Question/Answer Call and Response
Part of the band poses a musical "question", or a phrase that feels unfinished, and another part of the band "answers" (finishes) it. In the blues, the B section often has a question-and-answer pattern (dominant-to-tonic).
An example of this is the Christmas song Must Be Santa:
- CALL: Who laughs this way, ho ho ho?
- RESPONSE: Santa laughs this way, ho ho ho!
A similar question-and-answer exchange occurs in the movie Casablanca between Sam and the band in the song Knock On Wood:
- CALL: Who's got trouble?
- RESPONSE: We've got trouble!
- CALL: How much trouble?
- RESPONSE: Too much trouble!
Read more about this topic: Call And Response (music)
Famous quotes containing the words question, answer, call and/or response:
“The matter of fees is important, far beyond the mere question of bread and butter involved. Properly attended to, fuller justice is done to both lawyer and client.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“For and if thou canst answer my questions three,
Thy life and thy living both saved shall be.”
—Unknown. King John and the Abbot of Canterbury (l. 75–76)
“I started in to cry and call his name,
Asking forgiveness of his tongueless head.
. . . I dreamt the past was never past redeeming:
But whether this was false or honest dreaming
I beg death’s pardon now. And mourn the dead.”
—Richard Wilbur (b. 1921)
“Because humans are not alone in exhibiting such behavior—bees stockpile royal jelly, birds feather their nests, mice shred paper—it’s possible that a pregnant woman who scrubs her house from floor to ceiling [just before her baby is born] is responding to a biological imperative . . . . Of course there are those who believe that . . . the burst of energy that propels a pregnant woman to clean her house is a perfectly natural response to their mother’s impending visit.”
—Mary Arrigo (20th century)