Covid Island Discs

Day 434: Melancholy Man, The Moody Blues

This is the second time I have cited a Moody Blues song. This is a very pretty song but much less well known than their classic Nights in White Satin. Another song which has an interesting musical progression with the chorus line:

When all the stars are falling down
Into the sea and on the ground
And angry voices carry on the wind
A beam of light will fill your head
And you’ll remember what’s been said
By all the good men this world’s ever known

The illusion that is created throughout the song is a constant musical descent which matches the emotional content of the song about a man who is suffer from a feeling of “pensive sadness”: melancholy. The illusion of constant musical descent reminds me very much of the Supertramp classic Crime of the Century (Covid Island Discs Day 229) which also creates the illusion of the music constantly descending from high to low notes.