"You Still Believe in Me"

I've been listening to The Pet Sounds Sessions box set again, and I discovered a couple things about the vocal melodies.  While listening to the first disc a couple days ago, I noticed that the end of the line "I try hard to be strong, but sometimes I fail myself" in "You Still Believe in Me" descends.  The "myself" is sung to a melisma (D# D# C# C), so the speaker/singer is literally letting himself down ("fail[ing] myself") in terms of musical pitch.  Additionally, "You Still Believe in Me" is in B major, so that C natural is an accidental.  The foreign tonality there almost represents that "fail[ing]."

"Bluebirds over the Mountain"

I listened to the Friends/20/20 two-albums-re-issued-on-one-CD this morning because I'm not as familiar with either as I'd like to be (I think I've listened to this re-issue only a few times).  "Bluebirds over the Mountain" got stuck in my head, and because of that, I realized something about the title line.  The melody is such that "bluebirds" (sung to C# notes) really are "over the mountain" as far as musical pitch ("the mountain" is sung to the phrase B B A A).  Likewise, "seagulls" (sung to D notes) are "over the sea" ("the sea" is sung to the phrase C# C# B A B).

"Stoked"

I've been going through the parts I learned last year and making sure that I actually wrote them down.  In April, I learned one of the guitar parts and the bass part for "Stoked," but I notated only the guitar part.  I vaguely remembered that the bass part just doubles that guitar part (an octave lower), but I had to reference the recording to make sure.

In doing so, I discovered that my notation of the guitar part (which I did in June) is off by a half-step.  I don't understand how I messed this up, but I notated it in Bb major where it's actually in A major.  Like I mentioned in my post from June, the tuning in the recording seems off, so maybe that's how I got confused.

In any case, here's the updated notation.

Repeating guitar phrases:

Bass:

I'm a little unsure of the accuracy of the last measure in each of these.  Additionally, in one iteration of the bass part, it seems that the E quarter note in the second to last measure is replaced by two eighth notes (an E and an A, at about 0:40).  It's a bit difficult to distinguish the parts under the lead guitar though.

"Surfin' Safari"

Earlier this month (the 6th) I figured out the bass part for "Surfin' Safari."  Like the other parts I know from the Surfin' Safari album so far, it's actually pretty simple.  Over the last few weeks, I notated it piecemeal.  Of course, there's the usual disclaimer that I might have something wrong.  I extended the bar lines past the staff in a few places to distinguish some sections (the guitar solo, for example).

As with "County Fair" (the next track on Surfin' Safari), the bass part resembles waves when it's notated.  Because "Surfin' Safari" is about surfing (which involves waves), I'm wondering if this is something of a musical joke.

"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").