"Shut Down"

I was recently thinking about "Shut Down," and I realized something about the melody.  The end of the line "But the 413's really diggin' in" is sung to a descending melody, so there's a musical representation of that "diggin' in."  It's sung to the musical phrase Db C Ab, and since Ab is the lowest note in the lead vocal melody, there's a sense of reaching the lowest depth.  I'm pretty sure the song is in Ab major, so there's even a sense of Ab's being the musical foundation, the lowest one can reach in the metaphorical bedrock.

"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."

"Heroes and Villains"

A few months ago, I tried figuring out the organ phrase in "Heroes and Villains" with no success, but since 1967: Sunshine tomorrow has the backing track in stereo, I thought I'd try it again.  This time, I think I got it.  I also figured out the chords (it's just a simple I IV V I progression, although in C# major) and the bass part.  I had to tune the lowest two bass strings down a half-step to get the low D# (then I just played it as if the song were in D major and as if those strings were still in standard tuning).  It doesn't sound very clear, but I think that's just because of my novice audio engineering rather than my having the part wrong.

"Country Air"

Last month, I learned the bass part for "Country Air" from Wild Honey.  Intermittently over the last few weeks, I wrote out the notation.  As always, there's the disclaimer that I might have something wrong:

In some instances, there are glissandi in the transitions from one four-note group to the next, but I didn't include those in my notation.

Wild Honey

Last month, I finally got the new 1967: Sunshine tomorrow album.  I've listened to it only twice so far (and in between I listened to the old Smiley Smile/Wild Honey reissue), but the first time I listened to it, I noticed some lyrical connections among songs on Wild Honey.

There's a "theme" (of sorts) of honey and bees.  Obviously, this is in the title track, which compares loving a girl (who has "the sweetness of a honey bee") to "a taste of wild honey."  Later on the album, there are the lines "I'm like a busy bee" (in "I'd Love Just Once to See You") and "Let the bees make honey" (in "Let the Wind Blow," which is also the origin of the phrase "sunshine tomorrow" used for the album title).

The other connection I found doesn't seem as significant.  Near the end of "Wild Honey," there's the expression "sock it to me, wild honey," which is also at the end of "How She Boogalooed It" ("Come on, sock it, sock it to me / S O C K I T to me").

"Hully Gully #3"

I recently listened to the Beach Boys' Party! Uncovered and Unplugged album.  The first time I heard the album, I noticed something about "Hully Gully #3" (track 24 on disc 1).  At about 1:45, Mike Love says, "Right on into 'Lonesome Traveller.'"  It's a reference to the Kingston Trio's medley of "Shady Grove/Lonesome Traveller" on their live album ...from the Hungry i.  In the transition, one of the Kingston Trio says, "Right on over to 'Lonesome Traveller.'"

I knew that Al Jardine was a fan of the Kingston Trio and that he suggested that the Beach Boys record "Sloop John B" based on their version, so I thought it interesting that this nod in the direction of the Kingston Trio came from Mike Love.

I lookt up the recording dates and discovered that the backing track for "Sloop John B" (12 July 1965) was actually recorded before "Hully Gully #3" (8 September 1965).

"Then I Kissed Her"

I listened to Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) yester-day, and I thought the little organ part in "Then I Kissed Her" sounded easy to figure out.  I'd figured out the chords last October, so I already knew the key (C# major!).  I tried figuring out the running guitar phrase, but I wasn't very certain of some sections.  The song starts with that guitar phrase unaccompanied, but since I don't know the whole thing, I left it out entirely and my recording starts two measures after the real beginning of the song.  I did get most of the bass (the bridge is the only part I'm missing), and I'm suspicious that the bass and guitar play the same thing.

I double-tracked acoustic guitar playing chords; I'm not sure if that instrumentation is accurate (it probably isn't), but I'm pretty sure I have the right chords.

For what it's worth, the original version by the Crystals ("Then He Kissed Me") is in E major.

"Kokomo"

For whatever reason, I started thinking about "Kokomo" this morning.  The only album I have it on is the compilation Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of the Beach Boys, which I haven't listened to since last September.  In any case, I realized something about the first section:

Aruba, Jamaica, ooh, I wanna take ya
Bermuda, Bahama, come on, pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego, baby, why don't we go

The listing of places (a rhetorical technique called cataloguing) recalls the earlier Beach Boys song "Surfin' U.S.A." specifically these two sections:

You'll catch 'em surfin' at Del Mar
Ventura County Line
Santa Cruz and Trestle
Australia's Narrabeen
All over Manhattan
And down Doheny Way

At Haggerty's and Swami's
Pacific Palisades
San Onofre and Sunset
Redondo Beach L. A.
All over La Jolla
And Waimea Bay

I referenced the lyrics found here, although I'm dubious of their accuracy.  It's clearly "You'll catch 'em" rather than "You'd catch 'em" and "We'll all be planning out a route" rather than "We'll all be planning that route."  I also referenced the Wikipedia page to verify and correct some of the locations.

The music for "Surfin' U.S.A." was taken from Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen," so it seems that the notion of cataloguing places is also taken from Berry's naming various locations in "Sweet Little Sixteen."  I'm not sure whether the catalogue of places in "Kokomo" was meant to be reminiscent of that in "Surfin' U.S.A." (or "Sweet Little Sixteen"), but it is the same technique.

"Heroes and Villains"

Yester-day I listened to the Smiley Smile/Wild Honey reissue from 1990, and I remembered a reference in "Heroes and Villains" that I'd recognized before but had forgotten about.  It's in the lines:

My children were raised, you know they suddenly rise.
They started slow long ago, head to toe; healthy, wealthy and wise.

(They're how they're written in the liner notes from the 2004 SMiLE.)

The "healthy, wealthy, and wise" part seems to come from "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."  (I'd thought this was a Benjamin Franklin quote, but The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations says it's a proverb from the 15th century.)  Both the lyrics and the proverb rhyme "rise" with "wise," which makes me a bit more confident that they're related.