"Strawberry Fields Forever"

The last thing I noticed while listening to the 2 CD Anniversary Edition of Sgt. Pepper a few days ago is in "Strawberry Fields Forever" (apparently included - along with "Penny Lane" - because it was recorded during the Sgt. Pepper sessions).  The "low" in the line "I mean it must high or low" is sung with a descending melisma.  Because the final version of "Strawberry Fields Forever" was creating by combining two performances in different keys (speeding up one and slowing down the other), there's always a question of tonality, but I think the notes to which "low" is sung end up as something like C Bb G.  As it's sung, the word itself descends, giving a musical impression of "low."

"Strawberry Fields Forever"

At the end of last month, I learned the mellotron part at the beginning of "Strawberry Fields Forever."  I had to use the version on Anthology 2 because the final version is either sped up or slowed down (I don't remember which), meaning that the pitches are out-of-tune compared to standard tuning.

I made a video for this one because that's easier than writing down what I played.  My framing isn't very good, and my fingering could probably be better too, but I think I have the right notes, which is the important thing.

I haven't been recording songs unless I know at least two parts, but I'm making an exception in this case.  Keyboard parts seem to be in their own category.

1967-1970

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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I also listened to 1967-1970 to-day and found a few things.  I stopt transcribing after "The Fool on the Hill" because my hands were starting to hurt from typing so quickly; otherwise, I might have found more.

"Strawberry Fields Forever"

There's an ambiguous word in the first line: "Let me take you down 'cause I'm going to."  It could be either "to" or "too."  The "to" makes sense with the next line ("Let me take you down 'cause I'm going to / Strawberry Fields"), but the "too" makes sense with the "Let me take you."  The "Let me take you" with "I'm going too" implies that the speaker/singer and whomever he's addressing will go there together.

"A Day in the Life"

I have nothing to add to this, but there's some parallelism between "Found my way downstairs and drank a cup" and "Found my way upstairs and had a smoke."