Monday, October 13, 2025

"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"

When I listened to The Byrds Play Dylan a second time recently, I noticed some small significance in a line in "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" (the first version, recorded in June 1965).  "All your seasick sailors, they are goin' home" contains a pleonasm, and while this redundant "they" isn't necessary grammatically, it does provide a sense of amount (for "all").

I referenced the version on Ballad of Easy Rider and discovered that the line is slightly different there:  "All your seasick sailors, they are rowin' home."

Sunday, October 12, 2025

"Just Like a Woman"

In the line "Ev'rybody knows that baby's got new clothes" in "Just Like a Woman," "ev'rybody" is sung to notes of all different pitches (G F# E D), providing a sense of breadth or entirety.

In the lines "But lately I've been noticing her ribbons and her bows / Are fallin' from her curls," "fallin'" is sung to a descending pair of notes (B F#), illustrating its meaning.

Saturday, October 11, 2025

"It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"

This is just a small point, but "the wise men and the fools" in "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" (a live recording that's on The Byrds Play Dylan and (Untitled)/(Unissued)) is a merism.

Friday, October 10, 2025

"Lay Lady Lay"

Last month, I saw a reference to Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" and started wondering whether the features I'd previously noticed in the song were also present in the Byrds' version.  Twice recently, I listened to The Byrds Play Dylan, which contains the single version and the alternate version (which I'm more familiar with since it's a bonus track on Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, which I've listened to more than The Byrds Play Dylan).

As in Dylan's version, there's something of a temporal merism in the lines "I long to see you in the morning light / I long to reach for you in the night," and the bass plays a repeating chromatic phrase (C B Bb A) under the title lines ("Lay, lady, lay / Lay across my big brass bed"), emphasizing the breadth of "lay[ing] across."  (Unless I'm mistaken, though, the songs are in different keys.)

I also noticed that the alliteration in the phrase "big brass bed" lends a sense of this size (the repetition gives an indication of degree).