"I Really Haven't Got the Time"

Last week, I discovered a legitimate YouTube channel of clips from the German show Beat Club.  There are two videos of the Moody Blues (performing "I Really Haven't Got the Time" and "Bye Bye Bird").  Here's "I Really Haven't Got the Time":

The day after I watched this (the 20th), I realized something about the song.  In the chorus, the title phrase is interrupted:

But I really
I really haven't
I really haven't got the time
I really
I really haven't
I really haven't got the time
I really haven't got the time

That it's constantly interrupted illustrates that the narrator is "a busy man," as if he's called away to something else in between each fragment.

Yester-day, while thinking about the song again and drafting this post, I realized something else.  The "Really haven't got the time" in the coda (at ~2:57) is sung to this phrase:

This is just a slight reworking of a section of "Westminster Quarters," which is often used in clock chimes.  As I know it, it's something like:

with one measure played for every quarter hour (one measure at fifteen past, two measures at half past, and so on).  At the top of the hour, the whole thing is played, followed by the third (B in this key) played once to mark one o'clock, twice to mark two o'clock, or what have you.

Using a section of this melody indicates the importance that the narrator places on his time.

"Visions of Paradise"

A couple weeks ago, I learned about half of one of the flute parts in "Visions of Paradise."  I was thinking about the song recently and realized a small thing about it: in the line "And the call of your eyes makes waterfalls of me," "waterfalls" is sung to a descending phrase (E D C), musically giving a sense of the "-falls" part.

"The Day Begins"

I recently learned that ἥλιος is the ancient Greek word for sun, and of course this got me thinking about the poem at the beginning of Days of Future Passed, which invokes the mythological figure with the same name: "Brave Helios, wake up your steeds."

In thinking about the poem, I realized that there's internal rhyme in the line "The mighty light of ten thousand suns" and that the repetition of -ight helps indicate that strength.

"Tuesday Afternoon"

Last night, I learned the flute part in the coda of "Tuesday Afternoon."  I'd learned the piano part (or at least the bass register of the piano part) last May, before I'd even started this project.  Since I had two simultaneous parts, I thought it worth recording.

All but three pitches of the flute part are out of my range, so I used the mellotron flute voice on my keyboard.

"Floating"

This afternoon, I was thinking about "Floating," and I realized a small thing about the chorus.  "So" in the line "Do as you please with so much ease" is sung with a melisma (A B).  Musically, this emphasizes that adverb and gives a sense of degree.

A Question of Balance

This is just a post to note that I got a copy of A Question of Balance a few days ago and listened to it for the first time to-day.  I knew some of the songs: "Question" is on a couple compilation albums I have, and I was sort of familiar with "Tortoise and the Hare," "Minstrel's Song," and "Melancholy Man" via the live versions on the Live at the Isle of Wight Festival album.