"Trapeze"

I listened to Argent's Circus this morning and noticed a small feature in "Trapeze."  After the line "Freefall vision dragging me down," there's a descending phrase played on Moog (taking special advantage of the pitch glide), giving a sense of that "dragging... down."

"Trapeze"

I was thinking about "Trapeze" yester-day, and I realized that in the section

Flying, sighing headlong into dread
Hoping, praying I'll find the path to tread

the phrase "headlong into dread" is sung to a descending melody (Bb A G F# D), musically illustrating this sensation.  In other words, it mirrors that "sinking feeling."

"Trapeze"

While going through my notes for Out of the Shadows, I discovered an-other note about "Trapeze" from earlier this month (the 17th) that I'd forgotten about:  "Faces" in the line "Upturned faces" is sung to an ascending phrase (although only a whole step: A B), musically giving a sense of that "upturned."

"Trapeze"

I've been listening to Argent a lot lately.  Over the last month or so, I listened to Circus four times, and somewhere along the way, I realized something about "Trapeze."  At ~0:56 and again at ~6:49 there are sections that really exploit the stereo mixing, with electric piano (I'm pretty sure it's a Fender Rhodes) panned far left, bass centered, and guitar panned far right.  Musically, these alternate so that there's something of a sense of the music moving back and forth from left to right.  Extra-musically, this seems to present the movement of the singer/speaker's act.