"Blue Christmas"

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January's Cloak:

A few days ago, I listened to a Beach Boys Christmas album, and I noticed something about their version of "Blue Christmas."  At about 2:00, some brass instruments (I think French horns) quote a phrase from George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.  I can't find a score of the Rhapsody in Blue in order to look up the notation, and the phrase is too complex for my novice notation skills, but in "Blue Christmas," the phrase is D, Eb, F, and then an F an octave lower.  In the Rhapsody in Blue, it's G#, A, B, and then a B an octave lower.  (In the recording of Rhapsody in Blue I have by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, it's at about 11:31.)  It's the same phrase, just transposed down for "Blue Christmas."  (For what it's worth, it's also the phrase that starts "Rhapsody in Blue (Reprise)" on Brian Wilson's Reimagines Gershwin album, although that's E, F, G, and then a G an octave lower).

I did some research and discovered (in the entry for 18 June 1964 in Keith Badman's The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band on Stage and in the Studio) that the Beach Boys' version of "Blue Christmas" was arranged by Dick Reynolds.  While Wilson didn't arrange it himself, he probably had a hand in putting in that quotation because he's acknowledged Gershwin's influence and mentioned Rhapsody in Blue in particular.  The Reimagines Gershwin album provides ample evidence.

Purely as a reference, it's also interesting because "blue" is in the title of both works (and in the lyrics of "Blue Christmas").  To some degree, quoting Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue gives more depth to "Blue Christmas."  There's the feeling of "Blue Christmas" itself, but then - because of that quotation - there's an injection of the feeling of the Rhapsody in Blue too.

I transcribed "Blue Christmas" when I listened to the album a second time, and I found something interesting about the song itself, not just the Beach Boys' version.  The lines in the first verse all have line-ending rhymes ("without you" rhymes with "about you," and "tree" rhymes with "me"), but that same structure isn't in the second verse.  The first two lines rhyme ("certain" with "hurtin'"), but not "You'll be doin' alright with your Christmas of white / But I'll have a blue, blue Christmas."  Instead of line-ending rhymes, there's internal rhyme in the third line ("alright" and "white") and no rhyme at all in the fourth line, either within the line itself or with any other line.  That surfeit of rhyme in the third line and the lack of rhyme in the fourth poetically mirror the lyrics themselves.  "You'll be doin' alright" with internal rhyme, "But I'll have a blue, blue Christmas" with no rhyme at all.

I'm still sticking with just Pet Sounds and the SMiLE sessions for now, but I found this Gershwin quote in "Blue Christmas," and I felt I should reblog it here.

"That's Not Me"

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I knew I hadn't posted anything on here for a while (I didn't know it was three months though!), so I picked out and learned a part after listening to the second disc of The Pet Sounds Sessions to-day.  It's one of the guitar parts from "That's Not Me."  I'm pretty sure I have the whole thing (there's a string of F# notes near the end that I didn't include because I thought it would be boring to listen to without any other instruments), but there might be some more variation in the part when it's repeated.

In learning this, I've discovered that there's a key change on the "soon" in "I soon found out that my lonely life wasn't so pretty."  It adds a kind of musical jolt to accompany the realization mentioned in the lyric.

"Mrs. O'Leary's Cow"

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I listened to SMiLE to-day as part of my new listening schedule, and I thought the ascending and descending phrases at the beginning of "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" would be pretty easy to figure out.  I was surprised to find that they're actually chromatic and that - while some instruments modulate up a fourth - the organ phrase remains the same.

I used only guitar and organ, but I think the guitar part is also played on piano and bass.

"Wouldn't It Be Nice"

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Last night I finally figured out the rest of the chords for the verses of "Wouldn't It Be Nice."  I've been working on this since January.  I had the main part, but I got stuck when the rhythm changes.

I don't have an accordion, so I just did this on (fake) piano.  I've been practicing, but I'm still not a very good piano player, so this isn't the best, rhythm-wise.  I also figured out an-other instrument part (I think it's saxophone), which I included too, just so the ending isn't so abrupt.

"Let's Go Away for Awhile" and "You Still Believe in Me"

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I just listened to some of the recordings I made for this project.  The last two I did were the bass parts for "Let's Go Away for Awhile" and "You Still Believe in Me," and - even listening to the first few measures - I thought they sounded slightly similar.  So I played around with my recording software, and after plotting some MIDI notes, I confirmed that they have the same rhythm (for some sections, at least):

(That notation is meant to indicate only the rhythm; the pitch isn't relevant.)

Almost from the very beginning of this project, I've been wondering if there are certain musical elements that tie the Pet Sounds songs together.  I'd actually been thinking more about tonality, but rhythms certainly apply too.

"Pet Sounds"

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A few days ago, I listened to the last disc of The Pet Sounds Sessions, and I noticed a phrase in the bass part of "Pet Sounds."  I started figuring it out, but I don't have much more than the first phrase.

What I found interesting is that - when notated - that phrase forms a cross:

I should note that this phrase doesn't occur on the first beat as my notation would seem to suggest; it actually occurs on the third beat of the first measure the bass is in.  I'm not sure of the key, but based on what I know of the guitar part, I think it's Bb major.

I first ran across this idea of inscribing crosses in music while reading John Eliot Gardiner's Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven.  He illustrates how Bach does this in Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4:

I'm not sure if Brian Wilson was aware of this sort of thing, but I've read a few things where he talks about how he wanted the music on Pet Sounds to be spiritual.  In the liner notes to the 1990 CD re-issue, he says, "Carl and I were into prayer.  We'd pray together, and we prayed for light and guidance through the album."  That quote is included in the comments about "God Only Knows," but it seems that it could apply to the title track and its inscription of the cross too.

"You Still Believe in Me"

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I haven't posted anything here for almost two months, but I've been regularly listening to the box sets of The Pet Sounds Sessions and The SMiLE Sessions.  I listened to the third disc of The Pet Sounds Sessions this morning, and the bass part to "You Still Believe in Me" sounded like it would be pretty easy to figure out, and it was.

"Wind Chimes"

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Recently I'd been reading Peter Ames Carlin's Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson.  I finished it last week.

Near the end, Carlin quotes from "Wind Chimes" - "Now and then, a tear rolls off my cheek."  It got me thinking about the music that accompanies that part, and I realized that after that line (in both the 1966 and 2004 versions), there's a glissando on (I think) xylophone followed by a staccato note.  Presumably, that glissando is the tear running off the cheek, and the staccato note is the tear falling off and hitting an-other surface.

I checked the version of "Wind Chimes" from Smiley Smile, but that glissando and staccato note aren't present there.

"Let's Go Away for Awhile"

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I listened to Pet Sounds on the 16th (since it was the 49th anniversary of its release).  I figured out a guitar phrase in "Let's Go Away for Awhile," but since it's only four notes, I don't feel it's worth it to record a version until I learn some more parts.

Little Deuce Coupe

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Two weeks ago, I listened to the Little Deuce Coupe/All Summer Long re-release, and I noticed something interesting about the Little Deuce Coupe album.  "Little Deuce Coupe" - the song that starts the album - begins with what I can describe only as a drum shuffle.  That same drum phrase (or at least a very similar one) is also in "Cherry, Cherry Coupe" and "Custom Machine."  In "Cherry, Cherry Coupe," it's after the line "It's the sharpest in the town and the envy of my group," and in "Custom Machine," it's after "Step on the gas, she go…."  That particular drum part might be in a few other places in the songs too, but those are the ones I could find quickly.

Having that same part (or similar parts) within those three songs provides even more consistency (it also helps that all of the songs are about cars and two are specifically coupes).

"Let's Go Away for Awhile"

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I tried uploading an audio file to an-other of my tumblogs, and that seemed to work, so I'm attempting to post the recording of the bass part to "Let's Go Away for Awhile" that I did a few days ago.

There are still a few parts of this I'm not absolutely sure of, but they're at least close.

"Let's Go Away for Awhile"

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While listening to Pet Sounds a few days ago, I thought the bass part at the beginning of "Let's Go Away for Awhile" sounded pretty easy to figure out.  So that night, I sat down with the intention of learning it, and I actually got the whole thing.  The next night (last night), I worked a little more on a part I was unsure of and recorded a version of the whole bass part.

I've been trying to upload it here, but I keep getting errors.  So, I guess a text post will have to suffice for now.