I’ve Got a Preposition For You
Background: All of my blogs are meant to be educational, and as a language teacher, one of my lessons is the prepositions in Spanish (prepositions are words that tell you the positions of things in relationship to one another, like close to, far from, inside, outside, over/above, and under/underneath, which we will be chatting about in this blog). In my first year of teaching, I was trying to get kids to remember what the phrase “Encima de” meant, so I got on top of the radiator, which happened just as an administrator was walking in. That was probably the most effective lesson I taught in my first year, so I figured I’d talk about songs with prepositions in this blog!
“Love You Inside Out” by The Bee Gees
Lyrically: The coolest part about featuring this song in this blog is that I was listening to The Bee Gees on Robin and Maurice’s birthday (December 22nd, for those of you playing along at home), and wondered why on earth I hadn’t featured this song in a blog. Then I realized it fit perfectly with this theme! The song is sung from the perspective of a man who’s getting cheated on. However, he is sticking by his woman, thinking eventually she’ll drop the affair and only love him because he’s the man who “loves (her) “Inside and out, backwards and forwards with (his) heart hanging out,” (Actually, there are four prepositions in the chorus, and two in the title). He also doesn’t know how to live life without her, asking, “What are we gonna do if we lose that fire?” and later, just asking what he’s gonna do. That second twist is a subtle one, but important. Because at first he’s saying we need each other, then he’s saying he needs her, but she might not need him. You guys know I’m a sucker for terrific bridges, and mainly that comes from their transition back into the chorus. But here, it’s both about the transition and what’s said throughout the whole thing, and I just have to share the whole thing with you to show the full effect:
“You are the reason for my laughter and my sorrow,
blow out the candle, I will burn again tomorrow.
No man on earth could stand between my loving arms and
no matter how you hurt me, I will love you ‘til I die.
I ain’t no vision, I'm the man who loves you inside and out.”
This is the smooth transition back into the chorus, of which I included a little bit. I just love every part of this. “Blow out the candle, I will burn again tomorrow,” is just a gorgeous visual, and the “I ain’t no vision” (coming from the earlier pre-chorus of “You treat me like a vision in the night, someone that will stand beside you when your world ain’t workin’ right,”) is such a relatable concept, and also delivered in a very poetic way. I’ll talk more about this in the melody section.
Melodically: The song’s intro uses Em9, while the verses use Em9, Dm7, Am7, and B7, followed by Em9, A7sus4, DM7, and B7(b9), and Em9. With the song written in D major, this is a ii, i, V, VI pattern, followed by a ii, V, I, VI, ii pattern. The pre-chorus uses Am7, B7, Em7, A7sus4, Em7, and A7, a v, VI, ii, V, ii, V pattern, while the chorus uses A7sus4, Em7, A7, Em7, F#m7, and B7, a V, ii, V, ii, iii, VI pattern, followed by A7sus4, Dm7, Em7, F#m7, and B7, a V, i, ii, iii, VI pattern, before ending on A7sus4, Dm7, Em7, F#m7, and B7, Em7, and A7sus4, a V, i, ii, iii, VI, ii, V pattern. The bridge uses D7 and D for the first part (variations of the I chord), ending on the “Can’t change the way I feel inside” line, followed by G, F, Em7, A7, DM7, Bm7, and E9 (a IV, III, ii, V, I, vi, II progression). This transitions flawlessly into the chorus from the bridge.
In a previous blog, we discussed The Bee Gees’ “I Started a Joke”, and although the two are radically different songs, the melancholy feel of the ii chord that closes out the verses has the same effect in both songs. The tension caused by the last chord in the verses (ii), and the last chord in the pre-chorus (V) are very well-placed, and beginning and ending the chorus on the V chord creates tension throughout–the fact that it ends with the “What are we gonna do if we lose that fire?” line does not resolve–because the narrator doesn’t know. He loves the other person that much.
Instrumentally, the song uses keyboard, synthesizers, strings/programming, acoustic and electric guitar, bass, and drums. From 1977-1978, you couldn’t have gotten away from The Bee Gees if you tried, from a combination of their work on Saturday Night Fever and on their brother Andy Gibb’s debut album, Flowing Rivers. But by 1979, many people were sick of disco. “Love You Inside Out” was the Bee Gees’ attempt to still make something you could dance to, but also give it a little funky twist (something you heard a little more on songs like “Nights on Broadway” than on songs from Saturday Night Fever). This has an awesome funky groove to it, and was successful as a result.
Structurally: The song contains a verse, pre-chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, chorus format (with the chorus repeated as the song fades out). When I think of having a pre-chorus and then another verse, I think of “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey or “Hold My Hand” by Hootie and the Blowfish, and in those songs, that structure is used to build tension. In this song, that’s part of it, but the second verse, saying, “Oh I’ll win, I’ll never give in” is needed where it is to build up the narrator’s credibility of being faithful, despite his significant other’s cheating. There’s no big reveal at the end, like in the Journey song, so it’s just simply to advance the storyline.
You can listen to “Love You Inside Out” below. In addition to the Bee Gees’ version, there’s a terrific cover by Feist (recorded under the name “Inside and Out”), which is what got me into the song before I even heard the original.
2. “So Far Away” by Carole King
Lyrically: In addition to normal positioning words like we will talk about, prepositions can also include things like “to the left,” “close,” and “far away.” Carole King is someone who could probably be featured in every single blog I write, because there are an endless number of reasons why she’s a good songwriter. But “So Far Away” to me perfectly encapsulates why she’s not only a great song crafter, but a great songwriter. (More on that in the lyric section).
“So Far Away” talks about wanting to see someone who she was once romantically involved with, but cannot see them because they’re “So far away,” and “Time away” as she states in the first verse. She also expresses her frustration in having to write “One more song about movin’ along down the highway,” concluding that she’d “Rather spend it being close to you.”
Part of a songwriter’s job is to take personal experiences and make them universal for the listeners. For me, I relate to someone being “so far away” as someone being emotionally far away and the idea about writing those road songs, but wanting to write songs about how close these two are is very relatable. I don’t want to write a bunch of breakup songs, I’d rather have that closeness to the person, but I can’t help it because they’re emotionally so far away. And yet the more literal interpretation is longing for someone who is physically far away, and that’s a pretty universal feeling too.
Melodically: The song is written in the key of D major and in the choruses, uses variations of the I chord, Dmaj9, and D6, played twice, Followed by Gmaj7 and G6, Em7, Gmaj7/A, Dmaj7, G/D, and Dmaj7, before ending on Gmaj7, F#m7, Em7, and G/A. This is a IV, ii, IV, I, IV, I pattern, followed by a IV, iii, ii, IV pattern. The second chorus ends on Dmaj9, D6, Dmaj9, D, and A/C#, a I, V pattern. The first verse uses Bm, F#m/A, and G, followed by G, D/F#, Em7, G/A, and Dmaj7, a vi, iii, IV, IV, I, ii, IV pattern. The bridge uses G/A, F#m/A, G/D, Em7, G/A, and Dmaj7, a IV, iii, IV, ii, IV, pattern, followed by F#m7, Em7, G/A, Bm7, Em7, and G/A, a iii, ii, IV, vi, ii, IV pattern.
Although there are some variations within the bridges, they both end on the IV chords, which creates a sense of suspense and unfinished business.
I mentioned earlier how this is one of the best examples of King’s ability to craft and write, and the biggest reason is because the lyrics are so simple, while still having something meaningful to say. Yet the IV chord creates just the right amount of tension to lead back into the main hook of “so far away” or “just time away,” which is the I chord. In this case, the resolve is what makes it work, despite the fact that the person who’s so far away doesn’t actually come any closer throughout the song.
Structurally: The song uses a chorus, verse, bridge, chorus, bridge, chorus format. This actually took a second to sift through, to know what I was going to call each individual section. But, despite that unorthodox song structure, it does not belong in our unorthodox song structure blog, because it flows so nicely, which as I said, is a staple of Carole King’s songwriting.
You can stay in one place and listen to this song.
3. “Over Alameda” by Justin Townes Earle
Lyrically: In songs, I usually use the word “over” in the sense of getting over someone, or more likely, not getting over them. But in this case, “over” is used as a preposition to mean “above.” While most of Justin’s songs were deeply personal, his last album contained songs of social commentary, people down on their luck for various reasons, at the mercy of the titular Saint of Lost Causes (St. Jude, for those of you playing along at home), and these were folks Justin identified with–the underdogs who still managed to make the best of their situations.
“Over Alameda” starts off with the narrator discussing his mother, who “would tell me of her hopes and what she hoped to leave behind.” She talks in the second verse about her upbringing and everything she wants that was better than where she lived as a little girl. Her dreams of a better life always culminate in buying a house “Over Alameda,” which is described in three different ways: In the first chorus, she says “I’d buy us a home over Alameda where the green grass grows,” and in the second verse, she says she’ll buy a house “Over Alameda where the white folks live.”
The third verse does the same thing, but this time it’s not the mother telling the story, it’s the kid, who is now 19 and experiencing the same thing. It’s not said explicitly, but in the last chorus, he says he’s “Going over Alameda just like mama said,” so my assumption is that his mom has died and he wants to fulfill her goal that she never could. Even though “There’s nothing for a boy of color to do but fight, I’ll keep on fighting ‘cause they ain’t licked me yet.”
I have found throughout my years of teaching that rap music is pretty universally appealing to my students, and part of the reason for that is many of the songs are about economic struggle, rather than racial struggle. And although redlining should never be downplayed, a big reason why this song works, with Justin taking on the persona of a young black man, with him being white, is exactly that–economic struggle can happen to anyone, and that’s the appeal of this song and the characters in it.
Melodically: The song is played with the capo on the 2nd fret. Relative to the capo, the song uses Am, G/B, C, C/E, and F, played twice. With the song written in Am, this is a ii, I, IV, VII pattern, which gets repeated in the instrumental interlude, the solo, and the outro. The verses follow the same pattern, but take out the last two chords. The chorus uses G, Em, Am, F, a I, vi, ii, VII pattern that gets followed by Em, G, Am, G/B, C, C/E, and F, which is a vi, I, ii, I, IV, VII pattern. Like the first song we looked at, ending on the VII chord is done for the same reason: Alameda is the goal, but we know the narrator hasn’t gotten there by the end of the song. In that sense, there’s a resolve, but he says he’s gonna keep fighting, and until we know he’s won that fight, ending on the VII chord is a heartbreaking necessity. Instrumentally, the song contains acoustic guitar, piano, slide guitar, bass guitar, and drums.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, instrumental, verse, chorus, solo, verse, chorus format. Many of Justin’s songs we have looked at have used a verse, verse, chorus, solo, chorus format, but since this is a story song, rather than an example song, it’s an excellent and necessary choice to use this format instead. The solo and instrumental are used to break up the story, rather than keep the momentum going with the examples and the melody.
You can listen to “Over Alameda” (ironically), below.
4. “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie
Lyrically: I normally like to save my wild card song for last, and this is a wild card because it’s an idiomatic location. In other words, being “under pressure” isn’t actually being “under” a physical location, it’s saying you’re facing a lot of pressure. But the lyrics to this song do a great job of giving the visual that the walls are literally closing in on the people singing. It’s pressure that “Burns a building down, splits a family in two, puts people on the streets,” and not knowing where to turn, in the chorus saying, “Pray tomorrow gets me higher” while also recognizing that it’s not just you that’s under pressure, it’s also your “good friends screaming let me out.” The pressure never seems to end, either. In the third verse, he describes these days as ones “Where it never rains, but it pours,” but in the bridge he says that as long as we band together to make a better way, we can “Give ourselves one more chance.” He does, however, recognize this will be hard “‘cause love’s such an old fashioned word and it dares you to care for the people under pressure.” We’ve talked in previous blogs about protest songs, but this is an interesting tune, because it’s a protest song, while also being sung by someone who’s not necessarily in power to change anything. So the preposition of being under pressure and not being able to rise above (at least for most of the song) makes it more powerful.
Melodically: The song is built on a bassline that’s completely different than the one in “Ice Ice Baby,” if you ask Vanilla Ice. Using D, A, G, and A (using slight variations throughout the verses). With the song written in D major, this is a I, V, I, V progression. The chorus, which starts off with “It’s the terror of knowing what this world is about,” uses G, A, G, A, G, A, followed by D, G, A, a IV, V pattern, followed by the I, IV, V pattern of D, G, A. The bridge uses G, C, G, C, G, A, C, F, G, F, and A, which is a IV, VII, IV, VII, IV, V, VII, III, IV, III, V pattern. The last part, starting with “Love’s such an old-fashioned word” uses G, A, D, A, G, A, D, A, G, A, D, A, G, A, G, A, D, G, and A, which is a IV, V, I, V, IV, V, I, V, IV, V, I, V, IV, V, IV, I, IV, V pattern.
Being built around the main riff helps with this, but each section ends on the V chord. The theme unintentionally remains the same for this blog: There’s a goal, in this case, not being under pressure, but not an indication that it’s going to happen. There’s also a pathway out, giving love one more chance, but again, no indication that people will, so they’ll remain under pressure. The circular nature of the main riff helps with this, but even without it, it would be a good choice.
