Monday, December 16, 2019

"Beautiful Dreamer"

I'm behind in writing about this, but after I listened to the first disc of On Air - Live at the BBC, Volume 2, I realized something about "Beautiful Dreamer."  The syllables of "anywhere" in the line "Since I met you, baby, that girl ain't a-anywhere" are all sung to different pitches (I think it's A E D the first time and - with a melisma - A E D E the second), musically giving a sense of breadth.

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

"Lend Me Your Comb"

I listened to the first disc of On Air - Live at the BBC, Volume 2 this morning and noticed something about "Lend Me Your Comb" (and in referencing the liner notes, I discovered that this is the same recording as that on Anthology 1).  The lines "Unless we come in / The way we went out" have opposite melodic arcs to portray those opposite directions.  "Unless we come in" generally ascends (G# A G# A B), and "The way we went out" generally descends (G# A G# F# E).

I also noticed that "home" in the line "We gotta go home" is sung to the tonic note (E), musically giving a sense of "home."

These features are also present in Carl Perkins' version, which - according to the liner notes - is what the Beatles based their version on.