I don't know if there is a specific term but that the one I came with. Sometimes musicians mimick a sound with their instruments that relate a subject in a song. The way Brian Jones plays his slide in "King Bee" makes me think of flying stinging bees. Bill's bass in that song sounds like a buzzing swarm of bees. Mick Jagger's harmonica in "Silver Train" reminds me of the tchoo-tchoo of a train.
George Jones had a song about a bottle of alchool where the pianist played an arpeggio that sounded like the pouring of liquid.
One has to pay attention to catch those as it is in literature (Hissing snakes in Paradise lost) but it's cool when musicians come up with those funny tricks that fit the tune.
Rock and roll,
Mops

It sounds like a cafe dish...maybe something on a pita bread...

anyhoo...SRV was always pretty good at making topical noises. He probably was imitating Hendrix who was a master at it.

Most pedal slide players do at least the wolf whistle...

My favorite are the sax players who make their saxes sound like sex toys. Kudos also to the few remaining producers & engineers who are able to record them properly.

Also worthy of note are precussionists in orchestras using anything they can get their hands on as effects... Coconuts for horse footsteps (also seen in "Search for the Holy Grail"), wooden sticks for whips cracking.

I also remember hearing a story of a pipe organ being "dropped" at an early performance of the 1812 Overture to simulate bombs going off. Maybe that was the William Tell Overture. It's been a while since my last college music history class.

A guitar wammy bar can help in producing engine gear changes.

Thrumpets do pretty good horse "whinnies".

I'm sure there are others...

Peace,
Mr DJA

I can think of a song called "Onomatopoeia" by John Prine.

Some of the chorus ran as "Crash went the window, bang went the pistol, ouch went the sonovagun. Onomatopoeia, I don't wanna see ya, speaking in a foreign tongue".

I can think, too, of some oxymorons: Earth Angel by The Penguins, and Ugly Beauty by Thelonius Monk spring to mind.

I can also think of a musical syllepsis, similar to zeugma:

"She blew my nose, and then she blew my mind".

"Robbing people with a six gun" - six beats on the drum to sound like a shotgun. I always thought that was pretty cool by Bobby Fuller Four on I Shot The Law.

The master of this technique is blues guitarist Albert Collins. In the song Too Many Dirty Dishes, listen how he uses the telecaster to "pour some water from the sink" at 3:04 and "scrape a dirty pot out" at 3:18. He "runs more water" at 3:28 so he can "wash some glasses" at 3:32 and "work on these pots a little more" at 3:47....

Stray Cat Blues gets some mighty fine caterwauling going
and of course those dogs begin to bark in Rooster

But yeah, I recall being absolutely riveted by that slide in King Bee as a child

The Dubliners having fun with the Hen's March:

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Silver Dagger
"Robbing people with a six gun" - six beats on the drum to sound like a shotgun. I always thought that was pretty cool by Bobby Fuller Four on I Shot The Law.

man that is a great song thanks for posting

I had that once, but some penicillin took care of it.

Keith commented once that street fighting man was written to mimic the sound of a siren...

[www.youtube.com]

You could argue that Robby Krieger in the Doors' WHEN THE MUSIC'S OVER tries to mimic...the scream of a butterfly. Or maybe not.

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Title5Take1
You could argue that Robby Krieger in the Doors' WHEN THE MUSIC'S OVER tries to mimic...the scream of a butterfly. Or maybe not.

Actually, that was Ray Manzarek, with a sustained rising then fading note on the organ.

There must be several train ones, the intro to "Station to Station" being a personal favorite.

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stonehearted
The master of this technique is blues guitarist Albert Collins. In the song Too Many Dirty Dishes, listen how he uses the telecaster to "pour some water from the sink" at 3:04 and "scrape a dirty pot out" at 3:18. He "runs more water" at 3:28 so he can "wash some glasses" at 3:32 and "work on these pots a little more" at 3:47....

Ha! Yes. Isn't there one where he does a whole fight/make up story with his lady using his guitar?

Ah found it:
Conversation With Collins

[m.youtube.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-05-02 05:00 by andrewt.

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71Tele
I had that once, but some penicillin took care of it.

I hope you told the girl.

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treaclefingers

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71Tele
I had that once, but some penicillin took care of it.

I hope you told the girl.

she's the one who gave it to me!

Onomatopoeia was a subject on a Clifford the Big Red Dog kid cartoon episode but I don't remember what it means!

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owlbynite
Onomatopoeia was a subject on a Clifford the Big Red Dog kid cartoon episode but I don't remember what it means!

It means a word or words that imitate the sound of whatever it is associated with - like ouch!, when you hurt yourself, or buzz, for a bee...pow, zap, bow-wow, you get the idea.

It's also fun to say by itself - onomatopoeia...say it fast three times.

Surprised no one has posted any other Stones songs. If ever there was musical onomatopoeia going on a Stones track then Sister Morphine would have to be a prime choice. That steely guitar is particular evocative of an ambulance screaming all the way to its destination and the whole vibe just oozes junkie paranoia.

"...The dogs begin to bark..." (Little Red Rooster; LYL - Mocambo side)

The Who - Waspman by Keith Moon.

If ever a guitar sounded like a nasty stinging insect it's Pete Townshend's here.