Tuesday, May 4, 2021

"Medley: My Back Pages/B.J. Blues/Baby What You Want Me to Do"

I noticed a couple of small things in the "Baby What You Want Me to Do" section of "Medley: My Back Pages/B.J. Blues/Baby What You Want Me to Do."  "Down" in the line "I'm goin' down" is sung with a descending melisma in one of the voices (E D B), musically giving a sense either of the meaning of the word or of the movement of "goin'."  "Roll" is sung with a variety of melismas, also for a sense of movement.

In the alternate take included as a bonus track on the CD re-issue of the album, the line "I'm goin' up" is sung to an ascending melody (I think it's E E E G#), giving a sense of that "up."