Sunday, July 30, 2023

"Hold on Girl"

When I listened to the deluxe edition of More of the Monkees recently, I also noticed a couple features in "Hold on Girl."

In the line "He took your love and then just walked away" in the first verse, the phrase "walked away" is sung to a group of conjunct notes (A B C#).  To some degree, this gives the impression of footsteps.

There's a grammatical ambiguity in the lines "I promise you the sun is gonna shine again / And help is on its way" at the end of the second verse.  The clause "help is on its way" could be part of what is "promise[d]," or it could be its own statement (as it is in the lines "I know that you have got a reason to be sad / But help is on its way" at the end of the first verse).

Saturday, July 29, 2023

"Of You"

I recently listened to the deluxe edition of More of the Monkees and noticed an interesting structural feature in "Of You," which is included as a bonus track.

The third verse is:
And when the skies are once more blue
I get that old longing to
To be held in the arms of you
The first two lines complement each other since they're the same number of syllables ("old" is sung with two syllables, so each line has eight) and they rhyme, but the placement of the second line break creates an interruption in the meaning.  The "to" of the infinitive "to be held" must be completed, and this need for semantic resolution mirrors the "longing" that the lyrics themselves describe.