"Dance in the Smoke"

I was thinking about Argent's "Dance in the Smoke" yester-day, and I realized that the line "But on tiptoe, the flames would grow" generally ascends, giving senses of the height of standing "on tiptoe" and of the increase of "grow[ing]."  It's a bit difficult to distinguish the vocal parts, but I think the line is sung to the notes G A B C | C A B C.

"Dance in the Smoke"

I listened to Argent a couple days ago and noticed what might be a bit of the Beatles' influence in "Dance in the Smoke."  At the very end, the piano plays what I think are two E notes (one on each side of the C two octaves below middle C).  In both structure and pitch, this resembles the final E major piano chord in "A Day in the Life."

Argent

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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I just listened to Argent's eponymous album as part of my listening schedule, and - as always - I noticed things:

"Be Free"

I'm not exactly sure where the verse divisions are, but there's some parallelism either between the first two verses or within the first verse.

I said you'd be free, didn't I?
I said you'd climb high, didn't I?
Took you out to the sky
Told you one day you'd fly

You didn't believe me, did you then?
You didn't look up, did you then?
Didn't look to the sky
Didn't believe you'd fly
Didn't believe you'd fly

There's "didn't I" in the first verse (or first half of the first verse) and "did you then" in the second verse (or second half of the first).  There's the same verb with different subjects ending the first two lines of each verse (or each section).

"Dance in the Smoke"

The second and fourth lines of the verse (which is just repeated over and over again) are identical save for one word:

We will light a giant, burning fire tonight
We will build it and dance in the smoke
Every branch we'll tie somebody's worry to it
We will burn it and dance in the smoke

but those two different words alliterate with each other, so it's not a difference that sticks out that much.

"Free Fall"

I'd noticed before that during the hand-clapping part (which ends in a difficult rhythm before repeating), someone messes up and claps before they should.  But in listening to the song this time, I noticed that that mistake is after the line "That now I'm confused inside."  So while it's a mistake, it actually fits pretty well.  It's like it demonstrates the discord of the confusion.

"Stepping Stone"

I'd noticed before that in different iterations, the first line of what I guess is a chorus changes from "I would gladly make you happy" to "I would love to make you happy."  I realized listening to it this time that - duh! - it's a progression.  The feeling becomes more ardent as the song goes on.

"Dance in the Smoke"

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[link to original on tumblr]

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I said I wasn't going to post a version of Argent's "Dance in the Smoke" because my voice isn't suited for it, but I am anyway (without vocals though).  I know less of the solo than I thought I did.

It's a bit sparse in the "I recall it was too tall / To see the flames grow high" parts but whatever.  Also, I'm pretty sure that the chords aren't played on guitar in the original, but I find it helps to figure out the chords before working on specific parts.

"Dance in the Smoke"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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I recently figured out the opening guitar part and the chords for Argent's "Dance in the Smoke," and I tried recording a rough version this afternoon, but - like so many other songs - it's one that is not in my range/not suited to my voice.

And since - without vocals - the only interesting part would be the guitar solo (which I know only half of), I'm not going to post a version.