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.