Monday, August 25, 2025

"Hungry Planet"

The phrase "all alone" in the line "Now here I am all alone" in "Hungry Planet" alliterates, and because the two words start with the same sound, there's a sense of this singularity.

In the lines "Oh, the people kept choppin' down / All my finest trees," "down" is sung with a descending melisma (C Bb), illustrating the meaning.

Sunday, August 24, 2025

"Yesterday's Train"

The phrase "dust to dust" in "Yesterday's Train" comes from the Bible, specifically from either Genesis 3:19 ("'you are dust, and to dust you shall return'") or Ecclesiastes 3:20 ("All are from the dust, and to dust all return").

In the line "Yesterday's train is rollin'," "rollin'" is sung with a melisma (G F# E), giving a sense of this movement.

Saturday, August 23, 2025

"All the Things"

"See the sun, how bright it is" and "See the earth, how sweet it smells" in "All the Things" seem to borrow their structure from the Bible, specifically "'Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow'" in Matthew 6:28 (it's condensed a bit in the parallel passage in Luke 12:27:  "'Consider the lilies, how they grow'").

In the chorus ("All the things I want today / All the things I wasted on the way"), a second vocal part comes in to harmonize with the lead vocal, and because there are two voices, there's a slight sense of the entirety of these "all"s.

A few days ago, I figured out the chords and discovered some connections between the progression and the lyrics.  The first line of each verse is:
D major | C major | G major | D major
And the second line is:
D major | C major | G major
Compared to the previous line, there's a D major missing at the end of this line, and to some degree, this lack matches "no one's there" in the first verse ("See the sun, it shines right through my door, but no one's there") and "forgotten, left behind" in the third ("See this dried up broken straw, forgotten, left behind").

Friday, August 22, 2025

"Truck Stop Girl"

When I started this project, I'd listened to (Untitled) only twice.  I've become more familiar with it over the last few years, and I'm going to start writing about it, although most of my initial notes will be just small points.

In "Truck Stop Girl," "young" in the line "But he was so young" (which occurs later as "And he was so young") is sung with a melisma (Eb Bb), giving a sense of degree (for "so").