Showing posts with label Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"

Yester-day I listened to the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and I noticed an interesting thing about the bass part in "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."  During the "Newspaper taxis appear on the shore..." section, the bass part is almost entirely quarter notes (and a pair of eighth notes), so the single half note (second measure of the second line) sticks out:

(click the image for a larger view)
(A few comments on this notation.  First, I did it myself, so there's the standard disclaimer that I might have something wrong.  Second, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is partially in 3 / 4 and partially in 4 / 4, and at the end of this section, there's a transition from 3 / 4 time to 4 / 4 time, so it might be that the last measure should be in 4 / 4 instead of 3 / 4.)

That half note corresponds to "take" in the line "Waiting to take you away," so musically there's a pause to reflect the taxis' standing by.

Friday, January 1, 2016

The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"

I just wrote about this in "Penny Lane," but I found an-other instance of an instrument doubling a vocal part in a Beatles song.  This time, it's guitar during the second half of the first two verses of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" ("Cellophane flowers of yellow and green..." and "Newspaper taxis appear on the shore...").

Additionally, there's a vocal and guitar glissando on the "away" in "Waiting to take you away," suggesting the distance to which you'll be taken.