And Dream of Sheep

⚠️ Harmony note: Your notes flag "find out harmony chords with the score" — the harmony section below uses everything in your existing notes, but is incomplete. Cross-reference with the score and Edexcel set work booklet before the exam to fill in the full chord sequence, especially for the verse and bridge.

⚠️ Structure note: Your notes contain two conflicting labels for the same sections — one source calls bars 8–15 the Refrain and bars 15–19 the Bridge; another calls them Chorus and Link. The bar numbers agree, so this is a labelling disagreement, not a structural one. I've used Verse / Refrain / Bridge / Outro–Coda throughout, which is the more analytically defensible reading given the note that the song lacks a traditional chorus. Check your Edexcel booklet to confirm the expected terminology.

Dynamics

• Frequent alternation between mf and p throughout — contributes to the fluid, dreamlike character

• Accents on quavers — add rhythmic emphasis within the otherwise soft dynamic palette

Rhythm / Tempo / Metre

• Slow ballad tempo (♩ = 80 bpm) — creates a languid, drifting quality that underpins the narrative of the narrator lost at sea

• 4/4 prevails, but with frequent metre changes that create a fluid, unsettled feel:
  • 2/4 bars used to extend phrases
  • 3/4 at bar 47
  • 5/4 at bar 51 — sudden metric expansion for dramatic effect

• Both verse and refrain openings use syncopation — vocal material frequently enters after the first beat of the bar

• Dotted rhythms: on "white" (bar 9) and in the bassline (bars 15–17)

• Scotch snap on "stupid" (bar 29)

• Occasional triplet on "heavy with" (bar 49)

• Final Vocal Idea (from bar 49): anacrusis pick-up, with triplets, ties, and Lombardic rhythms in the last five bars — this figure recurs throughout the outro/coda with slight rhythmic variation each time, maintaining interest as the music decelerates

• Ends with a ritardando — the gradual slowing mirrors the narrator drifting into unconsciousness

Texture

• Melody-dominated homophony throughout, with a prominent broken chord accompaniment — focus remains firmly on the vocal line

• Piano more active in the verses: wider-ranging arpeggios and some doubling of the vocal line

• Refrain and bridge: accompanied by plainer, mid-range block chords — simpler texture contrasts with the verse

• Frequent tonic pedal (E) appears across several sections — adds harmonic stability beneath shifting harmonies

• Slightly polyphonic in places where the vocal line interacts with accompaniment figuration

• Bouzouki adds decorative lines in Verse 2 — adds a second independent strand

• Irish tin whistle (multi-tracked in the outro/coda) provides an additional contrapuntal layer

• Spoken vocal sample (bar 15) sits above the texture as a separate narrative layer

Structure

• No introduction — the song begins immediately; cf. Cloudbusting, which also lacks an intro

• Lacks a traditional chorus — this prevents the song from feeling grounded, reinforcing the narrative of the narrator adrift at sea

• Structure is closer to extended strophic form than standard verse–chorus pop, though influenced by the formal 3-minute pop song structure common in 1980s music:
  • Bars 1–7: Verse 1
  • Bars 8–15: Refrain
  • Bars 15–19: Bridge
  • Bars 19–26: Verse 2
  • Bars 27–36: Refrain
  • Bars 36–40: Bridge
  • Bars 40–53: Outro/Coda

• Unusual 7-bar verse lengths — less ordered and more languid than standard 8-bar phrases

• Outro/coda: extended and lullaby-like — as the music slows and the vocal figure repeats with varied rhythm, the narrator appears to drift into unconsciousness; this is reinforced by a whispered male voice saying "wake up", which provides a transition into the next album track, Waking the Witch

Melody

• More angular than *Cloudbusting — wider leaps, less scalar; reflects the more experimental "art" character of The Ninth Wave (B-side of Hounds of Love*)

• Overall lead vocal range: a major 9th — wider than might be expected for a slow ballad

• Verse opens with two rising 5ths — could be considered a melodic sequence, though the motif repetitions are not strictly a step apart

• Frequent large leaps of 6ths result in non-scalic passages rather than the smoother angular motion typical of pop melody

• Repeated notes on "My face is all lit up"

• Repeated 3rds on "If they find me racing" (bar 8)

• Refrain: melody more restricted in range — oscillating minor 3rd between B and G# (bar 8)

• Outro/coda uses a recurring figure (first heard bar 40):
  • Rising major 6th from the lower dominant (B) up to G#
  • Falls back by step to the starting note
  • Repeated with rhythmic variation each time

• Low tessitura at the close — the song finishes on the lower dominant (B), underlining the text "deeper and deeper" through word-painting

• Ending on the dominant gives an unresolved, inconclusive close — the narrator has not found safety

• Mainly syllabic word-setting, with slurred pairs and brief melismas at points

Instrumentation / Sonority

• Piano dominates the accompaniment — reminiscent of Bush's earlier ballads; more dramatic and wide-ranging in the verses, switching to simpler "vamped" mid-range block chords in the bridge

• No drum kit — its absence creates a more tranquil, untarnished mood; no Fairlight CMI either (contrast with Cloudbusting)

• Folk-influenced instruments give the piece an acoustic warmth unusual in pop/rock:
  • Bouzouki (Donal Lunny): decorative lines in Verse 2 — folk/Eastern European timbre
  • Irish tin whistle (John Sheahan): multi-tracked in the outro/coda with complex note bending — enhances warmth while contrasting with expected rock/pop instrumentation; quartal harmony heard in the whistle parts at bar 41 (C#–F#–B)

• Heavy reverb throughout — gives a sense of vast open space; evokes the ocean and reinforces a dreamlike, "otherworldly" quality

• Vocal sample (bar 15): a spoken radio shipping forecast, filtered to sound as if coming from a radio — highly effective alongside the lyric "wish I had my radio"; the shipping forecast airs on BBC Radio 4 at 1am, just before the station closes, deepening the late-night/at-sea narrative
  • Wider listening: cf. Pink Floyd's The Wall, where non-musical samples/sonic objects create ambience and narrative — demolition sounds conclude the tearing-down narrative

• Whispered male voice saying "wake up" at the close — transitions directly into the next track, Waking the Witch

• Bush's lead vocal: wide range (major 9th), syllabic with occasional melismas; reverb applied from the very start

Tonality

• Verses: C# Aeolian (modal minor) — modal character, unsettled

• Refrain and bridge: E major (relative major) — brighter, more grounded

• Ends in E major but inconclusively — the final note is the dominant (B), leaving the tonal resolution incomplete; mirrors the unresolved narrative

Harmony

⚠️ The full chord-by-chord sequence has not yet been confirmed from the score — see note at the top of the page. The points below are drawn from your existing notes.

• Added-note and extended chords throughout — jazz influence; extensions create tension that is quickly resolved (e.g. B(add4)–C#m9–B progression in Verse 2)
  • Wider listening: cf. Jeff Buckley's Lover, You Should've Come Over — opens with a D–C(add9)–Em7 cycle; extended chords increase tension without a jarring effect

• Suspended chords used to avoid functional cadences — prevents the song feeling grounded; reinforces the narrative of the narrator floating without purpose

• Opens with a modal sequence: C#m7 – F#m – A – B

• Refrain: I–IV–V–I in E major over a tonic pedal (E) — more functional and grounded than the verse, reflecting a moment of relative stability

• Neapolitan chord (F major) appears — striking chromatic harmony, adds colour and instability

• Tonic pedal (E) recurs across several sections (also noted under Texture), tethering the harmony beneath surface complexity

• Notable individual chords:
  • B 6/9(bar 21) — creates a chord built largely of 4ths
  • C#m with added 9th (bar 22)
  • E6 in piano / quartal harmony in whistles (C#–F#–B) at bar 41 — unusual sonority; the quartal stack in the whistles is particularly striking

Context

• Part of The Ninth Wave — a seven-song song-cycle on the B-side of Hounds of Love (1985), depicting a narrator alone at sea, drifting between consciousness and unconsciousness; 'And Dream of Sheep' is the opening track

• Bush's use of the shipping forecast (BBC Radio 4, 1am) is a highly specific cultural reference — it was the last broadcast of the night, reinforcing the sense of late-night isolation

• The absence of drums and electronic production (no Fairlight CMI) marks a deliberate contrast with the A-side tracks, including Cloudbusting, and signals a more intimate, acoustic aesthetic

• The whispered "wake up" at the close creates a direct link to the next track, Waking the Witch — Bush treats the B-side as a continuous narrative rather than individual songs