Clapton: The Speed of "Let It Grow" - Worse than Loneliness, the speed 78.1 bpm Predicts the Bittersweet- As 'Trying Not To Cry In Public and Failing'

Eric Clapton's Let It Grow is an archetypal song of bittersweetness. The entire album, 461 Ocean Boulevard, voted at Rolling Stone magazine as one of the Top 500 Albums of All-Time, reeks of Eric's fond memories mixed with projections of Eric's uncertain future, what Eric is lucky to have and what Eric is sad to have lost. An excellent article by the Rolling Stone says this in far greater detail than I ever could, and that article is found at http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/301088/review/6067665/461oceanboulevard.
This song is vital to understanding the counter-intuition involved with this theory. The songs in the slower range, 70-76 beats per minute, are generally indicative and predictive of grace, poise and composure। By contrast, stepping up the speed to the range of 79-84 beats per minute yield a group of songs where there is a notably high correspondence between outright *loneliness* in the form of despair, solitude and suffering. The MEAN speed itself, which is literally the square root of 3/5ths of one second, or 0.77449.... seconds per beat where there are identically, with the decimal place moved over two places to the right, 77.४५९ bpm, can be best understood as these "WOE IS ME", "I am beyond sad - as I cannot decide whether to put on a poised face or just let myself cry" songs। Take your time, because once you 'get it', you will better be able to control your mood through control of your mental speed. This song is pure mixed emotion laced with languid confusion that may cause
1) the hesitation and poor reading skills, as found in quality University of Indiana studies circa 1990;
2) confused music, among other "problems around the speed of 700 milliseconds," a term coined by the French scientist and an intellectual of the highest rank from France called Dr. Paul Fraisse;
3) anyone to either feel empowered by
(i) knowing that the song that you may be thinking is a graceful love song which is actually a song of confused homesickness allows you to give your mind a break as you cease 'trying to figure out' what is wrong with you when in fact there is nothing more than tempo irony occurring; and, or
(ii) you know the speed itself, and when you are shopping at the Home Depot and if song is bothering you, mastering speed allows you to block it out.

song="Let It Grow"
composer=Eric Clapton
album='461 Ocean Boulevard'
performer=Eric Clapton
mean speed=78.1 beats per minute
average beat=768 milliseconds
mean emotion according to the meanspeed music conjecture=bittersweetness
recording source=Cream Of Clapton



Clapton was coming off heroin addiction when he wrote and performed this album. Clapton is all about Crossroads: it is one of his best songs, it is a blues song that suits Clapton and is the title of one of 9 or ten "[Best of Clapton]" compilations. Moreover, it is the title of the sheet music book that I bought in the 1980s - one of 9 or ten "[Best of Clapton]" publishing portfolios. The man deserves every penny, as he is truly one of the best artists of our generation in general.

Ian Andrew Schneider
August 6, 2008