"I Want You Back Again" [single version]

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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This is the last of the historical anniversary recordings for now.  Last night I refreshed the guitar part and discovered two things.  First, in the single version, it ends on an Eb where the alternate version ends on a C (if I remember correctly).  To some degree, that helps to emphasize the sadness of the tonic C minor chord.  Second (and more interesting), the guitar part for the entirety of "I Want You Back Again" contains all the same notes (no more and no less) as the guitar solo in the Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love," which I learned earlier this year.  There are only nine notes in both:

The Zombies have often cited the Beatles as an influence, so I think this is a bit more than a coincidence, but I don't think that Argent set out to write a song with a guitar part that contains only the notes in the "Can't Buy Me Love" solo.  That seems too much like writing in the vein of what's popular, which - as he's mentioned multiple times - he doesn't do.  Still, I thought this immensely interesting.

The guitar part during the (still missing) electric piano solo isn't strictly accurate.  I mostly just stayed on the C note, but it's more complex than that.  There's a C, Bb, G figure and something else I couldn't figure out (although I think it's some form of a C minor chord), so I just kept it simple.  I think it's more like the alternate version of "I Want You Back Again" (which, to be honest, I think I like better than the single version).