"You Don't Believe"

A couple days ago, I figured out the chords for "You Don't Believe."  (I'm not sure if it's actually true, but it seems that I learn more parts from Ammonia Avenue than the other albums.  It's alphabetically first, so when I go to that part of my music collection to try to learn a part, that's the first album available.)  Because that's the only part I know and because listening to a recording of just chords would be boring, I'm not going to record a version.  Furthermore, according to the liner notes for the demo of "You Don't Believe," the chords (in both the demo and the final version) are sampled guitar chords played on a Fairlight, so I doubt I could match the tone very well even if I did try to record it.

I made sure to write them down, and while listening to the recording again to verify them, I noticed a connection between the chords and the lyrics.

The chords for the verses, as I figured them out, are:

C minor | Bb major | Eb major | C minor
Eb major | F major | C minor
C minor | Bb major | Eb major | C minor
Eb major | F major | C minor

Each line in the verses contains both a C minor chord and an Eb major chord.  C minor and Eb major are relative keys; they both have all of the same notes, just starting in different places.  Since "You Don't Believe" fades out at the end, there's no resolution, so it's sort of ambiguous whether the song is in C minor or Eb major (if I had to guess, I'd say C minor because it starts with a C note).  Tonally, it's like the song is alternately pulled toward either C minor or Eb major, and that same sort of division is in the lyrics.  Each line in the verses contains both "my" and "your."

First verse:

My eyes with your vision
My choice but always your decision
My play with your direction
Well it's my lead but always your connection

Second verse:

My words, your expression
My land, always your possession
My song, your production
My expense is always your deduction

Third verse:

My fame, your reflection
My weakness always your protection
Well it's my terms on your conditions
And they're my tunes but they're your compositions

In each line, possession is alternately first person ("my") or second person ("your") in the same way the song seems to be alternately in C minor or Eb major.

The Complete Albums Collection

Last month, I got The Complete Albums Collection box set:

I already had all of the albums; The Sicilian Defence is the only new material, but this is the only way to get it.

I was sort of surprised to find that two of the cardboard CD cases had gatefolds.

I Robot:

And Eve:

I haven't actually listened to the box set yet, partially because I haven't really had the time and partially because I don't really know what to do with some of the albums.  Like I mentioned above, I already had copies of all the albums (save The Sicilian Defence).  Of the copies I already had, about half are just the album as it was originally released, and the other half have bonus tracks in addition to the original album.  The albums in The Complete Albums Collection are only the albums, no bonus tracks (adding bonus tracks to the albums is probably the only thing that could have improved the box set).  When I rip the CDs from The Complete Albums Collection to my computer, I want to distinguish them from the albums I already had, and I don't know the best way to do that.  I'll probably just end up adding "The Complete Albums Collection Disc x" before each album title.

"A Dream within a Dream"

About two years ago, when I figured out the recorder part for "A Dream within a Dream," I mentioned that I have a recorder but it wasn't working.  Recently, I discovered why it hadn't been working:  I wasn't covering any of the holes (although I think its not having been played for over a decade didn't help either).  According to a fingering chart I found, covering at least one hole is required to make a note.  Now that I discovered my error, I can play my recorder again (although I'm still re-learning the fingerings).  The only part I could think of that's specifically for recorder is in "A Dream within a Dream."  Since it's only four pitches, I learned how to play that, and I also figured out the notation:

I have a soprano recorder, but I'm not sure that's what's used in "A Dream within a Dream."  Mine sounds higher.  The APP website lists just "recorders," which isn't very specific.

"Winding Me Up"

I haven't done much work on figuring out songs on Eve, so yester-day, I did some work on "Winding Me Up."  I think I have all of the electric piano part at the beginning, the bass part for the verses, and the chords for almost the entire song (there might be some differences at the very end).

This is just the first minute or so, but I'm pretty sure the sections are the same when they repeat.