"Danger Zone"

I also found some significant melismas in "Danger Zone."

"Late" in the line "For we could leave it much too late" is sung with a melisma (E D) for a sense of degree (for "too").  "Lives" in the line "All of our lives" is sung with a melisma (although it's the same pitch twice:  A# A#) to portray something of the entirety of that "all."  "Go" in the line "And it's hard to know we should let it go" is sung with a melisma (G# F#) for a sense of (metaphorical) movement.

"Baby Don't You Cry No More"

Some of the "more"s in "Baby Don't You Cry No More" are sung with melismas, so while it's negated, there's something of a sense of its meaning.  While writing this post, it occurred to me that "no more" has the same semantic ambiguity (it could be taken either temporally or as an amount) as "any more"/"anymore," which I wrote about five years ago.  I also referenced Rod Argent's version (titled just "Baby Don't You Cry") on Red House and discovered that it too has these melisma'd "more"s.

"A Girl Like That"

I listened to Out of the Shadows a couple days ago and noticed a few small features.

In "A Girl Like That," "down" in the lines "And when I'm down and feeling flat" and "But I've come down; she brought me back" is sung with a descending melisma (D# C# B), musically giving a sense of its meaning.

"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.

"Remember You" [single version]

Last month, I re-learned and notated the bass part for the single version of "Remember You."  As always, there's the disclaimer that I might have something wrong:

Rather than use a second piece of paper for only a handful of measures, I squeezed together a few at the end.

"Indication"

I recently re-learned the opening organ part to "Indication" (and while I still might not be note-perfect, comparison with my old recordings shows that I'm more accurate than I used to be).  Last night, I was thinking about the song, and I realized that "ev'ry day and ev'ry night" in the lines "I don't want to be / Tied down ev'ry day and ev'ry night" is a merism.

"Hung up on a Dream"

This morning I listened to Odessey and Oracle and noticed a small thing in "Hung up on a Dream."  "Crowd" in the line "And from that nameless, changing crowd" is sung with a melisma (A G E, I think).  Since the word isn't sung to a single, constant pitch, there's a musical sense of that "changing."

"The Way I Feel Inside"

Recently, I've been re-learning some parts that I never wrote down and have forgotten.  Last night, I re-learned and notated the bass part for "The Way I Feel Inside," and I thought I'd post it here (appropriately, on Chris White's birthday).

The bass plays only in the last section of the song, and there's a ritardando at the end.

"Remember You"

I recently remembered/re-learned the bass part for the single version of "Remember You."  Last week, I wrote it down (I plan on scanning it and posting it eventually), and while doing so, I realized that it represents the lyrics in this section:

And if I should change my mind
And I do sometimes
You know I do sometimes
I'll come back to you

The bass part there is:

(There's a glissando between the D and B bridging the first and second measures of the second line, but I couldn't indicate that in the program I use to make notation.)

There are a handful of accidentals here, and they musically represent that "chang[ing] my mind."  The first G# (in the third measure) is particularly effective because it's directly underneath "change."

This feature is also present in the soundtrack version, although that's in a different key.  I've already written out the bass part for that version, but since that was one of my first forays into notation and was almost four years ago, it's a bit rough.

"Something Happens When You Touch Me"

Last night, I figured out a couple more parts for Colin Blunstone's "Something Happens When You Touch Me" (bass for one section and the chords in the bridge).  I realized something that I was very close to seeing when I wrote about the song in October 2018.  In the line "Just say the word, and I'll drop ev'rything, ev'rything," the three syllables of those "ev'rything"s are all sung to different pitches (F E C, A G E in the lead vocals, A G E, C Bb G in the harmony vocals), musically giving a sense of breadth.

"She's Coming Home"

I listened to The Decca Stereo Anthology recently.  This afternoon, I was thinking about "She's Coming Home," and realized something about this section:

Oh, baby, baby, baby, I'll be good to you
If you would only try again to love me too
Our love was such a sweet and gentle thing
I threw our love away without a thought

Unlike the first verse, which exhibits an AABB rhyme scheme, this section has an AABC rhyme scheme.  That the last two lines don't rhyme illustrates in some way the singer/speaker's lack of thought.

Argent

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, Argent's eponymous debut album (CBS 63781) was released in the U.K. fifty years ago to-day (16 January 1970).