"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."

"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.

"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#.

"Counting on You"

The last thing I noticed when I listened to Pool It! recently is in "Counting on You," specifically in the line "Knowing you care after all."  It's a bit ambiguous whether "after all" is used adverbially or not, but the "all" is sung with a melisma (C Bb), so if it's taken in a more straightforward manner, there's something of a musical sense of the entirety of that "all."

"Since You Went Away"

When I listened to Pool It! last week, I noticed an allusion in "Since You Went Away" (which I think I'd noticed before but forgotten about).  I'm not exactly sure how to format it, but the line "Could be the eagle finally has landed" refers to the Apollo 11 moon landing.  The lunar excursion module was named the Eagle, and Neil Armstrong radioed back to mission control that "The Eagle has landed."

When I transcribed a bit of the lyrics this morning in order to write this post, I realized something else:  "since you went away" in the line "Things are much better since you went away" could be temporal or causal.

"Midnight"

I was busy yester-day and forgot to write an-other post about Pool It!

Like "Don't Bring Me Down," "Midnight" also features melisma'd "down"s and "around"s.  "Down" in the line "Midnight, when it all comes down" is sung to the notes D C Bb, so although "when it all comes down" is used more metaphorically, there's a musical sense of that "down."  "Around" in the line "Only the brave, the fools are around" is sung to the notes C Eb D C D, musically giving a sense of either breadth or merely presence.

"Don't Bring Me Down"

Twice in "Don't Bring Me Down," there's a melisma'd "around" (C# C# B) to give either a sense of breadth ("Word gets around") or continued presence ("You're still around").  "Down" in the title line is sung with a descending melisma (G# F# E), musically giving a sense of the word's meaning.

"Every Step of the Way"

Near the end of "Every Step of the Way" (at ~2:26), there's a melisma'd "Go" in the backing vocals (Bb F Eb), musically giving a sense of movement.

"Gettin' In"

In "Gettin' In," "surrounding" in the line "My love's surrounding you" is sung with a melisma (A F# C# A), and that breadth (both in the number of pitches and in the interval [a sixth]) gives a musical sense of the "surrounding."

In the lines "Love you ev'rywhere / Take me with you when you fly" near the end, "ev'rywhere" and "fly" are sung with melismas - "ev'rywhere" (B A A B A F#) for a sense of breadth and "fly" (too many pitches to mention) for a sense of movement.

"(I'd Go the) Whole Wide World"

Yester-day I listened to Pool It! for the first time in about three years.  I don't think I've listened to it since I started this project, so I guess this is the start of my initial notes on the songs.

At the end of "(I'd Go the) Whole Wide World," some of the "world"s are sung with melismas (either B A G or D G), musically emphasizing that width.

"Someday Man" b/w "Listen to the Band"

According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Someday Man" b/w "Listen to the Band" - the Monkees' tenth single (Colgems 5004) - was released in the U.S. fifty years ago to-day (15 April 1969).  The U.K. release (RCA 1824) was on 6 June.

33 1/3 Revolutions per Monkee

According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, fifty years ago to-day (14 April 1969), the Monkees' television special 33 1/3 Revolutions per Monkee was broadcast on NBC at 8:30 p.m.