Song #326 of 9999
Title: Eyes That Say "I Love You"
Artist: Frank & Jeff
Year: 2013
Album: Beck's Song Reader, Songs 1-10
Tonight, we wrap up Side A of our Beck Song Reader extravaganza with a creepy little track ironically entitled "Eyes That Say 'I Love You'." I remember learning this song and not really paying much attention to the words when I gradually started to realize this pretty little tune was about MURDER. Or revenge. Or both. But it wasn't pretty anymore.
This is also the first of the sheets that includes very specifically notated melodic lines, beyond the normal piano roll accompaniment. In fact, the piano accompaniment is quite spare. The arpeggio that dominates our recording is mine—not notated in Beck's score. But the vocal melody is true, including the persistent Bb in the chorus (you'll come RUN-ning with EYes) which acts as a blue note against the G and A Major chords. I had to practice it a lot to get it right.
Jeff's contribution to this track is enormous. I suggested he do some distorted guitar over top of the whole thing to texturize it and he knew exactly what to do. Later, he upped the creep factor by adding that super-low vocal on the chorus (Jeff: "I just tried to sing like Stephen Merritt.") and transposed my piano line in the last verse. All of these touches save the song from becoming overly long or repetitive. And of course the mix is superb.
That's it for what I'm calling "Side A." I'll be back Sunday night with Track 6 of 10.
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