"California Saga: California"

A few days ago, I figured out the chords and the synthesizer bass part for "California Saga: California," and I noticed a couple interesting features.

First, there are some changes in the third verse that reflect the "liberty" that's mentioned in the lyrics.  The first two verses have AABB rhyme schemes:

Have you ever been south of Monterey; Barrancas carve the coast line

And the chaparral flows to the sea 'neath waves of golden sunshine

And have you ever been north of Morro Bay; the south coast plows the sea

And the people there are of the breed that don't need electricity

Have you ever been down Salinas way, where Steinbeck found the valley

And he wrote about it the way it was in his travelin's with Charley*

And have you ever walked down through the sycamores, where the farmhouse used to be

There the monarch's autumn journey ends on a wind-swept cypress tree

but the third verse exhibits more internal rhyme than line-ending rhyme:

Have you ever been to a festival, the Big Sur congregation

Where Country Joe will do his show, and he'd sing about liberty

And the people there in the open air are one big family

Yeah, the people there love to sing and share their newfound liberty

The third verse is different musically, too.  The second half alternates between F# major and B major where the other verses have the progression B major | E major | F# major | B major (a repetition of the first half of the verse).

In both the poetic and musical structures, the third verse breaks from what comes before it, and this illustrates that "liberty."

Second, there are a number of elements that are reminiscent of "California Girls."  Obviously, California is in the title and lyrics of both songs, but there are also specific musical elements that the two songs have in common.  Both are in B major, and the bass parts for the verses use the same root, fifth, sixth, fifth figure.

The bass part in the verses of "California Girls" is something like:

and the bass part in the verses of "California Saga: California" is something like:

(The actual parts are looser than what I've indicated; the note values shouldn't be observed too precisely.)

The same figure (root, fifth, sixth, fifth) is used throughout both parts, and the chord progressions are similar but not exactly the same.  Above some of the B F# G# F# figures in "California Girls" (measures three, four, eleven, and twelve) there are A majors instead of B majors, but otherwise, the first note in each bass figure corresponds to the root note of the chord, so the majority of the chord progressions consists of B major, E major, and F# major.

Because the musical similarities are so close, I think this resemblance was intentional and meant as a nod to "California Girls."

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*In the CD booklet of my copy of Holland, it's spelt "Charlie," but the Steinbeck book that's alluded to is Travels with Charley.

"Surfin' U.S.A."

I made a video demonstrating the organ solo in "Surfin' U.S.A."  I learned it by ear, so there's the disclaimer that I may have something wrong.

Played with the "mellow" drawbar organ sound on my Hammond SKX, with the Leslie on the fast setting.  I set the drawbars at 60 8878 224.

"Wendy"

I was thinking about "Wendy" this morning and had a small realization about the structure of the third verse.  There's a line break in between "The farthest thing from my mind" and "Was the day that I'd wake up to find / My Wendy, Wendy left me alone" so that the subject ("the farthest thing") and predicate nominative ("the day that I'd wake up to find...") are separated.  Such a structure illustrates the distance of that "farthest" (even though it's used more metaphorically).

"Palisades Park"

Last week, I figured out the chords for "Palisades Park" (on 15 Big Ones).  While doing so, I sort of accidentally learned the organ solo, too, and I realized something interesting about it.

I'm missing a few subtleties, but it's basically:

Except for two measures, the solo is entirely chromatic phrases, and I think this is significant.  There's a piece of classical music called Einzug der Gladiatoren, Op. 68 by Czech composer Julius Fučík.  It's often used in conjunction with circuses, and the well-known section is also mostly chromatic.  Here's an excerpt:

The solo in "Palisades Park" uses the same musical vocabulary, and I think the intent is to suggest the carnival atmosphere with which Einzug der Gladiatoren is often associated.  This is similar to the type of environment that the lyrics of "Palisades Park" describe.

I also referenced the version of "Palisades Park" by Freddy Cannon, which I think is the original and which the liner notes of my edition of 15 Big Ones mention specifically.  This feature is there too, but in the Beach Boys' version, it's used to a greater extent and is much more prominent.

"Surfin' U.S.A."

I listened to the two-albums-on-one-CD reissue of Surfin' Safari and Surfin' U.S.A. recently, and while thinking about "Surfin' U.S.A." later, I noticed a small feature:  the line "We're waxin' down our surfboards" is sung to a descending phrase (Db Db Db Db C Bb F), musically giving a sense of that "down," although it may not be intended literally.

"Lonely Days"

An-other thing I noticed when I listened to 1967: Sunshine tomorrow is the phrase "all alone" in "Lonely Days" ("Still I somehow get the feelin' I'm all alone").  I've noted before that because the two words start with the same sound, there's a sense of the singularity of being alone.

"I'd Love Just Once to See You"

Yester-day, I listened to the first disc of 1967: Sunshine tomorrow, and I noticed a couple small features to note.  In the line "It's not too late" in "I'd Love Just Once to See You," "late" is sung with a melisma (C# B A#), so while it's negated, there's a sense of degree (for "too").

While transcribing the lyrics, I also noticed the line "But this feelin's buildin' up inside again" at the end of the first verse.  This may be just coincidental, but it bears some resemblance to the first line of "Don't Worry Baby":  "Well, it's been building up inside me for I don't know how long."

"Our Sweet Love"

In the third verse of "Our Sweet Love," there are the lines "A precious love like this can flower / There's nothing in this world like our sweet love."  "Flower" at the end of the first line rhymes with "our," so that "sweet love" sort of stands by itself, and structurally, this mirrors the sense:  the "sweet love" has no rhyme and no complement because there is "nothing in this world like [it]."

"Deirdre"

A few years ago, I noted that in "Deirdre," the word "more" in the line "Well, we don't have to talk about much more" is sung with a melisma, musically giving a sense of the word's meaning.  At the time, I thought the song was a bit sharp, but now I think it's a bit flat and that the pitches there are F# G F# E.

Recently, I found a few more significant melismas.

"Bad" in the line "It wasn't so bad" is sung with a melisma (D A B), so while it's negated, there's a sense of degree (for that "so").  "Friends" in the line "You still have all your friends" is sung with the same melisma, but here it gives a sense of the entirety of that "all."  "Away" in the lines "What could I say / That you ran away" is sung with a similar melisma (D D A B), and here it gives a sense of movement or distance.

"Add Some Music to Your Day"

The rhyme scheme for the verses in "Add Some Music to Your Day" seems to be ABCCD, with the first two lines (AB) often forming something of a slant rhyme ("home" with "phone" and "heart" with "cars") and the last line (D) being some variation of the title phrase, linking the verses together.  In contrast to this, the section

Music

When you're alone

Is like a companion

For your lonely soul

is completely devoid of rhymes, and this lack of complements mirrors the singularity of being "alone."

In the line "There's blues, folk, and country, and rock like a rollin' stone," "stone" is sung with a melisma (B A B A G#), musically giving something of a sense of the movement of "rollin'."

"Slip on Through"

A couple months ago, I finally got Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions - 1969-1971.  I've listened to it twice so far, and I noticed a handful of features to note, but for now, I'm sticking to the songs from the original albums.  I'd like to become more familiar with the extra tracks before I write about them.

In the chorus of "Slip on Through," the line "All my life" is sung to notes that span more than an octave.  "All" is sung to a B, and "my life" is sung to D notes an octave a part.  This span gives a musical sense of the entirety of "all."

Near the end of the song (at ~1:56), "life" is held at a single pitch for a measure and a half and then trails off with a descending melisma, and these features (the long note value and the extra pitches) also give a sense of the breadth of "all."

"Kokomo"

Last night, I figured out the chords for "Kokomo."  The song is in C major, but there's a D major chord at the end of the line "That's where ya wanna go to get away from it all."  The F# in the D major is an accidental, and so there's a musical sense of foreignness that matches the notion of "get[ting] away from it all."

I also noticed that "go" in the line "That's where we wanna go" is sung with a melisma (C G A), musically giving a sense of movement.