"Cotton Fields (The Cotton Song)"

In "Cotton Fields (The Cotton Song)," "way" in the line "I had to walk a long, long way to town" is sung with a melisma (Eb C), musically giving a sense of that "long, long" distance.

"Be Here in the Morning"

I noticed a number of things about the chorus of "Be Here in the Morning":

Be here in the morning
Be here in the evening
Be here and make my life full
Be here in the morning
Be here in the evening
Be here and make my life

"Be here in the morning / Be here in the evening" uses a rhetorical device called a merism in which two extremes are named in order to represent a whole range.  Although "morning" and "evening" are the two specific times mentioned, the sense is really "Be here all the time."

That each line starts with "Be here..." is an instance of anaphora, an-other rhetorical device in which a word of phrase is repeated.  The effect emphasizes the request and also represents the constancy wished for ("Be here in the morning / Be here in the evening").

I think I'd noticed this before, but the "full" in the line "Be here and make my life full" is sung by a number of additional voices, musically giving a sense of that "full"-ness.

There's a semantic shift in the meaning of "make" between "Be here and make my life full" and "Be here and make my life."  Because the first half of the chorus is repeated except for that "full," the listener is left waiting in expectation of the missing word.  To some degree, this is the same sentiment that the line itself expresses:  the singer/speaker's life is incomplete, and he needs "you" to "make my life" (that is:  to complete it).

"Friends"

Yester-day I listened to Friends, 20/20, and Sunflower, and I found a number of mostly small points to write about.

In "Friends," the first line is "We've been friends now for so many years."  The "many" is sung with a melisma (F# E F# E), musically giving a sense of number.  When this line is repeated later, however, I don't think it has this feature.

"Only with You"

A couple days ago, I listened to a two-albums-on-one-CD reissue of Colin Blunstone's Planes and Never Even Thought.  He covers "Only with You" on Planes, and I noticed a feature in his version that's also in the Beach Boys' original.  In the lines "Before love had always had / Its ups and downs," "downs" is sung with a descending melisma (B# G#, I think), musically giving a sense of the word's meaning.

"Do You Wanna Dance?"

Because I'd been thinking about "I'm So Young," I listened to Today! a couple days ago.  I noticed a small feature in "Do You Wanna Dance?"  "All" in the line "Hold me, baby, all through the night" is sung with a melisma (D C), musically giving a sense of duration.

"I'm So Young"

A couple days ago, I was thinking about "I'm So Young" and realized that in various points in the lead and backing vocals, "so young" is sung with melismas (I'm not going to go through and figure out specific pitches for every instance).  Musically, this provides emphasis and gives a sense of degree.

I also quickly referenced the version by the Ronettes, which predates the Beach Boys' version.  The lead vocals have this feature, but I don't think the backing vocals do.

"Surfer Girl"

The other thing I noticed when I listened to Beach Boys' Party!/Stack-o-Tracks a couple days ago is in "Surfer Girl."  Even though Stack-o-Tracks has just the instrumental parts, I realized something about the vocals, specifically the bridge:

We could ride the surf together
While our love would grow
In my woody, I would take you
Ev'rywhere I go

Both "grow" and "go" are sung with melismas (A B F# and F# E F, respectively).  For "grow," the extension of the melisma gives a musical sense of the word's meaning, and for "go," the melisma gives a musical sense of movement.

In writing this post, I also discovered that there's a key change coincident with that "go" (D major to Eb major, I think).  This too provides a musical sense of movement.

Using the isolated backing track, I tried figuring out the chord progression, and while I was unsuccessful, I did notice one feature: there's a major-to-minor modulation (G major to G minor) underneath the end of the line "Made my heart come all undone."  Musically, this change portrays that feeling.

"There's No Other (Like My Baby)"

I recently got Beach Boys' Party!/Stack-o-Tracks (the two-albums-on-one-CD reissue), and when I listened to it for the first time last night, I noticed a couple things.

In "There's No Other (Like My Baby)," there's a melisma'd "so" (A G F) in the first verse:  "There's a story I want you to know / 'Bout my baby and how I love her so."  In a musical way, this gives a sense of degree.

Similarly, there's a melisma'd "proud" (also A G F) in the second verse:  "Walkin' down the street in a crowd / Lookin' at my baby, feelin' so proud."  This, too, gives a musical sense of degree or amount.

I referenced the version by the Crystals (which - according to the liner notes - was the basis for the Beach Boys' version), and while it's in a different key and some of the lyrics are a bit different, it also has these features.

In comparing them, I learned the chords for both and discovered that the Beach Boys changed one chord.  In the Crystals' version (in D major), the verses are |: I vi IV V :|.  The Beach Boys (along with lowering the key to Bb major) play |: I vi ii V :|.

(For what it's worth, Brian Wilson did a similar thing with "County Fair" and "I Do.")

"Devoted to You"

Recently, I discovered some features in the Everly Brothers' "Devoted to You."  Since the Beach Boys covered this on Beach Boys' Party!, I thought I'd write a post about it.  (I feel I should note that I have only Beach Boys' Party! Uncovered and Unplugged, not the original album.)

The first line of the second verse is "I'll be yours through endless time."  "Endless" is sung with a melisma (E D E in one voice; C# B C# in the other), and because it's drawn out, there's a musical sense of duration.

The first two lines of the third verse are "Through the years, my love will grow / Like a river, it will flow."  "Love" is sung with a melisma (E D in one voice; C# B in the other), and that extra syllable provides a musical sense of its "grow[ing]."  Both "river" (A G F# in one voice; F# E D in the other) and "it" (E D in one voice; C# B in the other) are sung with melismas, musically giving a sense of the movement of "flow[ing]."

There are two structural features that illustrate the speaker/singer's constancy:  every verse ends with the phrase "Devoted to you," and the bridge uses the rhetorical device of anaphora with the repeated "I'll never...."

"I Get Around"

I haven't been very active on this blog recently, but I have been learning parts.  Earlier this week, I learned the rhythm guitar for "I Get Around," and then - in order to have enough to make it worth recording so I could write a new post here - I also learned almost all of the lead guitar (I'm missing just the solo) and the organ phrases.

The rhythm guitar is panned slightly left, and the lead guitar is panned slightly right.  Along with the organ phrases that are actually in the song, I also played some of the lead vocal phrases on organ, just to make my recording a little more interesting.

Until learning the chords, I'd never realized that there's a key change in the song.  At the end of the guitar solo, it raises a half step from G major to Ab major (although the specific chords there are E major to F major).  Musically, this helps give the impression of "get[ting] around."  Similarly, there are some accidentals that portray the wanderings.  The first half of the song is in G major, but the chord progression contains an E major (with a G# accidental) and an F major (with an F natural accidental).

In an opposite sort of musical picture, the guitar part is simple (only four pitches) and repetitive to represent the mundane sameness of "I'm gettin' bored drivin' up and down the same old strip."

"Cindy, Oh Cindy"

This afternoon, I figured out the chords for "Cindy, Oh Cindy" (a bonus track on the Surfin' Safari/Surfin' U.S.A. reissue) and noticed a couple things about it.

First, here are the chords (with the disclaimer that I might have something wrong):

Introduction
|: C# major | A# minor :|

Verses
|: C# major | A# minor | F# major | C# major :|
C# major | A# minor | F# major | A# minor

Choruses
C# major | G# major | C# major

Coda
C# major

I noticed three small features in the song:

The line "Cindy, don't let me down" in the chorus is sung to a descending phrase (G# G# E# F# E# D#), so while it's negated, there's a musical representation of "let[ting] me down."

At the end of the chorus, the chord progression goes to the tonic (C# major), and there's a tonic note (C#) at the end of the vocal melody for that section (the second syllable of the melisma'd "bound").  The tonic is the musical "home," so there's a musical representation of "And I'll be homeward bound."

The same feature is in the third verse.  The chord progression moves to the tonic, and there's a tonic note (the second syllable of the melisma'd "home"), both of which musically represent the home in the line "Soon I'll be headin' home."

"Heroes and Villains"

Specifically, this is "Heroes and Villains: Part 1 Tag" (disc 2, track 11 of The SMiLE Sessions [Deluxe Edition Box Set]).  I learned the clavinet part back in May, and yester-day I learned one of the two piano parts.  Here's the notation, with - as always - the disclaimer that I might have something wrong.

Clavinet (notated an octave higher than it's played):

Piano (the last half note is held longer; I just didn't want to have to include any more measures):