"Only with You"

A couple days ago, I listened to a two-albums-on-one-CD reissue of Colin Blunstone's Planes and Never Even Thought.  He covers "Only with You" on Planes, and I noticed a feature in his version that's also in the Beach Boys' original.  In the lines "Before love had always had / Its ups and downs," "downs" is sung with a descending melisma (B# G#, I think), musically giving a sense of the word's meaning.

"Do You Wanna Dance?"

Because I'd been thinking about "I'm So Young," I listened to Today! a couple days ago.  I noticed a small feature in "Do You Wanna Dance?"  "All" in the line "Hold me, baby, all through the night" is sung with a melisma (D C), musically giving a sense of duration.

"I'm So Young"

A couple days ago, I was thinking about "I'm So Young" and realized that in various points in the lead and backing vocals, "so young" is sung with melismas (I'm not going to go through and figure out specific pitches for every instance).  Musically, this provides emphasis and gives a sense of degree.

I also quickly referenced the version by the Ronettes, which predates the Beach Boys' version.  The lead vocals have this feature, but I don't think the backing vocals do.

"Surfer Girl"

The other thing I noticed when I listened to Beach Boys' Party!/Stack-o-Tracks a couple days ago is in "Surfer Girl."  Even though Stack-o-Tracks has just the instrumental parts, I realized something about the vocals, specifically the bridge:

We could ride the surf together
While our love would grow
In my woody, I would take you
Ev'rywhere I go

Both "grow" and "go" are sung with melismas (A B F# and F# E F, respectively).  For "grow," the extension of the melisma gives a musical sense of the word's meaning, and for "go," the melisma gives a musical sense of movement.

In writing this post, I also discovered that there's a key change coincident with that "go" (D major to Eb major, I think).  This too provides a musical sense of movement.

Using the isolated backing track, I tried figuring out the chord progression, and while I was unsuccessful, I did notice one feature: there's a major-to-minor modulation (G major to G minor) underneath the end of the line "Made my heart come all undone."  Musically, this change portrays that feeling.

"There's No Other (Like My Baby)"

I recently got Beach Boys' Party!/Stack-o-Tracks (the two-albums-on-one-CD reissue), and when I listened to it for the first time last night, I noticed a couple things.

In "There's No Other (Like My Baby)," there's a melisma'd "so" (A G F) in the first verse:  "There's a story I want you to know / 'Bout my baby and how I love her so."  In a musical way, this gives a sense of degree.

Similarly, there's a melisma'd "proud" (also A G F) in the second verse:  "Walkin' down the street in a crowd / Lookin' at my baby, feelin' so proud."  This, too, gives a musical sense of degree or amount.

I referenced the version by the Crystals (which - according to the liner notes - was the basis for the Beach Boys' version), and while it's in a different key and some of the lyrics are a bit different, it also has these features.

In comparing them, I learned the chords for both and discovered that the Beach Boys changed one chord.  In the Crystals' version (in D major), the verses are |: I vi IV V :|.  The Beach Boys (along with lowering the key to Bb major) play |: I vi ii V :|.

(For what it's worth, Brian Wilson did a similar thing with "County Fair" and "I Do.")