"Bring It on Home to Me"

I recently listened to a compilation album of Sam Cooke and realized that in the line "If you ever change your mind" in "Bring It on Home to Me," the "mind" is sung with a melisma (E D), musically indicating that "change" through the shift from one pitch to an-other.  Of course, then I started thinking about the Zombies' version.  It has the same feature, but the melisma is broader; "mind" is sung to the phrase B C# E F# E.

In referencing both versions now to find specific pitches, I also noticed something exclusive to the Zombies' version.  Every verse in Cooke's original ends with some variation of "Baby, bring it to me, bring your sweet lovin' / Bring it on home to me," and the live version of "You've Really Got a Hold on Me/Bring It on Home to Me" by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles that the Zombies based their version on follows this, but the Zombies' version has "on home" instead of "to me" ("Whoa, bring it on home, bring your sweet lovin' / Bring it on home to me").  That "home" in "Whoa, bring it on home..." is sung to an A note, and since their version is in A major, that's the tonic or home note.

I also discovered that the second syllable of the melisma'd "me" in the line "Bring it home to me" that ends every verse is sung to an A note, so there's a musical representation of "bring[ing] it home" there too.

"Tiger in the Night"

While I'm writing posts about Colin Blunstone songs, I figured I would finally get around to writing about something I noticed when I first listened to Collected last March.  The first few lines of "Tiger in the Night" are taken almost directly from the William Blake poem "The Tyger."

The first two lines of "Tiger in the Night":

You are the tiger burning bright
Deep in the forests of my nights

The first two lines of "The Tyger":

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;

"Ain't It Funny"

When I listened to Planes/Never Even Thought a couple days ago, I noticed a small thing about "Ain't It Funny."  "More" in the line "When I first saw, wanted more" is sung with a melisma (Bb G in the version on Planes; C Bb G in the version on Never Even Thought).  Because it's sung to more syllables than it's spoken with, there's a sense of the word's meaning.

In referencing the song now to find the specific pitches, I also noticed that "down" in the line "You can feel down, wear a frown" is sung with a descending melisma (Bb G in both versions), musically representing that "down"ness.  Because it's a minor third, there might be a hint of sadness there too.

"Planes"

Because yester-day was Colin Blunstone's birthday, I listened to the somewhat recent reissue of Planes and Never Even Thought on a single CD.  I'm not sure if this is entirely necessary, but I wanted to write a post to point out the allusion to Cervantes' Don Quixote in "Planes."  I can't make out all of the lyrics, but one of the later verses has "...traces of old Don Quixote / Tilting giants on imaginary hills."  If I remember it correctly, in Don Quixote, the title character reads so many stories about knights that he can no longer distinguish between fiction and reality and, thinking that he himself is a knight, goes off on an adventure.  He goes into battle against windmills because he perceives them as giants.  This is the specific event that "Planes" references.

"In My Mind a Miracle"

When I listened to all of the Zombies albums last week, I also noticed a small thing in "In My Mind a Miracle."  The melody for the line "Suffered such a fall from grace" falls a sixth, musically illustrating that "fall."  "Suffered such a fall" is all sung to G notes; "from grace" to Bb notes.

"Love Conquers All"

I got behind in my posts, but here are some things I noticed about "Love Conquers All" when I listened to New World last week.

The last line of the first verse is "Feeling ev'ry moment's do or die," and the "do or die" part seems to come from Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade," specifically:

Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.

That's "do and die" rather than "do or die," but the phrase is similar.

The "fall" in the line " Each time you fall" in the chorus is sung with a descending melisma (E D B), musically giving a sense of that "fall[ing]."  In a later iteration of the chorus, "walls" in the line "Breaking down the walls" is sung with this same melisma, again giving a sense of downward movement.

"Losing You"

An-other thing I noticed while listening to New World last week is that "away" in the line "And though you've often turned away" in "Losing You" is sung with a melisma.  It's sung to three syllables (to the notes C C B) rather than just two.  This gives something of a musical sense of the movement of "turn[ing] away."

I referenced the version on Colin Blunstone's Collected (the liner notes explain that it's from the album The Light Inside), and this same feature (with the same pitches, even) is present there too.

"Nights on Fire"

When I listened to New World a couple days ago, I noticed two things about "Nights on Fire," both about the line "See the eagle rise."  First, as if to reflect that "ris[ing]," the line is sung to an ascending melody (A A D E F#).  Second, I think this might be a slight nod to the Alan Parsons Project's "The Eagle Will Rise Again," which contains a similar line (the title line: "The eagle will rise again").  Colin Blunstone sang "The Eagle Will Rise Again" and co-wrote "Nights on Fire."

"Lula Lula"

When I listened to New World on the 14th, I noticed a couple instances in "Lula Lula" where the melody connects to the lyrics.  "Love's falling around you" in the first and third verses and "It's falling around me" in the second verse are all sung to a descending melody (D D C B B A), which musically represents that "falling."

"I Got My Mojo Working"

Yester-day I listened to all six of the Zombies albums (I'd planned to do this a few days in advance, but the day before I did it, I realized that I'd pickt an appropriate day because it was Rod Argent's birthday).  While listening to Begin Here, I noticed a small thing about "I Got My Mojo Working."  In the line "I got a whole lotta dreams here right under my eyes," "dreams" is sung with a melisma (B G Bb C Eb, I think).  Because it's sung to a number of different pitches, there's a musical sense of that "whole lotta."

"Butcher's Tale" b/w "This Will Be Our Year"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (10 June 1968), the Zombies' "Butcher's Tale" b/w "This Will Be Our Year" (Date 2-1612) was released in the U.S. and Canada.

"Pay Me Later"

I listened to Ennismore earlier this week, and this morning I was thinking about "Pay Me Later."  I realized that the "every" in the first line ("Every time that you get down") is sung with three syllables, which gives a sense of number.  When I listened to that bit of the song in order to verify that, I also discovered that the "down" is sung with a descending melisma (A E, I think), which musically represents that "down."