Monday, May 6, 2024

"That's All I Ever Want from You Baby"

This morning, I transcribed a couple more lines of the bass part in "That's All I Ever Want from You Baby" (I've been slowly writing it out since I learned it a few months ago), and I realized something about the choruses.  The bass part is different every time, but the first two iterations are something like this:


The lyrics also vary, but they're something like:
That is all I ever want
That is all I ever want
That is all I ever want from you, baby
In the first two iterations of the chorus, the bass plays diatonically ascending phrases spanning an octave (F to F), and these phrases highlight (and even literally underline) the "all"s in the lyrics because every note in the song's key is included.

Thursday, February 8, 2024

"That's All I Ever Want from You Baby"

I listened to the As Was EP yester-day and noticed a small feature in "That's All I Ever Want from You Baby."  Under the phrases "all the years" in the first verse and "every night" in the second, the bass plays a chromatic phrase (Bb A Ab G), musically giving a sense of the entirety of "all" and "every."  It's a bit more noticeable in the second verse because there it's played an octave higher than in the first verse.

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

"Groovin'"

I listened to a couple Elvis Presley albums yester-day because it was his birthday, and I found a similarity between his "My Baby Left Me" (written by Arthur Crudup) and Manfred Mann's "Groovin'" (which the Groovin' with Manfred Mann EP credits to King and Bathea, apparently Ben E. King and James Bathea.)

To me, it sounds like the third verse of "My Baby Left Me" starts with the lines:
Baby, one of these mornin's, Lord, it won't be long
You'll look for me, baby, and daddy will not know
although some internet sources I referenced transcribe the lyrics (with odd line breaks) as
Baby, one of the mornings
Lord, it won't be long
You'll look for me
Baby, and daddy, he'll be gone
In any case, the second verse of "Groovin'" starts with nearly identical lines:
One of these mornin's and it won't be long
You'll look for me, and I'll be gone
Because the lines resemble each other so closely, I think this is an intentional similarity, but I'm not certain.