"We Three Kings of Orient Are"

Earlier this week, I wrote about "We Three Kings of Orient Are" on my general music blog.  The Beach Boys' version is the only recording I have, so I used that as my primary referent and felt I should post it here too:

Last month I was wondering if there were any Christmas songs in minor keys besides "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen."  I suspected "We Three Kings of Orient Are," but when I sat down at my keyboard and played through it, I discovered that it's not that straight-forward.  The verses are in a minor key, but the choruses are in a major key (the relative major of the minor key).

The only recording I have of "We Three Kings of Orient Are" is the Beach Boys' version, so I referenced that and figured out the vocal melody.  Here's the melody for the verses, in F# minor:

And here's the melody for the choruses, in A major:

The minor key doesn't have implications for all of the verses, but for the first (along with the alliterative catalogue of "Field and fountain, moor and mountain"), it suggests the weariness of lengthy travel ("we traverse far... Following yonder star").  The turn to the major key for the chorus almost gives a sense of the joy and enlightenment that the kings receive from the "star of wonder" that "Guide[s] us to the perfect light."

While thinking about the melody, I also realized that its being in 3/4 is significant.  There are three beats in each measure, and the song is about three kings.

Holland

Last week I listened Holland (for only the third time), and I noticed two small things:

"Steamboat"

The backing vocals sing the lines "Don't worry, Mr. Fulton / We'll get your steamboat rollin'," which refers to Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat.

"Funky Pretty"

One of the lines is "A book of verse, a jug of wine," which comes from The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.  I got this for Christmas last year, but I haven't read it yet; I actually recognized the reference because this same line is quoted (misquoted, actually) in an episode of The Monkees ("The Wild Monkees" S2E10) and the DVD trivia points out the allusion.  In Edward FitzGerald's translation, the relevant section (XI) is:

Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse - and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness -
And Wilderness is Paradise enow.

"I Do"

I just learned the chords and most of the tubular bells for "I Do," which is included as a bonus track on the Surfer Girl/Shut Down Volume 2 re-issue.  When I listened to the album last week, I noticed that the melody for the verses of "I Do" is more or less the same as the melody for the verses of "County Fair" from Surfin' Safari.  The chords are slightly different though, which makes it a bit more interesting musically.

I'm not sure if there are strummed chords in "County Fair," but the bass arpeggiates the standard I vi IV V progression in G major.  Each chord last two measures:

I | I | vi | vi | IV | IV | V | V

The progression during the verses of "I Do" (in Ab major) is only slightly different:

I | I | vi | vi | IV | ii | V | V

The liner notes for Surfer Girl/Shut Down Volume 2 don't note the resemblance between the melodies in "County Fair" and "I Do," only that "Brian produced a version of 'I Do' for the Castells" and that "it was on non-Beach Boys productions like this that Brian really liked to experiment with new sounds."  In this instance, it seems that he also experimented with altering the chord progression under an existing melody.

"Don't Worry Baby"

A couple days ago, I listened to the Surfer Girl/Shut Down Volume 2 two-albums-on-one-CD re-issue, and I noticed a small thing about "Don't Worry Baby," specifically the first line: "Well, it's been building up inside of me for I don't know how long."  The melody to which "building up inside of me" is sung ascends (B B C# C# D# D# E), so there's a musical representation of that "building up."