"Changes"

Backdated, archival post

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An-other thing I was thinking about this morning was the rhythm during the verses of "Changes."  I figured out (correctly!) how to notate it (in my head, even), and I discovered that each measure has the same rhythm:

I notated the bass register of the piano part, and I assumed that the vocal melody was the same, just higher.  But then I verified it, and I discovered that I was wrong.  For the first verse ("Now see her walk by...") it is the same (a half note, two eighth notes, and then a quarter note), but it changes (like the title) when it gets to the second verse ("Now silver and gold...").  The piano part remains the same, but for the last two lines ("Like emerald stones / And platinum glass"), that half note becomes a dotted quarter note and an eighth note:

Before I noticed that difference, I thought something was at odds since the song - as the title would suggest - is about changes (the seasons are mentioned in a cycle, and there's the line "Nothing will last"), yet the rhythm was invariable.  But then I discovered that variation in the second verse, and it makes more sense.  The rhythm of the piano part and the vocal are the same until the lines after "Nothing will last."  It's almost a signal for them to change.

I should note that the key continues to befuddle me, but these sections don't have any accidentals, and there's a high A in the upper register of the piano part, so I'm assuming it's in A minor.