"She Don't Care about Time"

The guitar solo in "She Don't Care about Time" is based on a melody from Bach's cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147.  In Bach's piece, it appears in the sixth and tenth movements, played by oboes and violin:

[source]

The subject-verb disagreement in the title line ("she don't") illustrates and emphasizes the lack of care.

"The Times They Are A-Changin'"

In the titular line of "The Times They Are A-Changin'" "changin'" is sung with a melisma (A G G), musically giving a sense of the word's meaning.

"If You're Gone"

I can't decipher the whole first line of "If You're Gone," but "ev'rything" in the phrase "to me you're ev'rything" is sung with a melisma (A C B A G, I think), musically giving a sense of that entirety.  "Fall" in the line "If you're here, the night is rightly going to fall" is sung with a melisma (B A G), so while it's used more metaphorically here, there's a sense of its meaning.  "Care" in the line "If I love you, if I know how much I care" is sung with this same melisma for a sense of degree ("how much").  "Anywhere" in the line "If I find the things you want then, anywhere" is also sung with a melisma (G G F# E D), musically giving a sense of that breadth of possibility.

"Lay Down Your Weary Tune"

In "Lay Down Your Weary Tune," the end of the line "Lay down your weary tune, lay down" is sung to a descending phrase (the whole line is sung to the phrase E A B C# B A A F# E E), musically giving a sense of that "lay[ing] down."  Similarly, "And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings" descends (something like D D C# A A B C# A D), musically giving an impression of "lay[ing] down" to "rest."

"Set You Free This Time"

In the lines "I have never been so far out in front / That I could ever ask for what I want / And have it any time" in "Set You Free This Time," "any time" is sung with melismas (A F# A | F# E), musically illustrating something of the breadth of possibility.

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

This has probably been mentioned enough that I don't need to note it here, but I will anyway:  the lyrics of "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)" are adapted from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.

"She Has a Way"

I noticed a slew of significant melismas in "She Has a Way" (originally an unissued song but included as a bonus track on Mr. Tambourine Man):  "really" in the line "I was really good to her" (A B A) for a sense of degree, "heart" in the line "But how she broke my heart"(D B in the lead vocals, I think) for a sense of brokenness, "around" in the line "That makes her run around" (D B D B, I think) for a sense of breadth or movement, "long" in the line "I didn't think that I would wait for her very long" (although I'm unsure of the notes) for a sense of duration, and "down" in the line "She might keep puttin' 'em down" (D B) for a sense of the word's meaning.

Additionally, "strong" in the line "But I didn't realize my love for her was so strong" is sung for almost two full measures, giving a sense of degree (for "so"), and the line "Wanna settle down" descends (A B A G G), giving a musical sense of that "settl[ing] down."

"Chimes of Freedom"

In "Chimes of Freedom," the repeated internal rhyme in "the countless confused, accused, misused" gives a sense of amount.

"It's No Use"

In "It's No Use," "more" in "you only hurt me more" is sung with a melisma (in one voice, at least:  F# E# D# C#), giving a sense of amount.

"All I Really Want to Do"

In "All I Really Want to Do," the lines "Drag you down or bring you down / Chain you down or bring you down" both generally descend (D D C# A B B A and D D C# A B G# A), musically giving a sense of those "down"s.  This feature is also present in Bob Dylan's original version, although Dylan sings "Drag you down or drain you down."

"Mr. Tambourine Man"

While figuring out parts isn't much of a priority for this project (especially in these early stages), I may post some from time to time.  Since "Mr. Tambourine Man" was the Byrds' first single, the title track of the first album, and the first track on that album and since I've already figured out the bass part and the chords, it seemed like a good place to start.

As always, there's the disclaimer that I may have something wrong:

Introduction

I first heard the Byrds in early 2003 (I think it was February because it was shortly after the space shuttle Columbia disaster).  "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)" was played as the walk-on music to a community performance I was part of, and almost immediately, I liked it better than any of the songs in the show itself.  Aside from The Byrds' Greatest Hits, Fifth Dimension was the first Byrds album I owned, and I think it was also one of the first original albums I owned (as opposed to compilation albums).

In 2008, ignorant that "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" was satire, I did exactly what the song said:  I got an electric guitar and took some time and learned how to play.  Over the next few years, I learned how to play more instruments and started writing about music analytically.  In the last five years, I've started a number of projects focused on specific bands.  Originally, the goal for these was to try to learn every part in every song, but eventually, it shifted more towards simply writing about interesting features I found in the music.  Maybe I should have done this earlier, but now I'm starting one of these projects on the Byrds.

I don't have all of the albums, but I do have most of them:

• Mr. Tambourine Man
• Turn! Turn! Turn!
• Fifth Dimension
• Younger than Yesterday
• The Notorious Byrd Brothers
• Sweetheart of the Rodeo
• Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde
• Ballad of Easy Rider
• (Untitled)

I've already made a number of notes (although some - maybe even most - are very minor points), and I plan on going through them all again and posting notes for one song every week.  After I've made my way through those, I'll write about anything I notice as it comes up.  As with my other projects, this means that months may go by in between posts.