Sunday, May 31, 2020

"Got to Get You into My Life"

I listened to Revolver this evening and noticed a couple things in "Got to Get You into My Life."

At first, I noticed just that "day" in the line "Say we'll be together ev'ry day" is sung with a melisma (D A B), musically giving a sense of number (for "ev'ry").

When I read through the lyrics again, I discovered some ambiguities.  In "Ooh, did I tell you I need you / Ev'ry single day of my life" at the end of the first/third verse, the time element ("Ev'ry single day") could modify "tell" or "need."  At the end of the second verse, the lines "Ooh, and I want you to hear me / Say we'll be together ev'ry day" could be taken together or separately:  "We'll be together ev'ry day" could be what "me" is saying (in which reading, I think "say" would be a participle) or "Say we'll be together..." could be a stand-alone clause (where "say" is an imperative verb).