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Ratliff first begins by stating how perfect moments can be at the end of pieces. We can think of any movies with "perfect" endings because the story has reached it's conclusion after whatever emotional turmoil it put their viewer through. We can be at peace and be content with the ending. The same principal can apply to music of course.  A song can end with a perfect note or a perfect chord to bring a perfect resolution. However, Ratliff also states how perfection can be achieved within songs. This principle also makes sense because the most memorable moments of songs can be the glorious long notes or phrases within it. I am bad at recalling music, but I can always recall the catchy chorus and other highlights of the song, which I will elaborate on in my examples.

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"He has achieved the correct state of mind for starting a public disturbance and getting people to join it: he has become magnetic, and it is this song's purpose to find magnetism." Ratliff 231

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"He has achieved the correct state of mind for starting a public disturbance and getting people to join it: he has become magnetic, and it is this song's purpose to find magnetism." Ratliff 231

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Ratliff is referencing John Lydon, and that kind of quality, that power, a note can hold is what makes a singer great. As a primer here, think of Gangnam Style by PSY. For me, this power of magnetism can be held in a chorus, especially if I don't remember the rest of the song; the perfect moments of the chorus has the power to bring every listener back into singing along if they were lost before. It brings a broader meaning to music as a whole since it is meant to bring people together in respective niches of genres and favorite songs. Perfect moments help catalyze this reaction of pulling people in.

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"And are we—with all with all music, to some extent—waiting around for some pinpointed extraordinariness to happen?" Ratliff 228

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"And are we—with all with all music, to some extent—waiting around for some pinpointed extraordinariness to happen?" Ratliff 228

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I always like to go off of the idea that listeners have expectations. I have to agree with Ratliff's quote here. We can always listen to a song passively, but what makes it memorable are those perfect moments that it contains. If it's a first listening of a song, we try to find it's best quality, whether it be a perfect high note, phrase, or chorus, and use that to justify our liking of the song. It then becomes our favorite part. For familiar songs, we already know what is "perfect" about the song, and it can be any of the aforementioned things, or it can even be the ending of a song because it provides a great ending to a musical story (which will be elaborated on in another text bubble).

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I don't know how people can dislike Freddie Mercury (though I can understand when something has been overplayed). I like to think his voice is pretty perfect and is Ratliff's equivalent to Frank Sinatra. Everyone can at least remember the high notes that he holds for a long time in virtually all of his songs. It embodies another one of Ratliff's ideas of a single note possessing power and soul, but the principle of perfection can also be applied to the notes that Mercury sings. It makes his voice golden and it trickles down in his songs to be heard and perceived as "perfect".
Screenshot from Don't Stop Me Now

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Props to whoever drew "Take On Me" because that looks extremely hard to do frame by frame.
I might have a small obsession over high notes because those notes are the ones that I would define as perfect most of the time. Maybe it's because high notes held for a long time are hard to obtain, which is a partial definition of perfection (the difficulty of obtaining something). In Take On Me, those who listen always try to follow along and hit that high note ("in a day or...twooooooo") , whether they have the ability to hit that "perfect note" or not. This would be this song's most memorable moment because it contains something hard to achieve, and everyone wants to achieve perfection somehow.

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But this is me and my S.Os love song thing so oh well.
This would be an example of perfection at the end of a piece.  The whole piece has great harmonies between Colbie Calliet and Jason Mraz, however, it can be hard to call the whole song perfect because there would be no "lesser" comparison within the song. If there is a perfect part, note, or ending, this would imply that there are less perfect parts in the song. I of course still love the song for its sentimental value and what greater meaning I can bring to it if I am reminded of its perfect harmony at the ending of the song.

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This piece is almost beautifully jazzy and I can see what kind of perfection Ratliff sees in Betty Carter. Context of a song can help bring out the little perfect moments that happen in songs. I Think I Got It Now has a smooth and sexy vibe to it as the background music plays, and Carter's voice is deep and clear so her voice can stand out within the calm accompaniment. Her voice is unwavering as she enunciates all her syllables, and the stressed ones that Ratliff mentions are more special because they are "perfect" and contain her unwavering, soulful, voice

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I Think I Got It Now - Live At Bradshaw's Great American Music Hall, San Francisco/1979

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I Think I Got It Now - Live At Bradshaw's Great American Music Hall, San Francisco/1979, a song by Betty Carter on Spotify