"The Look of Love"

I've been doing some work on "The Look of Love" lately.  I don't remember exactly when I noticed this, but I discovered that the "so" in the last line ("I love you so") is sung with a melisma (D C D), musically giving a sense of degree.

"Little One"

In the line "That reaches ev'ry part" in "Little One," "part" is sung with a melisma (Bb A), musically giving something of a sense of number for "ev'ry."

"Never Get over You"

In "Never Get over You," "so" in the line "I still love you so" is sung with a melisma (C A), musically giving a sense of degree.  I also referenced the earlier version from Colin Blunstone's The Ghost of You and Me album ("Now I Know I'll Never Get over You"), but it doesn't have this feature.

"And We Were Young Again"

In "And We Were Young Again," "fell" in the line "The years just fell away" is sung with a descending melisma (F# E), so while it's used metaphorically, there's a musical sense of falling.

"New York"

In "New York," the "away" in the line "And Patti and her Bluebelles simply stole my heart away" is sung with a melisma (C# C# B A), musically demonstrating (metaphorical) movement or distance.

"Soul" in the line "She took me to Aretha Franklin, showed me so much soul" is also sung with a melisma (C# B A), musically illustrating the amount of "so much."

"Moving On"

I listened to Still Got That Hunger yester-day and noticed a handful of small points.

In "Moving On," one of the "on"s in the title line (at ~3:00) is sung with a melisma (E G), musically giving a sense of continuation or of movement.

"Sleep Won't Help Me"

In "Sleep Won't Help Me," "pain" in the line "All the pain" is sung with an extensive melisma (I think it's C D Eb F G C' Bb, although some notes near the end might be glissandi rather than melismas).  This articulation gives a sense of the entirety of "all," especially because it spans an octave.

"Chained"

I found two significant melismas in "Chained."

"Free" in the line "Free like an old man that dies" is sung to the notes G E.  Because the word isn't sung to just a single syllable, there's a sense of that freedom.

"Go" in the line "God, why don't you let them go?" is sung to the notes A G, musically giving a sense of movement (although "go" might be used more metaphorically).

As a more general comment, when I listened to Ring of Hands recently, I noticed that some of the songs ("Sweet Mary," "Chained," and "Sleep Won't Help Me") seem to feature Fender Rhodes rather than Rod Argent's typical Hohner Pianet.  I think it's most evident at the end of "Chained," where a bunch of notes are sustained and then all cut off suddenly with a damper.  I'm pretty sure the Pianet doesn't have a damper pedal, so it couldn't accommodate that style of playing.  The Rhodes' characteristic bell sound can also be clearly heard at the beginning of "Sweet Mary."

"Celebration"

I listened to Ring of Hands yester-day and noticed a few small things.

In the line "Dancing ev'rywhere" in "Celebration," "ev'rywhere" is sung with four syllables and to three different pitches (C# D# E E), musically giving a sense of breadth.

"She Does Everything for Me"

I was thinking about "She Does Everything for Me" recently and noticed a small thing about the chorus.  The three syllables of the first "ev'rything" ("She does ev'rything for me to make me feel alright") are sung to three different pitches (C# E G).  Musically, this gives an impression of the breadth of that "ev'rything."

"Kind of Girl"

When I listened to Begin Here a couple days ago, I also noticed something in "Kind of Girl," which is included as a bonus track.  The three syllables of "ev'rything" in the line "You think you've got everything" are all sung to different pitches (E D B), musically giving a sense of breadth.  The three syllables of "anyone" in the lines "Don't you understand that she / Runs away with anyone who happens / In her sight" are also sung to different pitches (also E D B), for a similar effect.

"Can't Nobody Love You"

I listened to Begin Here yester-day, and I noticed a merism in "Can't Nobody Love You," specifically in the lines "Oh, I'm gonna love you in the morning / Love you late at night."