Hi floyd,

Yet another very engaging and very enjoyable listen from you. I heard this a while back and the song has been rumbling around in my mind ever since... that's a good thing!

The ensemble, well more the size of an orchestra in fact, that you've created for this production really does deliver the goods. Your always-outstanding singing is backed by a fantastic sound and a sterling arrangement.

As I listened today, I found myself wondering about what to write and then the chorus started...

This is a great chorus and serves as an excellent example of how to use rhymes to accelerate lyrics. Before that though, you show us all how to use lyric movement to set-up the acceleration.

I'll try and explain my thinking...

In the opening line of the chorus, you sustain the word "do" - it's an open vowel sound and sustains well. By holding this syllable, though, you (a) change lyric tempo and tell the listener that the chorus has arrived, and (b) you also decelerate the flow of words.

The second line of the chorus is then delivered in syllables that fit on and between a marching left-right-left-right feel. Then, on "Go to her", the rhythmic movement of the words slows even further so that each syllable sits on one full beat. This leads into a fourth phrase that rhymes with the second phrase and whose pace parallels the second phrase. The net result of all this is that the rhyme movement of rhyming lines 2 and 4 is established and sets the tone. That is, by this stage, we hear a XAXA rhyme scheme and a variable lyric pace based on 3-feet and 4-feet poetic meter.

Then comes the surprise...

In lines 5, 6, 7 and 8, there are shorter phrases (2-feet in poet's terms) and the rhymes become a quick alternating CDCD pattern. The feeling of these shorter phrases and consequent closer rhymes is a sense of 'urgency' that parallels the lyrics so very well. The phrase "excellent prosody" just sprang to mind as I'm quoting the below...

Quote:
"your heart keeps racing
"you can't think straight
"time is wasting
"love won't wait"

And then, for me at least, the pièce de résistance was the final chorus line that (a) decelerates, (b) doesn't rhyme and (c) is the hook. By this stage, that line has a ton of lyric spotlights shining brightly on it and these all serve to identify it as the most important line in the song.

What wonderful writing!

Thanks for giving me another fine work to ponder, to process and, hopefully, to be able to imitate at some later point in time.

All the best,
Noel

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