Last week, I was playing the guitar solo from the Beatles' "Every Little Thing" on piano, and I realized something that it has in common with "She Does Everything for Me." I pointed out some lyrical similarities between the two songs
a couple years ago, but now I've found a musical similarity too. Before each of the first two phrases of the guitar solo in "Every Little Thing," there's the four-note phrase E F# G# A (I'm pretty sure it's played on a six-string guitar where the guitar solo is done on a twelve-string). This same four-note phrase (albeit with different note values) is in the backing vocals during the choruses of "She Does Everything for Me." It's the "and now I know" after the lead vocal's "She does everything for me / To make me feel alright." In both songs, the phrase serves to introduce the main part, whether it's a guitar solo or lead vocal.
But that's not all!
A couple months ago, I discovered that this same E F# G# A phrase alternates with phrases at the beginning of the guitar solo in Elvis Presley's "That's All Right." Along with the Beatles, Elvis Presley was an influence on Rod Argent, who wrote "She Does Everything for Me."
The phrase is so small that its resemblance to those in "That's All Right" and "Every Little Thing" might just be coincidental, but since Argent often mentions Elvis and the Beatles as influences, it could be at least a subconscious borrowing.
