"Hold on Tight"

Last night, I figured out the chords for "Hold on Tight" and noticed some significance in the tonality.

The verses contain only major chords:

G major | D major | G major

|: C major | G major :|

G major | D major | G major

while the bridges consist mostly of minor chords:

|: E minor | B minor :|

|: A minor | D major :|

|: E minor | B minor :|

A minor | B minor | C major | D major

The perceived sadness of minor chords matches the sentiments in the lyrics in the bridge ("When you get so down that you can't get up" and "When you're so down-hearted and misunderstood"), especially when contrasted with the major chords and the more hopeful encouragement in the verses (the repeated "Hold on tight to your dream").

"Little Town Flirt"

I recently learned the bass part for the cover of Del Shannon's "Little Town Flirt" that's included as a bonus track on the CD re-issue of Discovery.  I wrote it out in notation and put the chords in above the staff, but - as always - there's the disclaimer that I may have something wrong.

Looking into the song reminded me of some old notes I'd forgotten about, and I also found a few new things.

"Around" and "by" in the line "She plays around with ev'ry guy that goes by" are sung with melismas (E D E D C and A B A B A B A G respectively), musically giving a sense of breadth for "around" and of movement for "by."  "Apart" in the line "When she starts to tear it apart" is sung with a melisma (E C A) for a sense of the word's meaning, and "go" in the line "That's when she'll let you go" is sung with a melisma (C D) for a sense of movement, although more metaphorical.

All of these features are also in Del Shannon's original, although some of the articulations are a bit different.

"Latitude 88 North"

In December 2017, I learned the bass part and the rest of the chords for "Latitude 88 North."  I think it was sometime in early summer when I finished writing out the notation for the bass part, and I intended to make a recording of it, but I kept forgetting or not having time.  At least now it's winter, which is seasonally appropriate for the theme of the song.

Here's the notation of the bass part, with the guitar chords written in above the staff (as always, there's the disclaimer that I might have something wrong):

The electric guitar in my recording isn't meant to be entirely accurate.  I'm pretty sure I have the solo right though; here it is in tablature (tildes [~] indicate glissandi):

B|---3-5-5~7-7-5-7~3-3-|---3-5-5~6-6-5-5---|-----3-3~4-4-4~3-|

G|-4-------------------|-4---------------5-|-4-5-------------|

I recorded the electric guitar part in one take, switching between pick-ups for the solo section, which I usually never do, and because of that, my timing is off a little bit.

Also, a bit of commentary: I don't remember when I noticed this, but coinciding with the line "Thirty-five below and fallin'" in the chorus, the bass line descends, musically giving a sense of the (metaphorically) "fallin'" temperature.

"Little Town Flirt"

I recently listened to Discovery.  The edition I have has bonus tracks, one of which is a cover of Del Shannon's "Little Town Flirt."  A few months after I'd figured out the chords for ELO's cover, I got a two-disc compilation album of Del Shannon, which I've been listening to fairly regularly this year.  Listening to Discovery reminded me that I'd never gotten around to comparing the two versions of "Little Town Flirt," so I finally did.

The only major difference I noticed is that ELO's version (in C major) is a half-step lower than Del Shannon's original (in C# major).  I went through the chords measure by measure to find that the two versions have the same structure, although the fade-out in ELO's version starts a bit later.

Here are the chords; each instance represents one measure:

Introduction
C major | C major | C major | C major

Verse one
C major | C major | A minor | A minor
F major | F major | G major | G major
E major | F major | F major | F minor
C major | A minor | C major | A minor
F major | G major | C major | A minor

Verse two
C major | C major | A minor | A minor
F major | F major | G major | G major
E major | F major | F major | F minor
C major | A minor | C major | A minor
F major | G major | C major | C7

Bridge
F major | F major | C major | C major
F major | G major | C major | C major
E major | E major | A minor | A minor
F major | F major | G major | G major

Verse three
C major | C major | A minor | A minor
F major | F major | G major | G major
E major | F major | F major | F minor
C major | A minor | C major | A minor
F major | G major

Fade-out
|: C major | A minor :|

"The Way Life's Meant to Be"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

---&---

I finally scanned my notation for the bass part for "The Way Life's Meant to Be" (with the guitar chords written in too).  I went over this a couple times, but since a majority of the song is just three chords, I might have inadvertently doubled or left out a measure.  There's the usual disclaimer that I might be wrong about the notes themselves too.