Track 4 off GHV1 is Say Goodbye to Hollywood. The song is 3:42 long and has a clear golden section which begins at 1:49 and ends at 2:22. The interesting part is that a distinct hesitation or pause in the instrumental section, which I believe to be its climax, occurs at 2:17.

3:42/2:17= 1.62! FIBONACCI!

Billy is 3 for 4 right now and the one he’s missed on was just outside the range….so far this is very exciting and I hope to find more corresponding hits from Billy as I continue researching GHV1.

Track 3 on Greatest Hits Vol. I is “The Entertainer”. This isn’t one of my personal favorites but it’s on the cd nonetheless. The song is 3:38 in length and the golden section (a short one of about 12 seconds) occurs at 2:20 in.

218/140 = 1.557

This is close but I think just far enough to discount from displaying the presence of fibonacci. However, it is at least worthy of being notedly not far off.

I will continue on in my search, so far Billy has made me proud..

I couldn’t leave for Spring Break having been diasspointed by Rod.

I searched some more and was able to find another example of Rod working his magic.

“Someone to Wacth Over Me” is pretty old, but very recognizable. Judy Garlands version is very nice, but certainly not a golden section song. It’s 195 seconds long so the golden section should be right at two minutes in and at that point there is nothing going on. Also none of her dramatic points match up or even approximate any Fibonacci numbers.

Now the Rod version on the other hand…

it does match up with several Fibonacci numbers, as well as being close on a few others (i found stuff at 8, 22, 31, and 55 seconds, all on or near Fib numbers).

The climax occurs at 130 seconds, when Rod elevates his voice a little extra for this part. With the song being 211 seonds long,

211/130=1.623…close enough for me. Heres another example of rod lengthening the song and having the climax hit the golden section.

That’s more like it Rod!

For the first time I’ve been disappointed by Rod.

The original “What a Wonderful World” done by Louis Armstrong is one that just about everyone loves to poorly sing along to.

His version is 139 seconds long. There’s the one verse where he sings higher, and i used the midpoint of that as the climax. it happened to be at 80 seconds in

139/80= 1.73…ehh, not good enough. (however, if you use the end of the verse, the ratio becomes 1.63, but i honestly didnt feel the end was any more special than the whole verse)

When I saw that Rod’s version was long I figured I would definately find a golden section song. Especially after listening to it, I felt there would be something. It basically is the regular song, then a sax solo then some more singing. Unfortunately tho, the total length was 270 seconds and the midpoint of the sax solo was 133 seconds in, so…

270/133 = 2.03, nowhere near the golden section.

No Fibonacci numbers on either version here either.

That’s okay Rod, you’re allowed one every now and then.

I agree with the previous post. That idea is sort of summarized by what I found looking at “Moonglow.”

There were a few versions but the one i was able to download actually had no words. That wasnt really a problem though, I was still able to pick out dramatic moments and the climax. I didn’t find anything interesting relating to the Fibonacci numbers here. The climax also was non-interesting.

173/76 (highest note in the song, happens during a harp solo i think)= 2.2, no golden section.

The thing about Rod, and what we’ve found so far, is that he can take a ballad like song like this, and make it more like a Fib/golden section song. That’s exactly what I see here. None of the points match up with Fibonacci numbers, but they are clsoe, within 5 or 6 seconds. and the climax occurs at 137 seconds in, the same high note as in the original…

213/137= 1.55, not golden section but much closer

I think this is almost a summary of what Rod is doing. He is taking the originals and adding sections to them and changing them slightly to make them more likely to be appreciated by a larger audience.

Interesting stuff.

I think the pattern is more in how he covers the songs that the ones he picks. All the songs he covers are Americana classics, but the way he transforms them are is the truly fascinating aspect of what we’ve been finding. He seems to always lenghten the song and seems to nail a golden section each time. I know that his covers are not the biggest hits or get the most radio airplay, but there has to be something to this. Let’s keep looking at Rod to see if we can find more…

Hello everyone,

More good Stuff from Rod. Here’s another Frank Sinatra cover (maybe there’s something to the fact that he’s doing a lot of Sinatra).

The Sinatra version is 161 seconds long. I found no evidence that this was a Fibonacci song. None of the dramatic points lined up with any of the right numbers. The climax came right around 120 seconds in. The instruments and Sinatra’s voice both peak at the same time.

161/120= 1.35…clearly not a golden section song.

Rod’s version, however, conforms on both accounts.

There are dramatic points at 8, 21, 53 (the fib number is 55), and 144 seconds, all right on or very near the fibonacci numbers.

The climax comes at 126 seconds in, with a buildup from the instruments leading into a strong vocal from Rod. Being 205 seconds long…

205/126= 1.62…right on

Having said all this, does anyone see anything that maybe attracts Rod to cover these songs? Since they are not golden section songs to begin with, is there any pattern to the songs he chooses to cover?

Track 2 on the Greatest Hits Vol. 1 is another classic, Captain Jack (of “‘ll get ya high tonight” fame). The song is balladesque and personifies a drug habit under the clever misnomer of “Captain Jack” and chronicles the problems that many people encounter as a result.\

Anywho, the song is 7:15 in length and the golden section, albeit short, occurs at 4:35 in….

435/275 = 1.582

This is a on the edge of consideration for Fibonacci but I will give old Billy the benefit of the doubt. For a song of this length, I feel the correlation is stronger despite being .029 astray of 1.618, the magic number. For longer songs, the climax and/or golden section could occur, conceivable, at more possible points…so it seems the range we accept should expand a bit to account for this…

So far, I’m going to say GH Vol. 1 is 2 for 2 on having fibonacci’s imprint…Go Billy!

Perhaps against the wishes of the team at this current moment, I have researched Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits Volume 1 because it’s a cd I own personally and have listened to for years since I took the cd from my parents! That being said, I found some very prmising results..

The first track of the cd is the extremely famous “Piano Man”. I think just about every person in the world can sing along with this song whenever it is on the radio or playing at the bar and whatnot..

The song is 5:36 long and the golden section begins at 3:27 into the song…

336/207 = 1.623

This is a great start to my research because the first song was a hit and aligned with Fibonacci pretty closely…..

I will move through the album and more great stuff is to come!

Ed, how about you hold off on your other artist until the first volume of the Great American Songbook is complete.

The next song I looked at was “The Way You Look Tonight.” The song was originally sung by Frank Sinatra and than covered by Rod for the Songbook.

First, the Frank version:
the song clocks in at a duration of 202 seconds. There is a very long instrumental part, complete with piano and saxaphone players that ranges all the way from 124 seconds -142 seconds.

202/124 (start of climax) = 1.629 very close to the golden section which means that the climax definitely hits the golden section at some point.

Now the Rod version:
The song is slighlty longer, with a duration of 234 seconds. Again, there is a very long instrumental climax ranging from 116 seconds -142 seconds. Although the two songs have pretty much the exact same climax, Rod’s version does not conform to the golden section because of its longer length.

234/142 (the end of the climax) = 1.647. There are a few more instrumental points in this song that do not allow it to conform.

I think this is the first song we’ve come across so far that has the original artist conforming to the golden section, but not Rod.

Over the weekend I am going to post a link that lists all of the songs we have tested and which songs/artists have conformed.