"Whistle In"

Yester-day, I realized that in "Whistle In," the "all" in the line "All day long" has a longer value than any other note and that (along with the melismas that I noted years ago) this provides a sense of duration.  I couldn't figure out all of the precise note values (which is why I don't have notation), but "all" is sung with a half note, and the other notes are quarter notes or shorter.

"Let Us Go on This Way"

A few days ago, I figured out the synthesizer bass part in "Let Us Go on This Way."  While working on writing it out in notation yester-day, I realized the significance of some of the accidentals.

Here's the first verse (notated an octave higher than it's played):

(After this, there are three measures of rests, which I didn't include.  The second verse is basically the same; the only difference is that the eighth notes [G natural and B] at the end of the eleventh measure are replaced by a single G natural quarter note.)

Above the four measures of G naturals and C naturals, the lyrics are:

Going to school isn't my fondest desire

But sittin' in class, you set my soul on fire

and

When I leave you, I'm so depressed

'Cause you're my only happiness

in the first and second verses, respectively.  The appearance of the accidentals coincides with the narrator's mentioning what is distasteful ("Going to school isn't my fondest desire") or downright unpleasant ("When I leave you, I'm so depressed"), and to some degree, the accidentals provide a musical sense of something he would rather avoid.

I also noticed that "depressed" in the line "When I leave you, I'm so depressed" is sung with a melisma (E G A), giving a sense of degree (for "so").

"In the Back of My Mind"

I noted a significant melisma in "In the Back of My Mind" last year, but a couple days ago, I found some more.

In the line "I make her happy just livin' so plain," "plain" is sung with a melisma (A G F, I think), musically giving a sense of degree (for "so").

In the line "It'll always be way in the back of my mind," "always" (D D C) and "be" (A G F G F) are both sung with melismas, giving a sense of duration.

"Don't Hurt My Little Sister"

I listened to Today! yester-day and noticed a few small features.

In the line "She'll probably stay in there the rest of the day" in "Don't Hurt My Little Sister," "day" is sung with a melisma (D Eb D C), musically giving something of a sense of the duration of "the rest of the day."

"California Saga: California"

A few days ago, I figured out the chords and the synthesizer bass part for "California Saga: California," and I noticed a couple interesting features.

First, there are some changes in the third verse that reflect the "liberty" that's mentioned in the lyrics.  The first two verses have AABB rhyme schemes:

Have you ever been south of Monterey; Barrancas carve the coast line

And the chaparral flows to the sea 'neath waves of golden sunshine

And have you ever been north of Morro Bay; the south coast plows the sea

And the people there are of the breed that don't need electricity

Have you ever been down Salinas way, where Steinbeck found the valley

And he wrote about it the way it was in his travelin's with Charley*

And have you ever walked down through the sycamores, where the farmhouse used to be

There the monarch's autumn journey ends on a wind-swept cypress tree

but the third verse exhibits more internal rhyme than line-ending rhyme:

Have you ever been to a festival, the Big Sur congregation

Where Country Joe will do his show, and he'd sing about liberty

And the people there in the open air are one big family

Yeah, the people there love to sing and share their newfound liberty

The third verse is different musically, too.  The second half alternates between F# major and B major where the other verses have the progression B major | E major | F# major | B major (a repetition of the first half of the verse).

In both the poetic and musical structures, the third verse breaks from what comes before it, and this illustrates that "liberty."

Second, there are a number of elements that are reminiscent of "California Girls."  Obviously, California is in the title and lyrics of both songs, but there are also specific musical elements that the two songs have in common.  Both are in B major, and the bass parts for the verses use the same root, fifth, sixth, fifth figure.

The bass part in the verses of "California Girls" is something like:

and the bass part in the verses of "California Saga: California" is something like:

(The actual parts are looser than what I've indicated; the note values shouldn't be observed too precisely.)

The same figure (root, fifth, sixth, fifth) is used throughout both parts, and the chord progressions are similar but not exactly the same.  Above some of the B F# G# F# figures in "California Girls" (measures three, four, eleven, and twelve) there are A majors instead of B majors, but otherwise, the first note in each bass figure corresponds to the root note of the chord, so the majority of the chord progressions consists of B major, E major, and F# major.

Because the musical similarities are so close, I think this resemblance was intentional and meant as a nod to "California Girls."

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*In the CD booklet of my copy of Holland, it's spelt "Charlie," but the Steinbeck book that's alluded to is Travels with Charley.

"Surfin' U.S.A."

I made a video demonstrating the organ solo in "Surfin' U.S.A."  I learned it by ear, so there's the disclaimer that I may have something wrong.

Played with the "mellow" drawbar organ sound on my Hammond SKX, with the Leslie on the fast setting.  I set the drawbars at 60 8878 224.

"Wendy"

I was thinking about "Wendy" this morning and had a small realization about the structure of the third verse.  There's a line break in between "The farthest thing from my mind" and "Was the day that I'd wake up to find / My Wendy, Wendy left me alone" so that the subject ("the farthest thing") and predicate nominative ("the day that I'd wake up to find...") are separated.  Such a structure illustrates the distance of that "farthest" (even though it's used more metaphorically).

"Palisades Park"

Last week, I figured out the chords for "Palisades Park" (on 15 Big Ones).  While doing so, I sort of accidentally learned the organ solo, too, and I realized something interesting about it.

I'm missing a few subtleties, but it's basically:

Except for two measures, the solo is entirely chromatic phrases, and I think this is significant.  There's a piece of classical music called Einzug der Gladiatoren, Op. 68 by Czech composer Julius Fučík.  It's often used in conjunction with circuses, and the well-known section is also mostly chromatic.  Here's an excerpt:

The solo in "Palisades Park" uses the same musical vocabulary, and I think the intent is to suggest the carnival atmosphere with which Einzug der Gladiatoren is often associated.  This is similar to the type of environment that the lyrics of "Palisades Park" describe.

I also referenced the version of "Palisades Park" by Freddy Cannon, which I think is the original and which the liner notes of my edition of 15 Big Ones mention specifically.  This feature is there too, but in the Beach Boys' version, it's used to a greater extent and is much more prominent.

"Surfin' U.S.A."

I listened to the two-albums-on-one-CD reissue of Surfin' Safari and Surfin' U.S.A. recently, and while thinking about "Surfin' U.S.A." later, I noticed a small feature:  the line "We're waxin' down our surfboards" is sung to a descending phrase (Db Db Db Db C Bb F), musically giving a sense of that "down," although it may not be intended literally.