"Hey Jude"

Recently, I remembered a small feature I noticed in "Hey Jude" a number of years ago (via Wilson Pickett's version, actually) but neglected to write about:  in the line "Take a sad song and make it better," "better" is sung with a melisma (D C Bb A), and although the pitches descend, this articulation provides some sense of the comparative nature of the adjective (more notes for a greater degree).

I also had a new realization:  during the line "Then you begin to make it better, better, better, better, better, better, ah" at ~2:57, the repeated "better"s and final "ah" are sung to a steadily ascending phrase that spans just over two octaves (E F | G A | Bb C | E F | G A | Bb C | F).  This ascent - particularly its scope - also gives a sense of the increase of "better."

"Hey Jude"

I got behind in writing about things I noticed when I listened to Past Masters, Volume 2 last month.  Here's a small thing about "Hey Jude."

The melody to which "don't let me down" is sung has a precipitous drop at the end (A C D G), so while it's "don't let me down," there's a musical feature (a falling fifth) to represent that "down."