"Laredo Tornado"

I listened to Eldorado yester-day and noticed a small thing about "Laredo Tornado."  The musical section beginning at ~2:27 is rather sparse, in terms of instruments and number of notes.  I think this is meant to illustrate musically the absence mentioned in the lyrics there:  "What can you do / When your dream world is gone / And your friends and lovers, too?"

"Do Ya"

This morning I listened to a live performance of ELO from 1976 and realized that the first two verses of "Do Ya" exhibit anaphora.  "I've seen" is repeated in the first verse:

Well, in this life I've seen ev'rything I can see, woman

I've seen lovers flyin' through the air hand in hand

I've seen babies dancing in the midnight sun

And I've seen dreams that came from the heavenly skies above

I've seen old men cryin' at their own grace sides

And I've seen pigs all sitting, watching picture slides

But I've never seen nothin' like you

And "I heard" in the second:

Well, I heard the crowd singin' out of tune

As they sat and sang "Auld Lang Syne" by the light of the moon

I heard the preachers bangin' on the drums

And I heard the police playin' with their guns

But I never heard nothin' like you

The repeated "I've seen" and "I heard" illustrate the amount and variety of the speaker/singer's experiences and emphasize the contrast between all of them and "you."

"Hold on Tight"

Yester-day, I was thinking about the French in the Beatles' "Michelle."  While not exact, the French lines are basically the same as some English lines in the song.  (I wrote a slightly more detailed post about it here.)  Then I realized that ELO did the same thing in "Hold on Tight" (although, as I explain here, the French isn't translated very accurately) and that this may be yet an-other instance of the Beatles' influence.

"Ticket to the Moon"

I was thinking about "Ticket to the Moon" this morning and discovered a small feature in the chorus:  almost all of the lines (which are all just "Ticket to the moon") are sung to ascending phrases (most are diatonic ascents from D to A).  This articulation gives a sense of the upward journey.

"Strange Magic"

I learned about half of the bass part in "Strange Magic" recently, and when I wrote it out in notation a few days ago, I discovered that the verses are seven measures long.  Usually, musical sections last an even-numbered amount of measures.  That the verses in "Strange Magic" last an odd-numbered amount is a musical element of that "strange[ness]."

"On the Run"

I'm not sure of the specific notes, but "away" in the line "But they just won't go away" in "On the Run" is sung with a melisma, so while it's negated, there's a sense of movement.  The "around"s and "away" in the coda ("Woman, I gotta move around / Woman, I gotta get away / Woman, I gotta move around") also have this, and - as I noted before - those vocal articulations seem to owe something to Buddy Holly.

"Midnight Blue"

In "Midnight Blue," there's a recurring synth phrase something like:

Almost in between the two sections of this phrase, there's a vocoder part singing, "Midnight blue."  It's conspicuously absent, however, during the synth phrase beginning at ~2:02.  This is right after the verse with the line "I count the words that I am never gonna say," so I think the vocoder is intentionally left out there in order to reflect that specific line.

I also noticed that the three syllables of "ev'rything" in the line "Ev'rything's midnight blue" are sung to different pitches (F D Bb), giving a sense of breadth.

"Sweet Is the Night"

In the line "Ev'rything is alright, alright" in "Sweet Is the Night," both "al-"s of those "alright"s are sung with a melisma (the articulations are different, but I can't figure out the specific notes), musically giving a sense of entirety.

"Summer and Lightning"

In the first section of:

Here it comes again
It's all around me
It must be magic
Yeah, yeah, yeah

in "Summer and Lightning," the vocal tracks are panned hard left and hard right.  This feature of the mix provides a sense of being surrounded and portrays the line "It's all around me."

"Steppin' Out"

In the line "I'm movin' on" in "Steppin' Out," the "on" is sung with a melisma (F# G# F#), musically giving a sense of movement, whether literal or metaphorical.

"Turn to Stone"

In "Turn to Stone," "more" in the line "The lights don't shine no more" in the backing vocals is sung with a glissando (I think it's E~C#~E), so while it's negated, there's a sense of continuation.

"Julie Don't Live Here"

In the repeated line "Julie don't live here anymore" in "Julie Don't Live Here," the "-more"s are sung with two different melismas (first D# C# and then C# D# C# B).  While it's negated, this articulation gives a sense of continuation.

"The Lights Go Down"

I found a few significant melismas in "The Lights Go Down."  "On" in the line "But I gotta carry on" is sung to the notes E D C for a sense of continuation.  I think "around" in the next line ("When you ain't around") is sung to the notes D D E D C, which - while negated - musically gives a sense of constant presence.  In the line " All your dreams have blown away," "dreams" is sung to the notes A G, giving a sense of amount (for "all").  "Proud" in the line "Lonely but tryin' to be so proud" is sung to the notes G B A for a sense of degree (for that "so").  In the line "The lights go down," both "lights" (F E) and "down" (E D C) are sung with melismas to give a sense of that "go[ing] down."

"Rain Is Falling"

I listened to Time a couple days ago and noticed a few small things.

I'm not completely sure of my transcription, but in the line "With their brand new time transporter, they'll think maybe I fought to get away" in "Rain Is Falling," "away" is sung with a melisma (E E B C#), musically giving a sense of movement.

"One Summer Dream"

In the line "Though it hurts me so" near the beginning of "One Summer Dream," "so" is sung with a melisma (E D), musically giving a sense of degree.

"Strange Magic"

I listened to Face the Music yester-day and noticed a couple small features.  In "Strange Magic," "high" in the line "You fly so high" is sung with a melisma (A G E), musically giving a sense of degree (for "so").

"Dirty to the Bone"

In the line "She'll pull you in; she'll take you down" in "Dirty to the Bone," one of the vocal parts descends for "she'll take you down" (A G G E), musically giving a sense of that "tak[ing]... down."

"Love and Rain"

I listened to Alone in the Universe a couple days ago and noticed a couple things.

In the lines "It takes a lot of rain / To make a flower grow" in "Love and Rain," "grow" is sung with a melisma (C Bb G), musically giving something of a sense of its meaning.

In the chorus, there's an echo applied to "again" in the line "Keep comin' back again," and that repetition also gives an impression of the meaning.

"Without Someone"

I listened to Balance of Power yester-day and noticed a small feature in "Without Someone."  The line "It hardly moves at all" (referring to "the clock staring from the wall" from the previous line) is sung to a paucity of pitches, just A Bb and C.  The musical phrase is limited, and this gives a sense of that "hardly mov[ing]."

"Caught in a Trap"

In the line "Nowhere to turn, but it can't go on" in "Caught in a Trap," "on" is sung with a melisma (F# E D E), so while it's negated, there's a sense of continuation.

"Heaven Only Knows" [alternate version]

I probably noticed this even the first time I listened to the song, but the line "Our Father, who art in heaven" at the beginning of the alternate version of "Heaven Only Knows" is taken from the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9).

"Away" in the lines "If you could turn night into day / I could stop it slippin' away" is sung with a melisma (F# F# E) for a sense of (metaphorical) movement.

"Send It"

In the choruses of "Send It," the backing vocals that sing the title phrase are panned hard right and hard left.  This gives the illusion of space, and because the vocals alternate channels, there's a sense of the distance that "the dream" has to travel in being sent.

In reviewing the song, I noticed a few other things.  "Day" in the line "I'm waitin' for it ev'ry day" is sung with a melisma (E D C# E C# B), musically giving a sense of amount (for "ev'ry").  Like I mentioned before (but with the wrong spelling!), the articulation here seems to owe something to Buddy Holly.

The chorus exhibits anaphora:

Send it on the wires
Send it on a plane
Send it on an express
But send it back to me again

"Send it" is repeated at the beginning of each line, but the method of sending changes from line to line.  Together, these illustrate that the speaker/singer is more concerned with his dream being sent back to him than he is with what means it's sent.  Obviously, this is clear in the words themselves, but it's also in the structure.

"Endless Lies"

In the line "Shine on, silver stars over the sea" in "Endless Lies," the "silver stars" really are "over the sea" as far as musical pitch.  "Silver stars" is sung to the notes C D Eb, and "the sea" is sung to the notes Bb A.

"Is It Alright"

In "Is It Alright," "long" in the line "Can you believe that it's been so long" is sung with a melisma (C A C D), musically giving a sense of length or duration.

"Secret Lives"

I have a handful of notes about Balance of Power from July 2018 that I'm finally getting around to writing about.

In "Secret Lives," there's a constant shifting between 2nd and 3rd person.  The verses have 2nd person pronouns ("I don't know what's on your mind," "You're living secret lives," "I don't wanna stop the things you do," and so on), but the chorus has 3rd person pronouns ("And I wonder where she goes to in the night").  This difference gives a sense of the distinct separation that's a result of the secrecy.

"On the Run"

Last night, I figured out most of the chords for "On the Run" (up to ~2:56), and while playing along to the recording, I noticed a couple features in the first verse.

The first two lines are "Whatever I do / Wherever I go."  Both "whatever" and "wherever" are sung to the phrase G F E.  Each syllable is sung to a different pitch, and as a whole, the pitches span nearly an octave (the F is above the G), both of which give a musical sense of the span of possibility of "whatever" and "wherever."

I also noticed that in the lines "The same afterglow / Is keepin' me low," the "low" is sung with a descending melisma (E D C), musically giving a sense of its meaning.

"I'm Leaving You"

I've been going through some old notes I never got around to writing about, and I found one from about two years ago about "I'm Leaving You."  In the line "I found somebody new, and I'm leaving you," the "leaving" is sung with a melisma (F E D E), musically giving a sense of movement (although it might be more metaphorical than literal).  "Leaving you" is also repeated at the end of the song, and the last time, it has a slightly different melisma (D E F E).

"Prologue"

Last night, I figured out the synth bass part in "Prologue" from Time, and I noticed something interesting about it.  I might have it in the wrong octave, but it's something like:

A section of this sounded familiar to me, and I discovered that if this part is transposed up a whole step (to D major)

measures 5 to 8 (which are played at about the same time the vocals start, at ~0:40) are exactly the same as the first five measures of the bass part from Pachelbel's canon:

I don't know if this was intentional or just a coincidence, but it is quite a similarity.

"Telephone Line"

I was thinking about "Telephone Line" yester-day (because I'd listened to From out of Nowhere for the first time the day before, and "Telephone Line" is referenced in "Time of Our Life"), and I realized a small thing.

The last syllable of "ev'rything" in the line "I'd tell you ev'rything" is sung with a glissando (as a whole, the word is sung to the notes E F# E~C#), musically giving a sense of breadth.

"Twilight"

This morning I was thinking about "Twilight," and I discovered a small feature in the lines "It's either real, or it's a dream / There's nothing that is in between."  It's sung to this melody:

Musically, this portrays that "nothing... in between" because it's a conjunct melody:  it goes up and down according to the steps of the scale and doesn't skip over any notes.  Disregarding accidentals, there are no notes "in between" these.

"Night in the City"

I was thinking about "Night in the City" this morning, and I realized that there are two features that musically emphasize the "higher" in this section:

747 just left from gate eleven
And there's no turnin' 'round
'Cause it's just leavin' the ground
And getting higher

"Higher" is sung to A notes, but then a second vocal part echoes it at a higher pitch (C notes).  Then there's an ascending bass phrase: A C E A'.

"The Diary of Horace Wimp"

Last night, I figured out the chords for "The Diary of Horace Wimp."  While playing along to the recording in order to make sure I had everything right, I noticed the repeated synth phrase in the coda:

This sounded somewhat familiar to me, so I did some research and discovered that it has some similarity to "First Call," an army bugle call that's also used in horse racing (it appears at the beginning of "Fugue for Tinhorns" in Guys and Dolls):

While the rhythms are different, the intervals of the synth phrase in "The Diary of Horace Wimp" match those in the first phrase of "First Call," so I think this resemblance was intentional.