Tuesday, December 22, 2020

"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."