[10] Maximum Guitar author Andy Aledort pointed out that the guitar chord progression of G-D/F#-Em7-D that follows the line "I see my Marianne walking away" also comes from "Walk Away Renee."[10] Aledort also explains that the guitar solo is unusual in that it incorporates mordents and inverted mordents, which are more typically used in baroque music.[10]
Plot[]
TBA
Lyrics[]
TBA
