Tuesday, July 7, 2026

"I Can't Make up My Mind"

I run an-other blog where I collect performances by and interviews with the Zombies, and for the last two years or so, I've been working on transcribing the interviews.  I recently started Chris White's appearance on the Ace Records Podcast.  In the introduction, the presenter refers to "I Can't Make up My Mind" but calls it "I Can't Make My Mind up" instead.  When I verified that I'd remembered it correctly, I had a small realization about the title line.

It's sung to a melody something like this:


The words are all sung on down-beats until "my mind," which are both sung on up-beats.  Up-beats are weaker than down-beats, so even musically, there's a sense of this lack of solidity.

Saturday, July 4, 2026

"Work 'n' Play"

I was thinking about "Work 'n' Play" a couple days ago and realized that, in a very loose way, the guitar part illustrates the title.  If I'm not mistaken, the initial phrases in the "verse" are just a two-note ascent (B E) and then a two-note descent (B E).  The two E notes are an octave apart, so these two phrases are more-or-less exact opposites, and this contrast matches the difference between "work" and "play" in the title.