"Standing on Higher Ground"

In "Standing on Higher Ground," in the second of each pair of "Way above it all"s, the "all" is sung with a melisma (G F), musically giving a sense of breadth.

Gaudi

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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While listening to Gaudi earlier this week, I noticed a few lyrical/musical connections.

In "Standing on Higher Ground," some (but - interestingly - not all) of the "standing on higher ground" lines go upwards at the end.  "Ground" has a melisma, and the second syllable is higher, apparently to reflect the difference in elevation.  I actually didn't notice this until I tried to record a version of it yester-day.

In "Money Talks," after the line "You roll the dice," there are rapid hammer-ons and pull-offs in the guitar part, apparently to reflect the tumbling of the dice.

"Standing on Higher Ground"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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Like the crosses inscribed in the guitar part in "Too Late," I'd thought I'd found an-other hidden religious element in "Standing on Higher Ground."  I'd thought that the synth bass part was just three notes (three is an important number in Christianity), but then I learned that part and discovered that it's more than three notes.  So while I was wrong, I still learned part of "Standing on Higher Ground."

However, when I tried recording a version, it ended up sounding terrible.  I couldn't match the tone of the synth, plus I had to play it manually instead of programming it (I have yet to learn how to program things), so the tempo varied a bit.

So I know that synth bass part, the two four-note phrases, and the chords, but until I become more experienced with synthesizers, I won't have a recording to prove it.