"You're So Good to Me"

I listened to Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) yester-day and noticed a small feature in "You're So Good to Me."  In the line "I know your eyes are not on the guys when we're apart," "apart" is sung with a melisma (B B A G A B).  Since the word is sung with this disjointed articulation, there's something of a sense of its meaning.

"Amusement Parks U.S.A."

I listened to The Very Best of the Coasters yester-day and re-discovered something that I think the Beach Boys borrowed for "Amusement Parks U.S.A."  Near the beginning of the Coasters' "Little Egypt," a carnival barker uses the phrase "just one thin dime, one tenth of a dollar."  In the middle of the Beach Boys' "Amusement Parks U.S.A." there's an almost identical phrase:  "It's only a dime, folks, one thin dime, just one tenth of a dollar."

The Beach Boys ran through the Coasters' "Riot in Cell Block No. 9" for the Beach Boys' Party! album (available on the Uncovered and Unplugged edition) and rewrote it as "Student Demonstration Time" for Surf's Up, so I'm assuming that they had some familiarity with other Coasters songs too.

"Heroes and Villains"

I listened to the first disc of The SMiLE Sessions Deluxe Edition box set this morning and noticed a small feature in "Heroes and Villains."  The phrase "head to toe" is a merism.

"Here Today"

In the line "Well, you know I hate to be a downer" in "Here Today," "downer" is sung to a pair of descending notes (B F#), giving something of a sense of its meaning.

In the line "Tomorrow it's here and gone so fast," "fast" is sung with a melisma (D B), giving a sense of degree (for "so").

"I'm Waiting for the Day"

In "I'm Waiting for the Day," "free" in the line "To set your broken heart free" is sung with a melisma (B A G#).  Since the word isn't constrained to a single syllable, there's a sense of its meaning.

"So" in the line "And that you still loved him so" is sung with this same melisma, but in this instance it gives a sense of degree.  (I'd noted this before, but I didn't include the specific pitches in that post, which was so badly written that I removed it.)

"Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)"

In "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)," "right" in the line "Being here with you feels so right" is sung with a melisma (C Bb A), musically giving a sense of degree (for "so").

"Wouldn't It Be Nice"

I listened to The Pet Sounds Sessions box set recently and noticed a handful of features.  "Wouldn't It Be Nice" contains an instance of polysyndeton, a rhetorical effect in which conjunctions are repeated:  "Maybe if we think and wish and hope and pray it might come true."  Having "and" so many times isn't strictly necessary, but its repetition gives a sense of the earnestness of those actions.

Additionally, the musical rhythm of this line is such that "think," "wish," "hope," and "pray" all occur on downbeats, and this also provides emphasis.

"Don't Worry Baby"

I noticed two features in the line "Ev'rything will turn out alright" in "Don't Worry Baby."  The three syllables of "Ev'rything" are each sung to a different pitch (E# F# G#), musically giving a sense of breadth.  The "al-" of "alright" is sung with a melisma (I think it's D# E# D#), giving a sense of entirety.

"Hawaii"

In "Hawaii," "far and near" in the line "Surfer guys and girls will be comin' from far and near" is a merism.

"The Surfer Moon"

I noticed a couple significant melismas in "The Surfer Moon."  In the line "Brings the tide in, takes it all away," "away" is sung with a melisma (I think it's Eb Eb D Eb F G A F, but since there's a harmony part there, it's a bit difficult to tell) for a sense of movement or distance, and in the line "Promising to remain forevermore," "forevermore" is sung with a melisma (A# G# F# F# E#, I think) for a sense of duration.  (I'm pretty sure there's a key change for the bridge, which is why one of those sets of notes is in a flat key and the other is in a sharp key.)

While referencing the song again to find those specific pitches, I also noticed that the melody mirrors the directions in the line "Rising up, throwing down its golden light."  "Rising up" is sung to an ascending phrase (F# G# A#), and "throwing down" is sung to a descending phrase (C# B G#).

"Noble Surfer"

In "Noble Surfer," "night and day" in the line "Surfin' night and day, never twice in one spot" and "up and down" in the line "He takes his choice of honeys up and down the coast" are merisms.

"Surfin'"

"From the early mornin' to the middle of the night" in "Surfin'" is a merism.