"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).
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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. Formal structure of [153] "I'm So Tired": Verse 1 0:01-0:24 Verse 2 0:24-0:47 Chorus 0:47-1:07 Verse 3 1:07-1:29 Chorus 1:29-1:48 Coda (ch) 1:48-2:03 Comments: Here, too, we find a very structurally simply song. That being said, I did ponder whether the chorus should be labeled as a middle 8 instead. One characteristic of choruses is that they are often sung by many people singing in unison (hence the term chorus) - think of "Yellow Submarine", "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill", or "Hey Jude", for examples. In "I'm So Tired", Paul supplies harmony vocals, but only Lennon sings lead - there is no chorus to speak of - which suggests middle 8 might be the better term. But, another characteristic of choruses is the increased energy, which is certainly the case here. Conversely, a characteristic of middle 8s is differing harmonies to provide contrast with the verses. In "I'm Only Sleeping", the section in question uses the chords A, E, and D - all of which were also used at at least twice in each verse, and therefore are hardly contrasting with the verse. All of this is to say that there is some degree of ambiguity in the terminology, but I find chorus to be the better fit of the two labels. The three-note guitar anacrusis accounts for the fact that there is no introduction, but the verse doesn't start until 0:01. Verses 1 and 2 are contiguous (as they were in [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"). The macro-scale formal design may be seen as three iterations of verse + chorus, with the first iteration omitting the chorus (resulting in the contiguous verses described in the above paragraph), all followed by the coda, which is simply an extension of the chorus:
Formal structure of [152] "Long Long Long":
Intro (v) 0:00-0:10 Verse 1 0:10-0:42 Verse 2 0:42-1:14 Middle 8 1:14-1:40 Verse 3 (ext.) 1:40-2:31 Coda (ind.) 2:31-3:05 Comments: This is another that is very simple structurally. Verses 1 and 2 are contiguous (as they were in [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", and [149] "Honey Pie"). Verse 3 incorporates an extension of 7 additional measures and 19 extra seconds that connects the final verse to the coda. Formal structure of [151] "Martha My Dear":
Intro (v) 0:00-0:19 Verse 1 0:19-0:38 Middle 8 0:38-1:00 Extension 1:00-1:20* Solo (v) 1:20-1:40 Middle 8 1:40-2:03 Verse 2 2:03-2:22 Coda 2:22-2:28 Comments: The first middle 8 is extended by 20 extra seconds, but a listener does not realize it's an extension until the middle 8 is repeated without the extension later on in the song. This extension is also highlighted by the first use of percussion to that point in the track. The macro structure of "Martha My Dear" is (roughly) palindromic. This follows [33] "I'll Be Back", [93] "Strawberry Fields Forever", [94] "When I'm Sixty-Four", [97] "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", [98] "Good Morning Good Morning", and [136] "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", all of which also employed palindromic formal designs (and [57] "I've Just Seen a Face", and [114] "All You Need Is Love", which both employed inverse palindromic structures). I say "roughly" because the intro is somewhat lengthy (19 seconds) while it's palindromic counterpart, the coda, is quite brief (6 seconds); and because the first middle 8 is extended, which does not correlate to a strictly palindromic formal design because the second middle 8 is not similarly extended. Formal structure of [150] "Savoy Truffle": Intro/Tag 0:00-0:05* Verse 1 0:05-0:28 Chorus 0:28-0:36 Tag 0:36-0:40* Verse 2 0:40-1:03 Chorus 1:03-1:12 Middle 8 1:12-1:27 Solo (v) 1:27-1:51 Chorus 1:51-1:59 Middle 8 1:59-2:15 Verse 3 2:15-2:46 Chorus 1:51-1:59 Chorus/Coda 2:46-2:54* Comments: At just four measures in length, this is one of the shortest choruses in all of Beatles music. In fact, I debated whether or not to classify it separately from the verse, but given the repetition of lyrics and the use of different chords, I conclude that they are different enough to justify the above labeling. The coda is simply that brief chorus repeated an extra time, resulting in contiguous choruses (like [44b] "Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey", [58] "I'm Down", [73] "Think For Yourself", [90] "Good Day Sunshine", [113] "It's All Too Much", [114] "All You Need Is Love", [117] "Blue Jay Way", and [133] "Cry Baby Cry"). The tag's function is textbook at the beginning - it serves as an introduction, and also a "structural glue" to hold together the different sections. But after the second time, it is never heard again. Why is uncertain, although I can guess that it would have felt less lean with additional tags before the solo or verse 3. Looking at the macro structure of "Savoy Truffle", then, it can be divided in two, with each half being further broken down into two iterations of a particular structural pattern:
Formal structure of [149] "Honey Pie":
Intro (ind) 0:00-0:39 Verse 1 0:39-0:52* Verse 2 0:52-1:06* Middle 8 1:06-1:19 Verse 3 1:19-1:33 Solo/Break 1 (v) 1:33-1:46* Solo/Break 2 (v) 1:46-1:59* Middle 8 1:59-2:12 Verse 4 2:12-2:26 Coda (v) 2:26-2:40 Comments: Here's another to use contiguous verses, with verses 1 and 2, just as the Beatles had done previously in [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", and [145] "I Will". Everything is structurally very standard except for the solo/breaks, which are somewhere between the two categories. The guitar solos for a few seconds at the start of the first solo/break (which implies the section is a solo), but then dies away for the second half of the section, leaving no soloist and just the rhythm section (suggesting the section is a break). Solo/break 2 uses saxophones (implying a break) and McCartney improvises vocals, so it might be thought of as a vocal solo. In any case, the structural labeling is ambiguous. Regardless of nomenclature, however, there clearly are two of them, and both are based on the verse's chord progression. Multiple solos is not terribly rare in Beatles music ([29b] "Long Tall Sally", [38] "I'm a Loser", [46b] "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby", [46e] "Honey Don't", [58] "I'm Down", and [119] "The Fool on the Hill" all used multiple solos, of which only [38] "I'm a Loser" used the multiple solos contiguously), but this is just the second (behind [88] "Yellow Submarine") to use two breaks, and the first to use them contiguously. Formal structure of [148] "Happiness is a Warm Gun":
Part A (fingerpicking) 0:00-0:44 0:00-0:14 "She's not a girl who misses much..." 0:14-0:44 "She's well acquainted with the touch..." Part B (waltz) 0:44-1:13 0:44-0:59 instrumental 0:59-1:13 "I need a fix cuz I'm going down..." Part C (mother superior) 1:13-1:34 Part D (doo-wop) 1:34-2:44 Comments: Many songs on The White Album are fascinating for their novelty. The term "novelty" is often used in a negative context - to call something a "novelty song" is to dismiss it as inferior in quality. There are several Beatles songs - and mostly Paul's - that can easily be dismissed as such ("Rocky Raccoon" comes to mind, along with "Wild Honey Pie", and "Why Don't We Do It In the Road"). But it is without any such negative connotations - and actually, it is with great interest, respect, and enthusiasm - that I call "Happiness is a Warm Gun" novel in denotative sense of "something unusual or new; different from anything prior". The music is comprised of four macro sections that contain few musical similarities. Part A is defined by a particular finger-picking pattern that was quite popular with the Beatles at this time (other songs from the same album to use this particular fingerpicking pattern were "Julia", "Blackbird", "Dear Prudence", "I'm So Tired", and "Cry Baby Cry"). Part B is defined by the use of triple meter (three beats to the bar), which in this case produces a somewhat "waltzy" feel. Part C is defined by irregular time signatures and the lyrics "Mother Superior jumped the gun", which are heard a total of six times. And Part D is defined by the use of 1950's Doo Wop cliches - including the ubiquitous "Doo Wop" chord progression (more on this when I do my harmonic analysis of "Happiness"). Cohesion within each structural section is achieved through immediate repetition of a particular motif or chord progression. The overall structure of the song, then, has less to do with motivic cohesion than it does with intensity and density (which can be thought of somewhat crudely as the number of notes heard per second) of sound - the first section is the calmest and least dense, the second and third sections build the intensity and density, and the fourth and final section is the most intense and most dense. This notion of building intensity over the course of an entire piece is sometimes called an "orchestrational crescendo", and does have classical precedent: Maurice Ravel's Bolero is the most famous example; the first movement of Dmitri Shostakovitch's 7th Symphony is another. In "Happiness is a Warm Gun", the intensity and density build through the first three sections until the climax (like a gun firing?) in the all-out Doo Wop of the final section. |
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