The Lovin' Spoonful's "You're a Big Boy Now"

I'm still making my way through the Greatest Hits albums.  Currently, it's the Lovin' Spoonful.  In "You're a Big Boy Now," I discovered the riff from Buster Brown's "Fannie Mae."  It comes in after the first chorus, played on guitar and harmonica.

I hadn't realized that that riff was so important.  Along with the reference in "You're a Big Boy Now," it informed the melody of the Beach Boys' "Help Me, Rhonda," and on the earlier version on Today! (titled "Help Me, Ronda"), the riff is played on harmonica near the end.

EDIT: I just realized that that same phrase is also used for the melody in the Silhouettes' "Get a Job" - the first "sha na na."

The Monkees' "Last Train to Clarksville"

I listened to the Monkees' Greatest Hits earlier this morning.  Even though I've heard "Last Train to Clarksville" dozens of times, I just finally noticed that the backing vocals (both the "train" and "aah") sound a bit like a train whistle.

Paul Revere & the Raiders' "The Great Airplane Strike" and "Action"

As I alluded to in my last post, I just listened to Paul Revere & the Raiders' Greatest Hits.  I found two different instances of what I think are their imitations of other musicians' styles.

First, "The Great Airplane Strike," which has some Dylanesque qualities in the lyrics.  More specifically, it's a lot like "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" from Bringing It All Back Home.  They're both long, involved stories told in past tense.  Additionally, both feature a series of characters that the singer/narrator has conversations with.  I realize that's kind of a broad statement, but those conversations are narrated in the same way - in a very brief fashion in which inflections of said are frequently used.

Part of the second verse of "The Great Airplane Strike":

The man said I could ride the wing and I said that was fine
He said I could fund your reservation and put the plane on hold
He comes back and said sorry but that wing space's just been sold

The sixth verse of "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" (found here):

Well, I rapped upon a house
With the U.S. flag upon display
I said, “Could you help me out
I got some friends down the way”
The man says, “Get out of here
I’ll tear you limb from limb”
I said, “You know they refused Jesus, too”
He said, “You’re not Him
Get out of here before I break your bones
I ain’t your pop”
I decided to have him arrested
And I went looking for a cop

Both songs are also very loosely connected in a narrative sense.  Almost any verse of Bob Dylan's song provides an example, but the best example in Paul Revere & the Raiders' is the fire the singer/narrator builds in the washroom, to which the panicked janitor replies, "That's all right" once the situation is explained.  I guess it's a lack of real-world reactions and situations that the songs have in common.

Even the title "The Great Airplane Strike" seems to suggest some of Dylan's more protest-influenced songs from a few years earlier.

According to the liner notes, "The Great Airplane Strike" was recorded on 18 July 1966, well after "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream," but still while Dylan was in his electric and enigmatic period.

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Second, "Action" seems to be a nod to the style of the early Beach Boys.  At the beginning and ending of the song, there are layers of vocals.  The last syllable of "Oh, baby, come on" is sustained while the line "Let me take you where the action is" comes in.  And then "Oh, baby, come on" starts again before "Let me take you where the action is" has quite finished.

This same technique is used on the Beach Boys' "Catch a Wave."  In the second verse, the line "all the surfers going strong" turns into a single held note that supports the next line - "they said it wouldn't last too long."

During the verses of "Action," the backing vocals are just "ooh"s in a style reminiscent of the Beach Boys.  Particularly in the first verse, this association is strengthened through the line "In every little town across the U.S.A.," recalling the Beach Boys' "Surfin' U.S.A." and its catalogue of places.  Two other verses include the line "Dance, dance, dance," which - obviously - is the title of "Dance, Dance, Dance," which appeared on the Beach Boys' Today!

Looking at the data in the liner notes provides more credence for this pastiche.  "Action" was recorded on 5 August 1965, well after "Surfin' U.S.A." and "Catch a Wave" and a few months after Today!  Furthermore, one of the writers is "S. Venet," the brother of Nik Venet, who produced some of the Beach Boys' early material.

Chuck Berry's "Havana Moon"

Two days ago, I listened to Chuck Berry's The Great Twenty-Eight.  While listening to it, I noticed some similarities between "Havana Moon" and "Louie, Louie," which has been done by many artists (most famously the Kingsmen).  I just listened to the version by Paul Revere & the Raiders, and I decided to finally write something about these connections, but in researching the songs, I've gotten a bit confused by the chronology.

According to the Wikipedia article for "Louie, Louie," Richard Berry who wrote the song "cited Chuck Berry's "Havana Moon" and his exposure to Latin American music for the song's speech pattern and references to Jamaica."  It also says that he wrote it in 1955.  The liner notes for The Great Twenty-Eight list the recording date for "Havana Moon" as October 1956.  The only way I can think of that these data can be reconciled is if Chuck Berry had performed "Havana Moon" on tours for a few years before he recorded it.  Otherwise, Richard Berry is listing as an influence a song that wouldn't have been written at the time he wrote "Louie, Louie."

In any case, there are similarities between the songs.  Paul Revere & the Raiders' version is a bit scant as far as lyrics go, and it's the only "complete" version I have, so this won't be exhaustive.  Lyrically, both songs employ a type of pidgin English, often substituting me for I.  "Louie, Louie" contains the lines, "Me gotta go" and "Me find little girl" (although I do have a version by the Troggs, done in a medley, in which the line is just "a fine little girl").  Chuck Berry's song carries this syntax throughout.  For example, here's the first verse:

Me all alone with jug of rum
Me stand and wait for boat to come
Is long the night, is quiet the dock
The boat she late since 12 o'clock

Both songs deal with trying to start a romance and talk about sailing, and I think they also mention rum.  Neither version I have contains a mention of rum, but from what I remember of hearing the Kingsmen's version on the radio, it's in there.

Peter & Gordon's "To Know You Is To Love You"

I listened to Peter & Gordon's Greatest Hits this morning.  I had never noticed the frenetic drumming during the introduction and the final few choruses in "To Know You Is To Love You."  It really adds a lot to the song.  It's the kind of thing you just have to listen to for yourself; I can't describe it.

The only other version I have of "To Know You Is To Love You" is the Beatles' version from Live at the BBC (although it bears the title "To Know Her Is To Love Her" and slightly different lyrics), and it's much less exciting than Peter & Gordon's.  It might not be a fair comparison because the Beatles' version was live and Peter & Gordon's was a studio effort, but I still prefer Peter & Gordon's version.

The Carpenters' "Ticket to Ride"

I'm currently listening to the second disc of the Carpenters' Gold album, specifically their cover of the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride."  They add an introductory part, which I quite like, but I just realized that within that introductory part, they use the Alberti bass.

The Alan Parsons Project's Tales of Mystery and Imagination

I recently read Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," so I decided to listen to the Alan Parsons Project's Tales of Mystery and Imagination, which contains song versions of some of Poe's works, including "The Cask of Amontillado."  The CD version I have is the updated 1987 version, but I also have the original 1976 version on record, which I listened to back in April.  So, while I didn't have to listen to this album again for this project, I did.

In any case, listening to it this time, I discovered many ways in which the music reflects what's going on in the story.

At the beginning of "The Raven," there's a simple three-note phrase in the bass part, which resembles the three syllables in nevermore.

"The Tell-Tale Heart" presents some interesting changes.  The first part includes rocking guitars and cymbal-heavy drum parts along with the raucous vocals of Arthur Brown.  It then transitions to a softer section with strings, woodwinds, and Jack Harris' vocal part, and then it returns to how it was in the beginning.  It's been awhile since I've read "The Tell-Tale Heart," but I think those changes in tempo, vocalist, and instrumentation serve to reflect the mental state of the narrator.  At first, he's paranoid, then he's placated after he's murdered the old man, and then he's frantic again because of his guilt and hearing the heart's beating.

In certain parts of "The Cask of Amontillado," there are some cymbal parts (or possibly hi-hat parts, like I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm not very familiar with drums or drum terminology) that don't follow the regular rhythm of the track.  They might just be there for extra ambiance, but Poe's story mentions that Fortunato is wearing a "conical cap and bells," so perhaps those cymbal parts are supposed to portray the bells on Fortunato's hat.

There's also a great change in the Prelude of "The Fall of the House of Usher."  After Orson Welles delivers the line "color becomes pallor," the supporting note changes from a D to a B.  I'm not sure if it's really a key change, but it is sort of a menacing modulation, which emphasizes the transformation mentioned in Welles' narration.  (I need to compare this to the 1976 version, which doesn't include Welles' narration.)

There are probably other musical reflections of the story in "The Fall of the House of Usher," but it's been awhile since I've read it, so I couldn't pick up on anything specific.  I should look into the Poe references in this album more deeply sometime.

Billy Joel's "Don't Ask Me Why"

I'm currently listening to Billy Joel's Glass Houses.  I noticed that in one verse of "Don't Ask Me Why," he pronounces ask differently.  More like aks than ask.

So I listened to it again and looked in the liner notes for the lyrics.  In the verse in which he switches the pronunciation, he's differentiating between classes - the high class people who frequent hotels and have servants and the low class people who live on the streets.  So his changing his pronunciation of ask is apparently supposed to reflect that difference.

Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, Op. 45, No. 3

Along with making my way through my digital collection of music, I've been listening to the 22 LPs in Funk & Wagnalls' Family Library of Great Music.  To-day was the record of Rachmaninoff, which includes the Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14, and Symphonic Dances Op. 45, No. 2 & 3.

I noticed that at the very end of the No. 3 Symphonic Dance, Rachmaninoff quotes "Dies Irae" in his brass part.

It's sort of funny that I'm realizing this now, as listening to these records last year is what introduced me to the "Dies Irae" - it's also quoted in Berlioz's Symphony Fantastique, which is the 22nd LP in this collection.  Actually, I recognized it as part of Argent's "The Coming of Kohoutek," and enough looking led me to the "Dies Irae."

The Moody Blues' "House of Four Doors (Part 1)"

I just listened to the Moody Blues' In Search of the Lost Chord for the first time.  I'm not sure, but I think they quote part of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" in "House of Four Doors (Part 1)."  At around 3:15, a melody emerges from the rumbling.  As far as I can figure out, the notes are C# D E A.  What I think is a corresponding melody occurs in "Rhapsody in Blue" at around 11:30 in the version I have by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.  I'm pretty sure that it's G# A B and then E and B (an octave lower) simultaneously.  Simplified to representative notes of the scale, it's the third, the fourth, the fifth, and the tonic (plus the fifth in the case of "Rhapsody in Blue," if I have it correct).  These two sections are either in the same rhythm or a very similar rhythm, and after each, the melody continues to rise.

According to the Wikipedia page, each section in the song is supposed to represent an era of music, so perhaps it's a conscious nod to Gershwin.