How Soon Is Now?
by The Smiths
- 95
- BPM
- B major
- Key
- 1B
- Camelot
- 40
- Danceability
- 1
- Acousticness
Johnny Marr wrote "How Soon Is Now?" in June 1984, along with "William, It Was Really Nothing" and "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want", over four days at Earl's Court in London. His demo was called "Swamp". He wanted to build a song around one chord for as long as he could. Most Smiths songs changed chords often. Producer John Porter liked the idea.
The band recorded it at Jam Studios in London in July. Bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce joined Marr, and Porter felt the riff needed something more. A jam on Elvis Presley's "That's All Right" gave them the arrangement. The famous shimmer came from running the guitar track through three Fender Twin Reverb amplifiers, each with its tremolo set to a different speed. Marr and Porter adjusted them by hand while the tape played. When they slipped out of rhythm, engineer Mark Wallis rewound and they started again. Some segments ran no longer than ten seconds. That night Porter put a rough mix through Morrissey's letterbox. Morrissey came in the next morning and finished his vocals in two takes.
Rough Trade owner Geoff Travis thought the song too unlike the band to be a single. It came out as the B-side of "William, It Was Really Nothing" in August 1984, and reached number 24 as a UK single in January 1985.
How Soon Is Now? runs at 95 BPM, the tempo of hip-hop, R&B and reggaeton. In classical terms it sits in andante territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 2.53 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 632 ms. It is in B major, Camelot 1B, which shares its notes with Ab minor and mixes cleanly with E major and F# major.
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