Monday, March 27, 2017

Fred Astaire's "Cheek to Cheek"

Last week, I happened to think of Fred Astaire's "Cheek to Cheek," and I noticed something about the melody for the line "When we're out together dancing cheek to cheek."  The "cheek to cheek" part is sung to the notes C B C, and there are two musical elements there that indicate the proximity that's mentioned in the line itself.  First, both "cheek"s are sung to C notes.  In the musical phrase they're separated by a note, but those two notes have the same pitch.  It's as if they (like the cheeks in the line) are occupying the same space.  Second, C and B (the two pitches to which that phrase are sung) are next to each other.  Without going into quarter tones, notes can't get any closer, so it's as if the notes C and B are themselves "cheek to cheek."