Jefferson Airplane's "Greasy Heart"

Yester-day I listened to The Worst of Jefferson Airplane, and I noticed a small thing about "Greasy Heart" (from Crown of Creation), which is a bonus track, although it's inserted into the middle to fit the roughly chronological track listing.

The "falls" in the line "Don't change before the empire falls" has a descending melisma (I'm not sure what specific notes are sung, but the phrase starts on an A and descends to a D), which is a musical representation of the empire falling.

Jefferson Airplane's Jefferson Airplane Takes Off

This morning I listened to Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, the first Jefferson Airplane album.  This was only the second time I've listened to it, so while I noticed some obvious things, they're novel because I'm not very familiar with the album yet, not because I haven't been paying attention.

"Bringing Me Down"

The "down, down, down" in the backing vocals at the end is sung to a descending phrase (F, E, D in octaves, I think), so there's a descent in the words and the music.

"Don't Slip Away"

The last "away" in the line "Don't slip away, oh, no, don't slip away" have melismas.  The first two syllables are sung to C# notes, but then there's an extra third syllable sung to a B.  So the "away" slips from one pitch to an-other.

Jefferson Airplane's "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil"

This morning I listened to Jefferson Airplane's After Bathing at Baxter's.  There's one line in "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil" that had always sounded familiar to me, and after listening to it this time, I finally looked it up.  The line in question is "Halfway down the stairs is a stair where I sit and think about you and me."  I finally placed it, but the chronology didn't work out because I knew it from "Halfway Down the Stairs" - a song on The Muppet Show, which was ten years after this album.  But I looked that up and discovered that "Halfway Down the Stairs" is an A.A. Milne poem set to music.  I'm not sure if Jefferson Airplane took their line from Milne's poem or the song it became, but it does seem to have its origin with Milne.

Jefferson Airplane's "Good Shepherd"

I just listened to The Worst of Jefferson Airplane.  Throughout the repetitions of the chorus of "Good Shepherd," I realized that there are three sheep mentioned:

One for Paul
One for Silas
One for to make my heart rejoice

The Good Shepherd, Paul, and Silas are all figures from Christianity, in which three is a significant number.  In the song, that significance is shown in the three sheep mentioned in the chorus.

Interestingly, the chorus itself appears in the song three times, and there are three things to be avoided:  "the blood-stained bandit," "the long-tongued liar," and "the gun-shot devil" (at least those are as I heard them).  So there are multiple instances of groups of three.

Jefferson Airplane's "The House at Pooneil Corners"

I just listened to Jefferson Airplane's Crown of Creation.  I'm fairly certain that this is only the second time I've listened to it.  The first time I listened to it, I noted the similarities in the opening feedback of "The House at Pooneil Corners" and the opening track of After Bathing at Baxter's - "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil."

I said then that it was the same feedback, but listening to the opening of the two songs back-to-back, it becomes evident that it's not exactly the same.  However, it's still very similar.  It's sort of amazing to me how they could replicate the feedback that well.

Back when I first listened to the album, I said that "The liner notes mention that the songs are related, which is obvious from the titles, but I think it’s neat how that’s reflected in feedback rather than any similarities in lyrics or music.  (Though, there may be those connexions too.  I’ve listened to it only once, and I wasn’t paying that much attention to it.)"  Listening to it this time, I did notice a similarity in the lyrics.  The line "And you know I'm still gonna need you around" appears in "The House at Pooneil Corners," which recalls the "you know I need you around" from "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil."

"The House at Pooneil Corners" also mentions a rhinoceros, which I feel may be connected in some way to the armadillo in "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil."

Jefferson Airplane's After Bathing at Baxter's

I’m in the midst of listening to Jefferson Airplane’s After Bathing at Baxter’s.  I listened to the second disc of 2400 Fulton Street:  An Anthology a few days ago (I don’t have the first disc), and I was reminded of the great bass parts, but listening to the actual album, I’m realizing how certain parts of the album work so well in stereo.

The album was released in 1967, when mono mixings were still the norm, but stereo was starting to be used more.  So it’s even more interesting to hear the stereo parts.  Like all of the things flying around at the end of “The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil” and into the start of “A Small Package of Value Will Come to You, Shortly” and the alternating panned left and panned right guitars in “The Last Wall of the Castle.”  I don’t think there had been a precedent for that sort of stuff.

EDIT:  The last cymbal crash at the end of “Two Heads” is great in stereo too.  I don’t even think that effect is possible in mono.