Secret Messages

In my initial notes on Secret Messages, I noted that one element of the collage on the album cover is Titian's Venus of Urbino.

The painting was flipt horizontally, though:

Either I hadn't noticed it before or thought it was obvious enough not to need mentioning, but an-other element is the Venus de Milo:

[source]

"After All"

One of the bonus tracks on the CD re-issue of Secret Messages is "After All."  According to the liner notes, this was the B-side of the "Rock 'n' Roll Is King" single.  At least some of it is based on a Chopin prélude (Op. 28, No. 4).

"Four Little Diamonds"

In the line "She took me for ev'rything" in "Four Little Diamonds," the three syllables of "ev'rything" are each sung to a different pitch (F Eb G), musically giving a sense of breadth.

"Day and night" in the line "I keep a-wonderin' 'bout her day and night" is a merism.

In the line "I'm gonna search everywhere," the "every-" of "everywhere" is sung with three syllables, giving a sense of thoroughness.

As if to reflect the searching nature of "I looked around; I climbed up high into the dawn...," there's something of a key change.  The verses are in C major, but this section is in a flat key.

"Time after Time"

In the line "The skies are darkening; they grow so dim" in "Time after Time," "dim" is sung with a melisma (G# F# E), musically giving a sense of degree (for "so").

"Take Me On and On"

I noticed a few significant melismas in "Take Me On and On":  "come" (I'm unsure of the notes) in the line "They come to me" for a sense of movement, "away" (D C# B A) in the line "Somewhere far away" for a sense of distance, and "on" in the title phrase (a variety of different melismas) for a sense of continuation.

"Bluebird"

I listened to Secret Messages yester-day and found a number of small features to note.

In the line "It makes me feel so sad" in "Bluebird," "sad" is sung with a melisma (F D G), musically giving a sense of degree (for "so").  In the lines "The places that I go / Don't feel good anymore," "go" and the "-more" of "anymore" are both sung with the same melisma, giving a sense of movement for "go" and, while negated, continuation for "anymore."

In the coda, "away" is sung with a variety of melismas (in the line "Bluebird, fly away," it's sung to the notes A A B G, and in the line "Fly away, away, away" to the notes F# F# E, E E D, D D C), musically giving a sense of movement or distance.

I'm surprised I hadn't noted this before, but this is also an-other instances of Jeff Lynne's use of the word "blue."

"Tightrope"

At the end of November, I got a Moog (the Subsequent 37).  I'm still learning how to use it, but here's the Moog part at the beginning of "Tightrope."

"Secret Messages"

Last week, I figured out the chords for "Secret Messages" and noticed a small feature:  underneath the line "Where words cascade like rainbows tumbling from the sky, then I'll be there," the chord progression descends (G minor | F major | Eb major | D minor | C minor), mirroring the downward direction of "cascad[ing]" and "tumbling."

"Can't Get It out of My Head"

Last month, I watched this video of ELO miming to "Can't Get It out of My Head" on Dutch television:

I noticed that in one of the Moog phrases (at ~1:21 in the video, but at ~2:27 in the album version), there are some trills.  Despite what it looks like in the video, I think these notes are E F E, C D C, G A G, E F E.

These descending trills may have been modeled after part of the solo in Del Shannon's "Runaway" (performed on a heavily modified clavioline).  Jeff Lynne talks about the song (starting around 39:14) in this BBC interview.  He mentions that the tape was sped up, so while it sounds higher, originally, these trills were played as E F E, D E D, C D C.  Obviously, in terms of pitch, these groups of notes are closer to each other than those in "Can't Get It out of My Head," but they do descend.

"Here Is the News"

Last month, I figured out the chords for "Here Is the News," and I noticed that the chords for the chorus are different each time.

First, it's:

|: G major | F major :|

Then:

|: G major | F major :|

A major | G minor

A major | D major

And finally:

|: G major | F major :|

|: A major | G minor :|

That the chord progression is different every time mirrors the novelty of the news.

"Across the Border"

About a month ago, I figured out the rest of the chords for "Across the Border."  While doing so, I noticed a nod to Chuck Berry's "Let It Rock."  The first line of the first verse of "Across the Border" is "In the heat of the day many miles away," which is quite similar to the first line of "Let It Rock":  "In the heat of the day down in Mobile, Alabama."  Obviously, the phrase "in the heat of the day" is exactly the same; more generally, "many miles away" refers to a location in the same way that "Mobile, Alabama" does.

I think it's also worth mentioning that Jeff Lynne later recorded a cover of "Let It Rock" on his Long Wave album.

"The Way Life's Meant to Be"

I listened to Time back in October and noticed a feature in the rhyme scheme of "The Way Life's Meant to Be."  Along with line-ending rhymes (ABCB), there's internal rhyme in the first and third lines of each verse:

Well, I came a long way to be here today

And I left you so long on this avenue

And here I stand in the strangest land

Not knowing what to say or do

This pattern is broken in the fourth verse:

And when I see what they've done to this place that was home

Shame is all that I feel

Oh, and I wonder, yes, I wonder

Is this the way life's meant to be

"Feel" doesn't rhyme with "be," but more significantly, there's a slant rhyme between "done" and "home."  The change in the established rhyme scheme mirrors the change that "this place that was home" has undergone.