Q and A, Musically Speaking

There is a kind of verse-chorus musical combination that has intrigued me for some time. These are the songs in which the tunes of verse and chorus are really different, more a yin-yang combination than a hand-glove combination. On Eagles' Wings, which I pick out from several like it because NPM recently identified it as the overwhelming favorite song, period, of American Catholics, is an example of this combination.

The verses of Eagles' Wings have a lilting quality. (I'm writing in what follows as if it is written in the key of C, although if I recall it is written in Eb.) The verses start very high, on the Fourth chord but on B, a note that's nowhere in the Fourth or the First--it is a very timid beginning, likely to cause a singer's quaver. The Fourth resolves to a CMaj7, which, in this structure, is a gentle i.e. timid chord on which to barely rest a G--like balancing an egg upright in a bed of moss--before repeating that whole phrase. Then there is an unusual and dramatic progression, kind of a blur that makes a great deal of use of the flattened 7th; all is unrest until we finally land on the full expression of the question, the 5th (G7).

That is the question--what is the answer? The answer is: we are destined to soar. The question has tossed us to the ground but not for long. We land on the major C and it buoys us up. We sing like eagles, we fly like eagles, we circle around, high above our difficulties, and finally land in the quiet soft nest, snuggled up with God. The refrain, unlike the verse, stays completely within the round of standard C-major chord progressions.

The effect of this kind of structure, it seems to me, is that a whole lot of dramatic tension seems to be proposed and resolved in a very short time. The verse acts as a kind of question; it is quickly resolved by the refrain, which fulfills itself by increasing our sense of comfort. It happens over and over again, reinforcing us in a very easily understood and very easily attained sense of being very close to God. It's not nourishing, but it is comforting. I can see why people would request it again and again.