"Since You Went Away"

In the line "Things are much better since you went away" at ~2:08 in "Since You Went Away," "better" is sung with a melisma (F# E D), giving a sense either of the comparative degree of the adverb itself (more notes for a higher degree) or of the degree of the modifying adverb "much."

"Long Way Home"

I listened to Pool It! yester-day and noticed a handful of small features.

I've noted this with other songs, but "Long Way Home" also contains the phrase "all alone" (in the line "But don't leave me here all alone") and since the two words alliterate, there's a sense of the singularity of being alone.  In its occurrence at ~3:01, "alone" is also sung with a melisma (C E D), giving a sense of the degree of "all."

"(Theme from) The Monkees"

Yester-day, I figured out the chords for "(Theme from) The Monkees," although I'd already figured out a section while writing this post a couple years ago.  The album version contains a couple key changes; it starts in C major, and while the song fades out rather than resolving, the coda cycles through a progression in D major (D major | G major | A major).  The version that was actually used in the television show goes even further; it starts in C major and resolves in E major.  To some degree, this key change (in either version) demonstrates the lines "But we're too busy singin' / To put anybody down" since the song ends in a higher key than where it started.

"Monkees a la Mode"

This morning, I watched "Monkees a la Mode" and noticed a detail in the set dressing.  In a few shots in Madame Quagmeyer's studio, there's a painting in the background.

The style is reminiscent of Piet Mondrian, who is perhaps best known for his painting "Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow":

[source]

"No Time"

I was thinking about "No Time" yester-day, and I realized that since the line "Andy, you're a dandy; you don't seem to make no sense" contains a double negative, the line itself doesn't make sense (from a strict grammatical point of view, at least), so the semantics of the line match the intended meaning.

"99 Pounds"

A number of years ago, I noticed that the phrase "powder and paint" in the line "There's a little devil livin' under all that powder and paint" in "99 Pounds" alliterates and that this feature helps portray that artifice.  A couple weeks ago, I realized that there's more to it than that:  the words "little devil livin'" also exhibit assonance (the short i) and consonance (the repeated l).  In the same way that these rhetorical features make the line sound good although it's describing a "devil," the girl in the song looks nice when she's adorned in her makeup, but really, "she's a heartbreaker."

"You Told Me"

When I listened to the super deluxe edition of Headquarters a couple months ago, I felt that there was something ambiguous in the line "All these things you said you said sincerely" in "You Told Me."  I finally sorted out what it is.

The major difference is whether the first "you said" is part of a relative clause or not.  Rephrased in different ways, the line could mean either "All these things, which you said, you said sincerely" or "All these things you claimed that you said sincerely" (uninverted:  "You claimed that you said all these things sincerely").  In the first, the narrator affirms that the things were said sincerely; in the second, he seems dubious of the sincerity.

"I'll Spend My Life with You"

Yester-day, I was thinking about "I'll Spend My Life with You," and I realized that the structure of the verses highlights the meaning of some of the lines.  The verses have an AABCCB rhyme scheme (although there's a slant rhyme between "alone" and "home" in the first verse), so every third line stands apart from the two that come before it, and this distinction mirrors the lyrics in various ways.

Here's the first verse:

People come, and people go

Movin' fast and movin' slow

I'm in a crowd, yet I'm all alone

The road is long, the road is rough

I do believe I've had enough

I'm gonna turn around, head for home

The first two lines rhyme, but the third doesn't continue this; just like being "alone," it stands apart from the other two.  Similarly, the fourth and fifth lines rhyme, but the sixth doesn't follow suit, and this diversion matches the "turn[ing] around" in the lyrics there.

There's an-other instance of this significant structure in the second half of the second verse:

I've played a game that couldn't last

And now some mem'ries from the past

Have turned my thoughts around a different way

The first two lines establish a pattern that the third breaks from, and this matches the meaning of "turn[ing] my thoughts around a different way."

"Salesman"

I listened to the deluxe edition of Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. recently, and yester-day, I noticed a small feature in "Salesman."  I'm not completely sure of my transcription, but the second line of the second verse is something like "It's salesman, well, you real hard till every part is sold."  "Every" is sung with three syllables, and this provides a sense of number.

"Too Many Girls (Davy and Fern)"

When I watched "Too Many Girls (Davy and Fern)" a few months ago, one of the musical cues sounded familiar, but I couldn't identify it.  Yester-day, I watched an episode of The Addams Family ("Cousin Itt Visits the Addams Family") in which the same piece was quoted.  I referenced the IMDb page for that episode and discovered that the piece is Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5.  In "Too Many Girls (Davy and Fern)," it's background music as the Monkees are getting their tea leaves read.

"What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round?"

Recently, I listened to a two-disc set of four Johnny Cash albums, one of which is Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar, which includes "Folsom Prison Blues."  I'm more familiar with a live version that's on both of the Johnny Cash compilation albums I have, but while listening to the studio version, I noticed that there are some similarities between it and the Monkees' "What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round?"

The first verse of "Folsom Prison Blues" ends with the line "But that train keeps a-rollin' on down to San Antone," and the choruses of "What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round?" include the line "I should be ridin' on that train to San Antone."  The second verse of "Folsom Prison Blues" ends with the line "When I hear that whistle blowin', I hang my head and cry," and "What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round?" also mentions a train whistle and the effect that it has on the narrator:  "And still I can't stop thinkin' when I hear some whistle cryin' // What am I doin' hangin' 'round?"

I don't know if these similarities are intentional or coincidental, but there is a resemblance between the two songs.  For what it's worth, "Folsom Prison Blues" was written by Johnny Cash and recorded on 30 July 1955 (the live version was recorded at Folsom Prison on 13 January 1968), and "What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round?" was written by Michael Martin Murphey and Owen Castleman and, according to the liner notes of the deluxe edition of Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd., was recorded on 20 June, 5 September, "& other dates" in 1967.

"Love to Love"

Recently, I listened to the super deluxe edition of Headquarters and noticed a small feature in "Love to Love."  In the lines "And I've heard if warm lips don't touch you / Love won't grow no matter how much you try," "try" is sung with a melisma (G F Eb), giving a sense of degree (for "much").