Face the Music

Last night, I remembered that (back in November) I'd noticed some similarity between the opening orchestral sections of "Waterfall" and "Strange Magic."  I finally got around to looking into that, and I discovered that I was right.  While the orchestrations are different, there's one phrase that's the same, just adjusted for key.

Here it is at the beginning of "Waterfall":

And here it is at the beginning of "Strange Magic":

I'm pretty sure these are played on cello, but the phrase in "Waterfall" sounds like it's also doubled on upright bass.  In any case, while the specific pitches are different and the last note in the phrase in "Strange Magic" lasts longer, the intervals are the same.  Using this phrase in two songs gives the Face the Music album a bit of cohesion.

"It's Over"

Last night, I figured out some of the chords and some of the bass part for "It's Over," and I realized something that should have been obvious a long time ago: the "down"s of the "Gettin' down" parts (at ~1:35 and ~2:46) are sung to descending melodies to illustrate that "down" musically.  The first "Gettin' down, down" is sung to the phrase A C D C, and the second "Gettin' down, down, down" to the phrase A C D C A.

"Sweet Talkin' Woman"

I figured out the chords for "Sweet Talkin' Woman" this evening, and I noticed a couple things.

In the first verse, there are the lines "I was waitin' for the operator / On the line" (there's a breath there, so I put in a line break).  Although there's not that much of a resemblance, this recalls the situation in "Telephone Line."

The other thing I noticed is about the chords themselves.  Every verse ends with the line "I gotta get back to you," and the chord progression moves to a C major under the "you."  The song is in C major, so that's the tonic chord.  Musically, there's a feeling of resolution and coming home, which is the same type of emotional response that "get[ting] back to you" would have.

"Showdown"

I've been playing clavinet recently (the clavinet voice on my keyboard, at least).  I wanted to figure out a clavinet part in an ELO song, and the first one I thought of was "Showdown."  I didn't actually make any progress on that, but I did figure out almost all of the chords (I'm missing only the end of the chorus).  Since I'd figured out the cello part for the first two verses last August, I had enough to warrant a recording.  This is just the first two verses, without the introduction.

I had to use two different keyboard settings to get the cello part: one for the bowed parts and an-other for the pizzicati notes.  Compared to the original recording, I think I may have some notes in the wrong octave, and I think there might be a second cello part playing different notes.  In any case, what I have is a start.  This is also the first recording I've made of a song from On the Third Day.

"Look at Me Now"

A couple days ago, I was looking at what parts I've learned for No Answer (as of yester-day, I know at least a little bit of each song), and I discovered that I know two parts for "Look at Me Now."  Last August, I learned some of the oboe phrases, and last month, I learned the first two verses of cello (the left-panned cello specifically).  In order to make a recording worth it, my requirements are two simultaneous parts that last more than just a few seconds, so this qualified.  I don't (yet!) play (or even own) cello or oboe, so I used electric bass in place of cello and an oboe voice on my keyboard.

"Mr. Radio"

I listened to No Answer to-day (because I'm close to knowing at least a little bit of each song and wanted to suss out some easy parts to figure out), and I realized something about "Mr. Radio."  One of the lines is "The weatherman has lied," and I think this might take something from Buddy Holly's "Raining in My Heart," specifically the second verse:

The weatherman says clear today
He doesn't know you've gone away
And it's raining
Raining in my heart

This verse of "Raining in My Heart" also mentions a weatherman, and the situation as a whole is the same as what's in "Mr. Radio."  As the second section of "Mr. Radio" explains: "My wife, she ran away / She left her home."  In both songs, a man's lover has left him, which has affected his mood so much that he's a bit indignant at the weatherman's forecast of clear weather.