Monday, January 4, 2016

The Moody Blues' "I Know You're Out There Somewhere"

An-other thing I noticed while listening to the Moody Blues' 20th Century Masters compilation album is the backing vocals for the last verse of "I Know You're Out There Somewhere."  None of the other verses have separate backing vocals (those that are there merely double the lyrics of the lead vocals), and they're appearing for the last verse is significant because of what the lyrics describe.

The whole song up to that point is the singer/speaker trying to "find you somehow" and "return again to you."  Because the last verse has echoing sort of backing vocals ("echoing" in the sense that they repeat some of the lyrics from the "proper" verse), it seems to imply that the speaker/singer is getting close, which the lyrics themselves describe too:
Yes, I know it's gonna happen
I can feel you getting near
And soon we'll be returning to the fountain of our youth
And if you wake up wond'ring
In the darkness I'll be there
My arms will close around you and protect you with the truth
The backing vocals are:
Know it's gonna happen
Feel you getting near 
If you wake up wond'ring
You know I'll be there
Protect you with the truth
Where those first four lines echo the lead vocals, the last ("Protect you with the truth") is sung simultaneously, achieved a double-tracked effect.  There's a progression in the last verse from the echoing backing vocals to the meeting of the two vocal tracks in last line, just like the singer/speaker has been searching for the whole time and will finally "close [his arms] around you."