Formal structure of [159] "Don't Let Me Down": palindromic Single Introduction 0:00-0:06 based on riff from middle 8 Chorus 0:06-0:27 statement (4 m) restatement (4 m) Verse 1 0:27-0:57 statement (4 m) restatement (4 m) Chorus 0:57-1:22 Middle 8 1:22-1:47 Chorus 1:47-2:10 Verse 2 2:10-2:41 Chorus 2:41-3:06 Coda 3:06-3:35 Naked Introduction 0:00-0:05 based on middle 8 Chorus 0:05-0:30 statement (4 m) restatement (4 m) Verse 1 0:30-0:54 statement (4 m) restatement (4 m) Chorus 0:54-1:18 Middle 8 1:18-1:41 Chorus 1:41-2:06 Verse 2 2:06-2:30 Chorus 2:30-2:54 Coda 2:54-3:19 based on chorus Comments: "Don't Let Me Down" was not included on the album Let it Be, but it was released as a single, and was included on Naked. Though they share formal layouts, the two released versions do show substantial timing differences - the single is much slower than the version released on Naked, accounting for these discrepancies. In both versions, the formal design is palindromic structure with middle 8 serving as the keystone. This makes the song the 8th Beatles track to date to employ a palindromic structure, behind [33] "I'll Be Back", [74] "The Word", [93] "Strawberry Fields Forever", [94] "When I'm Sixty-Four", [97] "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", [98] "Good Morning Good Morning", [136] "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", and [151] "Martha My Dear", (and the inverse palindromic formal designs of [57] "I've Just Seen a Face", and [114] "All You Need Is Love")
I am tempted yet again to call the guitar lick that opens the song and reappears frequently throughout a tag, but in this case it just feels better to include it as part of the section it follows. This is due in large part to the phrasing, which merges the lyrics and the potential tag, which is very different from past songs' tags, where the tags feel more independent and bridge two phrases rather than conclude a phrase like this one does.
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Formal structure of [158] "I've Got a Feeling":
Intro (v) 0:00-0:06 Verse A 1 0:06-0:41 Verse A 2 0:41-1:16 Middle 8 1:16-1:30 Verse A 3 1:30-2:05 Verse B 1 2:05-235 Transition 2:35-2:40, 2:40-2:45 Verse A & B 2:45-3:09 Coda (trans) 3:09-3:38 Comments: Unlike "Dig a Pony", "I've Got a Feeling" is identical in formal design on both Let it Be and Let it Be ... Naked. The timings are within a second or two of each other (the version on Naked is ever so slightly faster, accounting for the minute discrepancy), so there is little point is listing both. The only significant difference is that the studio chatter at the end of the track on the original album is omitted on the remake. "I've Got a Feeling" is just the 4th Beatles song so far to use multiple verses in the same song (precedents being [116] "I Am the Walrus", [144] "Glass Onion", and [156] "Julia"). Verse A is clearly dominant over verse B, being heard three times independently compared to verse B which is heard only once independently. In a Beatles first, the two verses are then combined - heard simultaneously - which functions as the structural climax of the song. The transition is a total of four bars, divided evenly. I am tempted to call some of the transitional material a tag, but it simply is not prominent enough to justify that labeling. Regardless, the coda uses the same chromatic guitar triplets that were used in the transition. "Dig a Pony" is the first in my series of structural analyses to be included on the album Let it Be. As a result of Paul McCartney's 2003 remake, Let it Be ... Naked, in addition to the fact that some of the songs from the album were also released as singles, means that there are as many as potentially three different versions of the same songs. Fortunately, with most of the tracks, the structures are identical, even if the timings are not. Where applicable, I will include multiple columns to illustrate the differences between the multiple versions. Formal structure of [157] "Dig a Pony":
Comments: This is one where structurally the song is identical on the two albums. The only thing that is different is the timing because Naked omits the studio chatter heard at the very beginning of Let it Be. The macro-scale formal design in both instances can be seen as three iterations for two consecutive verses + a chorus, with a solo inserted between the second and third such iterations, all bookended by an introduction and coda:
This pattern, of course, employs contiguous verses three separate times: verses 1 and 2, verses 3 and 4, and verses 5 and 6. While it's very common to find other Beatles songs that follow verse 1 immediately with verse 2 ([1] "Love Me Do", [7] "Do You Want to Know a Secret", [8] "Misery", [9b] "Anna (Go To Him)", [9c] "Boys", [9d] "Chains", [9f] Twist and Shout, [10] "From Me To You", [13e] "Till There Was You", [17] "Little Child", [19] "Not a Second Time", [23] "Can't Buy Me Love", [25] "And I Love Her", [26] "I Should Have Known Better", [28] "If I Fell'', [29] "I'm Happy Just to Dance With You", [31] "A Hard Day's Night", [31b] "Matchbox", [32] "I'll Cry Instead", [35] "Things We Said Today", [40] "I Don't Want To Spoil the Party", [41] "What You're Doing", [42] "No Reply", [43] "Eight Days a Week", [44] "She's a Woman", [44b] "Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey", [46d] "Words of Love", [47] "Ticket to Ride", [49] "I Need You", [50] "Yes It Is", [51] "The Night Before", [52] "You Like Me Too Much", [54] "Tell Me What You See", 56b] "Dizzy Miss Lizzy", [56c] "Bad Boy", [57] "I've Just Seen a Face", [59] "Yesterday", [66] "If I Needed Someone", [68] "We Can Work it Out", [71] "Michelle", [77] "Tomorrow Never Knows", [80] "Paperback Writer", [82] "Doctor Robert", [84] "Taxman", [88] "Yellow Submarine", [89] "I Want To Tell You", [92] "She Said She Said", [95] "Penny Lane", [96] "A Day in the Life", [99] "Fixing a Hole", [100] "Only a Northern Song", [101] "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite", [105] "Within You Without You", [111] "All Together Now", [114] "All You Need Is Love", [116] "I Am the Walrus", [122] "Lady Madonna", [126] "Don't Pass Me By", [128] "Blackbird", [129] "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey", [135] "Sexy Sadie", [138] "Mother Nature's Son", [139] "Yer Blues", [140] "Rocky Raccoon", [143] "Dear Prudence", [144] "Glass Onion", [145] "I Will", [149] "Honey Pie", and [152] "Long Long Long" are all examples), it is somewhat uncommon to find contiguous verses other than verses 1 and 2. In fact, "Dig a Pony" is just the 12th to do so, behind [19] "Not a Second Time" (in which verses 1 and 2 are contiguous, as are verses 3 and 4), [31b] "Matchbox" (in which the first three and last two verses are contiguous), [56b] "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" (in which verses 1-2 are contiguous, as are verses 4-5), [77] "Tomorrow Never Knows" (in which verses 1-3 are contiguous, as are verses 4-7), [80] "Paperback Writer" (in which verses 1-2 are contiguous, as are verses 3-4), [84] "Taxman" (in which verses 1-2 are contiguous, as are verses 3-4), [95] "Penny Lane" (in which verses 1-2 are contiguous, as are verses 4-5), [96] "A Day in the Life" (in which verses 1-3 are contiguous), [129] "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey" (in which all three verses are contiguous), [135] "Sexy Sadie" (in which verses 1 and 2 are contiguous, as are verses 3 and 4), [140] "Rocky Raccoon" (in which verses 1-5 are contiguous, as are verses 6-7), and [143] "Dear Prudence" (in which verses 1 and 2 are contiguous, as are verses 3 and 4).
Formal structure of [156] "Julia":
Verse A 1 0:00-0:14 Verse B 1 0:14-0:36 (overlapping)* Verse B 2 0:36-1:01 Middle 8 1:01-1:19 Verse B 3 1:19-1:44 Verse A 2 1:44-1:58 Verse B 4 1:58-2:23 (overlapping)* Coda (VB) 2:23-2:56 Comments: No introduction, the song just starts immediately with the first verse (as did[15] "All My Loving", [19] "Not a Second Time", [29b] "Long Tall Sally", [42] "No Reply", [46b] "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby", [58] "I'm Down", [61] "Wait", [68] “We Can Work it Out”, [76] "Girl", [85] "I'm Only Sleeping", [95] "Penny Lane", [118] "Flying"), [120] "Hello Goodbye", [137] "Hey Jude", and [153] "I'm So Tired"). "Julia" is just the third Beatles song to date to use different verses in the same song (behind [116] "I Am the Walrus", and [144] "Glass Onion"). The Verses B1 and B4 (which both segue to another Verse B, the last of which doubles as the coda) both overlap with their subsequent sections, while Verses B2 and B3 (which segue to something other than another Verse B - the middle 8 and Verse A2 respectively) include an extra measure for transitional purposes. Lastly, the coda is verse B extended through the repetition of the title lyrics. Formal structure of [155] "Why Don't We Do It In The Road?":
Intro (ind) 0:00-0:10 Verse 1 0:10-0:40 Verse 2 0:40-1:11 Verse 3 1:11-1:40 Comments: This is another novelty song with an appropriately novel structure. There is no chorus, no middle 8, no solo, no break, no coda - only three verses. With nothing to contrast those verses, then, they are all contiguous (lists) The drum solo that introduces the song is independent from the rest of the track. Formal structure of [154] "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill":
Intro (ind) 0:00-0:08 E minor Chorus 0:08-0:24 C major, A major Verse 1 0:24-0:46 A minor Chorus 0:46-1:01 C major, A major Verse 2 1:01-1:24 A minor Chorus 1:24-1:40 C major, A major Verse 3 1:40-2:01 A minor Chorus 2:01-2:16 C major, A major Chorus 2:16-2:30 C major, A major Chorus 2:30-2:45 C major, A major Chorus 2:45-3:00 C major, A major Coda (ch) 3:00-3:13 n/a Comments: Despite the surface-level simplicity of this children's song, the tonal and formal designs are quite sophisticated. The introductory flamenco guitar solo is completely independent from the rest of the song (rather similar to the total non sequitur string quartet coda in [144] "Glass Onion"). The three verses are all in A minor; the choruses all alternate from C major to A major. Several Beatles' songs to date have pitted A against C ([48] "Another Girl", [55] "You're Going to Lose That Girl", [122] "Lady Madonna", and [146] "Birthday"), and a couple others have juxtaposed other tonalities that are also a minor third apart ([91] "Here There and Everywhere", and [103] "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" both employ G major and B-flat major). Others juxtapose A major with A minor ([35] "Things We Said Today", and [136] "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"), the parallel relationship of which is also used in other songs and other keys ([63] "Norwegian Wood" uses E major and E minor, and [71] "Michelle" uses F major and F minor). The play between A minor, A major, and C major specifically was used in [148] "Happiness is a Warm Gun", and will reappear in the Abbey Road Medley. Four contiguous choruses ties a record for a Beatles track. And if you include the coda as a chorus (it is an extension of the chorus - but only by the synthesized trombone, played on a mellotron - while every other instrument stops), then it sets a new record. And compared to contiguous verses (which is an extremely common formal design in Beatles music), contiguous choruses are only seldom found - and when they do appear, it's usually at the very end of the song, with the final chorus doubling as the coda: [44b] "Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey" used four contiguous choruses, but they were two different choruses (Chorus #1, Chorus #1 again, Chorus #2, Chorus #2 again); [58] "I'm Down", [73] "Think For Yourself", [90] "Good Day Sunshine", [113] "It's All Too Much", and [114] "All You Need Is Love" all used three contiguous choruses, with the third doubling as the coda; [117] "Blue Jay Way" uses four contiguous choruses, with the fourth doubling as the coda; [133] "Cry Baby Cry" used three contiguous choruses immediately preceding a musically independent coda; and [150] "Savoy Truffle" used two contiguous choruses, with the second doubling as the coda. |
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