"Step by Step"

In the lines "Risin' on the crest of a natural wave / That never seems to break my way" in "Step by Step," the "way" is sung with a melisma (D D C C, I think), so while "break" is negated, there is a musical sense of fragmentation.

"Step by Step"

This morning, I listened to Eye in the Sky and started thinking about the backing vocals in the choruses of "Step by Step."  Specifically, I was wondering about the intervals between the pitches (I think I may have wondered about this before, but I couldn't find any notes I'd written to myself about it).  This afternoon, I figured out the melodies, and I discovered that - for one of the voices, at least - those backing vocal phrases are all conjunct melodies.  Each pitch is either the same as the preceding pitch or ascends or descends by a second (whole steps and half steps), so the "step by step" in the lyrics is represented musically.

As always, there's the disclaimer that I might be wrong, but I think the melodies are something like this:

The lyrics are:

Step by step
Move a little closer to me
Step by step
One day at a time
Move, move, move
Move a little closer to me
Step by step