"In the Beginning"

This morning, I started transcribing the lyrics from the booklet of On the Threshold of a Dream into Google Documents so that they're easier to reference.  So far, all I've done is "In the Beginning," but in transcribing it, I noticed something:  the insistently repeated rhymes in "I've miles / And miles / Of files / Pretty files..." and "Face piles / And piles / Of trials / With smiles" help provide a sense of abundance in both of these instances.

"Ride My See-Saw"

This morning, I watched this live performance of "Ride My See-Saw" in France in 1969:

I realized two things about the instrumental section (which starts at ~1:50 in this performance but at ~1:40 in the studio recording).  Years ago, I figured out two of the vocal parts.  They're something like:

The higher part generally descends, and the lower part ascends.  This simultaneous up-and-down illustrates the confusion that's mentioned in the lyrics that come before and after this section.  The preceding line is "But by now that answer just ain't true," and the next lyrics are "My world is spinnin' around / Ev'rything is lost that I've found."  The vocal parts' going two different directions provides a sense of this disorientation.

Alternatively, this simultaneous up-and-down gives a musical picture of that see-saw.  It's like each vocal part is an end; as one goes up, the other comes down.

"Eternity Road"

Years ago, I wrote about some significant vocal articulations in "Eternity Road," and recently I found an-other one:  "alone" in the line "And so very much alone" is sung with a melisma (D A G), giving a sense of degree (for the description "so very much").

"Out and In"

A few years ago, I wrote a short post about how in "Out and In," "view" in the line "Looking for total view" is sung with a melisma and that this provides a sense of the entirety of "total."  After I listened to To Our Children's Children's Children recently, I realized that there's an-other musical feature that gives a sense of this breadth.  Underneath this line, the chords are F major and D major.  Usually, those two chords would not go together, but their juxtaposition here provides a sense of tonal breadth, especially since Mike Pinder uses the pitch shift knob on the Mellotron to slide from the F major down to the D major.

"Higher and Higher"

I listened to To Our Children's Children's Children yester-day and noticed a handful of features.

The first line of "Higher and Higher" exhibits alliteration:  "Blasting, billowing, bursting forth with the power of ten billion butterfly sneezes."  I think it's significant that the alliterative sound here is a plosive.  In a way, these plosives give the sense of a rocket's propulsion.

"I Know You're Out There Somewhere"

I was thinking about "I Know You're Out There Somewhere" yester-day, specifically this synthesizer phrase:

The first half ascends (save for the last note), and the second half descends.  Throughout, the notes occur alternately on downbeats or upbeats.  Because of this alternating (in rising or falling and in where the beat falls), there's something of an impression of looking up and down.  This searching is also referred to later in the lyrics:  "I know I'll find you somehow."

"You Can Never Go Home"

Yester-day, I figured out the chords for "You Can Never Go Home" and noticed some significance with the tonic chord and note.  The song is in D major, so D is the tonic note and the musical "home."  In the two instances of the lines "Memories can never take you back home sweet home / You can never go home anymore" (at ~0:49 and ~3:43), the first "home" is sung to a G above a G major, the second to a pair of F#s above a D major, and the third to a D above a G major.  Some of these may give a hint of being musically at home either because "home" is sung above the tonic chord (the second "home") or because it's sung to the tonic note (the third "home"), but there isn't a fully realized homecoming with "home" sung to a D note above a D major.  Musically, then, there's the same sentiment that's in the lyrics:  "You can never go home."

"And My Baby's Gone"

Yester-day, I was thinking about the guitar solo in "And My Baby's Gone."  I think it's something like:

Note that since the guitar is played through a volume pedal and the notes fade in and out, the values here are approximate.

Since I figured out the part earlier this year (and perhaps even before then), I thought it odd that the last two measures have no notes.  (Admittedly, there may be one note there that I'm missing, but it's so faint that it's basically negligible.)  I realized yester-day that this lack of notes may be significant.

Because the second line had been following what the first line established (the fifth and sixth measures have the same rhythm and the same intervals as the first and second), the omission of the longer notes in the seventh and eighth measures is conspicuous.  This prominent musical absence mirrors the narrator's prime concern:  "My baby's gone."

"Cities"

I figured out the chords for "Cities" last night and noticed that the progression in the chorus musically reflects the description of "all around."  Provided that what I have is correct, the chord progression for that section is:

E major | A minor

D major | G major

C major | F major

B major | E minor 

The root notes of these chords move through the circle of fifths (up until the B major, at least), and the broad range of these modulations complements the breadth of "all around."

"Are You Sitting Comfortably"

A couple days ago, I learned the chords for the verses of "Are You Sitting Comfortably."  Obviously, they're not strummed as in my example, but what I have is a start, at least.

To the chords, I could add some of the flute parts, which I figured out in March 2018.  I'm still not a very good flute player, but those parts turned out better than I expected.

I used the same flute for both parts, but I think the lower part should actually be on alto flute.  In the liner notes of the previous album (In Search of the Lost Chord), Ray Thomas is credited with both 'C' flute and alto flute.