"It's Hard to Say Goodbye"

I listened to the two-albums-on-one-CD reissue of Planes and Never Even Thought earlier this week and noticed a small feature in "It's Hard to Say Goodbye."  In the line "Instead of always running," "running" is sung with a melisma (Ab Ab Gb Eb), giving a sense either of movement or of the duration of the modifying "always."

When I referenced the song again, I also noticed that "near" in the line "Always coming so near" is sung with nearly the same melisma (Ab Gb Eb), here giving a sense of degree (for "so").

[Note that the song is sort of in between keys.  I skewed towards Eb major, although I'm almost certain that this re-issue runs a bit fast and that everything sounds a half-step higher than it should, but that's a topic for a separate post.]

"I Am the Dance of Ages"

In the line "Blinding out all eyes" in "I Am the Dance of Ages," "eyes" is sung with a melisma (G F), lending a small sense of the entirety of "all."  I'd noticed this before but apparently neglected to write about it.  I was reminded of it yester-day when I listened to the 14 December 1972 Argent concert.  I also realized that the note values contribute to this sense of entirety, too:  the two notes to which "eyes" is sung have longer durations than the other notes in the line.

"I Remember When I Loved Her"

I recently read about "I Remember When I Loved Her" in Platts' Times and Seasons (p. 91) and realized that the song's structure matches its theme in a way.  Elements of the song (especially the title line) are reiterated with little or no variation, and this changeless repetition mirrors the static nature of the past on which the narrator is looking back.

(I also learned that there's an Italian version of the song titled "Mio amore sta lontano" ["My Love Is Far Away"].  I found an official copy of it on YouTube.)

"In My Mind a Miracle"

This morning, I was thinking about "In My Mind a Miracle," specifically the line "No longer blind, I see because of you" and realized that it may indicate a number of possible influences.

It seems to come ultimately from the account in John 9 where Jesus gives a blind man his sight.  Afterwards, the Pharisees conduct a lengthy interrogation of the man, and in verse 25, he replies, "One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see," which has roughly the same structure as the line in the Zombies song.

John 9:25 is also one of the sources for the lines "I once was lost but now am found, / Was blind but now I see!" in "Amazing Grace."  (The other is Luke 15:24.)

In "In My Mind a Miracle," though, this regaining of sight (probably more metaphorical) is attributed to the charms of a girl, so it's more like Muddy Waters' "She Moves Me," which seems to borrow from the John 9 account (perhaps indirectly via "Amazing Grace") in the lines "She shook her finger at a blind man / 'Once was blind but now I see.'"  I don't know if Rod Argent, who wrote "In My Mind a Miracle," was familiar with this particular song, but he was certainly a fan of Muddy Waters.  In the Zombie Heaven liner notes (p. 45), Paul Atkinson explains that the Zombies covered "I've Got My Mojo Working" because Rod "wanted to do it" (Johansen notes in Hung up on a Dream [p. 62] that the Zombies even performed "I've Got My Mojo Working" at the Herts Beat Competition).

Counterpoints

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (31 October 1975), Argent's Counterpoints (RCA RS 1020) was released in the U.K.  The U.S. release (U.A. UA-LA-560-G) was on 2 February 1976.

Additionally, "Rock & Roll Show" b/w "It's Fallin' Off" (RCA 2624) was released as a single in the U.K.

"God Gave Rock and Roll to You"

I listened to Encore yester-day and noticed a small feature in "God Gave Rock and Roll to You."  In Rod's line "To ev'ry boy he gave a song to be sung" in the middle section, the phrase "ev'ry boy" is sung to notes of all different pitches (F# G# A), giving a sense of number.  This is also in the studio version (on In Deep).

In comparing the two recordings, I discovered that the live version on Encore lacks the repeated line "To ev'ry boy he gave a song" in the coda.  The same feature is there, but the melody is different, so the pitches to which "ev'ry boy" is sung are F# G A (I think they're also an octave higher than those in the middle section).

"Baby Don't You Cry No More"

Earlier this week, I watched the clips from Rod Argent's A Keyboard Approach that the Zombies Fan Club posted on YouTube years ago.  I realized that the short line "Walk away" in "Baby Don't You Cry No More" is sung to a diatonic phrase (E F# G#), giving a sense of the steps involved in this "walk[ing]."

I also referenced the studio versions (Rod's solo version on Red House and the version with Colin on Out of the Shadows) and discovered some differences between them.  First, in the Red House version, the section with "Walk away / Sad to say / Love's grown thin..." is present only musically, not lyrically.  Apparently, the words were a later development.  Second, the two versions are in different keys, so the "Walk away" in the Out of the Shadows version is sung to the pitches F G A.

"You Who Are Lonely"

In the lines "You, you who are lonely know / How slowly time can go" in "You Who Are Lonely," "go" is sung with a melisma (C B), giving a sense of this (metaphorical) movement.  Additionally, the small musical interval (a half step) even matches the modifying "slowly."

"Something Happens When You Touch Me"

The line "Many times I told myself, 'You're sittin' here left on the shelf all by yourself'" in "Something Happens When You Touch Me" exhibits internal rhyme.  Other lines in the song have this feature, too, but this particular instance holds some significance:  the repetition of the same sound matches the singularity that the narrator is describing.

"Weak for You"

"Long" in the line "We've been just good friends far too long" at the beginning of "Weak for You" is sung with a melisma (G# F# E), giving a sense of either the word's meaning or the degree of "far too."

"Beginning"

I listened to Journey a couple days ago and noticed a handful of small features.

In the lines "My mind is singing / With all we've said" in "Beginning," the phrase "all we've said" is sung to notes of all different pitches (E F# G), lending a sense of breadth or entirety.

The same sort of effect is in the line "Ev'rything falls in the middle," where "ev'rything" is also sung to notes of all different pitches (A B C).

I referenced the version on The Ghost of You and Me and discovered that it's in a different key, so while these features are present there, too, the specific pitches are different (D E F and G A Bb, respectively).

"A Man for All Reasons"

When I listened to Nexus recently, I also noticed a small feature in "A Man for All Reasons."  In the line "All his life will be unknown" in the sort of counterpoint vocal part, the phrase "all his life" is sung to notes of all different pitches (A G E), lending some sense of this entirety.