Progressions of Urgency Within and Across the White Album

Abstract

Abstract Accepting the White Album as a complete listening experience, defined by its physical properties, brings with it a number of analytical problems. Given its expansiveness, complex production history, and diverse content, there is little explicit information offered to help listeners understand how to navigate their experience of the album. From within its contents, however, the concept of urgency presents itself as an important organizational theme. Using the language of experiential counterpoint, the ways in which urgency is both perceived and developed over the course of the album are explored, leading to assessments about the nature of the album's large-scale form.