Odessey and Oracle

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (27 December 1967), the Zombies mixed the stereo versions of "Time of the Season," "Beechwood Park," "Maybe after He's Gone," and "I Want Her She Wants Me."

The entry for the next day (28 December 1967) is "EMI Abbey Road Room 53 Odessey & Oracle (master)."  I'm not entirely sure what this means, but I'm assuming it has something to do with gathering together all of the mixes.  There's a corresponding entry for 1 January 1968 that reads "EMI Abbey Road Room 53 Odessey & Oracle original master (stereo)," so I'm assuming (again) that this 28 December entry refers only to the mono version of the album.

"Memphis"

Last month I listened to As Far As I Can See, and I noticed something about "Memphis" that should have been obvious much earlier.  Although the phrase has acquired a larger application, "trace the writing on the wall" refers to a story in the Bible.  In Daniel 5, a hand literally writes on a wall, and Daniel interprets it.

Odessey and Oracle

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (19 December 1967), the Zombies mixed the stereo versions of "Changes" and "Friends of Mine."

Odessey and Oracle

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (8 December 1967), the Zombies mixed the stereo versions of "This Will Be Our Year," "Care of Cell 44," and "Brief Candles."

"Caroline Goodbye"

I'm still slowly adding backdated posts from my old tumblr account to this blog (I have roughly January through June of 2016 left).  I recently archived a post where I wrote out the chords to "Caroline Goodbye," but I discovered a couple months ago that what I had is wrong.  In July this year, the Zombies did a radio session for The Summit, and because Rod Argent was unavailable, Colin Blunstone performed some songs with Tom Toomey providing guitar accompaniment.  Because there's a video, I could watch Toomey's hands as he played the chords for "Caroline Goodbye."  While this confirmed most of the chords I had (including some subtle differences between regular major chords and major 7ths, which I'd suspected but wasn't completely confident about), I discovered that I had one chord wrong.  In that post from last July, I said I was "a bit unsure of the F major 7th chord that alternates with the A major near the end of the verses" specifically whether it was "a straight-forward major chord or a major 7th."  It turns out that it's neither; it's a D minor.

Here are the corrected chords:

|: F major 7th | C major 7th :|
F major | C major
F major | Esus4 | E major
A major | A major 7th | A7 | D major
|: D minor | A major :|

That whole section repeats, but the next time (with the guitar solo) it's different:

|: F major 7th | C major 7th :|
A major | A major 7th | A7 | D major
|: D minor | A major :| F major 7th

After I discovered my error, I realized that part of this chord progression (adjusted for key) is also in "How We Were Before," which - like "Caroline Goodbye" - was written by Colin Blunstone.  The A major | A major 7th | A7 | D major | D minor | A major progression (which, incidentally, contains a descending chromatic phrase: A, G#, G, F#, F, E) is in the verses of "How We Were Before," just a fourth higher and arpeggiated rather than strummed: D major | D major 7th | D7 | G major | G minor | D major (the chromatic phrase here is D, C#, C, B, Bb, A).

"Beyond the Borderline"

This is the last in my series of initial posts on Still Got That Hunger.

One of the lines in "Beyond the Borderline" is "Can you feel it humming in the air," which is fairly similar to "Tonight I feel excitement humming in the air," which is a line from Argent's "Celebration."  Both lines are about "feel[ing]" something "humming in the air."

The only other comment I have is about the line "That magic moment's here."  Of course, there's the alliteration in "magic moment," but that phrase also brings to mind the Drifters' song "This Magic Moment."  Rod Argent often mentions being on the same bill as Ben E. King and the Drifters when the Zombies played the Brooklyn Fox in December 1964.  I'm assuming he's familiar with "This Magic Moment," but I don't know if there's really any connection between the song and this line in "Beyond the Borderline."

Odessey and Oracle

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (29 November 1967), the Zombies mixed the stereo versions of "Butcher's Tale" and "A Rose for Emily."

"Little One"

There are a number of instances of alliteration in "Little One" (such as "A simple song / Sweet as a symphony" and "A wonderful world / Of magic and mystery"), but what really caught my attention was a bit of the melody in the bridge.  The second line ("You give yourself to sight and sound") is sung to a melody something like:

(I don't know what key the song is in, so I just left the staff in C major and put in the accidentals.)

After I listened to the song a few times, this melody sounded familiar to me, and I eventually discovered that it's fairly similar to a melody in Bread's "If."  It's the melody to which the line "You come and pour yourself on me" is sung:

Aside from the first few notes, the rhythm of the melody in "Little One" is exactly the same, and - while the specific pitches are different - the first six notes have the same intervals: a descending whole step, down a fourth to a descending half step, and then back up to the second note of that first whole step for an-other descending whole step.

I don't know if Rod Argent is familiar with Bread or "If" specifically, but the resemblance between these two melodies would seem to suggest he is.

"Care of Cell 44" b/w "Maybe after He's Gone"

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes and Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (24 November 1967), the Zombies' "Care of Cell 44" b/w "Maybe after He's Gone" (CBS 3087) was released in the U.K.  Russo's Collector's Guide lists the U.S. release date of the same single (Columbia 4-44363) as 20 November 1967 (although this isn't listed in the Zombie Heaven liner notes).

"Never Get over You"

On the record sleeve itself, the title is "Now I Know I'll Never Get over You," which is the same title it had on Colin Blunstone's The Ghost of You and Me, but the digital download from the Pledge Music campaign has the title "Never Get over You."  On this blog, I'm going to use "Never Get over You" as the title for the Still Got That Hunger version just because it makes it easier to distinguish between the two recordings.

Like "I Want You Back Again," because "Never Get over You" is a new version of an existing song (this time from Colin Blunstone's solo career rather than the old Zombies catalogue), I've already written about it.  A little over two years ago, I found some phrases in the lyrics that are reminiscent of lyrics in Zombies songs.  "Seasons come and go" might be a slight nod to "Time of the Season," and "It's alright if the words won't come" is very similar to "I love you / Yes I do, but the words won't come" and "My words should explain / But my words won't come" in "I Love You."  I'd also previously noted "We can work it out," which might be a reference to the Beatles' song.

Within this new context of Still Got That Hunger, though, that "We can work it out" line becomes more interesting.  The song that precedes "Never Get over You" is "Maybe Tomorrow," which contains the same line: "Baby, we can work it out."

I haven't really figured out any parts yet, so I can't be completely certain of this, but I think the song doesn't resolve.  I'm pretty sure it's in Bb major, but the last chord is an F major.  The lack of resolution musically complements the recurring sentiment: "I'll never get over you."  The listener is left waiting for the resolution in the same way that the speaker/singer, knowing that he'll "never get over you," is waiting for his love to return.

"The Feeling's Inside"

Last week I listened to Argent and noticed something about the lines "She bought you coffee in a special cup / Which made you warm from deep inside" in "The Feeling's Inside."  A couple years ago, I discovered that they're quite similar to some lines in Ray Charles' "Hallelujah I Love Her So," but now I found something about the lines themselves.

"Which made you warm from deep inside" is a relative clause, but its antecedent is ambiguous.  It could refer to the noun "coffee" or the whole clause "She bought you coffee in a special cup."  Rephrased, it could be either "The coffee that she bought you made you warm" or "That she bought you coffee made you warm."  One focuses on the heating effect of the coffee (the physical), and the other focuses on the warm emotions that result from the gift (the intangible).  The emotional warmth is probably the intended reading, but both are grammatical viable.

"Maybe Tomorrow"

I don't have anything to say about "And We Were Young Again" (so far, at least), so I'm skipping ahead to "Maybe Tomorrow."

In a number of interviews, Rod Argent's explained how they had to get Paul McCartney's permission to quote a line from the Beatles' "Yesterday" at the end ("Just like The Beatles used to say / 'I believe in yesterday....'"), but an-other line in the song is "Baby, we can work it out," which might also be a nod in the Beatles' direction (specifically their song "We Can Work It Out," which is also about trying to resolve an argument).

The more interesting thing I noticed about the song, though, is the line "Kick out the quarrel, baby."  There's alliteration between "kick" and "quarrel" despite the words' starting with different letters, and, in some ways, the whole conceit of the song is contained within this one element.  There are two people at odds with each other (in the same way that "kick" and "quarrel" start with different letters), but despite that, they still have a close relationship (in the same way that "kick" and "quarrel" are alliterative).  As the song itself describes it, "We still got the love inside / You know there's nothing to doubt!"

Odessey and Oracle

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (13 November 1967), the Zombies mixed both the mono and stereo versions of "Changes" (although the 19 December entry also lists a stereo mix of "Changes") and the stereo version of "Hung up on a Dream."

"She Does Everything for Me"

Last week, I was playing the guitar solo from the Beatles' "Every Little Thing" on piano, and I realized something that it has in common with "She Does Everything for Me."  I pointed out some lyrical similarities between the two songs a couple years ago, but now I've found a musical similarity too.  Before each of the first two phrases of the guitar solo in "Every Little Thing," there's the four-note phrase E F# G# A (I'm pretty sure it's played on a six-string guitar where the guitar solo is done on a twelve-string).  This same four-note phrase (albeit with different note values) is in the backing vocals during the choruses of "She Does Everything for Me."  It's the "and now I know" after the lead vocal's "She does everything for me / To make me feel alright."  In both songs, the phrase serves to introduce the main part, whether it's a guitar solo or lead vocal.

But that's not all!  A couple months ago, I discovered that this same E F# G# A phrase alternates with phrases at the beginning of the guitar solo in Elvis Presley's "That's All Right."  Along with the Beatles, Elvis Presley was an influence on Rod Argent, who wrote "She Does Everything for Me."

The phrase is so small that its resemblance to those in "That's All Right" and "Every Little Thing" might just be coincidental, but since Argent often mentions Elvis and the Beatles as influences, it could be at least a subconscious borrowing.

"Changes"

According to the liner notes of both Zombie Heaven and the 50th anniversary edition of Odessey and Oracle, fifty years ago to-day (7 November 1967), the Zombies recorded "Changes," the last song recorded for Odessey and Oracle.

"I Want You Back Again"

The next song in my series of posts on Still Got That Hunger is "I Want You Back Again," but since this is a new recording of an original Zombie song, I've actually written about it before and don't have much to add.

On the record sleeve, one section of the lyrics is rendered as:

Since you have left me
I'm all alone
I need your help, I
Can't stand on my own

Like I pointed out in November 2014, that the "I" jumps the line break here indicates the speaker/singer's worry or desperation.  It's certainly intentional, but it gives the impression that he's stumbling over his words because of his emotional state.

More recently, I discovered that the word "feet" in the lines "Somebody help me / Stand on my feet" is sung to the tonic note, so there's a musical foundation along with the metaphorical one.  I also discovered that while the original two versions (the alternate version recorded in 1964 and the single version recorded in 1965) are both in C minor, the version on Still Got That Hunger is in D minor.

Mixing the real-world history of the song (its being recorded three times) and the story in the song itself gives further emphasis to the "again" in "I want you back again."  It's as if a situation that happened twice before is occurring yet again.

"He's a Dynamo"

I just wrote about "He's a Dynamo," but I was thinking about the song again the day after I wrote that post and realized something else.  The phrase "from his head to toe" descends ("head to toe" is sung to the phrase G F# E), so in the phrase itself and in the music it's sung to, there's a top-to-bottom movement.

"New York"

The only thing I have to say about "New York" so far is that a section of the bass part has the same rhythm as some other Zombie bass parts.  In "New York," it's:

I should note that I guessed on the key and that the first dotted half note in each measure might need a staccato mark.

I've found this same rhythm (two dotted half notes followed by two eighth notes) in the bass parts in "I Can't Make up My Mind," "Tell Her No," "Whenever You're Ready," "She Does Everything for Me," and "Time of the Season."  Since "New York" is Rod Argent's looking back at where the Zombies' career started, I'm wondering if this is an intentional nod to this rhythm's presence in those original Zombie songs.  It seems relevant to note that of the five tracks with this feature listed above, four were written by Argent ("I Can't Make up My Mind" is a Chris White song).

All Together Now

I recently listened to Argent's All Together Now a couple times and found some things to write about.

"Hold Your Head Up"

After the organ solo, starting at about 4:24, the titular "Hold your head up" is sung to this melody:

(I'm still not sure whether "Hold Your Head Up" is in D major or D minor, but this part fits more readily into D minor since there's an F natural.)

First of all, the melody here ascends, so there's a musical portrayal of "up."  More interesting though, this is something of an inversion of the famous phrase that opens Beethoven's Symphony No. 5.  Here are the first few measures of the string section:

(notation found here)

Like Beethoven's phrase, the phrase in "Hold Your Head Up" consists of three notes of one pitch followed by a single note of an-other pitch.  Although the phrases are going in opposite directions, the phrase in "Hold Your Head Up" even uses the same notes as the second phrase in Beethoven's opening:  D and F.

Musically, it's flipped, and the mood is flipped too.  The opening of this Beethoven symphony is often used in television and films to convey foreboding.  In contrast, "Hold Your Head Up" is a song about encouragement: "And if it's bad, don't let it get you down / You can take it."

"He's a Dynamo"

I still can't make out many of the lyrics in this, but I noticed that the line "Smoke risin' high from his strings" ascends (I think it's F# G# A A# C# D# F#), so there's a musical representation of the "risin'."

"Pure Love"

"Rest your head / Waiting you lie / For tomorrow you die" resembles part of Isaiah 22:13: "'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.'"  "For tomorrow you/we die" is the same at least.

"Edge of the Rainbow"

I'm not sure if it's meant to be self-referential, but the first verse of "Edge of the Rainbow" has some of the same images as Argent's "Lonely Hard Road."

As printed on the record sleeve, the first verse is:

Sometimes,
When you're walking that long lonely road
Feels like nothing
Is able to lighten the load
From the edge of the rainbow
You see the light coming through

The chorus of "Lonely Hard Road" also mentions a lonely road and a load:

Walking on a lonely hard road
I'm walking on a lonely hard road
Haven't got much money
With some luck I'll hit your lorry
Or keep carrying this heavy load

In a number of interviews, Rod Argent explains that he wrote "Edge of the Rainbow" in the style of a Ray Charles song, so maybe these similarities have less to do with referencing "Lonely Hard Road" (which was actually written by Russ Ballard) and more to do with conventions of blues songs.

In this interview (beginning shortly after the 49 minute mark), Argent reveals that the lines "'Cause into each life / Some rain must fall" in the bridge come from Ray Charles' "Drown in My Own Tears."  In the studio version of "Drown in My Own Tears" that I have, the lines Argent quotes are "I know it's true / Mm, into each life / Oh, some rain / Rain must pour."  However, earlier in the interview, Argent mentions a specific live version (on Ray Charles In Person), which is played in its entirety and where the lines are slightly different (and closer to those in "Edge of the Rainbow"): "Let me tell you that into each life / Oh, I know some rain / That I know some rain must fall."

That "fall" in "Edge of the Rainbow" is sung to two notes, with the second lower than the first (I think it's Db to Bb), so the word itself is falling, pitchwise.  Immediately after that, there's an-other fall in an "ooh" in the backing vocals (F to Eb).

Also in the bridge, there's the line "Keep moving on," which seems to recall the album opener "Moving On."  Additionally, both songs mention rainbows.  It's in the title line of "Edge of the Rainbow," and in "Moving On," there's the line "Who can say where the rainbow may be found."

Finally, the song ends with a ritardando rolled piano chord, which is the same way that "This Will Be Our Year" ends.  Like the similarity with "Lonely Hard Road" though, this might just be coincidental.

"Friends of Mine" b/w "Beechwood Park"

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes and Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (23 October 1967), the Zombies' "Friends of Mine" b/w "Beechwood Park" (CBS 2690) was released.  It was the first single from the yet-to-be-released Odessey and Oracle.

The Zombie Heaven liner notes actually list two contradicting dates.  23 October is the date given in the discography, but the chronology lists 22 September.  I think part of the confusion here is that these two dates are also when Paul Atkinson was engaged (22 September) and married (23 October) to Molly Molloy.

"Chasing the Past"

In this BBC interview* (the part about "Chasing the Past" starts at about 8:10) Rod Argent says of "Chasing the Past" that "at the beginning, it's almost Bach-like, the little piano thing."  I think in an-other interview (that I can't find again), he compares it specifically to a Bach keyboard invention.  In that respect, it bears a similarity to "Imagine the Swan," which starts with the same sort of chord arpeggiations as the C major prelude (BWV 846) from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier.

One of the first times I listened to the song, I noticed a grammatical ambiguity.  There's a line that could be written as "You let the sunshine through" or - as it's printed on the record sleeve - "You let the sun shine through."  In the first rendering, "sunshine" is a noun (specifically a direct object); in the second, "sun shine" is two words, a noun and verb pair.  When heard, it could be understood either way, although the difference is admittedly negligible.  However, there's an earlier, similar line without this ambiguity: "You made the sun shine through."  Rendering this as "You made the sunshine through" doesn't make any grammatical sense.  So - even without the printed lyrics - the parallelism between "You made the sun shine through" and "You let the sun shine through" argues for "sun shine" as two words in that later iteration.

I haven't figured out any parts to any of the Still Got That Hunger songs yet, but I was curious about the ending of "Chasing the Past," so I listened to sections of the song while picking out notes on the keyboard.  I think the song's in G minor, but the final vocal note is a C, so it doesn't resolve.  This is something of a musical representation of the spirit of the song itself.  There's no contentment that a musical resolution would represent; rather, the singer/speaker has "Still got that hunger."

---

*I always seem to have trouble linking to BBC clips, so for the record, this is "The Zombies in conversation with Stuart Maconie" on 29 July 2015.  Here's an-other link that might work.

"Don't Try to Explain"

I'm still slowly going through my old posts and posting them here (as backdated, archival posts).  In doing so, I came across a post in which I mentioned the organ solo in Neil MacArthur's "Don't Try to Explain" and that it bears some resemblance to the opening organ part in Procul Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale."

I decided to look into this more closely, so a couple months ago, I figured out the organ solo:

As always, there's the disclaimer that I might have something wrong.

The opening organ part in "A Whiter Shade of Pale" proved more difficult to figure out, and I have only a fragment of it:

I think I might have this an octave lower than it's played, but it helps to compare it to the organ solo in "Don't Try to Explain."

There's a bit of a melodic similarity in measures three and four, but mostly the resemblance is one of rhythm.  There are sections of notes with long values (often tied to the next measure) interspersed with notes of shorter values (quarter notes and eighth notes).

In Claes Johansen's book The Zombies: Hung up on a Dream, "Neil MacArthur" (also known as Colin Blunstone) even comments on "A Whiter Shade of Pale" (on page 163):

"I went to a party with Rod when that first came out," Colin Blunstone recalled.  "It went on all night this party, and we played 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' all night!  It was only a little record player, so we put it on 'repeat'.  I just absolutely loved it.  It may have had an influence on Odessey and Oracle."

According to the Into the Afterlife liner notes, "Don't Try to Explain" was written by Billy Vera.  The liner notes also explain that "Don't Try to Explain" was arranged by Phil Dennys and recorded by session musicians (the organist was Harry Stoneham).  So while it's evident that Blunstone was familiar with "A Whiter Shade of Pale," it doesn't seem that he's responsible for the similarity in the organ parts.

The David Symonds Show

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (10 October 1967), the Zombies recorded "Friends of Mine" and "The Look of Love" for the David Symonds Show on Radio One.  It was broadcast "the week of 16-20 October."

"Moving On"

Two years ago to-day, Still Got That Hunger was released.  When it came out, I wrote a post saying that I wasn't going to write about it for a while, so I could become familiar with the album without trying to analyze it.  I'd planned to wait only a year, but that's turned into two.  In any case, I'm finally getting around to it.  For the next couple months, I'm going to write a series of posts about the songs on Still Got That Hunger (although I might not write about all of them).  Obviously, the first post is about "Moving On," the first track on the album.

It starts with a "One, two, three!" count-off (which I'm pretty sure is Steve Rodford).  In a lot of interviews, Rod Argent explained that the album was recorded more or less live in the studio, and - to some degree - this count-off evidences that, for this song and for the whole album.  It might also be a small reference to the Beatles since "I Saw Her Standing There" - the first track on Please Please Me - also starts with an exuberant count-off.

In this article (which was actually published before the album came out) and in many other interviews, Rod Argent explains that he started writing the song in 1977 after Elvis died and that the line "April moon, can you tell me where I'm bound?" was originally "August moon...."  He says that "for some reason the month has changed from August to April."  To some degree, "April moon, can you tell me where I'm bound?" gives a sense of the Zombies' history, since the band formed around Easter 1961 (which was 2 April) and Odessey and Oracle was released in April (19 April 1968).  I'm sure that - at the time - the Zombies didn't know where those things would lead them and the significance they would later have.

"Time of the Season"

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (3 October 1967), the Zombies mixed the mono version of "Time of the Season."  The entry in the chronology reads: "EMI Abbey Road Room 53 recording 'Time of the Season' (mono mixing)."

The Kenny Everett Show Jingle

To-day I watched two videos about Elgar's Enigma Variations in which it's pointed out that Elgar wrote a variation on the Adagio cantabile of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 (Pathétique Sonata).  It's at about 4:50 in this video:

Here's the notation of the first few bars (found here):

This sounded familiar to me, and it didn't take too long to place it as the jingle from the Kenny Everett show.  I referenced that recording and found that it's in a higher key.  Beethoven's piece (this section, anyway) is in Ab major, but the jingle is in C# major.

The Zombie Heaven liner notes say that the jingle demonstrates "Rod's choirboy background."  There's no information in the liner notes about who wrote the jingle, but its being an adaptation of Beethoven is also relevant to Argent's musical background.

"Care of Cell 44" and "Brief Candles"

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (6 September 1967) the Zombies mixed the mono versions of "Care of Cell 44" (still bearing the working title "Prison Song") and "Brief Candles."

"It's Alright with Me"

For the last couple weeks, I've been intermittently notating the bass part for "It's Alright with Me."  I finally finished it last week.  As always, there's the disclaimer that I might have something wrong.  I'm not as confident about the part after the tempo transition (specifically the measure with three quarter notes divided by eighth rests) as I am about everything else.

"When the Lovelight Starts Shining through Her Eyes"

Yester-day I happened to think of "When the Lovelight Starts Shining through Her Eyes," and I realized that there's a significance to the melisma with which "by" in the line "But I just passed her by" is sung.  Instead of a single note, it's sung to three (F# E C#, I think), so there's a musical representation of that movement ("pass[ing]... by").

"Care of Cell 44" and "Brief Candles"

According to the liner notes of both Zombie Heaven and the 50th anniversary edition of Odessey and Oracle, fifty years ago to-day (16 August 1967), the Zombies recorded "Care of Cell 44" and "Brief Candles."  The Zombie Heaven liner notes are a bit more detailed, specifying that "Care of Cell 44" had the working title "Prison Song" and that recording for the two songs also took place the following day (17 August).

Although I can't seem to find it again (maybe I just imagined it), I vaguely recall an interview in which Chris White said that the Zombies recorded the backing tracks for some of the Odessey and Oracle songs on one day and the vocal tracks on the next.  I'm assuming that's the case here: the backing tracks were recorded on 16 August and the vocal tracks on 17 August.

"This Will Be Our Year"

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (15 August 1967), the brass overdub for "This Will Be Our Year" was recorded.

"A Man for All Reasons"

I listened to Nexus earlier, and I noticed a Biblical allusion in "A Man for All Reasons."  The last verse ends with the repeated line "Bless the man who's the man of peace."  Based on some of the other Christian imagery and references in Ballard's songs, I think this line is meant to refer to one of the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount.  In Matthew 5:9, Jesus says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."  The phrasing is different from the line in "A Man for All Reasons," but they do have the same general idea.

"Time of the Season"

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago this month (August 1967 is as specific as they get), the Zombies recorded "Time of the Season."

"She's Not There"

Yester-day, I was playing around with "She's Not There."  I knew that it's in A minor, so from memory I figured out (roughly) the vocal melody, and I noticed something interesting about it.  To-day I referenced the recording, a section of an old Dutch documentary I found on YouTube a few years ago where Rod Argent goes through the song explaining some things, and a book of notation of Zombies songs published by Alfred Music to confirm what I'd figured out and what I discovered.  The vocal melody is entirely in A minor with only one accidental.  In this section:

But it's too late to say you're sorry
How would I know, why should I care
Please don't bother trying to find her
She's not there

the "there" in "She's not there" is sung to a G#.  To some degree, that change in tonality musically represents the absence.

I also noticed that the bass part before second "Well, no one told me about her..." section (at about (0:47) starts with the same five notes as the vocal melody:

In a couple interviews, Rod Argent's said that he often wrote the bass parts for his songs (I think he's even mentioned the bass part of "She's Not There" specifically), and this is a great example of how - because of that - the various parts are closely related.

"Will You Love Me Tomorrow"

Recently I was thinking about the Zombies' version of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," which they recorded live for a radio show in 1965.  Apparently I haven't posted the chords before, so here they are.

Verses:
A major | B minor | E major
A major | E major
C# major | F# minor
D major | E major | A major

Bridge:
D major | C# minor
D major | A major
D major | C# minor
F# minor | B major | D major | E major

The last verse is a bit different.  There's an instrumental break over the first half, and after the second half, the D major | E major | A major progression is repeated a few times (for the repeated line "Will you still love me tomorrow?").

"Butcher's Tale"

According to the liner notes of both Zombie Heaven and the 50th anniversary edition of Odessey and Oracle, fifty years ago to-day (20 July 1967), the Zombies recorded "Butcher's Tale."

The liner notes in Zombie Heaven provide additional information about some other Odessey and Oracle songs.  In full, the 20 July entry reads: "EMI Abbey Road No 3 recording: 'Butcher's Tale' (master), 'A Rose for Emily', 'Hung up on a Dream', 'Butcher's Tale' (mono mixing)."  If I understand this correctly, along with recording "Butcher's Tale" on 20 July, the Zombies also completed mono mixes of "A Rose for Emily," "Hung up on a Dream," and "Butcher's Tale."

"Hung up on a Dream"

According to the liner notes of both Zombie Heaven and the 50th anniversary edition of Odessey and Oracle, fifty years ago to-day (10 July 1967), the Zombies recorded "Hung up on a Dream."

In full, the Zombie Heaven liner notes entry for 10 July reads: "EMI Abbey Road No 3 recording 'Hung up on a Dream', 'A Rose for Emily' (reduction master)."  The entry for 11 July, the next day, reads: "EMI Abbey Road No 3 recording: 'Hung up on a Dream' (reduction master)."  I'm not certain, but I'm assuming that "reduction master" means they bounced down elements so they would have more tracks available to record more parts.  As I mentioned back in June, I think this 10 July session may have been when the mellotron for "A Rose for Emily" was recorded because "Hung up on a Dream" certainly features that instrument.

Odessey and Oracle

According to the liner notes of both Zombie Heaven* and the 50th anniversary edition of Odessey and Oracle, fifty years ago this month (July 1967), the Zombies recorded "Beechwood Park," "Maybe after He's Gone," and "I Want Her She Wants Me."  Because Abbey Road was booked, these sessions were held at Olympic Studios.  According to the liner notes of the 50th anniversary edition of Odessey and Oracle, the sessions' being held at Olympic Studios is the reason precise dates aren't available.

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*In the track-by-track section, the Zombie Heaven liner notes list "July or August" for these three songs, but in the chronology, they're all listed under July.

A Keyboard Approach

A couple months ago, I subscribed to the Zombies Fan Club's YouTube channel.  This morning, I was very surprised to find two clips from Rod Argent's A Keyboard Approach in my subscription box.  According to Russo's Collector's Guide it came out (on VHS) on 11 August 1992.  A couple times (even as recently as a month or two ago), I went looking for a used copy on Amazon, but I never had any luck.

It's an instructional video that runs just over an hour (66 minutes), but the clips feature only Argent's performances of "Baby Don't You Cry" and "A 4th Gymnopedie" from Red House (1988).

In the video itself, instead of "Baby Don't You Cry," as it's titled on Red House, Argent calls the song "Baby Don't You Cry No More," which is the title it later had on Out of the Shadows (2001).

Argent confirms what I was pretty certain of: "A 4th Gymnopedie" (titled "A fourth gymnopédie" on Classically Speaking) is meant as "a little tribute to" Satie's gymnopédies.  In verifying my spelling there, I discovered that Satie's gymnopédies were published in 1888, so Argent's "A 4th Gymnopedie" from 1988 is from a hundred years later.

A little bit of scrolling credits is included at the end of the video with "A 4th Gymnopedie."  All that's visible is "Fugue in C minor," which I'm assuming is Bach's Fugue in C minor, BWV 846 from The Well-Tempered Clavier, which Argent later recorded for Classically Speaking (1998).

I'm pretty sure that the "Baby Don't You Cry" video was filmed in the same studio where the Zombies recorded Breathe Out, Breathe In.  Here's the video of the title track for comparison:

Obviously, the equipment is moved around, but the windows look the same.

"I Remember When I Loved Her"

I've been reading Romeo and Juliet (for only the second time), and I recently started act 3, scene 2.  It begins with a soliloquy by Juliet in which she wishes for the night to come sooner because Romeo is coming to meet her under cover of darkness.  Addressing the night, she says, "Hood my unmanned blood bating in my cheeks, / With thy black mantle, till strange love grow bold, / Think true love acted simple modesty" (III.ii.14-16).  One of the glosses in my edition explains that "strange" in this context means "unfamiliar."

Of course, this reminded me of "I Remember When I Loved Her" and its "Now we are strange / No more in love."  In the Zombie Heaven liner notes, the only comments by the Zombies themselves are about the word choice there.  Chris White says, "Rod was adamant about that lyric, 'now we are strange, no more in love,'" and Rod Argent says, "It just sounded like quite an elegant phrase, using strange in its old English sense, being estranged or not alike."

It also reminded me of Argent's comment about Shakespeare's language in Johansen's The Zombies: Hung up on a Dream (p. 30):  "The language spoke to me; it had an indefinable, spiritual quality."

I'm not sure if Shakespeare's use of strange in Romeo and Juliet had any direct bearing on Argent's use of strange in "I Remember When I Loved Her," but they do have the same (archaic) meaning in their respective contexts.  Both situations are about love too, although they're going in opposite directions.  Later in the soliloquy, Juliet comments that while she's now married to Romeo, she hasn't really had the chance to experience love.  Their relationship is still in its early stages.  The relationship in "I Remember When I Loved Her," however, is already over and the singer/speaker is looking back on it.

Odessey and Oracle

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (12 June 1967), the Zombies did some work on Odessey and Oracle.  The entry for 12 June reads: "EMI Abbey Road Room 53 recording: 'Friends of Mine', 'A Rose for Emily', 'This Will Be Our Year' (mono mixing)."

It seems that this was the mixing session for the mono versions of these songs; however, "A Rose for Emily" is mentioned again later in the list of production dates.  10 July lists "recording... 'A Rose for Emily' (reduction master)," and an-other mono mixing session with "A Rose for Emily" was on 20 July.

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, the cello part "was included in some initial mixes but eventually discarded."  So it seems that this 12 June mixing session was for the version with cello.

"Hung up on a Dream" was the other song recorded at that 10 July session, and because that includes mellotron, I'm assuming that 10 July was also when the mellotron part for "A Rose for Emily" was recorded (which was also later discarded).

"This Will Be Our Year"

According to the liner notes of Zombie Heaven and the 50th anniversary edition of Odessey and Oracle, fifty years ago to-day (2 June 1967) the Zombies recorded "This Will Be Our Year."

Recording Session

According to the liner notes of Zombie Heaven and the 50th anniversary edition of Odessey and Oracle, fifty years ago to-day (1 June 1967) the Zombies recorded "Friends of Mine" and "A Rose for Emily."  This was the first recording session for Odessey and Oracle.

"I Want You Back Again"

A couple days ago, I was playing the chords of "I Want You Back Again" with some approximation of the vocal melody on top of them.  In doing so, I discovered something interesting about the first verse, which I then referenced the recordings to verify.  The "feet" in the line "To stand on my feet" is sung to a C note.  The song is in C minor, so this is the tonic note, the pitch that the key is based on.  In the same way, the "feet" in the lyric symbolize the foundation, as it were, that the singer/speaker wishes to regain.

I knew off-hand that the Decca recordings (the single version and the alternate take* included on both The Decca Stereo Anthology and Zombie Heaven) are in C minor, but in referencing the version on Still Got That Hunger, I discovered that the Zombies actually raised the key to D minor there.  The lyric is ever-so-slightly different ("Somebody help me / Stand on my feet" instead of "Somebody help me / To stand on my feet"), but the "feet" there are also sung to the tonic note.

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*Oddly enough, what's termed the "alternate" take on The Decca Stereo Anthology and Zombie Heaven was actually recorded before the single version.  The alternate version was recorded on 25 November 1964 as part of the sessions for the Zombies' first album, and the single version was recorded on 2 March 1965.

"I Know She Will"

I haven't been recording much lately (for this project or any others), but I've been practicing my recently acquired flute almost every day for about a month, so I thought I'd record "I Know She Will" with an actual flute (rather than the fake flute setting on my keyboard like I used to do).  There are only seven pitches in the flute part in "I Know She Will" (F#, G, G#, A, B, C#, and D), so it's relatively simple.  Because it's simple and because I'm not very good at flute yet, I've been playing it a lot.  In my recording, I don't play the A G# F# phrase very cleanly because that's not the easiest transition to make at this tempo (at least not for me because I'm still a novice).  This was the first time I recorded my flute playing, and I think I placed the microphone too close because my breathing is audible in between a few phrases.  I feel I should also mention that I combined three takes.  So my recording isn't the best, but the genuine instrumentation makes it feel like I'm a step closer in accuracy.

"Helpless"

I recently listened to Out of the Shadows and realized something about "Helpless."  A few years ago I discovered that some of the lyrics quote Elvis' "All Shook Up," and at the time I was just excited that I'd found such an obvious Elvis reference in a Rod Argent song.  When I listened to it recently though, I realized the significance of that quotation.

The premise of the song is that the singer/speaker is unable to communicate with someone:  "I just want to communicate / I try so hard but my tongue frustrates."  The content of the Elvis quote fits the context of the song (the speaker/singer is "shaking" and "Can't seem to stand on [his] own two feet" because he can't communicate and therefore sees himself as "helpless"), but the fact that it's a quote also fits the song.  The singer/speaker is having trouble "get[ting] through to you," so - with that Elvis quote - he's trying to use someone else's words rather than his own, hoping that perhaps that will allow him to "get through to you."

"Another Day"

After I read the lyrics of "Breathe Out, Breathe In" in The "Odessey": The Zombies in Words and Images and realized that "falling" descends (which I wrote about here), I listened to the Breathe Out, Breathe In album again and found something else to write about.  In "Another Day," the "crime" in "I don't want to waste my time / Fixing every crime" is sung with a melisma (to the notes F E D).  Because it's sung with more syllables than it's spoken with, there's an implication of a multitude of crimes.  It's as if multiple crimes are encapsulated in that three-syllable pronunciation.  The "every" in the same line also hints at that plurality.

"Breathe Out, Breathe In"

As I was reading the lyrics for "Breathe Out, Breathe In" in The "Odessey": The Zombies in Words and Images last month, it occurred to me that there's a descending melody for the "falling" in the line "Catch the stars as they're falling."  It was only recently that I lookt into this in order to find the specific notes.  The melody for "they're falling" arpeggiates an A major chord in descending pitches:  E C# A.

When I referenced the recording in order to write about this, I also discovered that the musical phrase to which "Watch the sun go down" is sung descends (F# F# E D C#), just like the sun's going down.  In the next line, "Catch a little music in flight," the "flight" is sung with a melisma, starting with an E note and then moving up to an F#.  Between that melisma and the ascending interval, there's something of a representation of the flying.

"Friends of Mine"

Since 2014, I've recorded a version of Odessey and Oracle every year, but when I started doing it this year, I kept finding parts that I wasn't playing very accurately.  Rather than rush through it all and end up with a knowingly flawed version, I decided just to skip it altogether.

But, of course, because to-day's the 49th anniversary of the album's release, I listened to Odessey and Oracle (specifically, the 30th anniversary edition, which has both the stereo and mono versions of the album).  Because it sounded easy, I thought I'd figure out the vocal parts for the chant of couples in "Friends of Mine," and while writing out the notation, I discovered something interesting.

First, here's the notation:

I should note while the whole chant of couples lasts eight measures, the second four measures are musically identical to the first four.

What I noticed while writing this out is that each couple has its own complete measure.  For each couple (aside from Jean and Jim), there's a one-syllable name, "and," and a two-syllable name.  That's four syllables, one for each beat in a measure, so each couple is musically represented as complete unit.

"A Rose for Emily"

A couple days ago, I was thinking about the unused mellotron part for "A Rose for Emily" (I figured out half of it last week).  I'm not sure about the part for the third verse yet, but the part during the second verse is only five pitches:

I realized that these are the same five pitches that make up the entirety of the lead vocal melody for the chorus of "Maybe after He's Gone" ("Maybe after he's gone / She'll come back, love me again...")

Were that mellotron part used for the final version of "A Rose for Emily," it would have been yet an-other musical element that ties the songs on Odessey and Oracle together.

"Maybe after He's Gone"

A couple days ago, I realized something about the bridge of "Maybe after He's Gone," specifically the line "All the days and all the nights."  Colin Blunstone sings "All the days and" by himself (although I'm pretty sure his vocal is double-tracked), but then the backing vocals (I'm assuming it's both Rod Argent and Chris White) come in for "all the nights."  There's a bit of staccato for that phrase too, and both of those things musically emphasize the "all."  The additional voices sort of represent the multitude, and the insistence of that slight staccato is almost like a tally counting up the number of nights.

"A Rose for Emily"

Yester-day, I learned the unused mellotron part for the second verse of "A Rose for Emily" (it's a bonus track on the 30th anniversary edition of Odessey and Oracle).  I'd read about the song in The "Odessey": The Zombies in Words and Images, which reminded me that at some point I was going to figure out that mellotron part.

Figuring out the mellotron part actually helpt in figuring out the one piano chord I was missing for this section.  For the most part, I learned the piano part from a vocal/guitar/piano book of Zombies songs from the Alfred Publishing Company.  They said it's a Ddim7, but this didn't sound right to me.  I knew the note in the bass register was a D, and this mellotron plays a G# on top of it, so while I'm still dubious about the 7th, I guess it really is a Ddim chord.

The mellotron part for the third verse is a little different, and I don't have that yet.  I think the first half is the same though.

"I Love You"

I've been reading The "Odessey": The Zombies in Words and Images ever since I got it a few days ago.  It's been really interesting seeing the hand-written lyrics (not only for seeing what the Zombies' handwriting looks like but also because of the authority that these transcriptions have), and while looking at the lyrics of "I Love You," I discovered something really clever.

The verses end with the lines "But something holds me back / When I try to tell you."  Semantically, it could end there, but it also makes sense as an uninterrupted thought continuing into the chorus:  "But something holds me back / When I try to tell you // I love you, I love you..."

The song starts with the chorus, so initially those "I love you"s stand independently, but when the chorus follows a verse, they could also be the direct object of "tell" in "When I try to tell you."

New Acquisitions

I got the Zombies book in the mail to-day!  I haven't read very much yet (I want to go a bit slowly in order to make it last), but I've already seen two pictures I hadn't seen before!

tirsdag 30 mars 2017 I don't remember the last time I was this excited about a book... and I have an uncommonly large collection of books.

A post shared by David (@modestyandmonocles) on Mar 30, 2017 at 12:34pm PDT

I think I neglected to mention this, but when I pre-ordered the book, I also ordered Colin Blunstone's Collected set:

Earlier this month, the price of one of the flutes I've been looking at dropped something like $80, so I bought a flute too:

For this project, the primary goal is to learn Mike Vicker's parts in songs like "Smokey Day" and "I Know She Will."  I've been practicing nearly every day for a week, but I know only three notes so far (Bb, A, and G), so it'll be a while before I'm proficient enough to play those parts.

"She Does Everything for Me"

I listened to the I Love You album to-day, and I remembered something I noticed in "She Does Everything for Me" a couple months ago (more like half a year; it was in August) that I neglected to write about.

The first line is "There is nothing to say; it's all been said," and that "said" has a melisma.  It's sung to the notes E F# E D.  Because it's sung to more than one note, there's almost a musical representation of "all" having "been said."  It's as if each note to which "said" is sung represents a past conversation.

"The Way I Feel Inside" [rehearsal version]

In archiving my old recordings of "The Way I Feel Inside," I discovered that I'd never recorded an updated version after discovering a month or two ago that I had been playing a wrong chord (what I'd been playing as an E major is actually a C# minor).

I suppose to-day was an appropriate day to record this since it's Bach's birthday and - as I mentioned in this post - the BACH motif is in the melody of "The Way I Feel Inside."

"I Don't Want to Worry"

Last week, the Decca-era song I lookt into was "I Don't Want to Worry."  The Zombies recorded it only as a demo in 1966.  I know most of the chords, but I don't think what I'd been playing for the introduction (which is more involved than just chords, anyway) is accurate, so when I wrote out the bass part, I didn't include the chords at all.

As always, there's the disclaimer that I might have something wrong:

In the recording, it sounds like there's a slight flub during the second instance of the triplets (the fifth bar of the fifth line).  I smoothed that out in my notation because I think it's supposed to be the same as the bar that starts that line.

"Goin' out of My Head" b/w "She Does Everything for Me"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide and the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (17 March 1967), the Zombies' "Goin' out of My Head" b/w "She Does Everything for Me" (Decca F. 12584) - their last single for Decca - was released in the U.K.

"Losing Hold"

About a week ago, I learned a mellotron phrase near the end of Argent's "Losing Hold."  I'd thought that after that one stand-out phrase, it just plays the same part as the electric piano, but as I was recording my own version, I discovered that that's not that case.  It plays its own phrase, doubles the electric piano, but then there's a second phrase.  While that second phrase has some similarity with the first, it's not exactly the same.  So while I thought I had the whole mellotron part, all I have is one phrase, which I guess is better than nothing:

"I Can't Make up My Mind"

This year, I'm endeavoring to look into one of the Zombies' Decca-era songs every week (although I've been a bit lax lately).  The song I lookt into two weeks ago was "I Can't Make up My Mind."  While thinking about the bass part, I realized that it has the same rhythm as "Tell Her No," "Whenever You're Ready," and "Time of the Season."  I got rather excited about this, but then I went looking into some old posts and discovered that I already knew this.  I wrote this post in December 2015 in which I acknowledged that similarity in rhythm.  However, I was wrong about where the bar lines should be drawn.  I didn't realize then that "I Can't Make up My Mind" begins on an upbeat, so the rhythm in each bar is the same as some sections of the songs listed above.  That is: two dotted quarter notes followed by two eighth notes.

While writing out notation, I usually find some subtleties that I was unaware of, and that same thing happened with "I Can't Make up My Mind."  There's a chromatic phrase (from G to F) that I'd missed before.

I wrote in the chords above the staff, but in some places, those may be simply implied rather than played out-right.  And, as always, there's the disclaimer that I might have something wrong.

"Time of the Season"

I recently read part of Ecclesiastes 3, and it occurred to me that a few verses have some resemblance to lines in "Time of the Season" (or, rather, the other way around, since Ecclesiastes is much older).

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes (and I think he's also mentioned it in other interviews), Rod Argent came up with the phrase "the time of the season" when he misheard the line "If you look closer it's easy to trace" in Smokey Robinson & the Miracles' "Tracks of My Tears."

However, aside from that, it bears some resemblance to Ecclesiastes 3.  The first two lines of "Time of the Season" are "It's the time of the season / When love runs high," and each verse ends with "It's the time of the season for loving."  These seem to combine two verses from Ecclesiastes: "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven" (Ecclesiastes 3:1) and "A time to love, and a time to hate" (Ecclesiastes 3:8a)(my italics in both quotations).

This section of Ecclesiastes is probably best known via the Byrds' version of Pete Seeger's "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)," and because Rod Argent said, "I love those early Byrds records" in this interview, I'm assuming he was familiar with the song (which was the title track of the Byrds' second album).  Of course, since he was a chorister, he might have heard the Ecclesiastes text in church too.

I recently listened to the Mastertapes program again, and Argent mentions "Time of the Season" and "Hung up on a Dream" as the two songs on Odessey and Oracle that were most influenced by the 1967 Summer of Love.  That's probably a more immediate influence than these verses from Ecclesiastes, but Ecclesiastes still may figure into it.

The "promised lands" part of the line "To take you in the sun to promised lands" also seems to be Biblical.  I'm not sure if "promised land" occurs in the Bible (a quick look through my Bible's concordance didn't reveal anything), but the phrase describes the land that God promised to the children of Israel in Genesis and Exodus.

"Exclusively for Me"

Last week, I notated the bass part for Colin Blunstone's "Exclusively for Me" from Ennismore.  While notating it, I figured out the rhythm for the part in the middle.  I knew it was all E notes, but I hadn't figured out the rhythm.  I had a feeling it would be too difficult to remember anyway and that I'd have to write it out before I could actually play it with the right rhythm.

The section at the end is repeated only once (so that the phrase is played twice), and I would have had enough room on my paper to notate it (I cropped out a whole empty line to save space), but it was only after I'd written in the repeat signs that I realized that it's repeated only once.

When I recorded this a few years ago, I noted the falling interval of a fifth (E to A), which is the same interval that "She's Not There" starts with, but I don't think I realized then that both songs start with an upbeat too.

While notating this, I also discovered that the string part (I'm still not sure whether it's cello or bass) isn't exactly the same as the last section of the bass part.  After it reaches the low E, there's an E an octave higher before it starts the descent from the A again.

"Feels Like Rain"

While transcribing an-other Colin Blunstone song (I'm still making my way through The Ghost of You and Me), I found a lyrical connection to an earlier Zombies song.  In "Feels Like Rain," there are the lines "And it feels like rain when I think of you / No matter where I am or what I do," the second of which is fairly similar to some lines in "I Know She Will":  "No matter where you go / No matter what you do / She'll be for you."

The lines describe different things ("It feels like rain" and "She'll be for you"), but the "No matter" sections both have location ("No matter where I am" and "No matter where you go") and action ("[No matter] what I do" and "No matter what you do").

Blunstone wrote "Feels Like Rain," so it's possible that this is an intentional lyrical nod to "I Know She Will."

"Smokey Day"

Yester-day, I figured out the vocal melody for the first two verses of the Zombies' version of "Smokey Day," by which I mean I not only figured out the notes but I also notated them.  There are some interesting connections between one musical phrase and the lyrics that are sung to it.

The last line of the first two verses is something like:

I was having some trouble distinguishing the lead vocal from the harmony vocal, so this might be something of an amalgamation, but when I played what I notated, it sounded right.

The last two lines of the first verse are "Weave the spell of evening / Into patterns of my life," so that wave-like figure - particularly in the second bar of what I've notated - represents the weaving (although "Into patterns of my life" is what's actually sung to that phrase).

The last two lines of the second verse are "Soft, serene she dances / Moving sweetly through my life," so again, that wave-life figure represents the movement.  "Life" - in both this verse and the previous - is sung to an A note, and the phrase passes through A notes in its rising and falling, so if that pitch is taken to represent life (which seems appropriate since the song is in A minor), it's almost a literal "Moving... through my life."  During this line the harpsichord track moves through the stereo channels, so that movement is represented in an-other way too.

I referenced Colin Blunstone's version (on One Year), but there are some differences in the melody.  (I think the voice that's panned right has the melody and the voice that's panned left has the harmony.)  At the end of the first verse, this phrase has some different pitches.  The phrase at the end of the second verse is the same, but the rhythm is a bit different.

"The Ghost of You and Me"

I recently started transcribing the lyrics from the liner notes of Colin Blunstone's The Ghost of You and Me.  While copying the title track, I remembered something I'd noticed a long time ago, but apparently I neglected to write about it.

In the bridge, there are the lines "I hear the voices call / Following footsteps down the hall," which are fairly similar to the second verse of the Zombies' "Gotta Get a Hold of Myself":

Late at night I hear footsteps sound down the hall
And I kid myself that you're coming back after all
Telephone rings, but there's no one on the line no no no
When I stop and think, I know it's all in my mind

Both portray a lost love's imagined "footsteps down the hall."  There seems to be a bit of a connection between "the voices call[ing]" in "The Ghost of You and Me" and the "telephone ring[ing]" in "Gotta Get a Hold of Myself" too.

However, neither of these songs was written Blunstone (or the other Zombies).  "Gotta Get a Hold of Myself" was written by Clint Ballard Jr. and Angela Riela, and "The Ghost of You and Me" by Jon Lind and Richard Page.  So while it doesn't seem that the resemblance is meant to be a reference, it does seem to say something about Blunstone's sensibilities and what sort of songs he records.

In Deep

As promised, here's a post about a couple songs on Argent's In Deep.

"God Gave Rock and Roll to You"

While listening to this, I started wondering if the musical phrase to which Rod Argent sings "To ev'ry boy He gave a" is a scale.  The first note (F#) is doubled, but otherwise it is a section of a D major scale:

The next word in the phrase ("song") drops to an A note, discontinuing the scale.

While I was thinking about that, I also started wondering if the "ev'ry boy" part of that lyrical phrase is a reference to the "Every good boy does fine" mnemonic for remembering what notes go on the lines in written music (in treble clef, at least).  It seems to fit because both that phrase and "God Gave Rock and Roll to You" are about music.  Furthermore, that musical phrase is a scale (the same sort of thing that would be learned along with that mnemonic), and it begins on the last of the lines in that mnemonic.  But I'm not confident that it's a reference.

"Be Glad"

At about 6:28, there's this phrase in the piano part (I think I have the notation right):

It occurs again at about 7:22 (after the line "Your soul, your voice, your freedom"), lowered a whole step so that it starts on Bb.

I'm surprised I never noticed before, but it's very similar to the first phrase of the tune "Antioch":

Both are diatonic descents that start with the same rhythm.  "Antioch" is the tune to which "Joy to the World" is sung, so the lyrical connection of "Joy" and "Be glad" is there too.

As I mentioned a couple years ago, Rod Argent quoted the hymn tune "Cwm Rhondda" in a live version of "Hold Your Head Up" (on the Encore album, which was released about a year after In Deep), so there's precedence for his borrowing and altering hymn tunes.  (Maybe precedence isn't the right word though, since "Be Glad" pre-dates that quotation of "Cwm Rhondda").

As I realized only recently, the next song on the album - "Christmas for the Free" - quotes the phrase "Joy to the world," which seems to suggest this was an intentional borrowing and not just a coincidental resemblance.

"God Gave Rock and Roll to You"

This morning I listened to In Deep.  Among some other things (about which I hope to have a post to-morrow), I noticed that there's a glockenspiel in "God Gave Rock and Roll to You."  I'd completely missed that before.  It's only four notes, so I thought I could figure those out.  But then I also got the bass part and - surprising myself - the guitar part for almost all of the introduction:

I can't play the guitar part accurately in tempo yet (I learned it just to-day), so I left out the tremolo part.  I tried to overdub that on a second track, but it didn't seem to work.

The song is mostly in D major, but there are some weird accidentals so that one section of the bass part has the same intervals as the glockenspiel part.

The glockenspiel part consists of the notes F#, G, A, and A#:

In one section of the bass part, there's a string of notes (B, C, D, D#) with the same intervals:

It's a half-step, a whole step, and then an-other half-step.  The phrases aren't played in the same rhythm (I just put all of the notes in one measure to save space), but because they have the same intervals, it gives a bit of cohesion to the song.

"Smokey Day"

About a week ago, I submitted some questions to the Zombies Fan Club Q&A for Chris White and Hugh Grundy.  One of my questions was something like "What's the line after 'Hear the call of plaintive voices' in 'Smokey Day'?"  I'm currently listening to Colin Blunstone's One Year, and - of course - after I askt that question, I finally deciphered it on my own.  I'm pretty sure it's "Dulcet vesper voices / Calling gently for the night."  If anything, I can just have that confirmed.

(Also inevitable was that a couple days after I submitted my questions, I realized that I should have said "principal writer" instead of "principle writer.")

"The Best Is Yet to Come"

I've been transcribing the song lyrics from the liner notes of Colin Blunstone's On the Air Tonight album, and I noticed a small thing about "The Best Is Yet to Come."  In the bridge there are the lines "And if the stormy nights surround you / I will always shine the light that guides you."  There's a similar image of surrounding night* in "Maybe after He's Gone" on Odessey and Oracle:  "As the night folds in around me / Night surrounds me; I'm alone."

"Maybe after He's Gone" was written by Chris White, and the liner notes of On the Air Tonight credit "The Best Is Yet to Come" to Charlie Grant, Pete Woodroffe, and Melanie Chisholm (Woodroffe is also credited with playing keyboards on the album, although specific tracks aren't mentioned).  I'm not sure if this line in "The Best Is Yet to Come" was written as a reference to "Maybe after He's Gone," but I think it might illustrate something about Blunstone's taste.

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*There's also "I want to hold you tight / While the warmth of the night surrounds us" in "Don't Go Away" (also written by Chris White), but - like I mentioned back in November - the situations are different.  The surrounding night described in "The Best Is Yet to Come" has the same desolation that's in "Maybe after He's Gone."

"Christmas for the Free"

I've been going through the liner notes booklet from Breathe Out, Breathe In and copying out the lyrics as they're printed.  While transcribing "Christmas for the Free," I noticed something that should have been obvious:  the third line ("Joy to the world at Christmas") quotes the Christmas hymn "Joy to the World," written by Isaac Watts.  The first line of the hymn is "Joy to the world, the Lord is come!"

It also occurred to me that in the first two lines of the second verse, the clauses are inverted so that the predicate adjective precedes the subject:  "Blunt is the pain of hunger / Cold is the wind of grief."  That way, those qualities are emphasized.

"I Must Move"

A few days ago, I listened to the first disc of Zombie Heaven, and I noticed a chord change in "I Must Move" that I'd missed.  Initially, I thought it was Asus4 to A major, but after playing around on the guitar I discovered that it's actually A6 to A major.  I was close.

I'd forgotten some of the bass part, and in re-learning that, I discovered that I actually had a lot wrong.  I'd been playing notes in the wrong octaves and neglecting some other notes.  But then my more accurate bass part didn't sound right with my guitar chords, so I discovered that I was playing a few of those wrong too (I'd been playing an A major that should be an A minor, and I totally missed a C major).  I think I have it now, although I won't make any guarantees.

The guitar part is somewhat difficult, and between that and my being so used to playing the wrong thing, I had a lot of problems in recording this.  (I'm still not very good at using reverb either, and it's something of a feature in this song.)  Eventually, I just recorded each segment separately.  The bass is one complete take though.

"Can't Nobody Love You"

Yester-day, I listened to the first disc of Zombie Heaven.  I rediscovered something I'd noticed before but hadn't written about, so I thought I might as well write about it.

In "Can't Nobody Love You," there's the phrase "apple of my eye," which has Biblical origins.  I first thought of Psalm 17:8:  "Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings."  But I did some research, and apparently the first instance anywhere is Deuteronomy 32:10, where Moses says, "He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye."

The song was written by James Mitchell, so this is kind of a tangential note to the Zombies themselves, but I still felt it worth noting.

Re-Establishment

About five years ago, I started a project in which the goal was to learn every part to every song by the Zombies.  I don't think I ever thought I would actually achieve this (and I still don't), but I thought it a worthy objective all the same.  As time went on, this initial goal changed and expanded so that I was also learning parts to songs by Argent and Colin Blunstone and writing musicological analyses about them.  More recently, I've started to notate some of the parts I've learned, making myself something of a musical archivist.

I started this project on tumblr, but recently I've started to feel dissatisfied with it.  I felt I should have a cleaner, more professional-looking platform.  (I found some aspects of tumblr's interface less than ideal too.)  Initially, I went with tumblr only because I could directly post audio files of my own recordings of the songs, as a way to demonstrate that I had in fact learned the parts I said I had.  But I can achieve the same thing just with embedded YouTube videos.

So essentially, I'm jumping ship.  I'm going to continue doing everything I would normally do for this project, just on Blogger rather than on tumblr.  I'll be going back and copying my old posts over to this blog, so I'll have the complete archive, but it'll certainly take a while to transfer five years' worth of writing.

"Breathe Out, Breathe In"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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A couple months ago, I started yet an-other project in which I copy out song lyrics as they're written in the liner notes (for whatever albums that make them available, not just those that fall under this project).  They have a degree of authority, so while there might be some differences between what's actually sung and what's written, I thought it'd be helpful to have an easily accessible file of them.

This morning, I started copying out the lyrics to Breathe Out, Breathe In, and I noticed something about the title track that I'd been completely oblivious to when just listening to it.

The second verse starts with the lines "Won't you look at the evening / Spread out to the sky."  I think this might be a reference to T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," which starts:  "Let us go then, you and I, / When the evening is spread out against the sky."  Both have "the evening… spread out to/against the sky."  (Also, both have - in sections, at least - first person plural pronouns ["we" and "us"].)  If that's not a quotation of T.S. Eliot, it's an incredible coincidence because "the evening spread out to the sky" is not such a common phrase.

The Odessey: The Zombies in Words and Images

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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[source]

I'm getting really excited about the new Zombies book.