"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.

"Thunder and Lightning"

I listened to Nexus a couple days ago and noticed some significance in the structure of "Thunder and Lightning."

Obviously, the chorus repeats, and this repetition emphasizes the "Again and again and again and again..." in the last line.  The polysyndeton there (the repeated "and") highlights this recurrence, too.

"Summertime"

I recently listened to Gershwin's Porgy & Bess performed by the Bethlehem Orchestra.  In that version of "Summertime," "wings" in the line "Then you're gonna spread your wings and take to the sky" is sung with a melisma, lending a sense of this "spread[ing]."  While this articulation isn't present in the Zombies' version, I realized that there's an-other musical feature that provides a similar effect:  after "spread your wings," the bass plays a group of notes that span a sixth (A D E F).

"Christmas for the Free"

A couple months ago, I listened to Argent's In Deep (on vinyl, even).  Recently, I finally got around to researching something I noticed about "Christmas for the Free" (which is also true of the version the Zombies recorded for Breathe Out, Breathe In).

I noted before that the lines "Blunt is the pain of hunger / Cold is the wind of grief" are inverted so that the predicate adjectives precede their subjects and consequently receive some emphasis.  When I listened to the song again recently, I realized that the particular sonic qualities of blunt and cold carry a sort of inherent emphasis of their own.  If I understand the phonetics correctly, the initial sound of each word is a plosive (labial and velar, respectively).  This force at the beginning of the words combines with their unusual placement in the syntax and results in an even stronger accentuation.

"You Could Be My Love"

Yester-day was the anniversary of the Zombies concert at Abbey Road Studios in 2021, so I watched the DVD again.  I noticed some significance in the articulation of a line in "You Could Be My Love" (which is also present in the version on Different Game).  "Can't begin to think without you" in the chorus is sung with some gaps in between the words, not exactly staccato but definitely not completely legato either.  These interruptions demonstrate the difficulty that the narrator would experience in stringing together a coherent thought without his love.

"A Sign from Me to You"

"A Sign from Me to You" exhibits the opposite sort of feature as "Exclusively for Me."  There's incessant guitar strumming throughout the song, and this constancy matches the "always" and maybe even the "many, many" in the first verse:

You say all you wanted was a sign, my love

Something to show that I am always with you

I could give you many, many signs, my love

But I'm afraid that I may just confuse you

"Exclusively for Me"

I listened to Ennismore yester-day and noticed a couple instances where musical elements match the lyrics.

The arrangement at the beginning of "Exclusively for Me" is fairly sparse (just a vocal, electric piano, and bass), and in a way, this small number of parts musically represents the exclusivity in the title phrase and the void of the "lonely, empty room."

In reviewing the lyrics, I also noticed that the contrast in the line "The winter's night gives way to a warm summer's day" is emphasized by the duality of opposite elements:  winter to summer and night to day.

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.