Friday, August 13, 2021

"Can I Believe You"

I noticed a handful of significant melismas in "Can I Believe You."

"Go" in the line "Hasn't let me go" is sung with a melisma (C# B) for a sense of movement.  In the lines "If I don't, well, nothing will change / Stayin' under my weather all day," "change" is sung with a melisma (C# B G# F#) for a sense of the word's meaning, and "day" (G# B) is sung with a melisma for a sense of the entirety of "all."  "Much" in the line "Never held that much" is sung with a melisma (C# B) for a sense of amount (although negated).

I also noticed an ambiguity in the line "Can I believe you when you say I'm good?"  That's how it's printed in the vinyl gatefold, but it could also be written as "Can I believe you when you say, 'I'm good'?"

The most interesting thing I've noticed so far is in this section:
Lately I'm wondering too 
What type of desire I can break
When I'm one way with them, one with you
What half is it of me rearranged?
The vocal melody for this section is something like:


In the line "When I'm one way with them, one with you," the first "one" is sung on a downbeat, but the second "one" is sung on an upbeat.  This indicates their opposing natures.

Also, "break" is sung with a melisma (B G# F#), giving a sense of the word's meaning.