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"Things We Said Today" (TWST) is one of the earliest and best-ever examples of the innovative Harmony stunts which The Beatles were capable of, being uninhibited as they were by any schoolbook knowledge of the so-called rules. On the lyrical side here, there's a correspondingly precocious ambiguity over the exact scenario in which the song, on the surface just a plain old love ballad, takes place.
The one thing that does seem fairly clear is that it's about the impeturbable constancy of true love in the face of logistical challenge, or perhaps more precisely, the *fear* of challenge. As you might expect, one of the most exciting discoveries to be made in an analysis of such a song is the way in which the details of the music assist the words in the evocation of an otherwise difficult to verbalize complex of emotions.
Our friend Macca, in an interview clip from the "Put It There" video, suggests that he chose to revive this song for the '89/'90 tour because it "says something nice, ... it's a simple song, ... easy to play." What do you think ? Is it that he doesn't give himself enough credit, or perhaps, are we hearing just a small note of false modesty ?
The form, for a change, is both straightforward and quite fully cranked out with four verses and two bridges:
Intro-> Verse-> Verse-> Bridge-> Verse-> Bridge-> Verse-> Outro
Nonetheless, there's a delicate balance here between the rambling and the forthright. The omission of an instrumental solo section (which would have probably appeared either in place of the third verse or as an additional verse section preceding the second bridge) keeps the procedings from becoming too relaxed. To the extent that this is a "mood" song, the outspread form helps conjure the mood, yet at the same time, the omission of the instrumental keeps us focused with some urgency on the fact that the protaganist has a lot that he must say right now lest this moment pass.
The song is primarily in the modal-sounding "natural" minor key of A; you'll note how in the verse sections, the minor v7 (e min7) chord with no g# is used in place of the more tonally functional Major one (*with* the g#, of course.) In contrast, the start of the bridge sections features a shift to the parallel Major key of A, a trick reminiscent of what we saw in "I'll Be Back" (IBB).
The liberal inclusion of the relatively foreign note of B flat throughout the song adds even more spice to both the melody and harmony.
Melodically, this B flat in the context of A minor is suggestive of the exotic Phrygian mode; think of it as the white note scale starting on E. Try the following little exercise if you doubt what I mean about the piquant effect created by this mode: first play the melodic fragment of a-b-a over a sustained A minor chord and then alternate it with a-b flat-a over that same chord. Although this phrase never appears explicitly in the top-voice melody of TWST, its alternating presence is definitely there throughout the song, hidden in the inner voices of the chord changes.
On the harmonic side, a B flat chord is used in both the verse and bridge as part of a gambit in which what has started off as an aggressive excursion away from the home key is abruptly aborted with a return to that very same firm, secure home base. The B flat chord in any mode of A is the unusual "flat II" or "Neopolitan" chord (so-called because of its overly frequent use in 17th century opera of said venue), and what makes its use especially far out in a Beatles song is the fact that they resolve it directly to the I chord rather than via the V chord as is more customary in classical usage. Note how the Boys were so pleased with themselves over this that they recycled the exact same magic trick in "You're Going To Lose That Girl."
As a sort of side-bar digression, it is worth noting how TWST is one of the very few early Beatles songs to be so fully grounded in the minor mode. Through July '64, they had recorded 51 songs for official release (15 covers, 1 by Harrison, the remainder by L&M;), the great majority of which are clearly in Major keys.
A truly uncanny consistency is the fact the the last 5 songs in the list above *all* make conspicuous use of the trick of switching back and forth between Major/minor phrase or section endings. As I've asked before in other contexts, is this style or mannerism ?
The songs which contain only hints of the minor mode are also interesting. I'd say there are at least dozen or more of them in our sample study, but you might find more or less of them yourself depending on how picky or sensitive you are to this sort of thing. These "hints" are actually the result of a couple of different compositional techniques used frequently by the Beatles. For now, just some bullet descriptions with a few examples for further study:
- heavy use of bluesy cross-relations in a minor vocal part against Major chords in the accompaniment; e.g., "Can't Buy Me Love", "You Can't Do That", and "Money."
- emphasis on the I-vi progression; e.g., "It Won't Be Long", "All I've Got to Do", and "From Me To You".
- use of the flat sixth degree of the scale either melodically (e.g., "Do You Want To Know A Secret") or as part of the minor iv chord (e.g., "She Loves You", and "I Call Your Name").
And now back to the regularly scheduled program.
The vocal arrangement of TWST is neatly organized around the novelty of using only Paul throughout.
The first verse is primarily single track with two exceptions: the third phrase (as in every verse) has Paul harmonizing in parallel thirds with himself, and the second half of the last phrase of this verse (on the words "things we said today") suddenly shifts to double-tracking.
The remaining verses and both bridge sections are consistently double- tracked in unison with a few similar exceptions as above: the third phrase of each verse uses the same parallel thirds as in the first verse (each voice of which is single tracked), and the second half of the last phrase (again, on the title phrase) has Paul harmonizing with himself in rather early-Beatles-sounding open 4ths. Just as a teaser, this same harmonization appears still one place else, at the end of the second phrase of the final verse; yet again, we encounter the aesthetic of avoiding rote consistency.
By the way, this track is at least one example where the real stereo mix which may be found on the American vinyl pressing, "Something New", provides more easily discernable detail than the mono CD version of "AHDN". In stereo, the overdubbed second vocal is separated very far to the right.
We have just a brief two measures in which the backing texture of the verse is established. The even strumming and stroking of acoustic guitar and drums sets a predominantly tranquil mood, yet two details belie it, keeping you braced for possibly tenser times:
- the opening sixteenth-note rhythmic fanfare (di-di-DUM) calls you to attention with a bigger, more ominous bang than you'd think you might need given the supposedly gentle nature of the song to come.
- in the syncopated electric guitar part, the chords are stressed on the half beat in between beats 3 and 4 of the measure.
On the official recording of this song, the A minor chord is the only one used in this intro, whereas on the BEEB recording of July '64, you hear them changing to e minor 7 on the offbeats.
The verse is a standard sixteen measures long, and contains four phrases of even length. Three of these phrases (the first, second, and fourth) are musically very similar. Harmonically too, they are quite static featuring in every measure either the lone a minor chord, or with a change to e minor 7 on the off beat. While you'd expect to find a strict pattern as to which measures sustain the chord versus changing it, a close look reveals some internal inconsistencies throughout the official version, as well as between the official and the BEEB version cited above.
It is, of course, in the third phrase of this section ("Some day when we're dreaming ...") that the mood noticeably darkens, largely as a result of a momentary tonal ambiguity. It's clear right at the beginning of this phrase that the music is suddenly headed away from the home key, but the future course is kept uncertain. By the time we reach the B flat chord in the last measure, it is uncertain to our ears whether we might soon stabilize in the new key of F, or perhaps keep moving along the circle of fifths to the even more remote E flat chord. And yet, at this moment of most extreme tension, the B flat chord resolves surprisingly-yet-comfortingly back into the home key. I notate it below as though a modulation to F is the "correct" answer, but I think my prose description above is more faithful to one's internal experience:
m.9
|C |C9/7 |F |B flat |a
a: III flat II i
F: V I IV
Details such as the broad arpeggios in the electric guitar on the downbeat of each measure and the free-form way in which the words are scanned over the underlying rhythm in slow triplets and syncopation, not to mention the harmonized pseudo-duet also help set off this third phrase from the other three.
The first verse is the only one which is followed immediately by another verse and as a result, it includes a one-measure "reprise" of the intro including the little rhythmic fanfare. Similarly, the final verse connects directly into the outro which also is just a reprise of the material heard at the outset.
Verses two and three connect to bridge sections and feature a surprise ending on A Major instead of the minor chord you'd otherwise expect. It's worth noting how in these verses which adjoin the bridges, the "noisier" texture of the bridge-proper (see below) begins right in the final measure of the verse itself.
The bridge sections provide sudden contrast in virtually every category: the harmony shifts entirely and optimistically to the Major mode, the percussion gets much noisier including the addition a tambourine, and the bassline features a different rhythmic and melodic pattern. More to the point, the gambit of harmonic excursion and sudden return which we saw in the verses is now even further developed.
These bridges are each eight measures long and contain two phrases of even length. There is melodic parallelism between the two phrases which is made bittersweetly ironic by a difference in their harmony. The melody too is difficultly chromatic and adds to the emotional intensity of the section; in addition to the usual chords, I've chosen to notate below what I consider to be the structural backbone of this melody:
melody: C# D D# D natural
|A |D |B |E7 |
A: I IV V of V V7
C# D D# D natural C nat.
|A |D |B |B flat ||a
I IV V of V flat II i
Harmonically, the first phrase is "functional" in a relatively traditional way, although you'd sooner expect the D# in top voice of measure 3 to resolve upward to E rather than downward, as it does to D. And though the D fits quite logically on top of the E7 chord upon which it finds itself, the melodic descent conveys some small sense of emotional deflation, especially as it follows the first three measures of rising, happy-Major-mode expectations.
It's in the second phrase, where this same melodic backbone is suspended over an extremely unexpected substitution of the B flat chord for the E7 that the sun chillingly goes in for a brief moment; especially when this half-stepwise descent continues in a second surprise move to the A minor chord for the start of the following verse. As with the verse above, labelling the B flat chord a flat II maybe doesn't even fairly match your experience of the phrase. Perhaps, it's more like an unhinging sensation of harmonic free-fall which is brought to a merciful end by the sudden return to the home key.
As is common in songs of this period, the outro presents yet another reprise of the introductory material repeated into a fadeout. It would almost be an anti-climax except for the ingeniously unifying stroke of adding in the tambourine part from the bridge section. In spite of the fact that the steady reliability of the A minor backing riff extends as far as you can see to the horizon, this ending also suggests that little pangs of anxiety will also remain a permanent part of the tour.
Without the clues from the music itself, you might mistake this song for one of a time-honored and slightly hackneyed genre: sentimental words of parting between lovers overhead at a railway platform or baggage carousel. But I think it's a tad more complicated.
For one thing, the notion of a parting is mentioned only once, and even then, in hypothetical terms only. Even the rest of the lyrics, which on the surface can easily be read as sweet, simple, besotted gratitude for a love that is requited can easily be re-interpreted as containing more than just a suggestion of head-shaking skepticism and concern about the viability of love's lasting till the end of time; especially "if" one is so far away. This is what I mean about how the hot flashes of uncertainty in the music help elucidate the text.
But the ultimately "nice" message of the song is to be found in the repeating line which ends each verse, in which all fear is revealed to be an illusion. The transcendence of the background accompaniment and the ease with which the steady carrier frequency of the A minor key may be accessed again in spite of momentary free-falls and loss of contact vividly underscore the meaning of the words: that in spite of the potential-yet-inevitable strains upon it, be they tangible impediments or the one of times passing, love can and will persist, oftentimes though it has little more to sustain it than the memory of things we said today.
Regards,
Alan ([email protected] *OR* uunet!huxley!awp)
---
"They tried to fob you off on this musical charlatan,
but *I* gave him the test." 010591#24
--- H.B. Fran G&K;
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