"Here Comes the Night"

Last week, I learned the organ part for "Here Comes the Night" (it's only three notes and two chords).  I learned the bass part last August, and since I now have two parts, I thought it worth it to make a recording (although there's quite a bit of unaccompanied bass and the bottom register of the organ part simply doubles what the bass is playing [just with a different rhythm], so I'm not sure this is very interesting to listen to).  While I was recording this, I also discovered that the piano part at the beginning is the same as one section of the organ part, so I included that too.  I think I have the right notes for the bass riff, but something about it still sounds off to me, so I think I might have the wrong articulation.

"Can't Wait Too Long"

Recently, I was thinking about "Can't Wait Too Long," and then I listened to the version on 1967: Sunshine tomorrow.  I found two small things to write about.

"Forever" in the first line ("Baby, you know that I can't wait forever") is sung with a melisma (E D B C# B), giving a musical sense of that long period of time.  Similarly, the "long" in the backing vocal phrase ("Been way too long") is sung with a melisma (alternately G# F# E and F# E D), also giving a musical sense of duration.

Both of these features are also in the version that's included as a bonus track on the Smiley Smile/Wild Honey re-issue (although, as the liner notes mention, that version is "made up of several different takes").

"Wendy"

In the second line of "Wendy" ("We went together for so long"), the "long" is emphasized in two different ways.  I think it's sung with a melisma in all of the vocal parts, but the most prominent voice sings it to the phrase G C Bb A G.  All of the vocal parts hold the word for almost two full measures too.  Both of these features give a musical sense of that length of time.

"A Young Man Is Gone"

Because of the multi-part harmonies, I'm not sure of the notes, but both "lingers on" in the backing vocals of "A Young Man Is Gone" (one in the first verse and one in the third) are sung with melismas.  It's the "on" specifically, which is sung to two notes.  Musically, this seems to represent the "linger[ing]," since the word has an extra syllable.

"Our Car Club"

In "Our Car Club," "cruise" in the line "And you can bet that we'll have our jackets on wherever we cruise" is sung with a melisma (A G D F E).  Musically, this gives a sense of the movement of "cruis[ing]" and the breadth of the "wherever" mentioned earlier in the line.

"Shut Down"

In the second "Tach it up, tach it up, buddy, gonna shut you down" in "Shut Down" (at ~0:18)(and when this melody is repeated for "Shut it off, shut it off, buddy, now I shut you down," starting at ~1:18), the melody for Mike Love's vocal part steadily ascends and then suddenly drops.  Something like:

Musically, the falling fifth here (Eb to Ab) demonstrates something of the "shut you down."

"Ballad of Ole' Betsy"

Last week I listened to the Little Deuce Coupe/All Summer Long re-issue (for the first time in about two years!) and noticed some small things.

In "Ballad of Ole' Betsy," the melody for the line "Betsy's seen more places than I'll ever hope to see" starts out as a conjunct melody, with intervals of whole steps, but there's a skip in the melody for "places."  I think the song's in a flat key, so the melody there is Ab Ab Ab Bb C Eb.  After repeated notes and whole steps, that leap of a minor third (C to Eb) stands out and almost represents the breadth or variety of places that Betsy's seen.

The "go" in the line "Betsy's seen them all; she's seen them come and go" in the next verse is sung with a melisma (C Db C Bb, I think), which provides a musical representation of that movement.

"Daybreak over the Ocean"

The last thing I noticed when I listened to That's Why God Made the Radio recently is that "Daybreak over the Ocean" is very similar to "Bluebirds over the Mountain" (written by Ersel Hickey) and that both have some resemblance to the folk song "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean."

For comparison's sake, here's a section from each.

The verse from "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean":

My Bonnie lies over the ocean
My Bonnie lies over the sea
My Bonnie lies over the ocean
Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me

The chorus of "Bluebirds over the Mountain":

Bluebirds over the mountain
Seagulls over the sea
Bluebirds over the mountain
Bring my baby to me

The beginning of first section of "Daybreak over the Ocean" as they're rendered in the liner notes:

Daybreak over the ocean
Moonlight still on the sea
Will the waves gentle motion
Bring my babe my baby back to me

All of these mention something either "over the ocean" or "over the sea" (or both) and end with the command to "Bring my baby/my Bonnie (back) to me."  In both "Bluebirds over the Mountain" and "Daybreak over the Ocean," the structure of the first two lines is essentially the same: noun, preposition, article adjective, object of the preposition.  "Daybreak over the Ocean" just adds an adverb ("still") for the second line.  I feel it's also worth mentioning that Mike Love sings the lead vocals in both (and wrote "Daybreak over the Ocean").

Both "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean" and "Daybreak over the Ocean" also contain a whole section that's just variations on "Bring my baby/my Bonnie back to me."  In "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean," it's:

Bring back, bring back
Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me, to me
Bring back, bring back
Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me

And in "Daybreak over the Ocean," it's:

Won't you bring back
Bring my baby back
Won't you bring back
Bring back my baby 

"The Private Life of Bill and Sue"

In the choruses "The Private Life of Bill and Sue," there's a catalogue of places:  "California to Mexico... Dallas, Texas to Monterey... Santa Barbara to Jersey Shore."  I'm not sure if this section of "The Private Life of Bill and Sue" is meant to be reminiscent of it, but the same technique is used in "Surfin' U.S.A." (and Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen," which "Surfin' U.S.A." is based on).  It's also used in "Kokomo," which I've written about before.

"Spring Vacation"

"Spring Vacation" has some pretty obvious allusions to old Beach Boys songs.  The first verse contains the line "We used to get around," referring to "I Get Around," and the chorus mentions "Good vibrations."

"Isn't It Time"

In the chorus of "Isn't It Time," there's the line "Every time I think of you" in which "every" is sung with three syllables rather than just two.  This gives a sense of enumeration, as if the speaker/singer is recounting the times one by one.

In the section after the second chorus, there's the line "We raise our glass to kindness," which is reminiscent of a line in "Auld Lang Syne."  In various versions, it's "We'll drink a cup of kindness yet" or "We'll take a cup of kindness yet."  This line in "Isn't It Time" is far from identical, but it's the same general idea.

"That's Why God Made the Radio"

I recently listened to That's Why God Made the Radio (I think for only the third time) and noticed a number of things, about which I'll have posts over the next couple days.  First, a small thing about the title track: the "afar" in the line "Capturing mem'ries from afar" has a harmony part in the backing vocals and is sung with a melisma (Bb A G F G, I think).  This articulation gives a musical sense of the distance that "afar" itself implies.