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".