Saturday, September 24, 2022

"Deirdre"

A few years ago, I noted that in "Deirdre," the word "more" in the line "Well, we don't have to talk about much more" is sung with a melisma, musically giving a sense of the word's meaning.  At the time, I thought the song was a bit sharp, but now I think it's a bit flat and that the pitches there are F# G F# E.

Recently, I found a few more significant melismas.

"Bad" in the line "It wasn't so bad" is sung with a melisma (D A B), so while it's negated, there's a sense of degree (for that "so").  "Friends" in the line "You still have all your friends" is sung with the same melisma, but here it gives a sense of the entirety of that "all."  "Away" in the lines "What could I say / That you ran away" is sung with a similar melisma (D D A B), and here it gives a sense of movement or distance.