Sunday, November 23, 2014

The Moody Blues - "The Voice" (1981)

A top twenty hit in the U.S., this song has twelve parts. The verse is not of the type to occur in groups of two or more; it needs the chorus to follow, so that happens every time.

After the first two verses, you get the bridge. There is a way they could have ended the bridge after eight bars, but they don't. The four bars that follow ("Can you hear the spirit calling?" etc.) could also bring it to a close, but instead links to a developmental extension. And man, they pour it on here with long-held notes and harmonies. It's an irregular seven-bar phrase and we're already at nineteen bars of the bridge.

Is that enough? No, it needs a repeat! Keep it going! Here, they finally twist it around in six bars instead of seven to finally lead back in to the next verse. Thirty-nine seconds have elapsed.

After a verse, chorus, guitar solo, and another chorus, the bridge repeats. This time, there are new words for the first part, new words for the four-bar extension, but the ending part remains the same, creating a lovely refrain.

No comments:

Post a Comment