"I'm Not My Season"

The first two lines of "I'm Not My Season" are "Blood of my blood / Skin of my skin."  This provides a small connection between "I'm Not My Season" and "Shore," which begins with the line "Kin of my kin."  All three of these phrases seem to take their structure (and perhaps even more) from similar phrases in Genesis 2:23:  "Then the man said, 'This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.'"

"Young Man's Game"

The first phrase in "Young Man's Game" is "New day rising," and as if to reflect that "rising," this phrase ascends (B D E F#).

In the line "Find something unique to say," the second (rather than the first) syllable of "something" is emphasized, and to some degree, this illustrates that "unique[ness]."

"Life" in the line "For all my life" is sung with a melisma (F# E D), musically giving a sense of the entirety of that "all."

"Maestranza"

In the line "Now that the water runs" in "Maestranza," "runs" is sung with a melisma (F# E), musically giving a sense of movement.

"A Long Way Past the Past"

In "A Long Way Past the Past," "'round" in the line "I can't turn the hand 'round" is sung with a melisma (it's C G A in the higher voice, and I think just A F in the lower voice), so while negated, there's a sense of movement (for "turn").  "Down" in the line "But still it looks a long way down" is sung with a descending melisma (G F E D C in the higher voice; E D C in the lower).  Musically, this gives a sense of the meaning of the word itself and also of the adjective "long."  "Through" in the line "I made me own way through" is also sung with a melisma (D G in the higher voice; B E in the lower); this too gives a sense of movement.

"Featherweight"

In the line "And somehow I see it's free" in "Featherweight," "free" is sung with a melisma (D C Bb G F G C).  Since the word isn't constrained to a single pitch, there's a sense of its meaning.  That may not be the intended meaning in this context though (it's a bit unclear), so this may not be a valid point.

"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.

"Sunblind"

Since I started figuring out parts for the songs on Shore last month, I figured I might as well start to write about some of the things I noticed while listening to the album, although many of them are just minor points.

In the line "I'm going out for a weekend" in "Sunblind," "out" is sung with a melisma (C D E B), musically giving a sense of movement.

"Every" in the line "Carrying every text that you've given" is sung with three syllables, giving a sense of number.

"Montezuma"

I listened to Helplessness Blues to-day because it's the tenth anniversary of its release.  I noticed a handful of things in "Montezuma," mostly in this verse:

In dearth or in excess

Both the slave and the empress

Will return to the dirt, I guess

Naked as when they came

"In dearth or in excess" and "Both the slave and the empress" are merisms.  A merism is a rhetorical device used to indicate a wide range by naming two opposites.  The two here illustrate that, no matter his status or position, everyone dies.

"As naked as when they came" seems to be an allusion to Job 1:21:  "And he [Job] said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return.  The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.'"

Near the end of the song, there's the line "Montezuma to Tripoli," which is also a merism.

"On Another Ocean (January / June)"

In the line "Wherever you run" in "On Another Ocean (January / June)," the three syllables of "wherever" are sung to different pitches (Bb Db C), giving something of a sense of the word's meaning.  "Run" is sung with a melisma (Db Eb Db), musically giving a sense of movement.

"Grown Ocean"

It doesn't affect the meaning very much, but the lines "Children grown on the edge of the ocean / Kept like jewelry kept with devotion" in "Grown Ocean" could be understood in two different ways.  As printed on the record sleeve, "kept with devotion" modifies "jewelry" because there's no comma between those phrases.  If it were written as "Kept like jewelry, kept with devotion," both "kept like jewelry" and "kept with devotion" would modify "children" from the previous line.

"The Shrine/An Argument"

I have a vinyl copy of Helplessness Blues, and the lyrics for "The Shrine/An Argument" are printed in such a way that separation and absence are emphasized.  What I would render as single lines, the record has as:

Underneath were all these pennies

Fallen from the hands of

Children they were there and

Then were gone.

and

But that day, you know, I left

My money and I thought of you only

All that copper glowin' fine.

Such renderings draw attention to the separation of the pennies from the children, the children's absence, and the separation of the narrator and his money.

"Day" in the line "Ev'ry day a-passin' complete" is sung with a melisma (Eb F Eb), giving something of a sense of that "ev'ry."

There's consonance in the line "In the ocean washin' off my name from your throat," and this particular sound in this context suggests scouring or scraping clean.

"Someone You'd Admire"

In "Someone You'd Admire," a second voice comes in for "I walk with others...," so there's a musical representation of that companionship.

The phrase "gnash their teeth" seems to be a Biblical reference.  It's actually in a few places in Matthew where Jesus explains some parables, but Matthew 13:41-42 is probably the most easily quotable:  "The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace.  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

The strumming pattern emphasizes "claw" and "gnash" in the line "Claw at my skin and gnash their teeth and shout."  Both of these words occur on the first beat of the bar and coincide with the most forceful strum.