Things We Said Today- The Beatles - Lennon/McCartney (Paul)
|
In Am, more or less... as recorded, on the U.K. Hard Day’s Night LP,
and the
U.S. Something New LP, both released
in July 1964.
Intro chords: three
quick-strummed Am triplets. Verse one starts on
the third one.
Am Em Am
Em Am Em
Am
1. You say you will love me... if I have to go
Am Em Am Em Am Em Am
You'll
be thinking of me... somehow I will know
C C9
F
Bb
Someday when
I'm lonely... wishing you weren't so far away
Am
Em Am Em
Am Em Am
(one quick-strummed Am triplet)
Then I will
remember... things we said today
2. You say you'll be mine, girl... ‘til the end of
time
These
days such a kind girl... seems so hard to find
Someday when
we're dreaming... deep in love, not a lot to say
A
Then we will
remember... things we said today
A D B7 E7 A
Me I'm just the
lucky kind, love to hear you say that love is love,
D B7 Bb7
And though we
may be blind, love is here to stay and that's e-
Am Em
3. -nough to make you mine, girl... be the only
one
Love me all the time, girl...
we'll go on and on
Someday when
we're dreaming... deep in love, not a lot to say
Then we will
remember... things we said today
Me I'm just the
lucky kind, love to hear you say that love is love,
And though we
may be blind, love is here to stay and that's e-
4. -nough to make you mine, girl... be the only
one
Love me all the time, girl...
we'll go on and on
Someday when we're dreaming...
deep in love,
not a lot to say
Then we will
remember... things we said today.
Editors notes:
LYRICS: Verified against an
.mp3 of the recording. 99% confidence. This is a real ‘Paul song’, and the
vocal is, apparently, Paul and only Paul. Verse 1 appears to be single-tracked
and everything else sounds double-tracked (in unison). Harmony is scant, but
consider the major-thirds-below passage in the third line of each verse:
C C9 F Bb
Someday when I'm lonely... wishing you weren't so far a - way
melody: e e e
eb d c c c
a c d
d d
harmony: c c c
b bb a a a
f a bb bb bb
CHORDS: 95%
confidence. Transcriptions sometimes show C7 as the chord
over “lonely” that stars the circle-of-fifths excursion away from the key of
Am. C9 is what
the Beatles used, according to my Big Official songbook, and A. W. P.’s Notes
On article (see below).
This makes perfect sense, as the melody at this point is d, which is the 9 for a C chord. The chord should
include the 7 as well, so that it pulls convincingly to the next stone in the
stream, F. The standard way to play a C9 in 1st
position is x32333, which calls for holding down the notes on the three high strings
with the ring finger, as a kind of half-barre. It's worth learning, as it's
highly portable, but if you find it awkward, a good (but 5-less) alternative is
x32330 – leaving the 1st string to ring open the 3 of the chord, as
it does in the familiar 1st position C major chord: x32010.
I can’t hear George’s part
– played on a 6-string electric, perhaps his Country Gentleman – well enough to
transcribe it exactly, but he’s essentially playing higher-up inversions of the
same chords. Here’s the arrangement I’ve worked out for 2nd guitar, which
covers roughly the same territory:
Éalternate grips for Am and
Em
Am xxx9-10-8 Em xxx9-8-7 Am Em
Am x0-7-5-5-5 Em 0-7-9-9-8-7 Am
2. You say... you'll
be... mine, girl... ‘til the... end of... time
.....
C xxx12-13-12 B-b5 xxx12-12-11 C9 xxx9-11-10 F xxx10-10-8 Bb xxx11-12-11
Someday... when we're... dreaming... deep
in love, not a lot to say
Am Em Am
Em Am Em A xxx6-5-5
Then we will
remember... things we said today
A xxx9-10-9 D xxx11-10-10 B7 xxx11-10-11 E7 xxx13-12-10 A
Me I'm just the
lucky kind... love to hear you say
that love is love,
D B7 xx(10)-11-10-11 Bb7 xx(9)-10-9-10
And though we may
be blind, love is here to... stay
and that's e-
[These shorthand chord symbols show the fret number
to play on each string, starting from the lowest (6th) string on the
left. “x” means omit or mute. Fret numbers in parentheses indicate notes that
may be either played or omitted.]
[B-b5* George definitely does not play this passing
chord between C and C9, but the three chords as a package echo exactly what the
chromatic vocal and harmony are doing: c-e b-eb bb-d... so it’s hard to resist.
Note that the chord I’ve spelled out here is not a straight B, but rather a B
with a flatted 5... with the g held over from the previous C chord. This keeps
that chord tone, at least, within the Am / C major scale and makes for a
smoother transition between the two chords it links, like something George
might think of.]
[Another groovy way to harmonize that third line:
C xxx553
B-b5 xxx443 C9 xxx333 F xxx211 Bb xxx331]
- Transcribed
by JR and WA, Oct 2002. Last edited 25 Oct 2002. Formatting last tweaked 27 Oct
2002.
[converted from Word doc to html by Word 2000]
From Alan W. Pollack's Notes On entry for ‘Things We Said Today’:
[ http://beatles.cselt.stet.it/rmb/files/awp/twst.html
]
- On the harmonic side, a B flat chord is used in both the
verse and bridge as part of a gambit in which what has started off as an
aggressive excursion away from the home key is abruptly aborted with a return
to that very same firm, secure home base. The B flat chord in any mode of A is
the unusual "flat-II" or "Neapolitan" chord
(so-called because of its overly frequent use in 17th century opera of said
venue), and what makes its use especially far out in a Beatles song is the fact
that they resolve it directly to the I chord rather
than via the V chord as is more customary in classical usage. Note how
the Boys were so pleased with themselves over this that they recycled the exact same magic trick in "You're Going To Lose
That Girl."
Arrangement
- The vocal arrangement of TWST is neatly organized around
the novelty of using only Paul throughout.
- The first verse is primarily single tracked with two exceptions: the third phrase (“Someday when I’m lonely / we’re dreaming”) (as in every verse) has Paul harmonizing in parallel [lower] thirds with himself, and the second half of the last phrase of this verse (on the words "things we said today") suddenly shifts to double tracking [unison].
- The remaining verses and
both bridge sections are consistently double-tracked in unison with a
few similar exceptions as above: the third phrase of each verse uses the same
parallel thirds as in the first verse (each voice of which is single tracked),
and the second half of the last phrase (again, on the title phrase) has Paul
harmonizing with himself in rather early-Beatles-sounding open 4ths. Just as a
teaser, this same harmonization appears still one place else, at the end of the
second phrase of the final verse; yet again, we encounter the aesthetic of
avoiding rote consistency.
Intro:
- We have just a brief two measures in which the backing texture of the verse is established. The even strumming and stroking of acoustic guitar and drums sets a predominantly tranquil mood, yet two details belie it, keeping you braced for possibly tenser times ahead.
- First off, the opening sixteenth-note [strummed triplet]
rhythmic fanfare (di-di-DUM) calls you to attention with a bigger, more ominous
bang than you'd think you might need given the supposedly gentle nature of the
song to come.
- Secondly, in the syncopated
electric guitar part, the chords are stressed on the half beat in between beats
3 and 4 of the measure.
- On the official recording of this song, the a minor chord is the only one used in this intro, whereas on the BEEB recording of July '64, you hear them changing to Em7 on the offbeat. [“BEEB” version??]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Verse:
- The verse is a standard sixteen measures long, and contains four phrases of even length. Three of these phrases (the first, second, and fourth) are musically very similar. Harmonically too, they are quite static featuring in every measure either the lone a minor chord, or with a change to e minor 7 on the offbeat. While you'd expect to find a strict pattern as to which measures sustain the chord versus changing it, a close look reveals some internal inconsistencies throughout the official version, as well as between the official and the BEEB version cited above.
- It is, of course, in the third phrase of this section
("Some day when we're dreaming ...") that the mood noticeably darkens,
largely as a result of a momentary tonal ambiguity. It's clear right at the
beginning of this phrase that the music is suddenly headed away from the home
key, but the future course is kept uncertain. By the time we reach the B flat
chord in the last measure, it is uncertain to our ears whether we might soon
stabilize in the new key of F, or perhaps keep moving along the circle of
fifths to the even more remote E flat chord. And
yet, at this moment of most extreme tension, the B flat chord resolves
surprisingly-yet-comfortingly back into the home key. I notate it below
as though a modulation to F is the "correct" answer, but I think my
prose description above is more faithful to one's internal experience:
m.9
| C
| C9/7 | F | Bb | Am
key of Am:
III
flat-VI flat-II Im
key of F:
V
I IV IIIm
- Details such as the broad
arpeggios in the electric guitar [?] on the downbeat of each measure and
the free-form way in which the words are scanned over the underlying rhythm in
slow triplets and syncopation, not to mention the harmonized pseudo-duet also
help set off this third phrase from the other three.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Verse Variations:
- The first verse is the only one that is followed immediately by another verse and as a result, it includes a one-measure "reprise" of the intro including the little rhythmic fanfare. Similarly, the final verse connects directly into the outro which also is just a reprise of the material heard at the outset.
- Verses two and three connect to bridge sections and
feature a surprise ending on A major instead of
the minor chord you'd otherwise expect. It's worth noting how in these verses
which adjoin the bridges, the "noisier" texture of the bridge-proper
(see below) begins right in the final measure of the verse itself.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bridge:
- The bridge sections provide sudden
contrast in virtually every category: the harmony shifts entirely and
optimistically to the major mode, the percussion gets much noisier including
the addition a tambourine, and the bass line features a different rhythmic and
melodic pattern. More to the point, the gambit of
harmonic excursion and sudden return which we saw in the verses is now even
further developed.
- These bridges are each eight measures long and contain two phrases of even length. There is melodic parallelism between the two phrases which is made bitter sweetly ironic by a difference in their harmony. The melody too is difficultly chromatic and adds to the emotional intensity of the section; in addition to the usual chords, I've chosen to notate below what I consider to be the structural backbone of this melody:
melody: | c# | d |
d# | d |
| A | D |
B |
E7 |
key of A: I
IV V of V
V7
| c# | d |
d# | d || c
| A | D |
B |
Bb || Am
I
IV V of V flat-II Im
- Harmonically, the first phrase is "functional" in a relatively traditional way, although you'd sooner expect the d# in the top voice of measure 3 to resolve upward to e rather than downward, as it does to d. And though the d fits quite logically on top of the E7 chord upon which it finds itself, the melodic descent conveys some small sense of emotional deflation, especially as it follows the first three measures of rising, happy-major-mode expectations.
- It's in the second phrase, where this same melodic
backbone is suspended over an extremely unexpected
substitution of the Bb chord for the E7 that the sun chillingly goes in for a
brief moment; especially when this half-stepwise descent continues in a second surprise move to the A minor chord for the
start of the following verse. As with the verse above, labeling the B flat
chord a flat-II maybe doesn't even fairly match your experience of the phrase.
Perhaps, it's more like an unhinging sensation of harmonic free-fall, which is
brought to a merciful end by the sudden return to the home key.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Outro:
- As is common in songs of this period, the outro presents
yet another reprise of the introductory material repeated into a fadeout. It
would almost be an anti-climax except for the ingeniously unifying stroke of
adding in the tambourine part from the
bridge section. In spite of the fact that the steady reliability of the A minor
backing riff extends as far as you can see to the horizon, this ending also
suggests that little pangs of anxiety will also remain a permanent part of the
tour. [?!]
From WA's Songs Transcriptions page:
Google: WA's Songs or http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/warrenallen/songs.htm
Several
more transcriptions are available there, each in three formats: HTML, plain
text,
and a
Word doc formatted for readability and
printing.