"Without Her"

Last week, I was thinking about some Harry Nilsson songs, and I realized a couple things about "Without Her" (I think I'm actually more familiar with the Neil MacArthur version than Nilsson's). 

First, just a simple thing: "And I rise" in the first verse is sung to an ascending melody (D E F), musically representing that "ris[ing]."

More significant is the vocal melody during this section:

We burst a pretty balloon, took us to the moon
Such a beautiful thing, but it's ended now
And it sounds like a lie
I said I'd rather die than be without her

The melody rises (almost a full octave: from F# to F) from the beginning up until "but it's ended" and then falls from "ended now" onwards.  The descent skips around a bit (the lowest note is a B), but generally it goes from F to C.  The ascending melody musically portrays the happiness of going "to the moon" and the "beautiful thing," and the descending melody the sadness of "it's ended now" and the singer/speaker's change in mood.

"Without Her"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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Yester-day I listened to a Harry Nilsson compilation album.  The bass part for "Without Her" (which Colin Blunstone covered under his Neil MacArthur pseudonym) sounded easy, so I just figured that out (while simultaneously notating it [it's still incomplete, but I have at least one instance of each section written down]).  I just referenced the Neil MacArthur version and discovered that while that bass part is more complex, at least it's in the same key.  Honestly, I'm not exactly sure what key it is, but I would guess A minor because there aren't any accidentals.