#dear bill

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.