"Leave Me Be"

The other thing I noticed when I listened to The Decca Stereo Anthology a few days ago is that the "-more" of "anymore" in the line "You'd better leave me be till I don't need her anymore" in "Leave Me Be" is sung with a melisma (C B, I think).  Musically, this gives something of a sense of the word's meaning.

"It's Alright with Me"

Since the 12th was the 55th anniversary of the Zombies' first (proper) studio session (on 12 June 1964), I listened to The Decca Stereo Anthology.

I noticed a small thing in "It's Alright with Me."  "Far" in the line "My bank account won't see me very far" is sung with a melisma (Eb C, I think), musically giving something of a sense of distance.  It's negated in the lyric though, so perhaps it's appropriate that the interval is only a minor third.

"Walking in the Sun"

A couple weeks ago, I figured out one of the backing vocal parts during the bridge of "Walking in the Sun" (this is one of the overdubs added in December 1968).  I don't know if this is just coincidence or if it's an indication of Rod Argent's cathedral choir background, but the first few measures bear some resemblance to the first phrase in hymn tune "Jefferson."

Here's the backing vocal phrase (during "You will laugh and walk with me..."):

Here's a recording I made of "Jefferson" a few years ago for my blog about hymns.  Here's the first phrase in notation (I adjusted the key so that it's easy to compare with "Walking in the Sun"):

The note values in each tune are considerably different, but if the first note of "Jefferson" is disregarded, the intervals of the first seven notes match.

I also noticed a small point about the lyrics in the bridge:  "ecstasy" in the line "And we will share our ecstasy" is sung with a melisma (I think it's E F G F E in the lead vocals), and since it's divided among a number of notes, there's a musical sense of that "shar[ing]."

Ready Steady Go!

[source]

I was looking through Zombies pictures recently and found this one, which I've never seen before.  The caption reads:  "English rock group The Zombies perform on the set of the music television show Ready Steady Go! at the Rediffusion studio in Kingsway, London in September 1964.  The band members are, from left, Rod Argent, Paul Atkinson, Colin Blunstone, Hugh Grundy and Chris White."

It's clearly early days since they're wearing the same stage clothes as they did during the Herts Beat competition in April and May 1964.  Rod Argent doesn't have his Vox Continental, just his Hohner Pianet (although, as I explain here, I think he got his Vox Continental in late August 1964), and it looks like Hugh Grundy is playing someone else's drum kit.  Based on what letters are visible ("ley... is... ts"), I think it might be Bill Haley & His Comets.

The Zombie Heaven liner notes list only one Ready Steady Go! appearance in September, on the 11th.  Paul Atkinson notes that because they did Ready Steady Go! they were late to a gig in Birmingham later the same day.