"I'll Call You Mine"

I'd previously noted the sort of parallelism in the line "Walk in the light of day and talk the night away" in "I'll Call You Mine," but early last month, I was thinking about this again and started wondering if these phrases were also parallel musically.  I'd forgotten about this until recently, but yester-day, I figured out the vocal melody for the first two verses in order to investigate this.

The two halves of the line begin the same way (G# A B), and the last few notes of each, while not exactly the same, trace a diatonic descent (F E D and E D C), so there is a bit of musical parallelism that matches the sort of parallelism in the lyrics.

I was also struck by how much of the melody occurs on the off-beats, and I think this may be significant in light of the lyrics.  The second verse (repeated as the third verse) ends with the line "I was afraid to try to call you mine," and this delivery that comes just after the beat seems to indicate the narrator's hesitancy and reluctance.

"Wonderful" b/w "Beginning"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (21 September 1973), Colin Blunstone's "Wonderful" [edited] b/w "Beginning" (Epic S EPC 1775) was released in the U.K.

Last year, I found this video from a Dutch television station where Colin mimes to "Wonderful."

The video description provides two different dates, but apparently the video was originally broadcast on either 10 or 11 November 1973.

"Butcher's Tale"

Last month, I was thinking about one of the sound effects in "Butcher's Tale."  In the liner notes to the fiftieth anniversary edition of Odessey and Oracle, Andrew Sandoval describes it as "added intrigue from Rod on electronic oscillator."  Chris White confirms this in Claes Johansen's book The Zombies: Hung up on a Dream:  "There were no synthesizers in those days... the thing at the end is just an oscillator which Rod played on another track" (p. 171).  I think it's basically a glissando from A to D an octave higher.

Last night, I made a recording of the harmonium and oscillator parts.  I used my Hammond SKX for the harmonium (specifically Reed Organ 2 with Hall 2 reverb set at 26) and my Moog Subsequent 37 for the oscillator.  I'm still way out of my depth with the Moog, but I tried to use a simple setting.

I played the harmonium part from memory, and I didn't use a click track, so it may vary in accuracy and tempo.

 

"Out of the Day"

Last week, I re-learned the opening guitar figure and the chords for "Out of the Day."  I was thinking about the song again yester-day, and I realized that in the line "Driving home; I'll soon be home" at the end of each verse, the "home"s are both song to the tonic note (D), the musical "home" of the key (D minor).  Usually, the first "home" is sung with a descending melisma (E D), and the second is sung to a single pitch (D), but near the end of the song, there are two "home"s sung with an ascending melisma (C D).