The Decemberists' "The Wrong Year"

I've listened to the Decemberists' What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World only three times so far, but I've heard various live versions of some of the songs because I've watched and listened to a lot of the radio station appearances that the Decemberists have been doing.

Last month, I realized something interesting about "The Wrong Year."  After almost every couplet in the verses, there's a prominent part by an-other instrument.  It's usually an electric twelve-string guitar part, but I think the absence of that twelve-string part is significant.

After "Could be that he’s into you / Could be that the obverse is true" there's an accordion part instead of the twelve-string part.  The shift in instrumentation (from twelve-string guitar to accordion) sort of mirrors the "obverse" that the lyric mentions.  Furthermore, the twelve-string is panned right, and the accordion is panned left, so there's a difference in positioning along with the difference in instrumentation.

After the first couplet in the third verse ("Sing me some eidolon / And I’ll sleep all the winter long"), there's just acoustic guitar and drums; there isn't an-other instrumental part from twelve-string guitar or accordion, which - like the lyrical mirroring of "obverse" - seems to represent the wintry hibernation.  Where switching the twelve-string to accordion indicates the opposite, here the lack of any additional instrumental part helps to signify the inactivity of sleep.

[It's not exactly relevant, but while writing this post, I referenced the lyric video, and I noticed that the hyphens in "long-forgotten" are missing.]

Jenny and Johnny's "Scissor Runner"

Two months ago, I inexplicably thought of Jenny and Johnny's "Scissor Runner," specifically a line in the chorus:

No, I won’t change another thing
I cracked the bell I tried to ring
A scissor runner stole my heart

I realized that ringing a bell is an image that also used in Buffalo Springfield's "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing," written by Neil Young.  There's "Who’s puttin’ sponge in the bells I once rung" and "Who’s tryin’ to tune all the bells that he’s rings."

I did a bit of research, but I couldn't find anything that really links the two.  Still, I don't think that bell ringing is that common of an image, and these lines are constructed fairly similarly.  They all end with some form of "ring," and "Scissor Runner" rhymes "thing" with "ring" like one of the instances of the bell image in "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing":

And who’s all hung up on that happiness thing
Who’s tryin’ to tune all the bells that he’s rings
And who’s in the corner and down on the floor
With pencil and paper just countin’ the score?

Granted, rhyming "thing" with "ring" isn't that unique, but I still think there's something to this.  If it isn't a very subtle reference, at least it's an interesting coincidence.

Neil Diamond's "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon"

Two months ago, when I listened to a Neil Diamond compilation album, I noticed a line in "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" - "Love you so much can’t count all the ways."  I'd never really paid much attention to that line before, but listening to it that time, I realized that it's a reference to one of the sonnets in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

It seems like Neil Diamond wants to outdo Browning; the speaker/singer in his song says that he "can't count all the ways," but Browning's speaker actually does proffer a list of seven ways.

I couldn't find any further points of comparison between Diamond's song and Browning's sonnet, but since Browning's sonnet is so well known and since the phrases match so closely (save for Diamond's negation), I think it's an intentional reference.

Glenn Miller's "Over the Rainbow"

When I listened to a Glenn Miller compilation album back in March, I noticed something interesting about his version of "Over the Rainbow."  Two days ago, I listened to Judy Garland's version from The Wizard of Oz and Glenn Miller's version again to compare them.  Lyrically, the verses in both are the same, but then things start to diverge.  In Garland's version, there are short segments following the verses:

Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow, why then, oh, why can’t I? 

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow, why, oh, why can’t I?

Miller's version has only one of these, but the lyrics of the second half of the first line are different:

Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
Birds fly over the rainbow, why then, oh, why, can’t I?

Instead of "bluebirds fly," Miller's version has "skies are blue."  "Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue" is a line in the song (the third line of the first verse), so it's not a drastic divergence, but - significantly - replacing "bluebirds fly" with "skies are blue" disrupts the rhyme scheme.  "Fly" and "I" rhyme, but "blue" and "I" don't.

The half-substitution of that line might just be a mistake, but the strain it causes by not rhyming still relates to the lyrics nicely.  There's an incompleteness because there isn't a rhyme, and that same lack is in the lamentation "why then, oh, why, can't I?"

Glenn Miller's "Wishing (Will Make It So)"

A few months ago, I listened to a Glenn Miller compilation album and transcribed some of the lyrics.  I noticed something interesting about the lyrics of "Wishing (Will Make It So)," which are pretty short and worth quoting in their entirety:

Wishing will make it so
Just keep on wishing, and cares will go
Dreamers tell us dreams come true
It’s no mistake
And wishes are the dreams we dream
When we’re awake

The curtain of night will part
If you are certain within your heart
So if you wish long enough
Wish strong enough
You will come to know
Wishing will make it so

The second verse has two instances of internal rhyme ("curtain" with "certain" and "long" with "strong") where the first doesn't have any.  In a way, the increasing prevalence the rhymes mirrors the first line (and the title): "wishing will make it so;" with prolonged effort and time, things will fall into place and become better.

Bach: Preise, Jerusalem, den Herrn, BWV 119

Last month, I got a box set of Bach's complete sacred cantatas.  I've been listening to them at the rate of a disc per day since 21 March (Bach's birthday according to some calendars).  One of the cantatas I listened to to-day is Preise, Jerusalem, den Herrn, BWV 119.  A particular phrase in the seventh movement caught my ear.  It's an arpeggiation after which the fifth is repeated.  I looked up the score and found it in the oboes at bars 69-70.  Four bars earlier, it's also in the violin and viola parts.  I've listened to the cantata only once (and just briefly looked at the notation in order to find some examples), but I think it appears in various instruments and arpeggiates different chords.

This particular phrase caught my ear because it's also in the first Orchestral Suite, BWV 1066.  I've been listening to one of the suites everyday this year, and I listened to the first Orchestral Suite everyday from January through March, during which I apparently became pretty familiar with it.  The phrase in question is in the violins and viola at the very beginning of the second gavotte, in the third movement.  The note values are twice that of the notes in BWV 119 (with an even longer ending note), but otherwise, the rhythm is the same.

(notation found here [BWV 119] and here [BWV 1066], click the image to enlarge it)

I'm not sure if there's anything more to this than just Bach's re-using this particular phrase, but I found it noteworthy.

The Mills Brothers' "Be My Life's Companion"

Last month, I listened to a compilation album of the Mills Brothers and worked on transcribing the lyrics (because I've become more or less obsessed with doing that).  I noticed something interesting about the rhymes in "Be My Life's Companion."  I feel it's worth quoting the complete lyrics:

Want no silver threads among the gold
Want no silver threads among the gold
Want no silver threads, want some action instead
Want no silver threads among the gold

Be my life’s companion, and you’ll never grow old
I’ll love you so much that you’ll never grow old
When there’s joy in living you just never grow old
You’ve got to stay young, ‘cause you’ll never grow old

People who are lonely can be old at thirty-three
Don’t let it happen to you, don’t let it happen to me

Be my life’s companion, and you’ll never grow old
You’ll never grow old, no, you’ll never grow old
Love and youth and happiness are yours to have and hold
Be my life’s companion, and you’ll never grow old

I know a man who’s lonely, and he’s old at thirty-three
No one wants to be old at thirty-three
Your disposition sours like a lemon on a tree
Don’t let it happen to you, and don’t let it happen to me

Be my life’s companion, and you’ll never grow old
Yes, I’ll love you so much that you’ll never grow old
Love and youth and happiness are yours to have and hold
Be my life’s companion, be my life’s companion, and you’ll never grow old

"You'll never grow old" is a recurring phrase in the song, and as if to reflect the stasis in age, the words that constitute the rhyme scheme don't change.  Or at least they don't change that much.  The first verse (after the introductory "Want no silver threads among the gold...") is exemplary in this stasis; the words that rhyme are all the same: "old," "old," "old," and "old."  In fact, each line ends with the phrase "never grow old."

The rhyming words at the ends of the other verses have more variance but not much.  A couplet in a later verse has both lines ending in "old at thirty-three."

Listening to the song, that stasis of rhyming words is somewhat noticeable, but it becomes especially obvious once you actually look at the lyrics.

Fats Domino's "Blueberry Hill"

Last month, I listened to a Fats Domino compilation album and worked on transcribing the lyrics (I've become kind of obsessed with lyric transcription).  I noticed something interesting about the rhyme scheme in "Blueberry Hill."

At first, the verses have an AAAB scheme:

I found my thrill
On Blueberry Hill
On Blueberry Hill
When I found you 

The moon stood still
On Blueberry Hill
It lingered until
My dream came true

It's significant that the mood hasn't yet been spoiled by the bridge.  The song is still optimistic, with the singer/speaker mentioning a "thrill" and a "dream."  But then the bridge provides a turn (like a sonnet's volta) with the lines "But all of those vows you made / Were never to be."  After the bridge, the rhyme scheme of the verses changes from AAAB to (with reference to just individual verses) ABBB.  Instead of the last line's not fitting into the rhyme scheme that the other lines share; the first line is the different one:

So we’re apart
You thought of me still
For you were my thrill
On Blueberry Hill

At first, the third verse continues with the sadness about separation with "So we're apart," but then it cycles back to the idyllic nature of Blueberry Hill:  "For you were my thrill / On Blueberry Hill."

So the bridge acts as a sort of mirror not only to the rhyme scheme but also to the mood.  The first two verses start off optimistically; the bridge shatters the "dream;" and then the third verse, while initially melancholic, achieves some nostalgia by mentioning the "thrill" again, ending the song with a shadow of the optimism present in the first verses.

For years, I knew "Blueberry Hill" only as a Fats Domino song, but it was actually written by Lewis, Stock, and Rose.  Among others, Glenn Miller did a version in 1940, which I became familiar with a few years ago.  I referenced Miller's version to see how Domino's version compares to it, lyrically at least.  Aside from a few word changes*, Fats Domino's version follows pretty closely.  The only thing I might take issue with is that Domino repeats the bridge and the third verse, which slightly distorts the mirrored structure that Miller's has.

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*Miller's version has "But all of those vows we made" in the bridge where Domino's has "you made" - a significant change about where the blame is laid.  The rest of the changes are minor: in the third verse Miller has "Though we're apart" and "You're part of me still" where Domino has "So we're apart" and "You thought of me still."  Domino's repetition of the third verse ends with "But all of those vows you made / Were only to be," which I can make sense of; I'm wondering if it might just be a mistake - either his singing or my hearing.

Carole King's "It's Too Late"

A couple months ago, I happened to hear Carole King's "It's Too Late" on the radio.  I hadn't heard it for about five months, and I don't think I'd listened to it that much, but in any case, I noticed an interesting poetic thing about the chorus:

But it's too late, baby, it's too late
Though we really did try to make it
Something inside has died, and I can't hide
And I just can't fake it

There's internal rhyme in the third line ("inside," "died," and "hide") which I hadn't noticed, but it doesn't end there.  The "I" in "I can't hide" has the same vowel sound as those "-ide"s.  So there's that internal rhyme, but with the "I" there's also assonance, resulting in four mellifluous elements in the line:  "inside," "died," "I," and "hide."

Listening to the Tapestry album so I could write this post, I also noticed that there are backing vocals ("We can't make it") after the line "Though we really did try to make it."  I don't think I'd really paid attention to those either, but that's the sort of thing I'm always excited to find: instances where the backing vocals are sort of duplicitous when compared to the main vocals.  I'm not sure I would describe the relationship between the main and backing vocals here as duplicitous, but they do have slightly different perspectives.  The main vocals seem sort of regretful that a relationship is ending, but the backing vocals seem more adamant that it can't work.

The Moody Blues' "Ride My See-Saw" and "The Voice"

Last month, I realized that two Moody Blues songs have rather similar lines.  There's "School talk one and one is two / But by now that answer just ain’t true" from "Ride My See-Saw" and "Won’t you take me back to school / I need to learn the golden rule" from "The Voice."  Both deal with almost elementary education (simple addition and the golden rule), but - interestingly - the songs are by different writers.  "Ride My See-Saw" is by John Lodge, and "The Voice" by Justin Hayward.  I'm not sure if there's really anything else comparable between the two songs, but those similar lines at least illustrate the consistency of the Moody Blues' writing, especially since "Ride My See-Saw" is from In Search of the Lost Chord from 1968 and "The Voice" is from Long Distance Voyager from 1981.

Incidentally, while transcribing the lyrics to "The Voice" (and then checking them against the ones in the CD booklet once I remembered that they were printed in the liner notes), I found two instances of structural parallelism: "Make a promise, take a vow" at the beginning of the third verse and "With your arms around the future / And your back up against the past" - the last lines of the second bridge.

It also occurred to me that the last two lines of the first bridge ("Can you hear the spirit calling / As it’s carried across the waves") are probably a reference to the second half of Genesis 1:2 - "The earth was without form and voice, and darkness was over the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters."

The Kinks' "Get Back in Line"

For Christmas, I got a bunch of the early Kinks albums, and after listening to them, I listened to the other Kinks albums I had.  Even before I got around to listening to Lola vs. the Powerman & the Money-Go-Round, Pt. 1, I started thinking about "Get Back in Line."  In particular the line "He's the man who decides if I live or I die, if I starve or I eat."

The order of the last part of that line is interesting - "if I live or I die, if I starve or I eat."  In the first pair, the optimistic option (living) is first, but in the second pair, it's second (eating).  And it's reversed for the other pair - the negative outcome is second in the first pair (dying), and first in the second pair (starving).

I think that shift in the order is a subtle indication of the unpredictability of the union man; neither is consistent.

Monsters University Soundtrack

I got the soundtrack to Monsters University for Christmas, and when I first listened to it, I found a phrase in "Did You Do This?" that sounded very familiar.  I eventually placed it; it's from the soundtrack to A Bug's Life, specifically "A Bug's Life Suite."

In "A Bug's Life Suite," that phrase is in the flutes at the beginning, and - with a slightly different rhythm - it's also present at ~1:00.  The brass phrase at the very beginning of "Did You Do This?" starts out the same, although it differs near the end (click on the image to enlarge it):

[I should note here that I did the notation myself, so it's likely that I might have some of the note values wrong.  I also have suspicions that the phrase from "A Bug's Life Suite" actually begins on a downbeat.  I'm fairly certain of the pitches though.]

Before writing this post, I listened to both soundtracks again (to confirm the track titles), and I found an-other similar phrase:

[Of course, the same disclaimer as above applies to this too.]

The menacing figure in the strings in "Hopper and His Gang" from A Bug's Life appears (again in the strings) in "Field Trip" from Monsters University.

Randy Newman composed the scores for both A Bug's Life and Monsters University, so it's not a huge surprise that there are similar phrases.  Pixar is well-known for hiding visual references to their films in other films, so I'm wondering if these are instances of Newman's doing the same thing in his scores or even if these phrases in the score indicate a corresponding visual reference in the film.