The Decembrists

Similar to both Thomas and Campbell I found this song to be not only quite pleasing as far as music goes, but also quite difficult to analyze. Besides for the sheer length of this song, the three very distinct portions make it difficult to scan and analyze as a whole. I find that one of the most interesting aspects of the song is the way in which the singer accents certain words over others. Thomas made an excellent point in noting that in the verse “Come and see” one can barely pick out the “and,” which in actuality is more of an “n” than anything. But it is also interesting to note that in “The Landlord’s Daughter” section of the song that the singer accents the verses “I’ll take no gold miss, I’ll take no silver: I’ll take those sweet lips, and I’ll deliver.” Clearly marking an emotional part of the song, the singer expresses this to the listener by making it stand out from the rest of the song by accenting the entire verse.
In the “You’ll Not Feel the Drowning” section the singer once again brings attention to certain words by irregularly accenting and emphasizing certain parts of them and not the others. For example, in the repeated chorus “You’ll not feel the drowning” conventional methods of speaking would place the accent mark on the latter part of the word “drowning,” but the singer accentuates the “drown” part and trails off in the end. This stands out to the listener in that it seemingly denotes a shift from the aggressive, faster tempo of the aforementioned verses in “The Landlord’s Daughter” section to a more remorseful attitude once the girl is dead. The shift in accentuation is prevalent throughout the song and matches up not only with the beat, but also with the emotions of the story within the song, making for an aesthetically pleasing song and powerful story telling.