Monday, July 5, 2021

"I Don't Want to Spoil the Party"

I listened to Beatles for Sale last week, and this morning, I was thinking about "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party," specifically the recurring line "I still love her."  Even just semantically, there's some emphasis placed on this line.  In the first instance, it provides some resolution to the preceding dependent clause ("Though tonight she's made me sad / I still love her").

The note values for this line are much longer than anywhere else in the song, and this contrast provides a musical emphasis to mirror the emphasis that's in the meaning alone.  I think the vocal parts are something like this:


While referencing the song, I also noticed that "go" in the line "I don't want to spoil the party so I'll go" is sung with a melisma (I think Lennon sings it to the notes D C B but McCartney just holds a G below this), giving a sense of movement.