I was listening to "AS" in the car the other day, and, as always, I went internally beserk, hyped, after the bridge, when the drummer just starts banging on the high hat and the choir is unified in the midst of "dolphins flying and parrots swimming at sea"!!. Whew! It's like the song kicks up a gear and I'm in the middle of the set.
I don't know if I was just spacing out or what, but it dawned on me, (and nearly made me weep) that when Stevie goes into that DEEP, GROWLING, DECLARATIVE voice in the middle of the song (sorta like Satchmo meets Stevie) he becomes the symbolic "God" voice/character that speaks to us in all his authority, fullness, and immovability as the one who is ALWAYS there, and is making sure we know it!...Meanwhile, in the background, the choir's angelic voices swell with " until the day that 8 x 8 x 8 is 4....".
That "voicing" Steve uses is like what happens in theater that the Greeks called deus ex machina-- some outside, supernatural force is brought in to tell the story more emphatically, or raise the stakes!
After we've been commanded to know how loved we are by "God", Stevie then becomes an angel again, in his "regular" voice, and joins the choir of angels for call and response.
It's absolutely stunning for me, every time, always.
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