Wednesday, August 21, 2019

"Saturday's Child"

I was thinking about "Saturday's Child" this morning and realized a small feature in it.  The line "Always feelin' low down" descends (I think it's A A A A F# D), musically giving a sense of that "low down."

Thursday, August 8, 2019

"For Pete's Sake"

A couple days ago, I realized something about "For Pete's Sake."  The three syllables of "ev'rything" in the line "It's in ev'rything we do" are sung to three different pitches (A G E, I think).  Musically, this gives a sense of breadth.

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

"I'll Be Back up on My Feet"

I recently got a copy of The Birds, the Bees, & the Monkees from a used book store, and I finally listened to it to-night.  I noticed a few small things, but I'm going to wait to write about those until I'm more familiar with the album.  Since I'm already fairly familiar with "I'll Be Back up on My Feet" though (because the first recorded version was featured on the show and is included as a bonus track on the deluxe edition of More of the Monkees), here are a couple small things I noticed about it.

The line "Lookin' high, I'm lookin' low" contains a merism - a rhetorical device in which two ends of a range are named as a way to refer to the entirety.  So while "high" and "low" are mentioned specifically, the idea is "lookin' all over."

I also noticed that the "high" and "low" are portrayed musically.  "Lookin' high" is sung to notes spanning a sixth:  B B G.  This by itself illustrates the "high," but it's also shown in contrast to "lookin' low," which is sung to notes a whole step lower:  A A F#.