Music that sounds like the lyrics

[DownOnRodeo]

jbrownsjr's comment in another thread that Christine's keyboards in the outro to Crystal sound like the waves of the "sea" being referred to in the lyrics made me think of other moments when the music has sounded like the lyrics.


Albatross is literally just music designed to sound like the word in the title, and does a killer job of it

Dreams has a pre-chorus cymbal crash that coincides with the lyric "Thunder"

You Make Loving Fun has the tinkling chimes when Chris sings the word "magic"

Silver Springs (carpark version) has that wavering guitar that sounds like a flowing river

Sara has a rhythm part throughout that's akin to a heartbeat

Storms has a subtle drum roll near the end that sounds like thunder

Tango In The Night has a guitar glissando that evokes "the wind on the water"

Goodbye Baby has a metronome-like percussion evocative of the references to hourglasses and time


As subjective as it is, I'm sure there are many other instances.
Which have you noticed?
(Need not be limited to the Rumours lineup.)

[jbrownsjr]

The Little Lies intro sounds like a scene change, going back in time. (If this were a film or episode.

And then she sings, "If I could turn the page..."

[Macfan4life]

Second Time scares stray cats away from the house

[aleuzzi]

I always thought the tripping drum fill on Everywhere just after Christine sings “peculiarly” was a perfect match of lyric and music.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

I always thought the tripping drum fill on Everywhere just after Christine sings “peculiarly” was a perfect match of lyric and music.

That's really cool!! I have to go listen to it now.

[WalkAThinLine.]

A person by the name of David Bennet did a video on a topic similar to this. The concept is called word painting, where the music reflects the meaning of the words. One of the example this article uses is Handel's Messiah, where the lowest note of the composition is the word "valley".

For the first part of "Over My Head's" chorus, ("I'm over my head") the chords ascend in pitch twice before descending back comfortably. Similarly, on Christine McVie's "Got a Hold On Me", her voice ascends in pitch on "You're lifting me up" and descends on "Never let me down".

[aleuzzi]

A very literal example—the car horn in “Sugar Daddy” when she mentions the big fancy car.

The creepy pitch-bending voice effects towards the end of “Liar” support the malice of the song. And Steve Ferrone drops a sharp drum beat towards the end of “Bad Journey” when Christine sings “I saw the cracks appear on your loving face…”

In effect, any good producer will make sure the music enhances the words and a good singer will make sure words are illuminated.

[GypsySorcerer]

The organ in Over My Head sounds like Ferris wheel music.

[Macfan4life]

I may need some help with adjectives here. The music to Why moves me so much. It moves my soul and is the most beautiful track Fleetwood Mac has performed like Oh Daddy but more solemn. Bob Weston's slide guitar at the beginning is so lonely. He starts to play and almost trying to find a good melody. Then the piano kicks in and joins the solemn guitar and gives the song direction. Chris's singing is pure blues but the music is her full partner in this song. When the strings start echoing the guitars is so moving. I dont know how to describe it. It fits/sounds like the lyrics perfectly. We feel Chris's pain and her heartbreak. So could there any other song that the music feels like the lyrics? Early Fleetwood Mac with strings? Clearly they were going for an effect and it sucks you in.
I wish we could have had a round table of Chris and both Bobs and the rest of the band about this song. I want to know who came up with these ideas.

[FuzzyPlum]

I find the music to warm ways evocative of the lyrics….kind of.
For some reason I get the sense of the song being set by the sea. I imagine Christine waking up early morning next to her lover in a house by a beach. Maybe Malibu beach or something.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by FuzzyPlum

I find the music to warm ways evocative of the lyrics….kind of.
For some reason I get the sense of the song being set by the sea. I imagine Christine waking up early morning next to her lover in a house by a beach. Maybe Malibu beach or something.

I can see that. Its funny how music makes us picture settings. The Oh Daddy track makes me think of a magical forest at sunrise. I can totally sense the gentle surf against the shore during Warm Ways. Its morning there too.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

I may need some help with adjectives here. The music to Why moves me so much. It moves my soul and is the most beautiful track Fleetwood Mac has performed like Oh Daddy but more solemn. Bob Weston's slide guitar at the beginning is so lonely. He starts to play and almost trying to find a good melody. Then the piano kicks in and joins the solemn guitar and gives the song direction. Chris's singing is pure blues but the music is her full partner in this song. When the strings start echoing the guitars is so moving. I dont know how to describe it. It fits/sounds like the lyrics perfectly. We feel Chris's pain and her heartbreak. So could there any other song that the music feels like the lyrics? Early Fleetwood Mac with strings? Clearly they were going for an effect and it sucks you in.
I wish we could have had a round table of Chris and both Bobs and the rest of the band about this song. I want to know who came up with these ideas.

I believe the strings were Christine’s arp string ensemble, which she played herself. I could be wrong. Certainly, the ase is frequently used on Heroes.

The effect of matching riffs, first played by the guitar and then by strings is a kind of call-and-response unison—and it’s very powerful here. That was often used by Green and Kirwan (ie: Like It This Way, World in Harmony, portions of the Madge jams). And, on Rolling Man from Mr. Wonderful, the horns and guitar play off one another this way, too.

In his Penguin Q-A, Weston breaks down a bit of his contribution to Why. He wrote the intro and claims to have arranged the guitar riffs while Christine was focusing elsewhere in the studio on “a trifle concerned with her part.” He believed he should have received partial arranger’s credit for the song.

[FuzzyPlum]

Mystified…..the whole musical arrangement conveys something magical and mystifying. But in particular when she sings ‘the light that shines around you….’ There’s a twinkling guitar (or are they keys? IDK). The sound really conveys a sparkling, twinkling light.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

I believe the strings were Christine’s arp string ensemble, which she played herself. I could be wrong. Certainly, the ase is frequently used on Heroes.

The effect of matching riffs, first played by the guitar and then by strings is a kind of call-and-response unison—and it’s very powerful here. That was often used by Green and Kirwan (ie: Like It This Way, World in Harmony, portions of the Madge jams). And, on Rolling Man from Mr. Wonderful, the horns and guitar play off one another this way, too.

In his Penguin Q-A, Weston breaks down a bit of his contribution to Why. He wrote the intro and claims to have arranged the guitar riffs while Christine was focusing elsewhere in the studio on “a trifle concerned with her part.” He believed he should have received partial arranger’s credit for the song.

According to the album a guy named Richard Antony Hewson is given credit for strings. He has worked with many artists including the awesome Jigsaw for their hit single "Sky High" which was just a year or so after Why. I love both songs. The strings offer great effect on both songs. Would it not be wonderful to have sat down with Chris and asked her all these questions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Anthony_Hewson

[Penguin Emeritus]

Originally Posted by FuzzyPlum

I find the music to warm ways evocative of the lyrics….kind of.
For some reason I get the sense of the song being set by the sea. I imagine Christine waking up early morning next to her lover in a house by a beach. Maybe Malibu beach or something.

That's where she and John were living when she wrote that, in their tiny 'bedsitter' (as she called it) on the beach-- she said it was basically one room with a balcony...she wrote it on a Hohner 'Pianette' that she kept in the alcove that was their bedroom. When the interviewer asked John if he was there, he said no, but chris insisted, 'You were!! You were reading!!' Apparently he had no recollection lol

--Lis