#dear bill

[workingonasongbird]

actual footage of me processing dear bill

[that-1940s-homosexual]

Top 5 horror stories of my life:

1. "No nightingales"

2. "You never had a dog"

3. "And to tell you the truth, Tom"

4. "Accessing Bill Potts. Locating Bill Potts. I am Bill Potts"

5. "Alexander, there's a letter for you" "It's from John Laurens, I'll read it later" "No,it's from his father"

[kaiversustheworld]

sitting on my windowsill talking to my sourdough starter like how tom talks to his roses

[takemeawaythanks]

Dear Bill is a Weird Song...

I mean weird in a good way btw. Honestly it is the most unique song in the due to its really odd structure. I'm hesitant to even say that it has a structure at all as under close inspection it is a combination of five melodic ideas (recurring to differing extents), two instances of rambling, and non-repeating phrases that connect them all. The complete lack of structure in this song makes Hester's letter and subsiquent break down seem so very real because of the conversational flow of the song. There is no need to rehash what has already been said in a conversation but there are certain emotional beats that can't help but pop up.

The song opens like this:

"Why did we meet in the middle of a war? What a silly thing for anyone to do?" The first theme that recurs three other times in the song and because of it being the opening statement of the piece, I see it as the core of Hester's emotions throughout. Between all the tellings of everyday life, there is an underlying sadness that grows and grows everytime the theme is heard, each "why" becoming heavier as Hester relives her trauma of losing Tom.

I want to note that I am not going to recount every instance of a not-repeated phrase, but I wanted to point out that the opening line/title of the song does not repeat at all.

I find this interesting because it is the title of the song but due to its lack of repeition its clear that it is not the point of the song.

This theme, I've noticed, is kind of an introduction of personability if that makes sense? There's a sense of sweet light heartedness or in the lines with this melody, a melody which is notably lacking in the majority of the song. It is only heard in the front half of the song before Hester becomes more sad than nostalgic.

This theme is especially important in pointing out the direction of the song before it gets to all the big emotions at the end. There's only two instances in which this theme occurs. Once in an attempt at optimism and one in jest. As the audience finds out, Hester knows that Tom will not be able to see his flowers bloom so with that added context, the optimism feels sour. And that soured optimism permiates the in the joke she makes about Diana's piano skills. This theme is the first tangible hint at the darker side to this song and in only two instances, it starts a desent into tragedy.

Ohhhh buddy boy this might just be my favorite theme in the song. It is Hester trying to keep a grip on her emotions by noting how Tom's family and flowers miss him and agreeing with them, but never directly admitting that she misses him until the end of the song after her emotional walls have been crumbling down.

By the end,all of the other recurrent themes have shown up multiple times so it sort of catches you off guard when Hester starts to seemingly break down. It is a culmination of all of the repressed emotions that came before it. And you'll notice that these last few new ideas are longer than all the others that have previously occured, which I interpret to be Herster sort of losing focus and beginning to ramble because of the emotions built up.

These themes are so so so effective when put in a seemingly random order. This song genuinely sounds like a one sided conversation with a ghost. What makes this song weird is not the the many different melofic variations, but because of a lack of destinct verses or choruses. Every measure of this song souds unplanned and unintentional from the perspective of the characters, but very intentional in the context of the song.

(I'm sorry for the lack of a really in depth analysis on the music theory. I working those for Operation Mincemeat, but I really wanted to articulate why I think Dear Bill is so interesting. Also, the cite I got the sheet music from transcribed some parts incorrectly so please excuse that.)

[for-the-love-of-the-arts]

The amount of time Jeff Kready sustains that falsetto note on “even now I still miss you” will make me gasp and then cry basically every time.

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[psychearrows]

Dear Bill and Sail On, Boys being right next to each other really isn’t fair. like, Hester’s already got my eyes watery, why do you also have to say right afterwards pursue your dreams no matter what society pressures you to do because life is short and being alive is a blessing so spend it with good company doing what makes you happy rather than conforming to what’s expected of you. all in the form of a really, really catchy sea shanty, by the way. what the heck.

[permetutotheworld]

“And since youre of GALLIVANTING its only FAIR that you know that your roses QUITE FRANKLY were the first things to go and no youre not gallivanting idontmeangallivanting its just frUSTRATing FOR YOU TO BE RIGHT WHEN I HAVE TO DEAL WITH BOTH SIDES OF THIS FIGHT BUT ITS GOOD TO HEar you…. Even just in my head”

what if i ate glass

[persephoneismywife]

we wish you a merry christmas even though it is June

Just realised it's June and now I can say this