"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'.