How a song is scored
The Garcia–Lennon Index places a song between two philosophies of music. At 0, Garcia: more of the finished musical event is determined during performance. At 100, Lennon: more of it is determined before performance, through composition, arrangement, rehearsal or studio construction. 50 is Dead Center.
The question underneath every score is: where is the information that makes this piece of music itself?
The names are poles, not verdicts on two people or two bands. The song at the Lennon pole of Phase I was written by Paul McCartney. The most Garcia track by the Beatles is credited to all four of them, and the most Lennon song the Dead played is a three-part hymn.
What was predetermined vs. what emerged in the act of making it.
Not a jam detector
These surface features are struck from the record. None of them may be used as a reason for a score, and the build fails if an argument leans on one.
| Not automatically Garcia | Why it proves nothing |
|---|---|
| Long songs | Length says nothing about where the notes were decided. A long piece can be scored to the bar. |
| Repetition | A repeated figure can be a platform for invention or a fixed design reproduced exactly. |
| Solos | A solo can be improvised or learned note for note. |
| Live recordings | A live recording can document a tightly rehearsed arrangement. |
| Improvisation alone | What matters is whether the improvised part carries the identity of the piece. |
| Psychedelia | Tape loops and backwards guitars are studio construction. |
| Not automatically Lennon | Why it proves nothing |
|---|---|
| Short songs | A short song can be a blues frame that changes with every band that plays it. |
| Complex songs | Complexity can be written or can arise in the room. |
| Pop songs | Genre is not evidence. |
| Studio recordings | A studio can be used to capture a single live take. |
| Fixed chord progressions | A jazz standard has fixed changes, and most of what matters in a performance of it is invented on the spot. |
| Elaborate production | Production can decorate an event without defining the work. |
Five evidence dimensions
Each is scored 0 to 100. They feed a weighted composite that keeps the final number honest.
Weights in the composite
Why Predetermination weighs most
It is the dimension closest to the central question. The other four are different ways of looking for the same thing: in the form, in the performance history, in the way the music moves, in the status of the record.
The published GLI is set by comparing a song with its neighbours and may sit up to 6 points from the composite. A larger gap is allowed only with a written adjustment note.
Transformational tolerance
Change the duration, tempo, instrumentation, solos, arrangement, transitions and dynamics. How much can change before the piece stops being itself?
The test has a trap. Ripple survives any arrangement, and so does Dark Star, for opposite reasons. Ripple survives because its identity is written down and travels intact. Dark Star survives because its identity is regenerated each time. So the test never produces a number by itself. It is used to find out which kind of survival is happening.
The workflow
Fourteen steps per song. Relative comparison beats isolated guessing: “Is Yer Blues more Garcia than I Want You?” is a better question than “What number is Yer Blues?”
- Fix the object. Settle the canonical work and its reference release. One song, one id.
- Gather the facts. Writers, release, duration, session and performance history. Each with a source URL. Unknown stays unknown.
- Examine structural specification. What about sequence, form and duration is settled before anyone plays?
- Examine performance variation. How different are the documented realizations?
- Examine predetermination. How much of what matters exists before the performance begins?
- Examine development. Does the music advance by interaction or by written sections?
- Examine recording dependence. Is the record a document of an event, or is it the work?
- Test transformational tolerance. Change tempo, players, length, arrangement. What survives, and why?
- Write the Garcia argument. The strongest honest case for moving it left.
- Write the Lennon argument. The strongest honest case for moving it right.
- Compare against scored songs. Is it more Garcia than its nearest neighbours? Why?
- Establish the ordering. The order comes first. Numbers are read off the order.
- Assign the GLI. Cross-check against the weighted composite. A gap over 6 needs a written reason.
- Assign confidence. Grade the evidence, not the position.
Status
- Classified
- Fully researched and signed off by the editor. Currently all 50.
- Provisional
- Full case written, awaiting review. Used for new songs as they come in.
- Unclassified
- Cataloged, no GLI. Used when the catalog grows past Phase I.
Confidence
Confidence grades the evidence. It says nothing about how Garcia or Lennon a song is. Hundreds of documented performances earn a high figure. A Beatles song that was never played live is docked, because Performance Consistency has to be inferred from session takes.
Bands of the scale
- 0–14
- Pure Garcia
- 15–44
- Garcia Leaning
- 45–55
- Dead Center
- 56–85
- Lennon Leaning
- 86–100
- Pure Lennon
Image sources
Photographs come from Wikimedia Commons under the licences stated there. Cover art is served by the Cover Art Archive and is shown with clearance from the publisher.