Odessey and Oracle

Although there are still a few bits of it that I'm not sure about, I started notating the bass part for "Hung up on a Dream" last month.  In doing so, I discovered that there are some octave skips near the beginning of the instrumental section (at ~0:48), something like this:

I was thinking about this yester-day and realized that there are some characteristics of these phrases that also appear in the bass part during the choruses of "Brief Candles."  Here are the first four measures (repeated as the next four measures):

(I'm still not certain what key the song is in, but I put the notation in A major.  Also note that it's played an octave higher than notated.)

In both parts, there's a steady five-pitch descent (B A G F# E in "Hung up on a Dream" and A G F# F E in "Brief Candles") occasionally punctuated by a note an octave higher (in roughly the same place in the rhythm), and this sequence is played twice in succession (just four measures in "Hung up on a Dream" but eight in "Brief Candles").

This is yet an-other musical element that lends some cohesion to the Odessey and Oracle songs.

(For what it's worth:  I've previously written about musical similarities between "Brief Candles" and "Care of Cell 44" and between "Brief Candles" and "This Will Be Our Year.")

"She Loves the Way They Love Her"

I listened to One Year yester-day and noticed a small feature in "She Loves the Way They Love Her."  In the line "Smile on her face, just taking in their ev'ry glance," the phrase "ev'ry glance" is sung to notes of all different pitches (C Bb G), giving a sense of breadth or entirety.

This feature is also present in the Rod Argent-sung versions on Zombie Heaven and Into the Afterlife.

"Time to Move"

Bill Haley's hundredth birthday was earlier this month (on the 6th), and when I listened to a two-disc compilation album of his music, I remembered something I'd intended to note here years ago.

In interviews, when Rod Argent tells the story of how Jim Rodford played him Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog," he occasionally adds that Rodford also played him some Bill Haley records first.  This is noted in Platts' Times and Seasons (p. 16).  It seems that Argent had a tepid interest in Haley before being completely knocked out with Presley.  It may be just coincidence, but Argent's "Time to Move" (from the Zombies' As Far As I Can See) uses the same unusual chord sequence as Haley's "Burn That Candle" (written by Winfield Scott).

The choruses of "Burn That Candle" have this progression:

G major

D major

G major | G7 | C major | C minor

G major | D major | G major

And I think the verses of "Time to Move" are something like this:

G major | C major | G major

G major | D major

G major | G7 | C major | C minor

G major | D major | C major | G major

The most characteristic part of these progressions is the sequence G major | G7 | C major | C minor, occurring under the line "Keep that doorway open wide" in "Burn That Candle" and under the lines "Didn't I give you one last chance / To change the circumstance" in the first verse of "Time to Move."

I don't know if "Burn That Candle" was one of the records that Rodford played for Argent or if Argent would really consider Haley as an influence, but there's definitely a similarity here.

"Goin' out of My Head"

I recently listened to The BBC Radio Sessions and noticed a small (perhaps even trivial) difference between the live and studio versions of "Goin' out of My Head."

Twice in the studio version, there's this phrase (previously, I'd thought it was trumpet, but now I think it's French horn):

In the live version, Rod plays this phrase on Pianet, but he changes one note so that it's now:

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, the studio version of "Goin' out of My Head" was recorded 23 October 1966.  The Decca Stereo Anthology liner notes confirm this, adding that the orchestral overdubs were "probably recorded at a later date."  I found conflicting dates for the live recording, though:  the Zombie Heaven liner notes say 1 November 1966, but The BBC Radio Sessions liner notes say 29 October.  According to Zombie Heaven, however, the Zombies were doing appearances in Paris on 29 and 30 October, which Colin alludes to in the interview with Brian Matthew that precedes the performance:  "We just had a very hectic weekend in France and Belgium, last weekend."  Colin also introduces the song by saying, "We're gonna record a song called 'I Think I'm Going out of My Head,' which was originally recorded by Little Anthony and the Imperials."  This comment would suggest that this live recording actually predates the studio version, although the dates provided don't align with this.

In examining the studio version of the song more closely, I found a couple more features to note.

During the line "I can't think of anything but you," the vocal harmonies come in and coincide with the "you" in the lead vocal.  In a way, they literally underscore the word, highlighting its importance for the narrator.

I finally did some more work on transcribing the bass part (after a lapse of about two years).  Under the line "I must think of a way into your heart," it's something like this:

The first measure consists of two triplets (this rhythm is also sung in the vocal part and played in the drum and trombone parts).  Because there are six notes (really a rest and five notes) forced into the space where there are usually only four, there's something of a sense of the narrator's determination ("I must").  Alternatively, this uncommon rhythm simply draws attention to the narrator's declaration.

"Who's That Knocking?"

"Who's That Knocking?" (written by Colin Blunstone and Alan Phillips) seems to borrow from Paul McCartney's "Let 'Em In" from a couple years earlier.*  The chorus of "Who's That Knocking?" starts with the lines "Who's that knockin' on my door? / Who's that ringin' on my bell?"  Much of McCartney's song consists of similar sentences but as statements instead of questions:  "Someone's knockin' at the door / Somebody's ringin' the bell."

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*According to Russo's Collector's Guide, "Who's That Knocking?" was first released as a U.K. B-side (to "Ain't It Funny") on 21 July 1978, and according to McCartney's website, "Let 'Em In" was released as a single on 22 July 1976, although it was also on Wings at the Speed of Sound, released on 25 March.

Never Even Thought

Because yester-day was Colin Blunstone's eightieth birthday, I listened to the two-albums-on-one-CD re-issue of Planes and Never Even Thought.  I noticed a few small points to write about, all in songs on Never Even Thought.

Initially, I noticed just that both "I'll Never Forget You" and "Do Magnolia Do" contain the phrase "all alone," and as I've noted before with other songs, since the two words begin with the same sound, there's a sense of that singularity.  When I transcribed some more of the lyrics, though, I discovered that the two songs have a number of similarities.  In both, this "all alone" comes at the end of the first line of the second verse and is rhymed with "telephone" in the following line.

"I'll Never Forget You":

I'll turn down the lights; I'm all alone

I lie here by the telephone

"Do Magnolia Do":

Tomorrow's stormy mornin', I'll probably wake up all alone

Nothin' but my mornin' and a quiet telephone

Because the phrase is in both songs (and with the same placement), it lends some cohesion to the album, and since "I'll Never Forget You" is the first song and "Do Magnolia Do" is the last, there's even a sort of book-ending effect.

"The Ghost of You and Me"

I was thinking about Colin Blunstone's "The Ghost of You and Me" recently and realized that the phrase "all these blues" in the first line ("What am I supposed to do with all these blues") is sung to notes of all different pitches (A B C).  While the span here is only a minor third, this articulation does give something of a sense of breadth or entirety.

"Circus"

While re-reading The Merchant of Venice recently, I found a passage that seems to be quoted (or at least referred to) in the lines "In the circus / Each must play a part" in Argent's "Circus."  In Act One, Scene One (lines 77-78), Antonio says, "I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano: / A stage where every man must play a part."

"I Remember When I Loved Her"

Years ago, I wrote a post about "I Remember When I Loved Her," specifically that the archaic use of "strange" had precedent in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and that this connected to Rod Argent's comment about Shakespeare in Johansen's The Zombies: Hung up on a Dream (p. 30):  "The language spoke to me; it had an indefinable, spiritual quality."

I recently started re-reading The Merchant of Venice and found a passage in which "strange" is used in a sense closer to that in "I Remember When I Loved Her" than the one in Romeo and Juliet is.  In Act One, Scene One (roughly lines 66-68), Bassanio says to Salarino and Solanio, "Good signiors both, when shall we laugh?  Say, when?  You grow exceeding strange."

"Show Me the Way"

I listened to Breathe Out, Breathe In yester-day and noticed a small feature in "Show Me the Way."  In the lines "I'm sorry now / For all that I've done" (that's how they're formatted in the liner notes), the phrase "all that I've done" is sung to notes of all different pitches (spanning a fifth:  D C Bb G), giving a sense of this entirety.

"Be My Lover, Be My Friend"

Yester-day, I listened to Argent's performance at the Paris Theatre from 14 December 1972 and noticed that the line "You sounded so sweet" in "Be My Lover, Be My Friend" alliterates.  The repeated S provides a sense of degree, matching the adverb "so."

"Liar"

I watched Argent's appearance on Set of 6 yester-day (it's dated 29 May 1972, although Jim Rodford writes in his book Sideman [p. 177] that it was recorded in April), and I noticed some small features in the articulation of the vocal part in "Liar."  In referencing the studio recording to write this post, I found some more.

"Away" in the lines "Nothing you could do / That could turn me away" and "I won't move away" is sung with a melisma (Bb C Bb and Bb C Bb G, respectively), giving something of a sense of movement, although both are sort of negated.

The three syllables of "ev'ry word" in the line "Hanging on ev'ry word" are sung to all different pitches (F E D), lending a sense of number.

"All" in the lines "That's what you said / And I believed it all" is also sung with a melisma (C Bb G), here giving a sense of entirety, especially since these notes are all different pitches, too.

Finally, "go" in the line "I won't let you go" is sung with the same melisma (C Bb G), lending a sense of movement, although it seems to be used more metaphorically.