(More Than) Five Songs for the Harpsichord

From Baroque to Bar Rock

Can the Harpsichord rock out? It is a fair question. Last week we listened to the progeny of the piano, the Fender Rhodes. This week we look at the piano’s dad, the harpsichord. Piano-like in appearance, it often featured double layer keyboards (two “manuals”). The harpsichord keys move a corresponding “jack” that moves a corresponding “quill” which plucks the corresponding “string” to ring out a corresponding “sound.” The sound is more delicate and airy than a piano and has no capacity for dynamics. No matter how hard you hit the key, the string gets plucked. The piano got its name, in fact, from this key difference—the Piano-forte (the “soft-loud”) could play dynamics.

Before we look at the use of the harpsichord in modern—even rock—music, it is important to observe the harpsichord in its natural environment, baroque chamber music. The best place to go for this is the first movement of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5. The Brandenburg Concertos are concerto grosso (Italian for “music so difficult that the musicians may throw up”). Actually, it means there will be multiple featured soloists. At the beginning of this piece, you have to listen hard (and maybe crank the volume) to find the harpsichord because it is just There, providing the pulse and sonic background. There is a chord under nearly every beat of the music, a layer of sound with a subtle percussive plucks to add a pulse to the music. The harpsichord lays the sonic carpet on which the other instruments proceed to cut their rugs. Later, however the harpsichord moves toward the foreground, pushes the other instruments out of the way, assumes a wide athletic stance, throws its mane of ornate gold-leaf hair over its shoulder and waits for the fireworks to begin launching in rhythm before beginning a world historical cadenza (italian for “ripping it up on your instrument so definitively that you would not be blamed for smashing it to bits afterward because no one could top that. No One.”). During this cadenza, the timbre of the instrument is on display and its technical possibilities pushed to the max. The other place to go to explore the harpsichord in its preferred habitat would be Bach’s “Goldberg variations,” solo harpsichord works plumb the depths of the capacity of the instrument. The first answer to the question, “can the harpsichord rock out?” is yes, it has been rocking out at least since Bach got at it, and here is a playlist link for those works:

With that background, let’s dive into five tunes that attempt to see what happens when the harpsichord appears in modern rock and jazz music.

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Fixing a Hole

The Beatles on the 1967 Album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band

Most prominent in the opening moments, the harpsichord is lurking throughout this Beatles classic. Paul McCartney played this originally, but they also had another musician do parts of the studio recording. Sgt. Pepper’s has a lot of sonic surprises, and dropping the harpsichord in the mix is not disorienting as a result but adds to the somewhat dream-like quality of the record. A rhythmic foundation from the harpsichord has something in common with simple guitar strumming and does not feel out of place.

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Cypress Avenue

Van Morrison on the 1968 Album Astral Weeks

Troubadour, storyteller, soul singer, and poet are some of the titles thrown at this diminutive nerdy Irishman turned icon of soul music. Cypress avenue has delicate instrumentation all around, supported by a harpsichord that makes it presence known occasionally, along with other baroque instruments, including a violin standing in where you might expect lead guitar licks. While meditative and introspective, this track is no mopey slog, and the harpsichord gives it a pulse that keeps it moving.

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For Your love

The Yardbirds on the 1965 Album For Your Love

The Yardbirds were a band called home by two members of the grand royal family of guitar greats, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck (not at the same time). Clapton was still in the band for this track. A session musician (Brian Auger) had been hired to play an organ part for this track but was informed the studio they were using only had a harpsichord and he should use that instead. The harpsichord seems to fit here in this two minute pop song that doesn’t need to be any longer. Supposedly, the track was the tipping point for Clapton to leave the band and seek less pop and more blues in his music. One could imagine Clapton in his best Andy from the Office voice saying, “Hey guys, um, Eric Clapton here. I got this guitar. Might want to let me play it. Just sayin’”

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Pikes Place

Soulive on the 2026 album Flowers

This track kicked off the idea for this post. Soulive is a groove-centric jazz-funk outfit, and this track centers the groove around the harpsichord part. The bouncing, rhythm carries a hint of middle-eastern vibe. The unusual keyboard sound is featured throughout, adding flourishes and mini-solo highlights. While likely a sampled/synthesized version of a harpsichord and not the acoustic instrument, it is an impressive exhibition of the baroque era instrument’s sound in a contemporary funk music setting.

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M79

Vampire Weekend on the 2008 Album Vampire Weekend

No synthesizer here, Vampire Weekend drops a real harpsichord (and other chamber instruments) into their recording of M79. With a drumset in the mix, the harpsichord isn’t responsible for the momentum on this track, but it helps. In addition to the harpsichord, several other baroque instruments and styles are brought into this track, bringing depth and interest to a song that seems to be full of near nonsense lyrics.

There are others out there. The Beach Boys (“You Still Believe in Me”), Jimi Hendrix (“Burning of the Midnight Lamp”, REM “Half a World Away,” and others have all experimented with the harpsichord. It rocks best in its baroque home, but can hold its own brought into the rock and roll fray. Here's a playlist for this week: