"What Goes Up"

Yester-day, I came across the maxim "what goes up must come down" in a book I'm reading.  Of course, this reminded me of "What Goes Up," and I realized that the caesura in title line (the small break between "what goes up" and "must come down") creates a bit of suspense as the listener waits for the line to be completed.

"What Goes Up"

I listened to Pyramid (on vinyl) yester-day and noticed a couple small things.

In "What Goes Up," there's alliteration in the line "How can you be so sure?"  This repetition illustrates the firmness of that certainty.

"What Goes Up"

I'd forgotten about this, but in looking through some notes I made, I discovered that a couple weeks ago (11 July), I realized that the first "What goes up" in "What Goes Up" ascends (C C Eb), musically illustrating that "go[ing] up."

The following "Must come down" isn't sung to a descending phrase (it's Bb Bb C), but that phrase as a whole is lower than the phrase to which "What goes up" is sung.  Similarly, "What must rise" is sung to an ascending phrase (C C Eb), and "Must fall" is sung to a descending phrase (F D).

When I referenced the song just now to find specific notes, I also discovered that it contains the phrase "writing on the wall."  As I mentioned with "Children of the Moon" (which also contains this phrase), "the writing on the wall" ultimately comes from Daniel 5 in the Bible.

"What Goes Up"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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Similar to what I did with "Beaujolais" a few days ago, when I wrote out the tab for what I know of "What Goes Up" last night, I discovered that I had a few errors in the bass part.  Also, I learned a guitar phrase (just three notes).

"What Goes Up"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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Last night I figured out a few parts for "What Goes Up."  While I was recording this, I realized that I had the bass part wrong.  I think I've fixed it, but since it was a quick correction, it might still have some errors.