Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's "Promise"

I just listened to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's Howl, and I noticed the line "But tread softly, you tread on my dreams" in "Promise."  I knew this was a reference to a poem, but I had to look up which specific one.  It's Yeats' "Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven," specifically the last two lines: "I have spread my dreams under your feet; / Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."

On Christmas Music

This is more of a general thing, but I probably wouldn't have been thinking about this were it not for this project, so it makes sense to post it here.

This morning I listened to an album of Herbert Howells' church music and then an album of some music from the Home Alone movies (I don't think it really qualifies as a soundtrack, but it's pretty close), and I knew that later to-day I was going to listen to a Bach cantata and an album of Hildegard von Binden canticles.  All of this made me think about sacred music, and it occurred to me that Christmas music occupies a sort of liminal space with regard to that.  At its core, Christmas music is kind of religious because it's about a religious observance, but on the other hand, there's often not very much about that religious observance in Christmas songs.  Take "White Christmas" or "Blue Christmas" as examples.  Both are (literally) nominally about Christmas, but there's nothing about Christmas in them.

The Rip Chords' "Here I Stand"

I listened to an album of the Rip Chords a couple days ago, but this afternoon I was thinking about "Here I Stand" and realized something about the bridge.  The "so" in the first line ("I love you so") has a melisma, which emphasizes the degree of the loving.  The "so" is drawn out to various pitches to represent the greatness of singer/speaker's love.

In the first and third iteration of the bridge, the "I love you" is all sung to an F, and the "so" is sung to a G F G F Eb phrase.  In the second iteration, the "I love you" is sung to a Db, and the "so" to Eb F Eb Db Eb.  The specific melismas are different, but the idea behind both is the same.

The Fratellis' "Stragglers Moon"

I just listened to the Fratellis' Here We Stand.  At the beginning of "Stragglers Moon," there's a sort of chant of "She can't help it; the girl can't help it."  I think this might be a reference to Little Richard's "The Girl Can't Help It," which also has this recurring line.

I don't know much about the Fratellis, so I couldn't say if Little Richard had any influence on them, but the lyric matches exactly and the music is sort of similar.  I think the notation for it is still above my skill level (and I don't want to spend a lot of time trying to figure it out), but - musically - the phrases are based on the root, fifth, and seventh (either dominant seventh or major seventh).  Little Richard's "The Girl Can't Help It" is in C major, and the phrase "She can't help it; the girl can't help it" sung to G C B C; G C C B C.  If I have "Stragglers Moon" right, it's in E major (at the beginning, it alternates between E major and F major, which doesn't really establish a key).  There, "She can't help it; the girl can't help it" is sung to B E E D; B E E E F.

Like I said, I don't know much about the Fratellis, so I don't know if Little Richard's "The Girl Can't Help It" influenced their "Stragglers Moon," but the phrases are pretty similar.

The Decemberists' Her Majesty

I just listened to the Decemberists' Her Majesty and noticed a couple things.

"The Gymnast, High above the Ground"

The "light brigade" in the line "Waiting out this long light brigade" is a phrase from Tennyson's poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (I'm not sure if he coined the phrase, but his poem is probably the reason it's well-known).  I don't think it's used the same way in the song though.

About a year ago, I found an-other instance of the same phrase in "Cavalry Captain" from What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World.  There, it's "we'll away on the light brigade."  Again, I don't think it's used in the same sense in which Tennyson used it, but it is the same phrase.

"Song for Myra Goldberg"

This is just a minor point, but the line "Listen in as shin-kicked Jim relates his story sad" could be parsed two different ways, hinging on the "sad" in "Jim relates his story sad."  It could be either inversion ("his story sad" instead of "his sad story") or a flat adverb ("Jim relates his story sad" instead of "Jim relates his story sadly").  Either it's a sad story or Jim tells it in a sad manner; it's grammatical hair-splitting, but there is a slight difference.

The Monkees' "I'll Spend My Life with You"

To-day I listened to the first disc of the deluxe edition of the Monkees' Headquarters album, and I noticed an ambiguous word in the chorus of "I'll Spend My Life with You."  The last two lines could be rendered as "And if you want me to / I'll spend my life with you" or "And if you want me too / I'll spend my life with you."

The first rendering is an example of elliptical phrasing.  Because the same phrase is repeated in the second line, it's omitted from the first, lest there's the lengthy "And if you want me to [spend my life with you] / I'll spend my life with you."

The second rendering indicates a reciprocity with the "too."  The "if you want me too" implies that the singer/speaker also wants the girl he's addressing.

Because the chorus is repeated (the first chorus has some different lyrics, but the iteration with these "And if you want me to(o) / I'll spend my life with you" lines is sung twice), both renderings could be understood in turn.

The Small Faces' "Lazy Sunday"

This morning I listened to the second disc of a two-disc set of the Small Faces.  I'm pretty sure I hadn't previously noticed that at about 0:50 in "Lazy Sunday," a phrase from "Colonel Bogey March" is whistled in the background, and I'm certain I hadn't previously noticed that at about 1:45, the riff from the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" is whistled too.

Grieg: Norwegian Folk Tunes and Dances, Op. 17

Last night I listened to some excerpts from Grieg's Norwegian Folk Tunes and Dances, Op. 17, and I found some melodies that sounded familiar to me.  The melodies in pieces XXIII and XXIV are also in the fourth of Grieg's Symphonic Dances on Norwegian Themes, Op. 64.

The melody for Op. 17: XXIII is worth picturing in its entirety since all of it is used on Op. 64: IV.

(notation found here)

I've actually found the melody from measures three to six in two different Grieg pieces, and I've written about them before.  It's in the Symphonic Dances on Norwegian Themes, but it's also in Nineteen Norwegian Folk Tunes, Op. 66: VI. Cow-call and Lullaby:

(click here for a larger image)
(notation found here [Op. 64] and here [Op. 66])

Of course, there are some differences, but the melodies are all very similar.

There's more of a resemblance between Op. 17: XXIII and Op. 64: IV than with Op. 66: VI though because the melody in measures eleven to fifteen is similar to the melody in measures eleven to twenty in the section marked B of Op. 64: IV:

(click here for a larger image)

I haven't thoroughly studied the fourth Symphonic Dance, but I've listened to it enough to become fairly familiar with it.  I'm pretty sure it's in sonata form, and - as occurs with sonata form - these two melodies come back for the second A section.

The B section of the Symphonic Dance shares a melody with Op. 17: XXIV:

In the Symphonic Dance, a very similar melody is in the clarinet and oboe beginning at the Più tranquillo:

(click here for a larger image)

When I originally found the melody that Op. 66: VI. and Op. 64: IV have in common, I was reading a book of Grieg's letters.  I referenced the index of works in the back and found that, as the opus numbers would suggest, they were written around the same time.  The book says the Symphonic Dances, Op. 64 are from 1896, and that the Folk Songs, Op. 66 are from 1896-1898.  Again, as the opus number would suggest, the Folk Tunes and Dances, Op. 17 are much earlier; the book says they're from 1870.  I think Grieg is pretty well-known for using folk tunes in his music, so I find it interesting that he used the same ones almost thirty years apart.

Grieg: Lyric Pieces X, Op. 71: VII. Remembrances

This morning I listened to some more of Grieg's Lyric Pieces for piano.  The seventh piece (Remembrances) in Book X, Op. 71 sounded a bit familiar, and I realized that it's very similar to the first piece (Arietta) in Book I, Op. 12.

I intended to look up the notation for both and compare them, but when I lookt up the notation for Op. 71: VII, I noticed an asterisk after the title:

which lead to a footnote at the bottom of the page:

It's in German:  "Vergl[eich] Lyrische Stücke Heft 1 No. 1 (Arietta)."  Translated, this is "Compare Lyric Pieces Book 1 No. 1 (Arietta)."

I'm glad that footnote was there because the notation is still above my skill level.  I did notice though that Arietta and Remembrances are both in the same key: Eb major.

Most of the books of Grieg's Lyric Pieces that I have are incomplete; I have only excerpts.  This is the case with Book X.  I lookt up the complete book and discovered that Remembrances is the last piece in the book.  Since Book X is also the last book of Grieg's Lyric Pieces, there's a sort of bookending going on.  He starts and ends his Lyric Pieces with a similar-sounding tune.

The Turtles' "She's My Girl"

This morning I listened to a compilation album of the Turtles (Happy Together: The Very Best of the Turtles).  I used to listen to this a lot seven or eight years ago, so I'm fairly familiar with the songs already.  I'd noticed before that one part of "She's My Girl" sounded different, but it wasn't until listening to it this morning that I realized why it sounds different.

The song is in 4/4 time, but at about 1:23, it switched to 3/4 for the "She's my girl; took her away last night" section.  The 3/4 section lasts only briefly before the song switches back to 4/4 time at about 1:38.  To some degree, that brief 3/4 section illustrates the transcendence of the singer/speaker's relationship with his girl (it's different from everything else) or perhaps even her incomparability, which - like the 3/4 section - can be comprehended only fleetingly.