A 4th gymnopédie

I realized recently that I hadn't made any recordings for this project this year, so I did the first section of Rod Argent's A 4th gymnopédie.  (On Red House, it's called "A 4th Gymnopedie," but on Classically Speaking, it's called "A fourth gymnopédie."  If Satie's pieces are to be followed, I think A 4th gymnopédie would be the best format.)

I set a click track and recorded my excerpt based on that, but I think it's a bit faster than Argent's tempo.  I was going from memory, and it turns out I was a bit late for a few notes; otherwise, I think this is accurate.

I used the Bösendorfer Grand Imperial voice on my Nord Electro 5 because it's the closest I could get to Argent's Bechstein (which he uses for this piece in this excerpt from A Keyboard Approach and which is mentioned in these two interviews).

"Butcher's Tale"

I'm nearly finished with reading Martin Gilbert's The Somme; lately, I've just been studying the maps in the back of the book.  Yester-day, I realized something about the places mentioned in "Butcher's Tale" - "And the flies came down in Gommecourt, Thiepval, / Mametz Wood, and French Verdun."

Coincidentally mirroring that "came down," the places are listed from north to south.  Here's a screen clipping I took of Google Maps:

I also started wondering why Verdun is specified as French when in fact all of these places are located in France.  As I understand it, both French and British Commonwealth troops were involved in the fighting around the Somme, but only French troops were involved in the fighting in Verdun.  The song seems to be from the perspective of a British soldier (in interviews, Chris White has mentioned his uncle who fought and died on the Somme), which somewhat explains this distinction.

Argent

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, Argent's debut eponymous album Argent (Epic BN 26525) was released in the US and Canada fifty years ago to-day (24 November 1969).

"Love Can Heal the Pain"

I just figured out the chords for the first section of "Love Can Heal the Pain" (from Out of the Shadows), and I also found a small thing to write about.  In the line "And all your dreams have broken," the "broken" is sung with a melisma (A B C# B A), musically giving a sense of its meaning.

"Liar" b/w "Schoolgirl"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, Argent's "Liar" b/w "Schoolgirl" (Date 2-1659) - the group's debut single in the U.S. and Canada - was released fifty years ago to-day (17 November 1969).

"The Look of Love"

I was working on some notation for a different project when I remembered that two weeks ago, I scanned the notation for the bass part in "The Look of Love," which I'd finally finishing writing down a couple weeks before (and a year and a half after I originally learned it).

As always, there's the disclaimer that I might have something wrong.  I'm a bit unsure of what octave some of the notes are in and of those two measures that - apparently - have only two beats rather than four (I'm not sure how that works).

"Rosie"

I listened to In Deep (on vinyl!) yester-day and noticed a small thing about "Rosie."  In the line "The thoughts in such a mind just don't belong," the stress falls on the first syllable of "belong" rather than the second.  This inversion of the usual pronunciation illustrates that incongruity.

Farfisa Compact Deluxe

Since around April, I've been interested in getting a bass pedal unit to use with my keyboard.  Specifically, I've been interested in the Hammond XPK-130G, which - as the Hammond website notes - is the same size as the bass pedals on the Hammond L-100, which is what Rod Argent used on "Time of the Season" (as he mentions at ~0:43 in this interview):

Instances of organ bass pedals in the material I cover with this project are very rare (if there are any at all).  In this short rendition of the opening/closing of "Rejoice" (on the organ at St. Albans Cathedral), Argent seems to use a few, and he might use some in "Pure Love" on All Together Now.  Anyway, in doing some research on bass pedals, I discovered something.

Months ago - probably as I was looking through the Zombie Heaven booklet again - I happened to notice what lookt like organ bass pedals in this picture of the Zombies rehearsing in the Philippines in March 1967:

(I just pulled this off the internet, but I'm pretty sure it's a scan of the Zombie Heaven booklet because the "1967" in the corner matches.)

In looking at this picture, I also noticed that Argent doesn't have his usual Hohner Pianet or Vox Continental.  For months, I've been trying to determine what keyboard he is using, and I finally found it this morning.  Based on pictures from this website, it's a Farfisa Compact Deluxe organ.  The writing on the back of the instrument in the Zombie Heaven booklet is too fuzzy to read, but it appears to be the same as that on the back of the Compact Deluxe:

The legs and overall shape are the same too.

Here's an-other picture (of a slightly different model) with the same distinctive curves in the music rest:

Based on a second Zombie Heaven booklet picture (in color) and the description on the website I found, both instruments are a gray/tan color:

(I scanned this from my copy of Zombie Heaven, and while the resolution is good, the quality isn't.)

Here's a side angle for comparison:

That solves the mystery of what keyboard this is, but it doesn't explain why Argent is using it instead of the Pianet and the Continental.  The best explanation I can come up with is that (perhaps because the shows in the Philippines were a residency) an organ was provided so Argent didn't have to bring his own.

"Dance in the Smoke"

I listened to Argent a couple days ago and noticed what might be a bit of the Beatles' influence in "Dance in the Smoke."  At the very end, the piano plays what I think are two E notes (one on each side of the C two octaves below middle C).  In both structure and pitch, this resembles the final E major piano chord in "A Day in the Life."

"It's Not Easy" b/w "Twelve Twenty-Nine"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, Neil MacArthur's "It's Not Easy" b/w "Twelve Twenty-Nine" (Deram DM 275) was released in the U.K. fifty years ago to-day (17 October 1969).  The U.S. and Canada release (Deram 45-85054) was on 27 October.

"She's Coming Home"

I found two significant melismas in the first verse of "She's Coming Home."  "Away" in the line "I thought my love for her had gone away" is sung with a melisma (E F# E) for a sense of movement, and "So" in the line "Well, I remember how I loved her so" is sung with a melisma (B A G#) for a sense of degree.

"I Must Move"

In "I Must Move," almost all of the line "I can't stand still" is sung to a single pitch (the "I" is sung to a B note, but everything else is sung to As).  The repetition of a single pitch gives a musical sense of that "stand[ing] still," despite its being negated.

"Just a Little Bit"

When I listened to the first disc of The BBC Sessions yester-day, I also noticed some new things.

I noticed a couple significant melismas in "Just a Little Bit."  "All" in the line "No, I don't want it all" is sung with a melisma (B A) for a sense of entirety.  "Low" in the second "Turn the lights down low" line is sung with the same melisma, musically giving something of a sense of that decrease. 

I also referenced the version of "Just a Little Bit" that's on the second disc (which is the same performance as that on the Live at the BBC disc of Zombie Heaven and the only one I'd been familiar with until I got The BBC Sessions).  In that version, "all" is sung with a different melisma (A E D, I think), but it has the same effect.  "Low" isn't sung with a melisma in either "Turn the lights down low" line.

"For You My Love"

I listened to the first disc of The BBC Radio Sessions this morning and was reminded of a thing I noticed in "For You My Love" when I first listened to the album last year (on 29 October).  I'm not sure of the specific notes, but "go" in the line "And there's nowhere I wouldn't go" is sung with a melisma, musically giving a sense of movement.

"The Look of Love"

I've been doing some work on "The Look of Love" lately.  I don't remember exactly when I noticed this, but I discovered that the "so" in the last line ("I love you so") is sung with a melisma (D C D), musically giving a sense of degree.

"Little One"

In the line "That reaches ev'ry part" in "Little One," "part" is sung with a melisma (Bb A), musically giving something of a sense of number for "ev'ry."

"Never Get over You"

In "Never Get over You," "so" in the line "I still love you so" is sung with a melisma (C A), musically giving a sense of degree.  I also referenced the earlier version from Colin Blunstone's The Ghost of You and Me album ("Now I Know I'll Never Get over You"), but it doesn't have this feature.

"And We Were Young Again"

In "And We Were Young Again," "fell" in the line "The years just fell away" is sung with a descending melisma (F# E), so while it's used metaphorically, there's a musical sense of falling.

"New York"

In "New York," the "away" in the line "And Patti and her Bluebelles simply stole my heart away" is sung with a melisma (C# C# B A), musically demonstrating (metaphorical) movement or distance.

"Soul" in the line "She took me to Aretha Franklin, showed me so much soul" is also sung with a melisma (C# B A), musically illustrating the amount of "so much."

"Moving On"

I listened to Still Got That Hunger yester-day and noticed a handful of small points.

In "Moving On," one of the "on"s in the title line (at ~3:00) is sung with a melisma (E G), musically giving a sense of continuation or of movement.

"Sleep Won't Help Me"

In "Sleep Won't Help Me," "pain" in the line "All the pain" is sung with an extensive melisma (I think it's C D Eb F G C' Bb, although some notes near the end might be glissandi rather than melismas).  This articulation gives a sense of the entirety of "all," especially because it spans an octave.

"Chained"

I found two significant melismas in "Chained."

"Free" in the line "Free like an old man that dies" is sung to the notes G E.  Because the word isn't sung to just a single syllable, there's a sense of that freedom.

"Go" in the line "God, why don't you let them go?" is sung to the notes A G, musically giving a sense of movement (although "go" might be used more metaphorically).

As a more general comment, when I listened to Ring of Hands recently, I noticed that some of the songs ("Sweet Mary," "Chained," and "Sleep Won't Help Me") seem to feature Fender Rhodes rather than Rod Argent's typical Hohner Pianet.  I think it's most evident at the end of "Chained," where a bunch of notes are sustained and then all cut off suddenly with a damper.  I'm pretty sure the Pianet doesn't have a damper pedal, so it couldn't accommodate that style of playing.  The Rhodes' characteristic bell sound can also be clearly heard at the beginning of "Sweet Mary."

"Celebration"

I listened to Ring of Hands yester-day and noticed a few small things.

In the line "Dancing ev'rywhere" in "Celebration," "ev'rywhere" is sung with four syllables and to three different pitches (C# D# E E), musically giving a sense of breadth.

"She Does Everything for Me"

I was thinking about "She Does Everything for Me" recently and noticed a small thing about the chorus.  The three syllables of the first "ev'rything" ("She does ev'rything for me to make me feel alright") are sung to three different pitches (C# E G).  Musically, this gives an impression of the breadth of that "ev'rything."

"Kind of Girl"

When I listened to Begin Here a couple days ago, I also noticed something in "Kind of Girl," which is included as a bonus track.  The three syllables of "ev'rything" in the line "You think you've got everything" are all sung to different pitches (E D B), musically giving a sense of breadth.  The three syllables of "anyone" in the lines "Don't you understand that she / Runs away with anyone who happens / In her sight" are also sung to different pitches (also E D B), for a similar effect.

"Can't Nobody Love You"

I listened to Begin Here yester-day, and I noticed a merism in "Can't Nobody Love You," specifically in the lines "Oh, I'm gonna love you in the morning / Love you late at night."

"Mystified"

I watched the Live at Metropolis Studios DVD this morning and noticed a small thing in "Mystified."  "From the first to the last" in the line "Well, I try to remember from the first to the last" is a merism.

Argent

On page 67 of his autobiography Banging On!, Bob Henrit writes, "The very first Argent album finished with a forty-eight hour session [at Sound Techniques Studio] on 10 July 1969, the day Apollo 9 landed on the moon."  There are some factual errors here:  it was Apollo 11 that landed on the moon, and it happened on 20 July 1969.  If Henrit's recollection is correct, however, and the recording of the Argent album finished with a forty-eight-hour session that was completed on the day of the moon landing, to-day and to-morrow mark the fiftieth anniversary.

"Brother Lover"

Shortly after Colin Blunstone's birthday, the Zombies Fan Club posted a concert he did in Holland in 1974:

The day after I listened to it, I realized something about "Brother Lover."

In the coda, the vocal alternates between "Brother lover" and "Lover brother," both sung to this phrase:

The first word is sung on the off-beats, and the second word is sung on the beat (save for an added syllable).  The alternating of the order of the words and the words' falling on or off the beat illustrates the singer/speaker's confusion as to whether "the man sitting next to the beautiful young lady was her brother or her lover."

"Caroline Goodbye"

I was out of town recently, so I was unable to write about it, but I listened to Colin Blunstone's One Year on 24 June and noticed a few small things in "Caroline Goodbye."

"Way" in the line "Looks like you're gonna make it in a big way" is sung with a melisma (D C D E), which gives something of a sense of that "big."  I don't find this a very convincing argument myself, but I thought I'd mention it.

"Last" in the line "Here's your song to make them last" is also sung with a melisma (A G E, I think), and this gives a musical sense of duration or continuation.

"Leave Me Be"

The other thing I noticed when I listened to The Decca Stereo Anthology a few days ago is that the "-more" of "anymore" in the line "You'd better leave me be till I don't need her anymore" in "Leave Me Be" is sung with a melisma (C B, I think).  Musically, this gives something of a sense of the word's meaning.

"It's Alright with Me"

Since the 12th was the 55th anniversary of the Zombies' first (proper) studio session (on 12 June 1964), I listened to The Decca Stereo Anthology.

I noticed a small thing in "It's Alright with Me."  "Far" in the line "My bank account won't see me very far" is sung with a melisma (Eb C, I think), musically giving something of a sense of distance.  It's negated in the lyric though, so perhaps it's appropriate that the interval is only a minor third.

"Walking in the Sun"

A couple weeks ago, I figured out one of the backing vocal parts during the bridge of "Walking in the Sun" (this is one of the overdubs added in December 1968).  I don't know if this is just coincidence or if it's an indication of Rod Argent's cathedral choir background, but the first few measures bear some resemblance to the first phrase in hymn tune "Jefferson."

Here's the backing vocal phrase (during "You will laugh and walk with me..."):

Here's a recording I made of "Jefferson" a few years ago for my blog about hymns.  Here's the first phrase in notation (I adjusted the key so that it's easy to compare with "Walking in the Sun"):

The note values in each tune are considerably different, but if the first note of "Jefferson" is disregarded, the intervals of the first seven notes match.

I also noticed a small point about the lyrics in the bridge:  "ecstasy" in the line "And we will share our ecstasy" is sung with a melisma (I think it's E F G F E in the lead vocals), and since it's divided among a number of notes, there's a musical sense of that "shar[ing]."

Ready Steady Go!

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I was looking through Zombies pictures recently and found this one, which I've never seen before.  The caption reads:  "English rock group The Zombies perform on the set of the music television show Ready Steady Go! at the Rediffusion studio in Kingsway, London in September 1964.  The band members are, from left, Rod Argent, Paul Atkinson, Colin Blunstone, Hugh Grundy and Chris White."

It's clearly early days since they're wearing the same stage clothes as they did during the Herts Beat competition in April and May 1964.  Rod Argent doesn't have his Vox Continental, just his Hohner Pianet (although, as I explain here, I think he got his Vox Continental in late August 1964), and it looks like Hugh Grundy is playing someone else's drum kit.  Based on what letters are visible ("ley... is... ts"), I think it might be Bill Haley & His Comets.

The Zombie Heaven liner notes list only one Ready Steady Go! appearance in September, on the 11th.  Paul Atkinson notes that because they did Ready Steady Go! they were late to a gig in Birmingham later the same day.

"Imagine the Swan" b/w "Conversation off Floral Street"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (30 May 1969), "Imagine the Swan" b/w "Conversation off Floral Street" (CBS 4242) was released in the U.K.

"Turn Your Heart Around"

A couple days ago, I listened to Keats and noticed a small thing in "Turn Your Heart Around" that's also in the version that Colin Blunstone recorded for On the Air Tonight.  "On" in the line "This can't go on" is sung with a melisma (D E), giving a sense of continuation.

"Salvation Song"

This morning I listened to Rod Argent's Red House and noticed a small thing in "Salvation Song."  At ~4:03, one of the synths plays the phrase A Bb C F.  With a different rhythm and in a different key (so that it's C# D E A), this same phrase is in the band Argent's "Be Free."  It appears on organ at ~0:09 and on electric piano at ~2:03.

"Imagine the Swan" b/w "Conversation off Floral Street"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, "Imagine the Swan" b/w "Conversation off Floral Street" (Date 2-1644) was released fifty years ago to-day (29 April 1969) in the U.S. and Canada.

"Loving You Is Sweeter than Ever"

Earlier, I was thinking about "Loving You Is Sweeter than Ever" (on The BBC Radio Sessions), and I realized that "ev'ry night and day" in the line "Ev'ry night and day I lived the life of a lonely one" is a merism.

"What Becomes of the Broken Hearted"

Yester-day I was thinking about "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted" (included on Colin Blunstone's Collected), and I realized a couple things about it.

"Dreams" in the first line ("As I walk this land of broken dreams") and "hearted" in the title line are both sung with melismas (C Bb Ab and D C Bb, respectively), musically giving a sense of being "broken."

Earlier to-day, I realized that there's also a significant melisma in the second line:  "I have visions of many things."  "Things" is sung to the notes Bb Ab, so while it's a smaller melisma, there's still something of a sense of that "many."

"The Feeling's Inside"

The last thing I noticed when I listened to Argent last week is that there's an instance in "The Feeling's Inside" where the structure mirrors the lyrics:  the first line of the bridge is "And you begin to feel your life was changed," and the bridge is a musical change in the song.  Before it, there's an organ introduction and two verses.  It's not the most significant point, but I thought it was interesting.

"Lonely Hard Road"

When I listened to Argent last week, I noticed a couple small things in "Lonely Hard Road."

"Away" in the line "Like a fool, I made her run away" is sung with a melisma (F F Eb C), musically giving a sense of movement or distance.

"Walking" in the line "So I'll just keep walking" in the slower section at the end is also sung with a melisma (F Eb Eb), musically giving a sense of movement but also of that continuing.

"Be Free"

An-other thing I noticed when I listened to Argent recently is that some of the "fly"s and "free"s in "Be Free" are sung with various melismas, musically giving a sense of freedom or movement.

"Liar"

I didn't get to write about this yester-day, but when I listened to Argent recently, I noticed a merism in "Liar":  "We have seen no night / We have seen no day."

"Like Honey"

I listened to Argent yester-day (partially because I realized recently that it was recorded fifty years ago this year), and I noticed a handful of things.

In "Like Honey," the various lines about night falling ("When night falls on rare wine," "When night falls on stone rooms," and "And night falls no longer") are all sung to a (generally) descending melody (B D B B A G). musically giving a sense of that (metaphorical) "fall[ing]."

"Fly" in the first line of the bridge ("So rise and learn to fly") is sung with a melisma (B D A), so even though it has a general descent, it gives an impression of movement.  "Fly" in the backing vocals at the end of the bridge ("So fly") is sung with an ascending melisma (A B C D E), musically giving a sense of that upward movement.

"Pass" in the line "Help the lonely hour of the night pass by" also seems to be sung with a melisma to indicate the "pass[ing]" of time, but it's very subtle.

"Wings" in the line "So rise and spread your wings" is sung with yet an-other melisma (D C B A), musically giving a sense of that "spread[ing]."

"Be Glad"

March 29 was Piano Day (because it was the 88th day of the year and pianos have 88 keys), so I listened to Rod Argent's Classically Speaking.  I was finally able to confirm something I've been suspicious of for a long time.  I'd thought that the section of "Be Glad" starting at ~3:31 was a quotation (or near quotation) of a classical piece, but I hadn't been able to place it.  It turns out that the piece I was looking for is on Classically Speaking.  At ~3:12 in the Prelude in C# minor, Op. 45, No. 1 by Chopin, Argent starts playing this:

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I don't know if what he plays in "Be Glad" is exactly the same (for one thing, it sounds quite a bit lower), but I think it's a similar sort of figure.

"This Old Heart of Mine"

I recently listened to some live versions of "This Old Heart of Mine" and noticed two small things.

"Away" in the line "Each time you break away" is sung with a melisma (B B A), musically giving a sense of movement.  (Note that this is only in the version recorded on 1 November 1966 for Saturday Club [track 26 on disc 4 of Zombie Heaven, track 13 on disc 2 of The BBC Radio Sessions]).

The second "more" in the line "Hurting me more and more" is also sung with a melisma (E F#), musically giving a sense of the growing amount.

"Photograph"

I didn't have the time to write about this yester-day, but when I listened to Planes/Never Even Thought recently, I noticed a small thing about "Photograph."  "Forever" in the chorus ("I have a photograph of you / A memory or two, my love / Lasting forever") is sung with a melisma (C# E# D# D#), musically giving a sense of duration.

"I'll Never Forget You"

When I listened to Planes/Never Even Thought a couple days ago, I noticed that "away" in the line "If no one's watchin', I walk away" in "I'll Never Forget You" is sung with a melisma (Eb Bb Ab), musically giving a sense of that movement.

When I referenced the song in order to transcribe a bit of the lyrics and to find those specific pitches, I also noticed that there's a merism in the chorus, specifically in the line "You're here with me night and day."

"Only with You"

Yester-day, I figured out some parts in Colin Blunstone's "Planes" (a synth phrase and some of the chords), after which I decided to listen to the Planes/Never Even Thought two-albums-on-one-CD reissue.  I noticed a few small things.

In "Only with You," "down" in the lines "Before love had always had / Its ups and downs" is sung with a descending melisma (C# B A), musically reflecting the word's meaning.

I referenced the Beach Boys' original (on Holland), and while it also has this feature, it's less pronounced; it's sung to just two notes (B# G#, I think).

"He's a Dynamo"

This morning I listened to a live performance by Argent from 1972, and I noticed a couple things about "He's a Dynamo" (partially because the lyrics in the live performance are actually easier to understand than in the studio version).

A couple years ago, I noted that "head to toe" is sung to a descending phrase (G F# E), musically giving a sense of top to bottom, but there's more to it than that.  I'd thought the chorus was:

See him rock; see him roll
From his heart to his soul
Oh, oh no, from his head to toe
He's a dynamo

But based on the live version, now I think it's actually:

See him rock; see him roll
From his heart to his soul
High or low, from his head to toe
He's a dynamo

I realize now that "from his head to toe" is actually a merism, as are "From his heart to his soul" (in a figurative sense, anyway) and "High or low."  Additionally, the notes to which "High or low" is sung (C B A) also have that "top to bottom" quality.

"Hold Your Head Up"

The last thing I noticed when I listened to Encore a few days ago is that at ~1:52 in "Hold Your Head Up," Rod Argent plays a very brief quotation of "Antioch," the tune to which "Joy to the World" is sung.  (For what it's worth, a couple years ago, I discovered that Argent also quotes from "Antioch" in "Be Glad" on In Deep.)

I also revisited the quotation of "Cwm Rhondda" (from ~6:01 to ~6:27).  I wrote about it years ago, but since then, I've learned how to format notation better.  Argent's quotation* is in red; the section of "Cwm Rhondda" that he's drawing from is in black:

In "Cwm Rhondda," this is played only once, but Argent plays it twice (with some variation).  I put the six measures from "Cwm Rhondda" under both lines of Argent's part for easier comparison, and I adjusted the width of some of the measures for something of a one-to-one relationship.

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*I should specify that this is what he plays on Moog.  Simultaneously, he's playing organ, and while much of that simply doubles what he's playing on Moog, there are differences that I haven't even ventured to figure out yet.

"I Am the Dance of Ages"

This is just a small point, but when I listened to Encore a few days ago, I noticed that at ~3:30 in "I Am the Dance of Ages," Rod Argent starts wordlessly singing along to what he's improvising - the same thing he does at the end of "Indication."

"Music from the Spheres"

Unique to the live version of "Music from the Spheres" on Encore, "tremble" in the line "All around the world the people tremble" is sung with a melisma (G# G# A G# F#), musically giving a sense of the word's meaning.  In the studio version, it's simply sung to two G#s.

Previously, I'd noticed (but apparently hadn't fully realized) that there's a brief quote of "Dies Irae," which is featured so prominently in "The Coming of Kohoutek."  In the studio version, it occurs at ~4:10; in the live version on Encore, it's at ~5:27.  It lasts only two measures (because it's so brief, I'm uncertain of the key for that section, but there's at least one sharp):

On both Nexus and Encore, "Music from the Spheres" is a few songs after "The Coming of Kohoutek," but this quotation links them in a small way and - along with the cosmic theme of each - provides a bit of cohesion.

"Thunder and Lightning"

I listened to Argent's Encore this morning and noticed a number of things, although I have to go back and make sure I haven't already written about some of them.

About four years ago, I noticed that in "Thunder and Lightning" after the lines "There are times when you feel so good / That the only way to move is down" there's a descending phrase in the bass part to representing that "mov[ing]... down" musically.  Listening to the song this time, I noticed that the "down" in the lines "Thunder and lightning / Striking me down" is sung with a descending melisma (C Bb Ab F) for the same effect.  This is present in the live version on Encore and in the studio version on Nexus.

"Goin' out of My Head"

This morning I was thinking about "Goin' out of My Head," specifically the "Day and night / Night and day and night" lines near the end.  I realized that this is a rhetorical effect called merism - naming the beginning and end of something in order to refer to the entirety.  With "day and night," the sense is actually "all the time."  Because it's repeated and reversed in "Goin' out of My Head" ("Day and night / Night and day and night"), there's an even greater sense of this duration.

"Liar"

This morning I figured out the electric piano part in "Liar."  Apparently, I'd figured out some of it back in May 2015, but I never wrote this down and had forgotten it.  I made sure to write it down this time.

For much of the song, the bass register of the electric piano plays on the off-beats.  In my post from 2015, I seem to mention this, but I wasn't very clear, so I don't know if I really understood what was going on there or not.  In any case, I realized that the bass register of the electric piano in "Liar" is like Rod Argent's vocal line in the second half of the second verse of "Friends of Mine."  In August 2016, I discovered that it's on the off-beats.  Here's some better formatted notation than what's in that post:

"Friends of Mine" was written by Chris White, and "Liar" was written by Russ Ballard, but since both of them have Rod Argent singing or playing a part on the off-beats, I'm assuming that these are parts of the arrangements that he contributed.

Drop-In 1966

A little over a week ago, I was thinking about the pictures in the back of the I Love You liner notes booklet.  A year or two ago, bigger versions of a handful of these were posted either directly on the Zombies' Facebook page in the Zombies Fan Club.  I don't remember which, and I can't seem to find that post again, but it doesn't really matter because I tracked down the originals on DigitaltMuseum:

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The caption for each of these reads:  "Den brittiska popgruppen The Zombies uppträder på TV-programmet Drop-In 1966."  Translated from Swedish, this reads:  "The British pop group The Zombies act on the television program Drop-In 1966."  According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, the Zombies' 1966 Scandinavian tour started on 5 November and ended on 20 November.  (The same page contains five pictures from this performance [including the seventh and eighth above] with the caption "Live on stage in Sweden, November 1966.")

My search on the DigitaltMuseum site resulted in only these eight pictures, but the I Love You liner notes booklet has at least twenty-five.  Presumably, the others exist somewhere, along with - perhaps - film footage of the performance.

In looking at these pictures again, I discovered that the cover of I Love You was almost certainly shot at the same time.  In the background of the sixth picture, one can make out a bit of netting and the white lines of the red-and-white-striped goal posts the group is standing within on the cover:

Paul, Chris, and Colin all seem to be wearing the same clothes as in the above pictures.

"Be Glad"

I recently listened to In Deep, and this evening I figured out the lead vocal melody for the middle section of "Be Glad" (from ~4:01 to ~4:38).  I noticed a subtle feature about it.

I still don't know for sure what key "Be Glad" is in, so I left my notation in C major, resulting in a slew of accidentals:

The lyrics here are:

Long was the summer
Torn from the spring
Deep were the days of your longing

Now you are risen
Free as the wind
Watch as your woman is dancing

The melody for the "Now you are risen..." section is essentially the same as the melody for the "Long was the summer..." section.  The significant difference is that it's raised a half step, so between the two, there's a musical sense of having "risen."

"Hold Your Head Up"

I was thinking about "Hold Your Head Up" this afternoon and realized a small thing about the second verse.  The "moving" in the line "And if they stare, just let them burn their eyes on you moving" is sung with a melisma (F# E E), musically giving a sense of that movement.

"You've Really Got a Hold on Me"

A couple days ago, I listened to the first disc of the Beatles' Live on the BBC and noticed that in their version of "You Really Got a Hold on Me" [sic], "always" in the line "Seems that I'm always thinkin' of you" is sung with a melisma, musically giving a sense of the duration of "always."  (This is also in their studio version.)

To-day I checkt Smokey Robinson & the Miracles' original and the Zombies' version and discovered that they both have this feature too.  Smokey Robinson sings "always" to the notes A A G, and while they changed the key to A major, the Beatles follow this (F# F# E).  The Zombies' version is a bit different though; like the Beatles, they changed the key to A major, but it sounds like Colin Blunstone sings "always" to the notes F# F# C#.  There might be a B in there (F# F# B C#), but I might just be hearing a bit of Rod Argent's harmony part.

"She's Not There"

One of my ill-defined, unofficial musical projects for 2019 is to make some progress sorting through a stack of incomplete pages of notation.  Last night, I notated a few more lines of the bass part in "She's Not There."  I think I started writing it out sometime in the first half of last year, even though I still don't know the whole thing.  I wanted to preserve at least as much as I knew.

In comparing what I had already written and what I remembered to the actual recording, I discovered that I had a few notes wrong.  The most significant of these are probably the first two.  For years, I'd thought that "She's Not There" starts with a falling fifth (E to A) in the bass part.  Last night, I discovered that it's not a fifth; it's an octave (A to A).

There are a handful of other songs that start with falling fifths in the bass register ("You've Really Got a Hold on Me/Bring It on Home to Me," "I Love You," "Indication," "I'll Call You Mine," "Hung up on a Dream," Argent's "Free Fall," Colin Blunstone's "Exclusively for Me"), and I've previously commented that these are "just like 'She's Not There'!"  As it turns out, that's not true (unless I'm also mistaken about those).

I'm a bit disappointed that this feature isn't a musical through-line right from the Zombies' first single, but the focus of this project is figuring out the parts note-for-note (or trying to, anyway), so having an accurate record of the part is the most important thing.  In that respect, I'm glad I discovered my error.

"She's Not There" b/w "World of Glass"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (10 January 1969), Neil MacArthur's "She's Not There" b/w "World of Glass" (Deram DM 225) was released in the UK.

In the US and Canada, it was released on 20 January (Deram 45-7524).

In Italy, the A-side was replaced with the Italian version ("Ma non è giusto"), and the single was released on 24 January (Deram DM 230).

"How Could We Dare to Be Wrong"

I was going through some old notes recently and found something that I forgot to write about here.  Back in October, I noticed that the phrase "Take me up" at the beginning of Colin Blunstone's "How Could We Dare to Be Wrong" is sung to an ascending melody (F# G A), so there's a musical sense of the "tak[ing]... up."