"Friends of Mine"

Yester-day, I was looking into "Friends of Mine," and while my initial notion didn't pan out, I noticed something much more interesting.

The opening guitar phrases are something like this:

They bear a strong resemblance to the opening Pianet phrases in "Whenever You're Ready," which are something like this:

(They continue for an-other two measures, but I felt this was enough for comparison.)

The exact intervals differ slightly, but both phrases trace the same general four-note arc.  The rhythms are basically the same, too, although they start in different places in the measure.

"Celebration"

I listened to Ring of Hands a couple days ago and noticed a small feature in "Celebration."  In the line "Lift the veil of your joy to my eye," the words "lift the veil" are sung to an ascending group of notes (E F# G#), musically illustrating this "lift[ing]."  (It wasn't until hearing the version by Sparrow on The Chris White Experience Volume Three that I understood this line.)

When I found the specific pitches, I also noticed that "joy" later in the line is sung with a melisma (G# F# E), and since the word isn't constrained to a single note, there's a sense of this exuberance.

"Don't Go Away"

I listened to I Love You yester-day and noticed a small feature in "Don't Go Away."  In the line "But today I can't feel so sure," the phrase "so sure" exhibits alliteration, and the repetition involved here lends a slight sense of degree.

"Nights on Fire"

"Higher" in the lines "Knowing only love can take us higher / Higher" in "Nights on Fire" is sung with a melisma (D C# B both times), and while the pitches descend (contrary to the word's meaning), the extra notes emphasize the comparative nature of the adverb (more notes for a greater degree).

"Blue"

I listened to New World again yester-day and noticed some more small points.

The lines "And if I could only spread my wings / I'd hear the sound of dreams" in "Blue" (written by Sebastian Santa Maria) may contain a nod to "Summertime," specifically its line "Then you're gonna spread your wings and take to the sky."

"It's Alright with Me"

The Zombies' social media accounts have been posting about "It's Alright with Me" quite a bit lately, and as I was thinking about the song yester-day, I had a few realizations about it.

The recurring line "But if you want to stay around and love me" is sung to far fewer pitches than the surrounding lines (it simply alternates between Eb and F), and in a way, this narrow scope reflects the "stay[ing] around."

That the first verse and the third verse use the same sound for their rhymes ("door" with "floor" and "poor" with "door," respectively) poetically represents the narrator's limited means.

The phrase "mess around" in the first line may indicate Ray Charles' influence, specifically his "Mess Around," in which this phrase frequently recurs.  "It's Alright with Me" is in C minor, and if I'm not mistaken, "Mess Around" is in Eb major, so the two songs are in relative keys.

"Brief Candles"

I listened to Odessey and Oracle yester-day and noticed some significance in the structure of the line "Finds he needs her more because she's no more need for him" in "Brief Candles."  The words "needs," "more," "more," and "need" form a chiasm (since they're different parts of speech, however, it's not an exact correspondence).  That the order of the words is inverted from one half of the line to the next illustrates the complete opposites here.

"It's Alright with Me"

In "It's Alright with Me," the tempo slows for the bridge, and in a way, this slower tempo represents being "tired," although perhaps in a more literal sense than it's used in the lyrics ("I'm sick and tired of being on my own").

When I watched the new lyric video yester-day, I also noticed that the repetition involved in the alliterative "big black" ("I got no money, can't afford no big black car") provides a slight sense of this large size.

"Can't Nobody Love You"

I've noted before that the lines "Oh, I'm gonna love you in the morning / Love you late at night" in "Can't Nobody Love You" contain a temporal merism, but when I listened to Begin Here again recently, I noticed that the extent here is also illustrated by the melody.  "Morning" is sung to Fs, but "night" is sung to lower pitches (and with a melisma:  E A).  At the greatest distance, there's a sixth between "morning" and "night."

"She's Not There"

I listened to Begin Here last week and noticed a few small features.

In "She's Not There," the line "Though they all knew" is doubled by the backing vocals, and these extra voices lend a slight sense of the entirety of "all."

"17 Over You"

Yester-day, I listened to On the Air Tonight and noticed a very small feature in "17 Over You."  In the line "But year after year it's the same situation that's always on my mind," the initial S is maintained in the phrase "same situation," matching this constancy.

"Beyond the Borderline"

I listened to Still Got That Hunger yester-day and noticed two small features in the lines "The heartache and the sacrifice / All worth it just to feel the changing atmosphere / It's very clear" in "Beyond the Borderline."

In the phrase "the changing atmosphere," the note values shift from even quarter notes (for "the changing") to mostly eighth notes (for "atmosphere").  Even musically, then, this "changing" is represented, albeit in a small way.

Rod and Colin both sing the line "It's very clear," and the doubled voices add a sense of degree (for "very").