English Other Music

Sometimes musicians will inadvertently reveal a sense of humor through their playing. One can sense that, when seated behind a drum set, Copeland’s famously dry wit is never too far away. Among his more clever pastimes is to take some of the staples of rock drumming – the basic backbeat, the descending tom fill, and so on – and play them all wrong. What else could be the motivation behind the inside-out grooving of “Reggatta De Blanc” (Ex. 6a), where Copeland plays a typical half-time feel no less than a full beat behind the rest of the band? I’m sure we all remember hearing “Reggatta De Blanc” for the first time and scratching our heads at this simple rhythmic illusion, not to mention the thoroughly disorienting rim-click fiasco that opens the track ***(even with Copeland counting us off).***

Could anybody please clarify for me what the phrase means here – I don’t really get it.