"Summer"

Yester-day I listened to Rod Argent's Moving Home (I think for only the third time).  I don't think this was new to me, but I'd forgotten that "Summer" contains a Biblical allusion.  In what I think is the second verse (I'm not that familiar with the song yet, so I'm going purely by how the lyrics are formatted on the record sleeve), there's the line "Take me to your milk and honey lands."  In Exodus 3:8, God says, "I have come down to deliver [my people] out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey...."

"Imagine the Swan"

I've noted before that, as the Zombie Heaven liner notes point out, the harpsichord at the beginning of "Imagine the Swan" arpeggiates chords in the same manner as Bach's C major prelude from the Well-Tempered Clavier (BWV 846).  I recently printed out the notation for the prelude because I want to learn to play it (or try to, at least), and I noticed a couple things.

In the C major prelude, the initial two notes in each arpeggiation are held underneath the other notes:

I don't think Argent follows this in "Imagine the Swan."  It sounds like only the initial note is held, but only for the duration of the second note and only in the two introductory measures.  The rhythm is scaled down too, so it's something like:

As a bonus track on one of my editions of Odessey and Oracle, there's a mix where this harpsichord part is doubled on organ, and the organ certainly doesn't hold that initial note for the duration of the whole arpeggiation.  It plays all of the notes with equal values.

In the Zombie Heaven liner notes, Argent explains that "Imagine the Swan" uses "Chris' chord sequence but we did it like [the Bach prelude]."  Adjusted for key, though, the first two chords are the same... sort of.  The Bach prelude is in C major and arpeggiates a C major and then a D minor; "Imagine the Swan" is in F major and arpeggiates an F major and then a G minor.  Both have the tonic chord (I) and then the supertonic (ii), but the arpeggiations of the supertonic chords differ.  Bach puts a C note under his D minor and skips over an F (C D A D F), but Argent plays a regular old triad with some notes repeated higher (G Bb D G Bb).

Odessey and Oracle

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (15 July 1968), Odessey and Oracle (Date TES 4013) was released in the U.S. and Canada.

"Time of the Season"

I recently listened to a compilation album of Ray Charles and noticed the lines "Well, tell me, baby, what is your name" in "Kissa Me Baby" and "Well, now, baby, tell me what is your name" in "Jumpin' in the Morning."  Both of these have some resemblance to "What's your name" in "Time of the Season."  Rod Argent has mentioned Charles in a number of interviews, so I think this might be a bit of his influence, even if subconsciously.