Music
The song begins, uncommonly for the band, with a drum intro. It is followed by a guitar sequence used throughout the song as an ostinato figure after each verse. The atmosphere of the song is heavily syncopated.
According to Richie Unterberger, the performance includes a "chiming 12-string guitar that sounds uncannily like the kind of sounds that became identified with The Byrds' Roger McGuinn, although 'What You're Doing' was recorded in late 1964, about six months before the Byrds became famous with 'Mr. Tambourine Man.'"
The song lacks a chorus, so the verses become the melodic focus of the song. In the first half of the verse, the ostinato figure continues to play and the first word of each line is punctuated by exclamatory background vocals. The second half of each verse is harmonized with "oohs", and the ostinato figure begins before the last line finishes. The overlapping of the ostinato figure contributes to the slightly disordered feel of the song. Each verse ends with a repetition of the title phrase:
- Look, what you're doing
- I'm feeling blue and lonely
- Would it be too much to ask of you
- What you're doing to me
There is a bridge that occurs twice to provide a reprieve from the more anxious verses and an instrumental breakdown with a double-tracked guitar solo and a tumbling piano keeping rhythm underneath.
Read more about this topic: What You're Doing
Famous quotes containing the word music:
“What is our life? a play of passion;
Our mirth the music of division;
Our mothers’ wombs the tiring-houses be
Where we are dressed for this short comedy.”
—Sir Walter Raleigh (1552?–1618)
“It was a poetic recreation to watch those distant sails steering for half-fabulous ports, whose very names are a mysterious music to our ears.... It is remarkable that men do not sail the sea with more expectation. Nothing was ever accomplished in a prosaic mood.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Good music is very close to primitive language.”
—Denis Diderot (1713–1784)