Category: Songwriting

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Song a Day: “Over the Rainbow”

There are few songs in American popular culture that are as iconic as “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz. It is surprising to think that the song was almost cut from the movie. Written by Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg, the lyrics encapsulate the meaning of the film. They express the protagonist’s dissatisfaction, as well as her feelings of powerlessness.

The melody of the song complements the lyrics, and serves as an analog for the journey taken by the protagonist. This is accomplished through contour. We can think of the tonic of the key (scale degree one), as functioning like ‘home.’ Likewise since the first note of the melody is the tonic, this statement is doubly true. The opening melodic interval is a leap up an octave. We can think of this leap as being dissonant, in terms that we are leaving the home of the first note of the song.

This leap is resolved melodically through a structural stepwise descent of the melody. While this may initially be difficult to see, it is very plain if we look at the structure of the melody. We can do this by selecting the most important note of the melody for each measure of music. This begs the question of what makes one note more important than other notes? Emphasis of one note over another happens through duration, volume, and range or tonal concerns. The importance of duration and volume is pretty clear and intuitive. If a note is held longer, or is played more loudly, we will certainly hear it as being more important. Implicit in the question of volume though is the issue of metric placement, meaning that notes that are played on beats one or three (in music that descends from the Western classical tradition) tend to be played more loudly than other notes.

The issue of range and tonal concerns is a bit more difficult to define. That being said, notes that are higher or lower than other notes in a passage tend to stand out. Likewise, notes that have strong tonal implications (dissonance) such as the the leading tone, may stand out more than other, more stable notes.

Let’s explore this reduction by looking at the melody of the verse (figure 1). Measure four and eight are self explanatory, as there’s only one note in each of those measures. In measures one, three, and five we could imagine picking the highest note in each measure. In measures two, six and seven if we pick the note that happens on beat one, it is also the most emphasized note, as in each case that note recurs on beat three, taking up half of the measure in all. If we look at all of these notes selected for the reduction what we get is a descending scale (figure 2).

Figure 1: Verse melody “Over the Rainbow”

Figure 2: Verse reduction “Over the Rainbow”

Once you notice this structural descending scale it is hard to ignore. Again the dramatic leap up an octave in the first two notes can be thought of setting up a dissonance that is resolved through the systematic structural stepwise descent of the melody back to the lower octave tonic (the last note). This leap and descent can be thought of as a musical analog of the rainbow mentioned in the song’s title. The melodic motion also reflects the story of the movie. where the protagonist goes on a dramatic journey away from home, only to take on a methodical quest to find a way to return.

The melody in the bridge of the song ascends, but this ascent is not nearly as methodical as the descent of the verse. In that regard, it is probably best to think of this ascent as functioning as a contrast to the verse, rather than to think of it in terms of a metaphor. That being said, the structural use of contour in the verse of “Over the Rainbow” serves as a prime example of how contour can be used for both musical interest as well as a metaphor that can embody the meaning of lyrics or a narrative.

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Song of the Day: “What’s This?” (Danny Elfman)

The podcast Song Exploder recently devoted an episode to “What’s This?” by Danny Elfman. The song, from the 1993 classic film The Nightmare Before Christmas, expresses the excitement of the protagonist, Jack, as he experiences something he never had before, namely Christmas. We will be looking at this song mainly through the lyrics and how they work along with the rhythm to help build the energy of the song.

In terms of form “What’s This?” is fairly straight forward. It features only verses and middle eights. The two work together seamlessly to portray the character and his reaction to a new, exciting experience, yet structurally the two are very complementary. Stylistically speaking “What’s This?” is a patter song where Jack quickly lists the sensory information he is experiencing. Patter songs are a standard of musical theater that feature complicated lyrics delivered at a rapid pace almost like a manic tongue twister.

The central feature of the verse is the exclamation “What’s this?” suitably expressing the protagonist’s amazement. This title line functions somewhat as a refrain for the verse. That being said, its delivery is somewhat unpredictable. The first verse features this lyric five times, with the first four and the final two words of the verse being repetitions of the phrase. In the second verse “what’s this?” is featured six times, including the first four and final four words of the verse.

After the first appearance of the middle eight, the third verse only features “what’s this?” only appears twice. Rather, those words are replaced by other questions and exclamations, such as  “oh look,” “they kiss?” and “inspired!” Verse four continues this trend with only two appearances of the lyrics, as the first and last lyric of the verse.  Instead, it includes more questions and exclamations, including “in here,” “how queer,” “and why?” In the fifth verse “what’s this?” only appears once at the end of the verse.  Again, we have more questions and exclamations: “oh my,” “what now?” “but look,” and “no ghouls.”

The final verse of the song appears right after the second middle eight. This verse only features the title lyric once, at its conclusion. Instead the exclamations “the sights,” “the sounds,” “around,” and “before” are used.

As a patter song, the verse of “What’s This?” has a very modular feel to it. Each verse has a slightly different rhyme scheme, and even often has a different number of lines to it. Musical phrases in the verses are often extended or shortened by two beats giving the verse a somewhat frantic rhythmic profile.

Contrastingly, the song’s two middle eights of the song are very rhythmically predictable. As the term middle eight suggests, each is eight lines long, with the second and fourth line rhyming, as well as the sixth and eighth lines. In both cases, each slows down dramatically at the end of the section, providing a brief rest before jumping back into the frantic pace of the verses.

Ultimately, “What’s This?” not only of a patter song, but a song that establishes the narrative , as well as establishing character. The frantic nature of the verses not only establish Jack’s excitement, but the rhythmic unpredictability of the song suggests Jack’s non-conformist nature.

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Song a Day: “Part of Your World” (Alan Menken and Howard Ashman)

The songs from the Walt Disney Pictures 1989 release, The Little Mermaid, are as good as any song you’ll hear in any movie. The lyrics are effective, the tunes are very singable and melodic, and the orchestration is appropriately dramatic. Amongst these songs, “Part of Your World” stands out for its impact, meaning, and appropriateness to the story. While there are many factors that contribute to the excellence of this song, we’re going to look at it largely from a single perspective, how Howard Ashman’s lyrics give words a power to reinforce emotion and meaning.

“Part of Your World” is really two songs in one.  The introduction, the part that comes before “I wanna be where the people are,” is extremely long. This section is comprised of two verses followed by a bridge, which leads into the main, or second, song. If this first section were all there is to the song, not only would it be very disappointing, but we probably would not think too much of Ariel as a person. In this section Ariel brags about her possessions, yet declares that it isn’t enough. In this section, she is cast as a teenager who longs to go to the mall to get more stuff.

The materialistic nature of this section is established by words the describe and embody possessions: stuff, collection, everything, trove, treasures, wonders, gadgets, gizmos, whozits, whatzits, and thingamabobs. Notice that as the list goes on, we start to see alliterative pairs: trove & treasures, gadgets & gizmos, and whozits & whatzits. The way in which this first song ends after the bridge works effectively, as a bridge traditionally ends on the dominant, leading back into the verse or chorus, or in this case the main body of the song. The last word of the word is more, which is both held and crescendoed to give it emphasis. Initially, we may be tempted to interpret the word more as meaning more stuff, suggested in part with the rhyming of galore with more. However, the main body of the song that follows clarifies that Ariel wants more than material items.

The main body of the song is filled with words related to mobility: dancin’, jumpin’, strollin’, walk, and run. On a general level, we can interpret this to mean that Ariel wants to be active. That is, she wants to do things. On a metaphoric level, we can frame this mobility in terms of upward mobility.  That is, she wants to go places, and advance herself. Both of these interpretations, especially the latter, are reinforced with the lyric “flippin’ your fins you don’t get too far.” The alliterative Fs combined with the dismissive use of the term “flippin'” indicates that life under the sea is too inactive for Ariel, and offers her little opportunity for advancement or self betterment.

Word choice in the lyrics further contrasts the world on the land with undersea living. The lyrics make use of the words sun, warm, and burn to contrast with the implied coldness of the undersea world. This descriptive warmth also reads as emotional warmth. This implication is further suggested through rhyme.  The lyric “warm on the sand” has several internal rhymes with the line “betcha on land, they understand, that they don’t reprimand their daughters.” While this lyric oozes teenaged drama it also suggests that Ariel interprets her father’s stern nature as a coldness.

What we hear as the first verse is really structurally two verses. We find this out retroactively when we encounter the final verse, either that or the last verse is a half verse. Each individual verse contains no rhyming. Rather the rhymes occur between the two verses. Thus, dancin’ in the first verse is rhymed with dancin’ in the second verse, while feet at the end of the first verse rhymes with street at the end of the second.

In the chorus we get much more rhyming. Run rhymes with sun, while free rhymes with be. The first pair connects mobility with emotional warmth (happiness). The second pair connects freedom with the nature of being.

The bridge of the song is longer than either the verse or the chorus, and thus does a bit more than its share of the storytelling. It commences by bringing up the idea of sacrifice, which will become central to the character’s narrative (“what would I give if I could live out of these waters?”). It is the very end of the bridge which truly establishes Ariel as a character interested in self betterment. “Bright young women, sick of swimmin’, ready to stand,” is certainly a self description from our protagonist. Here stand, which rhymes with the aforementioned, sand, land, understand, and reprimand, serves a dual purpose. Namely, stand is both literal and figurative. If Ariel gets legs, she will literally be able to stand up, but more importantly we understand her as meaning that she will figuratively be able to stand up for herself, take a stand, and stand with pride.

In the final verse we have Ariel communicates a desire for knowledge through questions and answers. She also again invokes warmth imagery through the words fire and burn. We understand that in a literal sense fire and burning is a foreign concept to someone who lives under water, and that this idea would likely be fascinating to Ariel. However, we realize that fire and burn are being used as a metaphor for passion. Taken in this context, I argue that burn is only second to stand in terms of important words in this song.

Given that there is no rhyming within the verse, how will the final, isolated verse deal with a lack of rhyming? The solution the songwriters developed was to use rhymes to lead into and out of the final verse, linking the verse to the bridge and final chorus. The final word of the bridge, stand, rhymes with the first word of the third verse (and). The final word of the third verse, burn, rhymes with the first half of the first line of the chorus (when’s it my turn?).

The final chorus demonstrate’s Ariel’s intellectual curiosity through the word explore, while sneaking in a rhyme with shore. In rhyming love with above we have a linkage between her passion and her fascination with the world on land. The use of rhyme and alliteration as a tool for highlighting meaningful words in this song is masterful, and is well worth any aspiring songwriter’s attention.

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Song a Day: “Birdhouse in Your Soul” (John Flansburgh / John Linnell)

When demonstrating metaphors in lyrics, I used to cover “Candle in the Water” from the 1977 film Pete’s Dragon.  While the metaphors in this song work very well, I found that the song did not speak to students.  So, I have moved on to covering the They Might Be Giants classic “Birdhouse in Your Soul.”

John Flansburgh and John Linnell from They Might Be Giants are known for their clever lyrics, and “Birdhouse in Your Soul” is no exception.  The premise of the song is quirky, clever, and sweet.  The singer personifies a nightlight in the form of a blue canary, who is singing to the person (probably a child) who the nightlight protects (“who watches over you”).  The message this object conveys, through metaphor, is to keep a spot for it in your heart.

The beginning starts very playfully, with the nightlight continuously backpedalling on its relationship to the audience . . .
I’m your only friend,
I’m not your only friend,
but I’m a little glowing friend,
but really I’m not actually your friend,
But I am

While this is playful, it also establishes the affection that the nightlight has for his protectee, and starts to set up the desire of the nightlight to have this affection reciprocated. This hope is expressed in chorus with the line, “say I’m the only bee in your bonnet,” which is charmingly rhymed with the previous line, “not to put to fine a point on it.”

Part of Flansburgh and Linnell’s gift for lyrics comes from their use of obscure sayings, vocabulary and references. One such example of an antiquated saying is the previously mentioned “bee in your bonnet.” In terms of vocabulary, the first verse includes the line, “filibuster vigilantly.” Perhaps the most obscure reference of the song is the “Longines Symphonette,” which is a brand of luxury, high quality wristwatches. This reference adds a bit of humor, as a cheap night light compares itself to a thousand dollar wristwatch. The second verse humorously invokes the legend of Jason and the Argonauts as well.

Another feature of the lyrics to “Birdhouse” is the use of multiple syllable rhymes.  In the chorus we hear “bonnet” rhymed with “on it,” while the first verse rhymes “listen to me” with “vigilantly” and “l-i-t-e,” as well as “infinte” and “Symphonette.” This last rhyme is softened by appending the line with the non-rhyming phrase “it doesn’t rest.” In the second verse we have three multi-syllable rhymes in a row: “opposite me,” “ancestry,” and “shipwreck free.” These rhymes echo those from the first verse (“listen to me,” “vigilantly,” “l-i-t-e”). While these multiple syllable rhymes make the verse very rhyming, Flansburgh and Linnell clear our palette by having the final lyric of each verse not rhyme, which leaves the verse open, leading into the chorus.

Finally, the lyrics also feature some remote rhymes.  One such instance happens in the second verse. While “a lot” and “Argonauts” are additive rhymes, “job” is an assonance rhyme with both of these. This passage is even more effective as the nightlight humbly compares itself to lighthouses, which despite the deprecating humor does make the connection between nightlights and lighthouses in terms of protection and guidance. Clearly the protagonist views its function as important and meaningful, later comparing itself to a guardian angel.

However, we’ve lost sight of why we came here, the metaphor.  The title line, “birdhouse in your soul,” works as a metaphor.  The protagonist, the nightlight shaped like a canary, begs the listener, cast as the occupant of the room, presumably a child’s bedroom, to build a “make a little birdhouse in your soul.” What does this line mean? Clearly it is not literal.  A soul is not a physical place. Even if we take the word “soul” to mean heart, it is doubtful that the nightlight wants the listener to carve open their chest and put a birdhouse adjoining their aorta. Rather, “make a little birdhouse in your soul” likely translates to make a place for me in your thoughts, or even think of me tenderly.

Given the content of the lyrics, the protagonist is asking to be thought of tenderly in return for the protection the nightlight has been offering faithfully, one presumes over the length of the listener’s childhood. On a larger scale, one can view the song as advocating thoughtfulness for non-sentient articles that aid you in your life. While such thoughtfulness does not, in reality, comfort such objects, it does encourage us to be thoughtful creatures of gratitude, which is clearly a noble goal.

So, how does this relate to the construction of the lyrics? The obscure sayings, vocabulary, and references cast the nightlight as a quirky individual. This is furthered by the multiple syllable and distant rhymes. One imagines the nightlight as a somewhat bookishly shy, awkward individual who cautiously asks for kind, warms wishes. The process puts the nightlight in a vulnerable state, which is highly sympathetic. This reinforces the meaning of the metaphor through this casting, established lyrically.  All in all, it also makes for a unique, effective song.

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Song a Day: “Eleanor Rigby” (Paul McCartney)

The lyrics of “Eleanor Rigby” were somewhat of a collaborative effort, though ultimately Paul McCartney made all the final decisions, and is considered to be the primary author of the song.  While the tune is quite compelling, if you strip away George Martin’s wonderful string octet arrangement, the chord progression is very basic, consisting only of E minor and C Major chords.  Today we will be looking at the song from the perspective of what Pat Pattison would call a three verse story.

Songs that tell a story are hardly unique.  However, ones that tell a captivating story are a treasure.  The best way to create a story that is engaging is to get the listener to be more invested with each passing verse.  Pattison refers to this process as stacking verses.  “Eleanor Rigby” is personally my favorite example of this.  In order to fully appreciate this, we have to approach the song imagining that we are listening to it for the first time without any prior knowledge.

The first verse introduces the title character, a probable romantic (picking up “rice in the church where a wedding has been”) who “lives in a dream.”  The verse also leaves us with more than a bit of mystery about Rigby through the cryptic line “wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door.” This metaphoric reference to makeup is rendered more interesting by noting that it is kept near the door, begging the question why. The mystery is further established by ending the verse with the question, “Who is it for?” It is a question, by the way, that the song never answers (leaving it to our collective imaginations).

We can easily imagine Rigby waiting “at the window” for someone who we are left to assume does not come (suggested by the chorus “all the lonely people”).  Is she expecting a caller who does not come?  Is she hoping she will see the object of her devotion in the street?  Does he know she exists?  Again, none of these questions are answered, though the chorus suggests Rigby’s primary motivation may be desperation.

The second verse however abandons this sympathetic character.  Instead, it moves on to Father McKenzie.  This clergyman seems less desperate (and thus less sympathetic) than Rigby.  In fact, the last line of of the verse, “what does he care?” leaves us with a sense of indifference.

Dramatically, the second verse is a significant step down from the first.  While there’s some good imagery (“darning his socks in the night when there’s nobody there”), the character in the verse is significantly less sympathetic.  Furthermore the only tenuous connection between the two characters (at this point) is both of them have a connection to a church.

This step down in drama sets up the sucker punch of the third verse when the connection between two characters is revealed, namely that Father McKenzie conducts Eleanor Rigby’s funeral.  The lonely desolation of the first verse is intensified by specifying that Rigby was, “buried alone with her name,” and that “nobody came.” The final bleak nail in the coffin (pun intended) comes when the lyrics note that, “no one was saved.”  Or, to put it another way, since no one attended Rigby’s funeral, no one was there to learn a lesson.

This three verse story is particularly effective, by setting up the sympathetic Rigby, moving away from her in a somewhat cinematic matter to the seemingly unrelated Father McKenzie, and then connecting these two lonely characters through the death of the Rigby.  The third verse effectively pays off the emotional investment made in the first verse.  Furthemore, the song invests in the audience through questions.  When the chorus asks “where do they all come from?” and “where do they all belong?” it directly addresses and confronts the audience, forcing them to take ownership in the plights of Rigby and McKenzie, as well as any lonely people that may be known to the listeners.

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Song a Day: “Please Please Me” (John Lennon)

When I teach songwriting, typically the first project I assign is to write a song that uses a refrain instead of a chorus.  A refrain is kind of like a mini-chorus.  It is a single line that typically appears as the last line of every verse.  That line is usually the title line of the song, and it serves to frame or contextualize each verse.

The example I use for a song with a refrain is “Please Please Me.”  Credited as being by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the song is generally understood to be written primarily by John Lennon.  We will be investigating the song in relationship to its lyrics.

At first glance, the lyrics to “Please Please Me” seem pretty lazy.  There are only two verses (the first verse is repeated as a third verse).  Furthermore, the rhymes seem lazy. It appears that he rhymes girl with girl in the first verse, love with love in the second verse, and you with you in the bridge.

However, the real rhyming in the lyrics are internal rhymes.  The first verse rhymes “my girl” with “try girl.”  In the second verse Lennon rhymes “way love” with “say love.”

These simple internal rhymes become more involved and playful in the bridge.  “Sound complaining” at the end of the first line rhymes with “always rain in” in the second line.  Furthermore, Lennon tags the end of the second line with “my heart,” which softens the sing songy quality of the multi-syllable rhymes.  The following two lines also use multi-syllable rhymes, ending with “pleasing with you” and “reason with you” respectively.  The bridge ends with the single syllable rhyme “blue.”

“Please Please Me” is at its essence a cute, novel teenage rock and roll love / lust song.  However, its effectiveness is not by accident.  These multi-syllable rhymes lend the tune its playful nature, hiding carnal urges behind flirtatious banter. This, in turn conformed perfectly to the Beatles early fun, clean cut, boy-next-door personas.

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Song a Day: “Kiss Me” (Matt Slocum)

Welcome to the first installment of Song of the Day.  I present one song per class period in my songwriting course.  This is the song that I cover on the first day of class.

You may know Matt Slocum’s “Kiss Me” as being that hit song by Six Pence None the Richer.  Slocum, the band’s guitarist, released the song on the band’s 1997 self-titled album.  While the arrangement and production of the song are both notable (check out the inclusion of the melodica, and the use of filtered, musical echo on the song’s title lyric), we’ll be examining the song in relationship to the lyrics.

The song has only two verses and a chorus, but the lyrics are chock full of descriptive imagery:  “milky twilight,” “moonlight floor,” and “fireflies dance, silver moon’s sparkling.”  This imagery hits every sensory path:  sight, sound, smell, and touch.  It even hits a kinesthetic note with “swing me on its hanging tire.”

The song generally steers clear of rhyming, avoiding a potential sing-songy nature.  The verses use only remote rhymes.  The first verse uses a consonant rhyme with grass and dress (lines 2 & 4), while the second verse uses a family rhyme with hat and map (lines 3 & 4).  The only rhyme in the chorus is an internal one, “lift your open hand, strike up the band, and make the fireflies dance, silver moon’s sparkling.” Furthermore, dance could be considered an assonance rhyme with hand and band.

The strong imagery of the lyrics not only help establish an emotive quality to the song, but they also hint at details of the narrative.  The dress mentioned in the line, “you wear those shoes and I will wear that dress,” suggests a pulchritudinous garment that twirls in a satisfying manner when the protagonist dances.

Ultimately the song is about dancing as much as it is about kissing.  In chorus the singer commands, “lead me out on the moonlit floor.”  Furthermore, the following line, “lift your open hand,” directs the object of the singer’s affection to invite her to dance.

The second verse continues with somewhat cryptic imagery that is rich for interpretation. The verse starts out with a nostalgic note, “Kiss me, down by the broken tree house,” which simultaneous points to the remoteness of childhood while still evoking it.  This line in tandem with the following, “swing me upon its hanging tire,” suggests a playful aspect to the romance at hand.

The most cryptic line of the song is the last line of the verse, “we’ll take the trail marked on your father’s map.”  This line, like the trail it describes, could lead any number of places.  On face value, the couple could simply be going somewhere remote, like a place you’d need a map to get to, in order to canoodle (as the young folks say).

However, the fact that the song specifies that the map belongs to the father of the singer’s sweetheart has always struck me as interesting.  Here Slocum could have used any two-syllable possessive (brother’s, cousin’s, best friend’s, etc.), but he settled on father’s.  Invoking the father suggests a generational aspect that potentially places the trail into the world of metaphor.

In such an interpretation, the trail represents a life path, and the statement, “we’ll take the trail marked on your father’s map,” becomes, “we’ll do what your parents did . . . get married / have children.”  Set only three lines away from “the broken treehouse,” under such an interpretation, the romance presented in “Kiss Me” is more than a fun, sweet dalliance, it is an important milestone in life, namely falling in love (for a lifetime).

Suggestions of matrimony in pop music were much more common in the fifties, when they reassured listeners of noble intentions of teenage Romeos.  With the notable exception of “All the Single Ladies,” matrimony is a much less common subject of songs in recent years.

Slocum’s “Kiss Me” manages to do the unlikely.  It suggests a long term relationship (marriage) in the midst of a song that evokes imagery related to new romance in a manner that does not scare off, or moralize to the listener.  The song balances the physical delight, pleasure, and sweetness of young romance, while suggesting a love that may last a lifetime.

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Sometimes one note is all you need

Many beginning songwriters and arrangers may avoid simplicity in order to avoid sounding simplistic or amateurish.  Remember that simplicity and simplistic mean two different things. Simplicity can be elegant and beautiful, while simplistic generally has a negative connotation implying a lack of depth.
Not all art needs to be complicated to be effective. In fact, there are many works that hide their lack of depth or significance in a lot of notes or lavish arrangements. It is much harder and more challenging to write an engaging work using a modicum of materials.
However, let me step back and get to the specific point of this entry, using a repeated single note in songwriting or arranging for effect. One would think that using a single note over and over would become boring, or seem amateurish and dumb.  However, in the right context it can not only work, but be emotionally effective.
A nice example of this in terms of arranging is the Three Dog Night recording of “One.” As the song builds, you’ll hear repeated octaves in the electric guitar.  Not only does this arrangement technique reflect the title of the song, the repetition of those octaves adds tension as the song builds. Repeated notes can often be used to add tension for two reasons.  First, the repetition can be thought of as a loop, and the listener can unconsciously anticipate the end of this loop, creating engagement.  Secondly, if the note is repeated over different chords, this note can form a pedal tone, meaning that the note will be harmonious with some of the harmonies, and discordant with others, building tension that can be used to build musical drama. Personally speaking, I often receive repeated notes as being insistent or assertive in nature, kind of a musical embodiment of, “I really mean this, so I’m going to say it again loudly for those of you in the back.”  When done in this manner, it is yet another way to create a form of dramatic engagement.
This previous example utilizes repeated notes in the arrangement, but not in the tune itself.  Using repeated notes in the tune is a much more dangerous proposition.  Here it can result in boredom.  However, used judiciously, repeated notes can be used effectively in songwriting.
“Every Little Thing She Does is Magic,” from the fourth Police album (Ghost in the Shell, is a wonderfully upbeat pop tune. However, the bridge of the song changes drastically, expressing how the protagonist wants to call the woman he desires, but cannot muster the courage.  The bridge ends on the markedly downbeat query, “must I always be alone?”
After the first two lines of the bridge the tune gets stuck on a single repeated note in the melody. This change comes with the first depressing line of the bridge, “but my silent fears have gripped me, long before I reach the phone.” Thus, the repeated notes reflect the protagonists mood change from ebuillient to despondent.  Also, since these repeated notes only exist at the end of the bridge, it only happens once in the song, helping to minimize any resulting boredom.  For instance if it happened in the verse or the bridge, it would be a much more dangerous situation.
“Julia” by John Lennon uses repeated notes in the verse of the song.  In fact, all but the end of the final phrase of the verse is a single note repeated.  Paired with the tempo and the delivery of the song, this colors the song with a somnolent mood that is borderline dream like.  While the chorus does have some contour, it does focus fairly heavily on two notes.  The only robust melodic contour that appears in the song is in the bridge.   However, this heavy reliance on repeated notes in the tune forces the song to lean a bit on the accompaniment, which is fortunately tenderly beautiful in its arpeggiated simplicity.
Using repeated notes in arrangements is a much safer bet than using them in songwriting.  However, keeping repeated notes as a technique in your potential bag of tricks is wise.  You can use the technique as a tool when you are trying to create a particular mood, or to create a brief section of passage that contrasts highly with the rest of your song.  Happy writing / arranging!