"Showdown"

I was thinking about "Showdown" yester-day and had a small realization about the line "Ev'ry dream in her heart was gone."  The phrase "ev'ry dream" is sung to notes of all different pitches (C Eb F), giving a sense of breadth or entirety.

"Alone in the Universe"

In the liner notes, the first two lines of each verse of "Alone in the Universe" are formatted as "Alone in the universe / All alone in the universe," but in both, there's a break between "alone" and "in the universe" that lasts almost an entire measure.  Consequently, "alone" is sort of set apart by itself, and this separation matches the meaning.

"When the Night Comes"

In the line "Ev'ry night, that's when I think of you" in "When the Night Comes," the phrase "ev'ry night" is sung to notes of all different pitches (E D C#), giving a sense of entirety or number.

"Dirty to the Bone"

I listened to Alone in the Universe yester-day and noticed a few small features in some of the songs.

In "Dirty to the Bone," there's the line "She'll deceive you till the cows come home."  This may indicate a Beatle influence since the same expression is used in "When I Get Home" on A Hard Day's Night (in the line "I'm gonna love her till the cows come home").

"The Diary of Horace Wimp"

I listened to Discovery a couple days ago and noticed a small feature in "The Diary of Horace Wimp," specifically in the line "She was small, and she was very pretty," which is sung to a melody something like this:

The note to which "very" is sung is held for a longer duration than the surrounding notes, lending a degree of emphasis and perhaps even a sense of its meaning.

"The Quick and the Daft"

I listened to Out of the Blue a few days ago and noticed that the music in "The Quick and the Daft" (included as a bonus track) sort of mirrors the title.  As I noted before, the title seems to be adapted from the phrase "the quick and the dead" (that is:  "the living and the dead"), and this contrast is illustrated in the music by shorter or longer note values.  The shorter note values give a lively or even frantic impression, and the longer note values provide a sense of repose.

"Above the Clouds"

I listened to A New World Record yester-day and noticed a couple small features in "Above the Clouds," both in the line "You gotta climb it to the top."  The phrase generally ascends (Bb Bb C D D Eb F F Eb D), giving a sense of "climb[ing]... to the top," and "top" is sung to the highest note (F), which matches its meaning.

"Standin' in the Rain"

I was thinking about "Standin' in the Rain" this morning and realized that the rather prominent descending violin phrases after the "Rainy day" lines (starting at ~1:55) may be intended to depict the falling rain.  The first spans an octave (Bb to Bb in Bb major, with the last Bb note repeated), and the second is even broader (Bb to Bb in Bb minor followed by a low Gb).

"Everyone's Born to Die"

I listened to On the Third Day yester-day and noticed a small feature in "Everyone's Born to Die" (included as a bonus track on the CD).  In the line "All the world will cry," "world" is sung with a melisma (G F# E), giving a sense of the entirety of "all."

"In Old England Town"

I listened to ELO II yester-day and noticed a small feature in "In Old England Town."  In the line "Suddenly, it's always nighttime," "nighttime" is sung with a melisma (G E B), giving a sense of the duration of "always."

"10538 Overture"

I've noted before that near the end of "10538 Overture" there are some phrases in the cello part that (perhaps just coincidentally) resemble the melody in "Frère Jacques."  I listened to No Answer this morning and realized that this may even be an instance of the Beatles' influence since they quoted "Frère Jacques" in the middle of "Paperback Writer."

"Showdown"

This morning, I saw a clip of ELO miming to "Showdown" on The Midnight Special in 1974 (after a clip of the Kinks).  It occurred to me that the phrase "same train" in the line "Looks like we're ridin' on the same train" exhibits assonance and that this mirrors the meaning to some degree (since the two words have the same sound).

"So Serious"

This morning, I was thinking about "So Serious," specifically the line "I guess we've really been out of touch" in the chorus.  There are slight pauses in the articulation ("I guess we've / really been / out of touch"), and these mirror that disconnection.

"Julie Don't Live Here"

A couple weeks ago, I figured out the bass part in "Julie Don't Live Here."  While transcribing it yester-day, I noticed a couple musical features in the song that highlight particular lyrics.

After the first line in each verse, there's a descending piano phrase (B B A# A# G# G# F# F#).  Because it's diatonic, it provides a sense of the steps involved in the walking in the second and third verses ("I walked along the street" and "I walked up to your door") and perhaps even in the first verse ("I wandered through the town").

About halfway through each verse, there's a tubular bell phrase that doubles a handful of notes in the bass part (C# E# F# G#).  Because the song is in B major, that E# is an accidental, and this mirrors the sentiment in the lines "A town I knew so well, but it seemed so strange" in the first verse, "But things have changed" in the second, and "But it was different now" in the third.  (There's also an E# accidental in the C# major chord under "seemed so strange.")

I also noticed that in the line "A street I'd walked along many times before" in the second verse, more voices join in for "many times before," lending a sense of number.

"Without Someone"

I listened to Balance of Power yester-day and noticed a small feature in "Without Someone."  The phrase "All alone" in the line "All alone, no one around" alliterates, and since each word starts with the same sound, there's something of a sense of the singularity of being alone.

"Secret Messages"

I listened to Secret Messages a couple days ago and noticed a small feature in the title track.  In the line "They're calling ev'rywhere" at ~1:54, the three syllables of "ev'rywhere" are all sung to different pitches (G A B), giving a sense of breadth.  When the line is repeated at ~3:42, there's also a glissando from the B down to a G.

In the two occurrences starting at ~2:43, though, the pitches are simply G A G.

"Twilight"

A number of years ago, I wrote about the lines "It's either real, or it's a dream / There's nothing that is in between" in "Twilight."  To some degree, the meaning of "there's nothing that is in between" is mirrored by the melody because it's entirely conjunct, with nothing else "in between" those pitches.

I listened to Time yester-day, and I realized that the same is also true of the rhythm here.  There are no rests in between the notes, and there's no break in between the two lines of the couplet.

"Wishing"

I listened to Discovery yester-day and noticed a small feature in "Wishing."  In the line "I wish that ev'rything was gold" in the chorus, the three syllables of "ev'rything" are all sung to different pitches (F# E C#), giving a sense of entirety.

"Standin' in the Rain"

In the line "People rushin' by" in the backing vocals of "Standin' in the Rain" (at ~2:45), "by" is sung with a melisma (spanning an octave:  A E A), giving a sense of movement.

"Across the Border"

I listened to Out of the Blue yester-day and noticed a small connection between the lyrics and chord progression in "Across the Border" that I think I'd been dimly aware of before.  Under the line "I gotta move down the line" in the first verse, the chord progression is A minor | G major | F major, so there's a musical representation of "mov[ing] down" (because the chords descend) and, in a way, even of "the line" (because it's a conjunct progression).

"Mama"

In the lines "Mama, it's so hard to carry on, / And I feel I'm a fool who lost it all" in the chorus of "Mama," both "on" and "all" are sung with a melisma (E C#) in all but the first instance.  This articulation gives a sense of continuation ("carry on") and entirety, respectively.

"In Old England Town"

I listened to ELO II a few days ago and noticed some small features.  A while ago, I discovered that the lyrics are printed in the gatefold of the CD sleeve in the box set I have.  Apparently, it's meant to be like the original vinyl record.  In any case, I can now be much more accurate in quoting the lyrics.  I found them difficult to understand just by listening to the songs.

In the line "Down, down, you can see them all" near the beginning of "In Old England Town," "all" is sung with a melisma (E D C), giving a sense of that entirety.

In the line "They're all marching round and round," the second "round" is sung with a melisma (G F), providing a sense of movement.