🎨🎼Part 2 of this video is out now: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gtNpg9uJ2LGXl40.html 🎶

"Stop, wait a minute" *song pauses for an entire minute*

Seems like "word painting" largely consists of musical puns

"I wanna teach the kids how to cuss and what notes they can cuss from" such a great goal

In Puccini's "Tosca", when she's asked for a sex trade, the music plays the notes B A C, which in italian are Si La Do. "Sì, la do" means "Yes, I will give it to you", subtly meaning that she agreed with the trade.

Word paint me like one of your French girls.

Me who knows jackshit about music: ah yes indeed music does that

I really like how in Queens Don't stop me now, the song technically never ends. If just fades out

A recent example I love is in Bo Burnham's song "Goodbye." When he sings the word "diminish" on a dimineshed chord. Its so cool

shorty got low low low low low low low low

Screaming the word "scream" is a really common one

Never gonna give you up (high pitch) Never gonna let you down (low pitch) This is something I always noticed even before watching this video.

7:23 legend has it, she's still singing "rise rise rise..."

I believe the most obvious one has to be "Do-Re-Mi" from The Sound of Music

"Hey do you know how to play Hallelujah" *me*: uhhhh, yeah, I think it goes like this.... the fourth. The fifth. The minor fall, and the major lift.

In "Somebody to Love" by Queen there are verses "I feel like i've got no rhythm" and "I just keep loosing my beat", where Freddie respectively sings without rhytm and off-beat

Another great example of this is the pre-chorus in Smells Like Teen Spirit: _"Hello, hello, hello, how low"_ I love how it gets the lowest at "low", and how with "hello" the "-LO" is LOwer part

little high, little low in bohemian rhapsody

In “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen, during the second verse: “...Like an atom bomb, I’m about to oh oh [tension building] oh oh OH EXPLODE [tension explodes into energy]...”

"Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup, they slither while they pass, they slip away across the universe" has that perfect stream-of-consciousness delivery to the lyrics, rambling for ages without pausing to take a breath... before halting and letting them drift off.

Word painting is used really well in the chorus of "Into the Unknown" from Frozen 2. The song is about a character overcoming the urge to stay in safe stability and go out on an adventure. The chorus' first line jumps by a simple octave, representing safety. The second line jumps by an octave plus a step, just a little bit out of comfort before coming back to the octave. The third and final line goes all in with an octave plus three steps and ends one degree above the octave, returning to a place that is not the original safety but a triumphant note nonetheless.

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody: After Freddie sings ”Shivers down my spine” Brian plays a little arpeggio with the strings behind the guitar bridge, creating a musical representation of a shiver down the spine. Pretty interesting stuff.

in beetlejuice the musical a character sings “maybe seventy-eight” and the time signature changes to 7/8

''And I'm gonna be high as a kite by then'' Elton John (Rocket Man)

Mate I've just found your channel and it's like a gold mine of music content I never knew I needed until now.

in Mary Poppins, during A Spoonful of Sugar, Julie Andrews says, “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. The medicine go do-own, the medicine go down.” But on the first and last “downs” the melody goes up. The people who wrote this song said that they had the melody go up because Mary Poppins wasn’t “normal”, so naturally, down would be up.

In All Star when they say " we could all use a little _change_ " there is a key change.

Pink Floyd - Time comes to mind. When he says "Home, home again", the song goes back to how Breathe sounded

A great example of ABBA using word painting is in their early song, People Need Love. In the line, "it takes a man to get matrimonial harmony", Agnetha and Frida harmonise together on the word "harmony".

"little high, little low" Bohemian Rhapsody-Queen

How about , “I like the make my self believe that planet earth turns *SLOOOOOWWLLLLY*

I think into the unknown from frozen 2 is also a cool example of word painting because each time Elsa says “unknown,” the interval she sings get bigger representing her going further away from what she knows and going into the unknown.

In "To Be a Princess" from Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper, the characters sing about harmonizing in thirds, and while singing they actually harmonize in thirds.

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody "little high, little low"

Bohemian Rhapsody "Caught in a landsliiiide....no escape from reality" The note slides down,like, half a scale after the word "landslide" 😂

Old Fashioned Love Song is another good example, the verses and pre chorus describe the sensation trying to remember an old love song, and then the chorus becomes a familiar optimistic release of recognizing a familiar tune, but also splits into a 3 part harmony during the line “coming down in a 3 part harmony”

Tool - lateralus, as the full song talks about growing like a spiral and the verse are writen in Fibonacci secuence

My favourite is in “I Got A Boy” by SNSD, when Jessica sings “don’t stop, let’s bring it back to 1:40” which not only brings back the instrumental used at 1:40 in the song, but also brings the bpm back to 140

English teachers: I analyse _everything_ This guy: hold my beer

My favourite example of word painting is in "Instant Crush" by Daft Punk where they say "I don't wanna sing anymore" right before an instrumental break. It's like the "Stop" example you gave but more unique

One example I love is in Hamilton's "You'll Be Back" where it's the opposite in the line "Oceans rise (⬇️), empires fall (⬆️)"

“Your lifestyle’s HIGH, but your funds are l o w” - Dr. Facillier from Princess and the Frog

"I'm too sexy for this song." [song ends]

Ray Manzarek is such a legend. I love listening to his interviews breaking down those timeless songs.

I'd never heard the prosody in Somewhere Over The Rainbow before but if that was by design and not just coincidence then it is absolutely brilliant.

The Story of Us by Taylor Swift, she raises her voice as she sings “I’ve never heard silence quite this loud” while the instruments all go quiet.

“Oceans rise, Empires fallllllll” Edit: for people who don’t get it I mean it’s IRONIC.

Thanks for putting these set of examples together, David. It's very useful for the classroom. Consider including "Do-Re-Mi" from The Sound of Music. It's hard to find a clearer match between lyrics and pitch.

When I first learned about chords I honestly thought that hallelujah went “the minor fourth and the major fifth” until we learned about how they aren’t named as such. Really confused me for a couple of years until I properly listened to the sont

“Over the rainbow” the notes look like a rainbow

"I wish I found some chords, in an order that is new" "I wish I didn't have to rhyme, every time I sang"

My favorite example of this is the bridge in For Forever from Dear Evan Hansen, where he's singing about climbing and falling out of a tree. The melody keeps getting higher until the climax of the song, the highest note, when he's at the top. And then gracefully comes back down both notewise and intensity with the line "And I suddenly feel the branch give way." Then the next few lines are low, and fairly stagenet, as he's describing being on the ground, and changes with the line "and everything's okay," when Connor finds him. I think about that all the time.

My favourite case of word painting is in Bo Burnham's "pandering" where he says "y'all motherfuckers want a key change" then he changes the key. True musical genius.

Lin-Manuel Miranda used reverse text-painting in “You’ll be Back” when it says “oceans *rise, [melody leaps down] empires *fall [melody leaps up]”

Bo Burnham’s “oh Bo” has a part where he get’s the runs and starts singing them as well.

"I wanna teach kids how to cuss, and I wanna teach kids what notes they can cuss from." LMAO 6:12

My favorite of all time is an obscure one from the Cradle of Filth song Beneath the Howling Stars from the album Cruelty and The Beast. It’s a concept album about Elizabeth Bathory’s (fictionalized) life. Each song is a literal story, and Beneath the Howling Stars is about Elizabeth meeting Ferenc Nadasdy, her future husband, at a ball she’s holding. In the part of the song where she’s described as entering the ballroom, the lyrics go “the waltz wound down, transfixed...” All the loud metal music stops, a little pipe organ cadenza plays, and after a few more very quiet, whispered lines about Elizabeth’s beauty (as if the music stops when she enters and the guests are whispering to each other about how hypnotizing she is), the title of the song, “Beneath the Howling Stars” is screamed and the song, in 4/4 time up until this moment, breaks into a 3/4 waltz as Elizabeth begins to waltz around the room (“she danced so macabre, men entranced divined from her gait, that this angel stepped from a pedestal had won remission from fate”) with her intended, Ferenc Nadasdy. It really just puts you exactly where the band wants you, it’s amazing. The entire album goes through pains to tell not only a lyrical story, but to make sure the music reflects what’s happening at that point in the narrative. Beneath the Howling Stars is the best example imo but there’s lots of other great moments like that littered throughout the album which I highly fucking recommend if you like metal even a tiny bit.

How about the chords A-C-D-C in AC-DC's High Voltage.

Bach actually wrote a whole sonata around “C A F F E E” the German word for coffee

Some of the writer and composer may not aware the connection between their lyrics to the notes..but as it became famous and people love to hear that song..it shows us how people actually can automatically connect themselves to the song..make a connection to the lyrics and the notes..

I really appreciated this!!! It makes me happy that you, Adam Neely, and Rick Beato are helping me brush up on my musical training. I'm remembering what I'd forgotten.

My favourite world painting is from Hamilton in "You'll be back" "Oceans rise, empires fall" But jokes on you, the melody goes down with "rise" and rises with "fall" because it's funny

Also with somewhere over the rainbow, the notes actually form “rainbows” from when it goes up and down

I love videos like these as I learn so many new things and it makes me excited to used what I learn while listening to my favorite songs in a new way just makes me love music so much more

One that I discovered this morning: In “We are Young” by fun. the lyrics go “So if by the time the bar closes and you feel like falling down, I’ll carry you home tonight”. Up to “falling down”, the melody descends, and at “I’ll carry you home tonight”, it ascends.

in “you’ll be back” from hamilton, the pitch lowers when the king says “oceans rise” and goes up when he says “empires fall.” reverse prosody!

That analysis of Over The Rainbow was the most wholesome thing i’ve ever heard thank you

I know this is late, but in Deja Vu by Olivia Rodrigo when she says “singing in harmony” it’s a harmony

Growing up, I always though that "Friends In Low Places" was clever with that low note in the chorus, then "She's So High" by Tal Bachman from my high school days. Turns out its much more common than I knew.

"Your lifestyle's HIGH, but your funds are LOW" -Friends on the Other Side from the Princess and the Frog

In All-Star, on the 3rd verse, he sings "We all need a little change" and then changes the melody.

It's curious because i saw a version of the famous "stop, wait a minute" when you literally have to wait minute.

riders on the storm does that very well. heavy rain (when it's warm enough) is my favourite weather, and that song captures it beautifully.

“I want to teach kids to cuss, and which notes to cuss from” That- can my music teacher be like this please?

I can't believe this video doesn't feature Mariah Carey's _"emotions"_ "You make me feel so... *_hiii-iii-IIII-IIIII-IIIIIIIIIIIIIGH_*

I'm so glad you mentioned the Ben Folds song. I love that one. XD

Alceu Valença has a song recorded live on the album Vivo, where he sings: I scream in affliction in the street of calmness. Then, he repeats the word "calmness" with a loud, pained cry. I love this. The song os called Pot-Pourri: Punhal de Prata/O Medo/Quanto É Grande o Autor da Natureza/Cabelos Longos/Índio Quer Apito.

love that opening 40 seconds of STOP

In Janelle Monáe’s “I Like That,” when she says “I’m the random minor note you hear in major songs,” she switches to a minor note at “minor note”

"Far over the misty mountains cold" is a line that goes up to a point, then comes down...like a mountain...

Great videos! Clear explanations, plenty of familiar examples, and you quickly drive the point home. Loved it

Me: *Learns what word-painting means Me in my head: SHE HIT THE FLOOR, NEXT THING YOU KNOW, SHAWTY GOT LOW LOW LOW LOW LOW LOW LOW LOW

What kills me about "F10-D-A" is how it's on the same album as a 3-movement piano concerto. Ben Folds is a brilliant composer and THAT'S how he chooses to use his talent. I love it.

A good example of anti-word painting is in "A Spoonful of Sugar" because the melody goes up on the first "down." And then it goes down on the second "down" which is regular word painting.

The Strokes - The Modern Age In the chorus when Julian sings "tomorrow will be different", the melody distinctly changes on the word "different".

In My Head by Ariana Grande. “But it was all in my he-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-ad” she goes from chest voice to head voice. :))

David Bowie sings in Ashes to ashes "hitting an all time low" as he hits the lowest note in the song

I have an overreliance on the watch later button and I subscribe to a bunch of video essays so, I put playback on 1.5 to get through them faster. Usually, I switch it back to normal for music videos like this one so I can hear the music correctly, but tonight, I was doing the dishes and wasn't able to. All of that being said, at 1.5 speed, Judy Garland's vibrato is insane!

"I wanna teach the kids how to cuss." We need more people like Ben Folds in this world.

"Four out of five" by the Artic Monkeys when the lyric says : "I can lift you up another semitone"

YYZ by RUSH: there is a two note, tritone riff at the beginning and the end of the song, and the rhythm of the notes is literally the morse code for “YYZ,” the airport code for Toronto Pearson International Airport. The band heard it over the radio as the guitarist flew them into Toronto on a private plane. “DAH doo DAT DAT DAH doo DAT DAT DAT DAH doo doo,” DASH-dot-DASH-DASH, DASH-dot-DASH-DASH, DASH-DASH-dot-dot.

A great example of "word painting" can be found in one of Guns 'N Roses' most underrated songs, Estranged. Right before Slash's big solo, Axl Rose sings about jumping into the river, drifting all alone in a storm. Slash imitates dolphins' cries, using his guitar. The music video accompanies these lyrics very well as Axl is "saved" by these dolphins. Not sure if it fits exactly to the subject of the video, but it was the first thing I thought of after The Doors' raindrops played on a keyboard.

In Rick Astley's "Never gonna give you up: Never gonna give you up (goes up) Never gonna let you down (goes down)

Eminem's Without Me: "Ever since Prince turned himself into a SYMBOL" then a cymbal plays.

Great video. Loved the many examples. Going to subscribe right now and looking forward to more fine content like this.

Prosody is also demonstrated in "When you wish upon a star" from Cinderella. The line "When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true." actually uses prosody, because the phrase starts on G, and ends on the root note, C.

This one’s from “Friends on the Other Side”: “Your lifestyles *HIGH* , but your funds are _low_ .

"I'm breaking down, DOWN, DOWN" also, "The only thing that's breaking UP is my family"

Livin' Thing by ELO is an example where the mood of the lyrics is brilliantly reflected in the chord changes

All of your videos are gold mine!! A lot of insight here, respect