I figured out most of the chords for "Rockaria!" this evening (up until ~2:39), and when I was typing out the chords in the same document where I have my (still incomplete) transcription of the lyrics, I noticed a near quotation. Near the middle of the song, there's the phrase "you got nothin' to lose." This is very similar to "ain't got nothin' to lose" in Chuck Berry's "Roll over Beethoven" (or "I ain't got nothin' to lose" in ELO's cover).
By itself, the resemblance isn't very convincing, but Chuck Berry is mentioned by name later in "Rockaria!" ("the orchestra were playing all Chuck Berry's greatest tunes"), so the similarity is probably more than just coincidence.
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Saturday, April 13, 2019
"Telephone Line"
When I listened to A New World Record yester-day, I also noticed a couple small things in "Telephone Line."
"Pick up" in the lines "I'd tell you ev'rything / If you'd pick up that telephone" is sung to an ascending pair of notes (albeit a small interval: E F#), musically giving a sense of "pick[ing] up."
"Pick up" in the lines "I'd tell you ev'rything / If you'd pick up that telephone" is sung to an ascending pair of notes (albeit a small interval: E F#), musically giving a sense of "pick[ing] up."
"All" in the lines "Don't you realize the things we did, we did / Were all for real, not a dream" is also sung with a melisma (F# A, I think), musically giving a sense of that entirety.
Friday, April 12, 2019
"Tightrope"
Between listening to A New World Record this morning and figuring out some chords for "Tightrope" this afternoon, I found a couple things to note.
"Down" in the line "I was headin' down" is sung with a descending melisma (A C), musically giving a sense of "headin' down."
Under the lines "They say some days you're gonna win / They say some days you're gonna lose" and "They say some days you gotta give / They say some days you gotta take," the chords keep changing between F major and G major, musically giving a sense of that alternating.
I found two things to note about the line "If you believe that's how it's gonna be, I better put you down." This "down" is also sung with a (generally) descending melisma for a musical sense of its meaning, although I'm unsure of the specific pitches. Underneath that "down," the chords change from F major to F minor, so that "down" is also musically represented in that drop from A to Ab.
"Down" in the line "I was headin' down" is sung with a descending melisma (A C), musically giving a sense of "headin' down."
Under the lines "They say some days you're gonna win / They say some days you're gonna lose" and "They say some days you gotta give / They say some days you gotta take," the chords keep changing between F major and G major, musically giving a sense of that alternating.
I found two things to note about the line "If you believe that's how it's gonna be, I better put you down." This "down" is also sung with a (generally) descending melisma for a musical sense of its meaning, although I'm unsure of the specific pitches. Underneath that "down," the chords change from F major to F minor, so that "down" is also musically represented in that drop from A to Ab.
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