Monday, March 22, 2021

"Driva Man"

In the line "Don't you be so bad" in "Driva Man," both "so" and "bad" are sung with melismas (I think "so" is sung to the notes F D D C Bb and "bad" to the notes C Bb) giving a sense of degree.

That each verse ends with the lines "Ain't but two things on your mind / Driva man and quittin' time" illustrates the predominance of those two things.

Monday, March 15, 2021

"I Can't Believe What You Say"

The organ solo in "I Can't Believe What You Say" uses the Alberti bass figure.  I made a video about it because I felt that that would be a better demonstration:


There are a number of key changes during this section, and this may be intended to represent the capricious nature of the girl in the song, as summarized by this line in the bridge:  "You know you're one girl when you're in a public place, but another when you're in my car."

Monday, March 8, 2021

"When Will I Be Loved"

In "When Will I Be Loved," "'round" in the line "I've been pushed 'round" is sung with a melisma (D C A), giving something of a sense of movement.

The clause "it happens every time" in the bridge is sung with different articulations to give a sense of frequency.  In the first bridge, "time" is sung with a melisma (D E E D C, I think).  In the second bridge, "every" is sung with three syllables, and "time" has a different melisma (B G).

Monday, March 1, 2021

"I Put a Spell on You"

In the lines "I'm gonna put a spell on you / And you gonna be mine every night" in "I Put a Spell on You," "every" is sung with three syllables, giving a sense of number or frequency.

Monday, February 22, 2021

"Tired of Trying, Bored with Lying, Scared of Dying"

"What's in a name?" in "Tired of Trying, Bored with Lying, Scared of Dying" seems to be an allusion to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, where this same question appears (II.ii.43).

The subject-verb disagreement in the line "It don't occur to you you never built enough schools" is an-other indication of insufficient education.

Monday, February 15, 2021

"Let's Go Get Stoned"

In "Let's Go Get Stoned," "long" in the line "Now when you work so hard all the day long" is sung with a melisma (D C A), giving a sense of the word's meaning.

Monday, February 8, 2021

"There's No Living without Your Loving"

In the line "Baby, I love you too much" in "There's No Living without Your Loving," "much" is sung with a melisma (C Bb), giving either a sense of its meaning (i.e. amount) or a sense of degree (for "too").

Monday, February 1, 2021

"With God on Our Side"

In the line "The cavalries charged; the Indians fell" in "With God on Our Side," "fell" is sung with a descending melisma (G F), musically giving a sense of its meaning.

Obviously, the line "That Jesus Christ was betrayed by a kiss" is drawn from the Bible, probably either Matthew 26:48-49:  "48 Now the betrayer [Judas] had given them a sign, saying, 'The one I will kiss is the man; seize him.'  49 And he came up to Jesus at once and said, 'Greetings, Rabbi!'  And he kissed him." or Mark 14:44-45:  "44 Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, 'The one I will kiss is the man.  Seize him and lead him away under guard.'  45 And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, 'Rabbi!"  And he kissed him."

Monday, January 25, 2021

"What Am I to Do"

I noticed two small things in "What Am I to Do," both in the line "That we must live each night and day apart."  "Night and day" is a merism.  "Apart" is sung with a melisma (C D C A), and since the syllables of the word are sung in something of a disjointed manner, there's a sense of the word's meaning.

Monday, January 18, 2021

"Groovin'"

In "Groovin'," "long" in the line "One of these mornin's and it won't be long" is sung with a melisma (Eb C), so while it's negated, there's a sense of the word's meaning.

Monday, January 11, 2021

"Without You"

In the line "So sad all the time" in "Without You," both "sad" and "time" are sung with melismas (C D and G F D, respectively), giving a sense of degree (for "so") and entirety (for "all").

Monday, January 4, 2021

"5-4-3-2-1"

I found two literary allusions in "5-4-3-2-1."

The first verse:
Onwards, onwards rode the six hundred
Down the valley on their horses they thundered
Ah, but was is them who really blundered
Uh huh, it was the Manfreds
This refers to Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade."  The Manfreds even borrow some specific words:  "Half a league onward, / All in the valley of Death / Rode the six hundred" (lines 2-4) and "Some one has blunder'd" (line 12).  "Thundered" also appears in Tennyson's poem, but it doesn't describe the brigade:  "Cannon in front of them / Volley'd and thunder'd" (lines 20-21).

I'm not very confident in one line (the third) of my transcription of the second verse, but it's something like:
The Trojans waited at the gate for weeks
In a wooden horse into the city they sneaked
Pulled out and then, who was it?  The Greeks?
Uh huh, it was the Manfreds
In Book II of Virgil's Aeneid, Aeneas explains that the Greeks built a wooden horse, hid their soldiers inside, and left it by the city, ostensibly as an offering.  The Trojans brought the horse into the city, and when night fell, the Greeks emerged and opened the gates for their fellow soldiers.  In Book IV of The Odyssey, Menelaus briefly recounts this story too.