"New York"

I was thinking about "New York" this morning and realized that to some degree, it's a subtle - perhaps even subconscious - nod to Gershwin's An American in Paris.  Both portray someone in a prominent foreign city (an Englishman in New York and an American in Paris).  More specifically, both also include traffic sounds:  Gershwin's piece contains parts played on car horns, and the Zombies' song features what are apparently field recordings of car horns and police sirens.

"Whenever You're Ready"

A couple days ago, I watched the new lyric video for "Whenever You're Ready" and noticed a way in which the song's structure matches a phrase in the lyrics.  The chorus begins with the line "You're not teaching me a new thing," and after its initial occurrence, the chorus itself is "not... a new thing."

"Time to Move"

I was thinking about "Time to Move" yester-day (almost certainly because a clip of a live performance was recently posted on Colin Blunstone's Instagram account) and had a small realization about it.

In the lines "You never see the real thing / You can't tell it from the fake," the phrases "real thing" and "fake" are sung to pitches that are roughly an octave apart ("real thing" is sung to A G, and I think "fake" is sung with a melisma, to Bb G), so the large interval between the pitches emphasizes the contrast between "real" and "fake," despite the narrator's claim that the two are indistinguishable.

When I found the specific notes, I also noticed that the Bb to which "fake" is sung is an accidental in the song's G major.  In a way, this foreign tonality illustrates the word's meaning.

"Tell Me How"

Last week, I listened to the two-albums-on-one-CD reissue of Planes and Never Even Thought in order to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the release of the "When You Close Your Eyes" b/w "Good Guys Don't Always Win" single (although only "Good Guys Don't Always Win" is on Planes), and yester-day, I belatedly had a small realization about the cover of Buddy Holly's "Tell Me How."

"Love" (usually with the possessive "your" attached) appears in every line of the first verse (repeated as the third and fourth verses):

Tell me how to keep your love

You know how I need your love

Tell me how you'll* keep the love within your arms from me

That "your love" is repeated so frequently illustrates its importance for the narrator, emphasizing how "I need your love."

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*I think it's "you'll" in the first verse but just "you" in the third and fourth.

"Time's Running Out"

I listened to Colin Blunstone's Ennismore yester-day, but even before I listened to it, I had a small realization about "Time's Running Out" while looking at the track listing.  The song is penultimate on the album, so in a way, even its position in the sequencing illustrates the title sentiment.

"When You Close Your Eyes" b/w "Good Guys Don't Always Win"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (11 September 1976), Colin Blunstone's "When You Close Your Eyes" b/w "Good Guys Don't Always Win" (Epic S EPC 4576) was released in the U.K.

As far as I know, "When You Close Your Eyes" hasn't been re-released.

"Keep on Rollin'"

I listened to All Together Now yester-day and noticed a small feature in the line "Make me feel so strong" in "Keep on Rollin'."  As I've noted before with similar phrases, the repetition involved in the alliterative "so strong" lends a slight sense of degree.

"Mary Won't You Warm My Bed"

I listened to One Year yester-day and noticed two small features in the line "But I never could forget the day she gave me all her love" in "Mary Won't You Warm My Bed."  "Love" is held longer than the preceding words, and it's sung with a melisma (C# B).  Both of these qualities lend a sense of the extent of "all."

"I Want Some More"

I was thinking about "I Want Some More" this morning and realized that the melody gives some sense of the lyrics in the first two lines:  "I'm sittin' all alone on a sunny summer afternoon / Just sittin' alone with nothing to do."  The phrases "sittin' all alone" and "sittin' alone" (and even the following "on a" and "with") are sung to a single pitch (F#), musically illustrating this solitude.  The sense is heightened by the contrast with the extensive melismas with which the "-noon" of "afternoon" and "do" are sung; both include a multitude of notes and span a sixth (from A to F#).

I'm sure I noticed before (but apparently neglected to note here) that the alliteration involved in "all alone" also gives a sense of this singularity.

"I Can't Make up My Mind"

I run an-other blog where I collect performances by and interviews with the Zombies, and for the last two years or so, I've been working on transcribing the interviews.  I recently started Chris White's appearance on the Ace Records Podcast.  In the introduction, the presenter refers to "I Can't Make up My Mind" but calls it "I Can't Make My Mind up" instead.  When I verified that I'd remembered it correctly, I had a small realization about the title line.

It's sung to a melody something like this:

The words are all sung on down-beats until "my mind," which are both sung on up-beats.  Up-beats are weaker than down-beats, so even musically, there's a sense of this lack of solidity.

"Work 'n' Play"

I was thinking about "Work 'n' Play" a couple days ago and realized that, in a very loose way, the guitar part illustrates the title.  If I'm not mistaken, the initial phrases in the "verse" are just a two-note ascent (B E) and then a two-note descent (B E).  The two E notes are an octave apart, so these two phrases are more-or-less exact opposites, and this contrast matches the difference between "work" and "play" in the title.

"Hung up on a Dream"

A couple weeks ago, I was thinking again about the lines from Shakespeare's The Tempest that are quoted on the back of Odessey and Oracle.  Only a portion is given there, but in full, Caliban says:

Be not afeard.  The isle is full of noises,

Sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not.

Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments

Will hum about mine ears, and sometimes voices

That, if I then had waked after long sleep,

Will make me sleep again; and then, in dreaming,

The clouds methought would open and show riches

Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked

I cried to dream again.  (III.ii.131-139)

When I read these lines again, I realized that many of these sentiments are also expressed in "Hung up on a Dream."

The sounds in both are expansive ("The isle is full of noises" "A sweet vibration seemed to fill the air").  Both narrators experience a dream that directs their attention upward ("then, in dreaming, / The clouds methought would open and show riches" "Until I woke up only finding ev'rything was just a dream... [of men who] showed me strangest, clouded sights above"), and they later desire to experience this dream again ("when I waked / I cried to dream again" "now I'm hung up on a dream").  More generally, both pieces also describe the calming effects of sound ("Sounds and sweet airs that give delight" "sounds unheard... which gently touched my aching mind / And soothed the wanderings of my troubled brain").

In Claes Johansen's Hung up on a Dream (p. 30), Argent explains that Shakespeare's "language spoke to me; it had an indefinable, spiritual quality."  In this instance, it seems to have influenced Argent's own words.

Odessey and Oracle

I was thinking about Odessey and Oracle yester-day and had a realization about the album as a whole.  The title itself exhibits a balance since the words odessey and oracle each have three syllables, and this balance also carries over to the sequencing:  on the original vinyl, each side had six songs.

"Girl Help Me"

At the end of "Girl Help Me," "you" in the final "Help me; I, I can't think of nothin' but you" is held while the instruments naturally fade out, and in a way, this situation demonstrates the exclusivity of "nothin' but."

"Don't Cry for Me"

I've been listening to Zombie Heaven again.  Yester-day, it was the second disc, and I noticed a couple small features.

In the line "And I'm better off with you far away from me" in "Don't Cry for Me," there's a fairly large interval (a fifth) between "you" (sung to an A) and "me" (sung to an E), so even musically, there's something of a representation of this "far away."

"I Want to Fly"

I listened to Different Game yester-day and noticed a feature in "I Want to Fly" that's also present in the version on As Far As I Can See.  The line "And the days go so slow" exhibits assonance ("go so slow") and alliteration ("so slow"), and these features provide a sense of the line's meaning:  the retention of sounds from word to word illustrates a relative lack of change, and the multitude of similar sounds lends a sense of degree (for "so").

"Care of Cell 44"

Last night, I realized that the beginning of "Care of Cell 44" ("Good morning to you...") makes it an appropriate first song for Odessey and Oracle.  The beginning of the day and the start of the album coincide.

Odessey and Oracle

Last night, I was thinking about how - as The "Odessey" explains (p. 17) - "Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet appear in the 'O' of Odessey" on the cover of Odessey and Oracle.  On the back, Rod cites some lines from The Tempest.  Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy while The Tempest is a comedy, so - probably just coincidentally - this sort of dramatic dichotomy (tragedy or comedy) is mirrored by the two sides of the album sleeve (front and back).

"Friends of Mine"

Yester-day, I was looking into "Friends of Mine," and while my initial notion didn't pan out, I noticed something much more interesting.

The opening guitar phrases are something like this:

They bear a strong resemblance to the opening Pianet phrases in "Whenever You're Ready," which are something like this:

(They continue for an-other two measures, but I felt this was enough for comparison.)

The exact intervals differ slightly, but both phrases trace the same general four-note arc.  The rhythms are basically the same, too, although they start in different places in the measure.

"Celebration"

I listened to Ring of Hands a couple days ago and noticed a small feature in "Celebration."  In the line "Lift the veil of your joy to my eye," the words "lift the veil" are sung to an ascending group of notes (E F# G#), musically illustrating this "lift[ing]."  (It wasn't until hearing the version by Sparrow on The Chris White Experience Volume Three that I understood this line.)

When I found the specific pitches, I also noticed that "joy" later in the line is sung with a melisma (G# F# E), and since the word isn't constrained to a single note, there's a sense of this exuberance.

"Don't Go Away"

I listened to I Love You yester-day and noticed a small feature in "Don't Go Away."  In the line "But today I can't feel so sure," the phrase "so sure" exhibits alliteration, and the repetition involved here lends a slight sense of degree.

"Nights on Fire"

"Higher" in the lines "Knowing only love can take us higher / Higher" in "Nights on Fire" is sung with a melisma (D C# B both times), and while the pitches descend (contrary to the word's meaning), the extra notes emphasize the comparative nature of the adverb (more notes for a greater degree).

"Blue"

I listened to New World again yester-day and noticed some more small points.

The lines "And if I could only spread my wings / I'd hear the sound of dreams" in "Blue" (written by Sebastian Santa Maria) may contain a nod to "Summertime," specifically its line "Then you're gonna spread your wings and take to the sky."

"It's Alright with Me"

The Zombies' social media accounts have been posting about "It's Alright with Me" quite a bit lately, and as I was thinking about the song yester-day, I had a few realizations about it.

The recurring line "But if you want to stay around and love me" is sung to far fewer pitches than the surrounding lines (it simply alternates between Eb and F), and in a way, this narrow scope reflects the "stay[ing] around."

That the first verse and the third verse use the same sound for their rhymes ("door" with "floor" and "poor" with "door," respectively) poetically represents the narrator's limited means.

The phrase "mess around" in the first line may indicate Ray Charles' influence, specifically his "Mess Around," in which this phrase frequently recurs.  "It's Alright with Me" is in C minor, and if I'm not mistaken, "Mess Around" is in Eb major, so the two songs are in relative keys.

"Brief Candles"

I listened to Odessey and Oracle yester-day and noticed some significance in the structure of the line "Finds he needs her more because she's no more need for him" in "Brief Candles."  The words "needs," "more," "more," and "need" form a chiasm (since they're different parts of speech, however, it's not an exact correspondence).  That the order of the words is inverted from one half of the line to the next illustrates the complete opposites here.

"It's Alright with Me"

In "It's Alright with Me," the tempo slows for the bridge, and in a way, this slower tempo represents being "tired," although perhaps in a more literal sense than it's used in the lyrics ("I'm sick and tired of being on my own").

When I watched the new lyric video yester-day, I also noticed that the repetition involved in the alliterative "big black" ("I got no money, can't afford no big black car") provides a slight sense of this large size.

"Can't Nobody Love You"

I've noted before that the lines "Oh, I'm gonna love you in the morning / Love you late at night" in "Can't Nobody Love You" contain a temporal merism, but when I listened to Begin Here again recently, I noticed that the extent here is also illustrated by the melody.  "Morning" is sung to Fs, but "night" is sung to lower pitches (and with a melisma:  E A).  At the greatest distance, there's a sixth between "morning" and "night."

"She's Not There"

I listened to Begin Here last week and noticed a few small features.

In "She's Not There," the line "Though they all knew" is doubled by the backing vocals, and these extra voices lend a slight sense of the entirety of "all."

"17 Over You"

Yester-day, I listened to On the Air Tonight and noticed a very small feature in "17 Over You."  In the line "But year after year it's the same situation that's always on my mind," the initial S is maintained in the phrase "same situation," matching this constancy.

"Beyond the Borderline"

I listened to Still Got That Hunger yester-day and noticed two small features in the lines "The heartache and the sacrifice / All worth it just to feel the changing atmosphere / It's very clear" in "Beyond the Borderline."

In the phrase "the changing atmosphere," the note values shift from even quarter notes (for "the changing") to mostly eighth notes (for "atmosphere").  Even musically, then, this "changing" is represented, albeit in a small way.

Rod and Colin both sing the line "It's very clear," and the doubled voices add a sense of degree (for "very").

"Another Day"

Years ago, I noted that in the lines "I don't want to waste my time / Watching ev'ry crime" in "Another Day," "crime" is sung with a melisma (F E D), giving a sense of number (for the modifying "ev'ry").  Last week, I listened to Breathe Out, Breathe In again and noticed that an-other musical element also contributes to this sense of amount:  under that phrase, the bass plays notes of all different pitches, spanning nearly an octave:  E A D.

When I referenced the song again in order to find those pitches, I noticed that in the line "Just a shadow over me," "shadow" really is "over me" in terms of pitch:  "shadow" is sung to the notes F E, and "me" is sung to an A.

"Feels Like Rain"

I listened to The Ghost of You and Me earlier this week and noticed a musical feature that mirrors the lyrics in "Feels Like Rain."  During the line "And life's been good, and life's been hard," the violins play first an ascending phrase (for "life's been good") and then a descending phrase (for "life's been hard").

"I Want Her She Wants Me"

I recently listened to Odessey and Oracle {Revisited} and noticed a small point in "I Want Her She Wants Me."  I also remembered a similar point I found in November but forgot to write about.

In the line "I sleep so easy," "so" is sung with a longer value than the surrounding notes, giving a sense of degree.

In the line "All around me," "all" is likewise sung with a longer value than the surrounding notes, here lending a sense of breadth or entirety.

"Love Conquers All"

I listened to New World again yester-day and noticed a small feature in "Love Conquers All."  Throughout the choruses, there's a recurring three-note guitar phrase (E D A) that emphasizes or represents some of the lyrics.  The span of these pitches (a fifth) provides a slight sense of the entirety of the "all" in the title line, and the descent that the pitches outline matches the "fall" and "breaking down" in lines "Each time you fall" and "Breaking down the walls."

"Unhappy Girl"

The phrase "so strong" in "Unhappy Girl" alliterates, and the repetition involved lends a slight sense of degree, especially since these two words are sung on downbeats, which provide a corresponding musical emphasis.

"Hung Upside Down"

I listened to Into the Afterlife this morning and noticed a couple small features.

At the end of the first verse of "Hung Upside Down," a second vocal part harmonizes the line "By myself."  It's the same singer as in the lead vocal, however, so in a way, it emphasizes this lack of companionship.

I also noticed that "myself" is rhymed with itself ("There I sat until three / Getting further behind myself / By myself"), unlike in the second verse (where "straight" is rhymed with "late"), and this also provides a sense of singularity.

"I'll Call You Mine"

I listened to the 50th anniversary edition of Odessey and Oracle yester-day and noticed a small feature in "I'll Call You Mine."  Excepting one break, the phrase "Walk in the light of day" is sung to a conjunct melody (G# A B F E D), musically giving an impression of the steps involved in this "walk[ing]."

"This Will Be Our Year"

Yester-day, I heard a sloppy cover of "This Will Be Our Year" where the singer got half of the words wrong, but referencing the correct words led me to a realization.

I noticed that there are slant rhymes in the verses:  "the warmth from the sun" with "the darkness has gone" and "smile for me, little one" with "all your worry days are gone."  In a way, the imperfect nature of these rhymes illustrates the current absence of "the darkness" and "all your worry days."  Even poetically, they're incompatible with the present situation and time.