Of course I can't find it anywhere on the internet now, but about a decade ago I read a really interesting article analyzing the use of wide spaces in between pitches in the Beatles' melodies and the spatial patterns those pitches created when they were strung together into a melodic line. Basically, imagine looking at the notes on some sheet music and drawing lines to connect them to show the patterns in the rises and falls. It hypothesized that the patterns the Beatles created were so unbelievably catchy because of the use of large jumps in pitches (which the article believed to be intrinsically attractive to the human ear) and the metaphorical "shapes" they created. I remember it specifically used Radiohead as an example a current band that successfully used this technique.
Wait. I think I might have found it, although now it's on about.com? Who knows. But the good part starts with, wouldn't you know it, Brian Wilson:
http://guitar.about.com/od/songwriting/ ... lody_3.htmAnyway, I thought that was a pretty awesome theory when I read about it. I enjoy the Beatles quite a lot, and it's because there's something about their melodies that feels amazing when you sing them. It's hard to put into words. Sometimes leitmotifs just transcend something and strike you as brilliant. Sometimes a note feels totally
right where it's placed. That happens with many Beatles songs for me.
It happens with a lot of early video game music too, because those chiptunes were working with such limited resources (small numbers of channels, few possible sounds and/or available pitches, etcetera) that they
had to be carried by amazing melodies and counter-melodies, as opposed to being driven by sustained notes, complex chords, or subtle blendings of sounds. If done right, of course. This can also be a recipe for disaster.
