"Waterfall"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

---&---

All month, I've been learning some parts for "Waterfall."  This is only the first two minutes or so, but I know the bass part for the whole song (I'm in the midst of writing it down so I'll have some record if I forget it).  I also have the piano at the beginning (which I'll admit I had to record on two separate tracks because I can't play the chords and the bass register in the right rhythm at the same time) and almost all of the slide guitar parts (although I don't play them that well).  I'm still missing the slide guitar part during the middle, but my recording doesn't get that far.

"Xanadu"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

---&---

I listened to All over the World: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra last week, and the guitar parts at the end of "Xanadu" sounded easy to figure out, so I did that this morning.

It's not much, but it's a start.

"Julie Don't Live Here"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

---&---

I just figured out the chords for "Julie Don't Live Here."  It's a bonus track on the re-issue of Time, but according to the liner notes, it was a B-side to the 12" U.K. single of "Twilight."

Recording only the chords would be boring (both to record and listen to), so I'm just making a note here that I learned them.  I wrote them down for future reference, and hopefully I'll learn some more parts to the song to make it worth recording.

"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.

"Waterfall"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

---&---

Over the last couple days, I wrote out notation for the bass part in "The Way Life's Meant to Be."  Last night, I put the Electric Light Orchestra section of my music collection in reverse alphabetical order so that "The Way Life's Meant to Be" was near the top and easier to find.  After notating a page, I took a break and tried figuring out a different bass part.  I got some of the bass part in "Waterfall" (which was close alphabetically), and I noticed something interesting.

At about 1:00, there's this phrase:

I was immediately reminded of the bass part in the second movement of Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068 because it does this same sort of thing:

(notation found here)

There's a diatonic descent (with almost every note doubled), and after every pair of notes, there's a change in the octave.  While the note values are different, the phrase in "Waterfall" is even in D major, the same key as Bach's!

Despite the similarities, I'm not sure that this phrase in "Waterfall" is meant to be a quotation of Bach.  I've found this same sort of phrase in a few other pieces (it's in Grieg's Holberg Suite, Op. 40, which seems significant because ELO covered his "In the Hall of the Mountain King" on On the Third Day), but I do think its appearance in that Bach piece is the most famous (that movement is probably more well-known as Air on the G String).  Between that and the fact that the phrases are in the same key, I think that if it was intended as a quotation, it's a quotation of Bach's work.

"The Way Life's Meant to Be"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

---&---

I've been going back to write down some things I recorded earlier.  Yester-day, when I wrote down the chords for "The Way Life's Meant to Be," I noticed the electric guitar part, which I'm surprised I didn't figure out when I first got the chords last October.  They're double-stops, but they're based on the same notes as the chords they're played above.

I also discovered that I had a couple notes in the bass part in the wrong octave.

Like last time, I double-tracked my acoustic six-string to get something of the feeling of an acoustic twelve-string (which I think is used on the track).  I didn't start my two tracks at precisely the same time though, so the very beginning (just the first second or two) sounds a bit off-kilter.

I feel I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention that to-day's Jeff Lynne's birthday.

"Summer and Lightning"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

---&---

A couple days ago, I figured out the chords for "Summer and Lightning" (up until about 2:42, when things change).  This morning I figured out the bass part, too, which makes listening to this a bit more interesting.

This is just the first section.  I'm almost certain I don't have the guitar strumming rhythm right, but that's not a priority right now.  I think it's twelve-string acoustic guitar on the record, but since the only twelve-string I have is electric, I just doubled-tracked my six-string acoustic guitar to get something of the same effect.

"The Diary of Horace Wimp"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

---&---

I wrote out the notation for the bass part in "The Diary of Horace Wimp," and I figured I might as well post it here.  I have a few other projects with this same format (just for different bands), and I've been doing the same thing for some of those.

The part at the very beginning (alternating between Bb and Eb notes before the descending whole notes) might not be entirely accurate as far as when it starts (the bass starts out quietly, and I might have just extrapolated that from when that same section is repeated later).

"The Diary of Horace Wimp"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

---&---

Last night I learned the bass part to "The Diary of Horace Wimp."  There are really only two different sections: one for the verses and one for the chorus.  Rather than play just the bass part for the whole song (which would be boring), I played the verse for Sunday (so I could also include the tubular bell part I learned back in April) and the chorus right after it.

While notating the chorus (I've been on a notating spree recently; plus, it just makes it easier to record since I don't have to keep everything in my head), I noticed that (starting at what the "voice from above" says) the note values become progressively shorter:

"You can do it" is in the backing vocals, and between that and the increasing frequency of the notes, there's a sense that Horace Wimp is gaining confidence in himself.

"Hold on Tight"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

---&---

This morning I listened to Time for my Collection Audit project, and I workt on my transcriptions a bit.  I ended up deciphering all of the French in "Hold on Tight."  Previously, I had just "toi à ton rêve."

The whole French verse is (I think):

Oh, accrochez-toi à ton rêve
Accrochez-toi à ton rêve
Quand tu vois ton bâteau partir
Quand tu sens ton cœur se briser
Accrochez-toi à ton rêve

Essentially, it's the same as the first verse:

Mm, hold on tight to your dream
Hey, hold on tight to your dream
When you see your ship go sailin'
When you feel your heart is breakin'
Hold on tight to your dream

Its being almost exactly the same (just in translation) helpt immensely in deciphering it.  Otherwise, I would have had just "accrochez-toi à ton rêve," "quand tu vois ton," and the second "quand tu."  But I recognized that what little French I had followed the same structure as the other verses.

As an amateur linguist (French is my third language, and I've studied it for eight years), I have a lot to say about this.  First, "accrochez-toi" has a subject-verb agreement error.  "Accrochez" is the imperative form for 2nd person plural, but "toi" is a 2nd person singular pronoun (as are "tu" and "ton").  It should be either the singular "accroche-toi" (which leaves the line a syllable too short) or the plural "accrochez-vous" (which would require changing ton to votre, making the line a syllable too long).

I can't think of any specific examples, but I think sung French is often intentionally mispronounced just for the sake of filling in the meter.

"Accrochez-toi à ton rêve" omits the "tight" that's in the English verse; it's just "Hold on to your dream."  (This also made me realize that it's a flat adverb: tight instead of tightly.)  If I understand my French-English dictionary correctly, serré is the word for tightly, but if you were to add that to "accroche-toi…" to get a closer translation of the English line, there'd be one syllable too many.

I'm not sure if "partir" or "briser" are the right forms either.  Both are infinitives in the French (so a literal translation would be "When you see your ship to sail / When you feel your heart itself to break"), but it's more complicated in the English.  "Sailin'" (actually, maybe the whole "go sailin'") is a participle (a verbal adjective modifying "ship").  I'm not as proficient at French participles as I probably should be, but I did some research and found that "-ant" is added to the infinitive stem to form a participle.  So I think it should be "Quand tu vois ton bâteau partant."

"Is breakin'" is a verb in the indirect statement "Your heart is breakin'" (it's the present progressive form).  In English, the word that, which indicates an indirect statement, is often omitted, like it is here.  It's condensed to "When you feel your heart is breakin'," rather than "When you feel that your heart is breakin'."  If I remember French class correctly, in French, that (que) is always required.  And since "is breakin'" is in the indicative mood, briser needs to be conjugated from the infinitive form, so it should be "Quand tu sens que ton cœur se bris."

I find it interesting that there's a reflexive pronoun in the French that isn't in the English.  The French is "Quand tu sens ton cœur se briser" ("When you feel your heart itself to break"), but the English is just "When you feel your heart is breakin'."

"Danger Ahead"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

---&---

After I figured out (most of) the bass part for "Loser Gone Wild," I also figured out (I think all of) one of the guitar parts in "Danger Ahead."  I was going to record that yester-day, but I didn't have the time.  Now I don't think I'm going to record it at all because it's just a handful of chords and a couple diatonic phrases, so it wouldn't be that interesting to listen to (especially because there are, at most, seven measures of rests between some of those parts).  So I guess I'll just write it down and wait until I learn a part that's more substantial.  Based on that guitar part, I'm pretty certain that the song is in E major, and knowing that might help in figuring out other parts.

"Loser Gone Wild"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

---&---

Yester-day I listened to Secret Messages for my Collection Audit project.  The bass part for "Loser Gone Wild" sounded like it would be pretty easy to figure out, and I have almost all of it now.  There's a faster section at the end that I haven't attempted figuring out yet.  Unfortunately, the qualities that made this easy to learn also make it sort of boring to listen to by itself.  The first minute or so just alternates between A and D notes.  I'm not sure I have the rhythm right for the "But in the evening…" section.  Here, sometimes I have a quarter rest and sometimes I hold the note.  I neglected to listen carefully enough to the original recording to see what it does.