"I Want Her She Wants Me"

I recently listened to Odessey and Oracle {Revisited} and noticed a small point in "I Want Her She Wants Me."  I also remembered a similar point I found in November but forgot to write about.

In the line "I sleep so easy," "so" is sung with a longer value than the surrounding notes, giving a sense of degree.

In the line "All around me," "all" is likewise sung with a longer value than the surrounding notes, here lending a sense of breadth or entirety.

"Love Conquers All"

I listened to New World again yester-day and noticed a small feature in "Love Conquers All."  Throughout the choruses, there's a recurring three-note guitar phrase (E D A) that emphasizes or represents some of the lyrics.  The span of these pitches (a fifth) provides a slight sense of the entirety of the "all" in the title line, and the descent that the pitches outline matches the "fall" and "breaking down" in lines "Each time you fall" and "Breaking down the walls."

"Unhappy Girl"

The phrase "so strong" in "Unhappy Girl" alliterates, and the repetition involved lends a slight sense of degree, especially since these two words are sung on downbeats, which provide a corresponding musical emphasis.

"Hung Upside Down"

I listened to Into the Afterlife this morning and noticed a couple small features.

At the end of the first verse of "Hung Upside Down," a second vocal part harmonizes the line "By myself."  It's the same singer as in the lead vocal, however, so in a way, it emphasizes this lack of companionship.

I also noticed that "myself" is rhymed with itself ("There I sat until three / Getting further behind myself / By myself"), unlike in the second verse (where "straight" is rhymed with "late"), and this also provides a sense of singularity.

"I'll Call You Mine"

I listened to the 50th anniversary edition of Odessey and Oracle yester-day and noticed a small feature in "I'll Call You Mine."  Excepting one break, the phrase "Walk in the light of day" is sung to a conjunct melody (G# A B F E D), musically giving an impression of the steps involved in this "walk[ing]."

"This Will Be Our Year"

Yester-day, I heard a sloppy cover of "This Will Be Our Year" where the singer got half of the words wrong, but referencing the correct words led me to a realization.

I noticed that there are slant rhymes in the verses:  "the warmth from the sun" with "the darkness has gone" and "smile for me, little one" with "all your worry days are gone."  In a way, the imperfect nature of these rhymes illustrates the current absence of "the darkness" and "all your worry days."  Even poetically, they're incompatible with the present situation and time.