"Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)"

Yester-day, I figured out the chords for "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)" (although what I have may need some refining).  While thinking about the song afterwards, I realized that a section of the chord progression matches the lyrics in a way.  For a good portion of the verses, the chords simply alternate between A major and D major.  Most of the lyrics above these chords list opposites:

A time to be born, a time to die

A time to plant, a time to reap

A time to kill, a time to heal

A time to build up, a time to break down

A time to dance, a time to mourn

A time to cast away stones

A time of love, a time of hate

A time of war, a time of peace

A time you may embrace

A time to gain, a time to lose

A time to rend, a time to sow

A time for love, a time for hate

In the same way that the lyrics go back and forth between opposites, the chords go back and forth between A major and D major.

"Blue Canadian Rockies"

I was thinking about "Blue Canadian Rockies" this morning.  The line "For that girl I left behind" is sung in a rather disjointed manner, with pauses of two beats between "girl" and "I" and between "left" and "behind."  This may not have been the intention, but such an articulation does give a sense of the separation between the narrator and "that girl."

"All I Really Want to Do"

I listened to Mr. Tambourine this morning and realized something about "All I Really Want to Do":  there's a contrast in number between the multitude of things that the speaker doesn't want to do and the one thing he does want to do, and as a result, that one thing stands out more.

The structure also contributes to this emphasis.  While each verse contains a different list of things the speaker doesn't want to do, all of them end with the one thing that he does want to do.