Showing posts with label Can't Nobody Love You. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Can't Nobody Love You. Show all posts

Friday, February 27, 2026

"Can't Nobody Love You"

I've noted before that the lines "Oh, I'm gonna love you in the morning / Love you late at night" in "Can't Nobody Love You" contain a temporal merism, but when I listened to Begin Here again recently, I noticed that the extent here is also illustrated by the melody.  "Morning" is sung to Fs, but "night" is sung to lower pitches (and with a melisma:  E A).  At the greatest distance, there's a sixth between "morning" and "night."

Friday, June 24, 2022

"Can't Nobody Love You"

A couple months ago, I dug out my old notation of the bass part in "Can't Nobody Love You" (which I wrote out in 2015).  Recently, I made a better copy of it and even found some errors to fix (I had an F in place of a C, and I had the last two notes in the wrong octave).  The standard disclaimer that I may have something wrong still applies, though.

I started the notation where the bass part starts, and I wrote the chords in above the staff, but because the bass part doesn't start at the beginning of the song, there are a few chords that aren't written in.  For the guitar solo, I put just a single measure of rest with a fermata.  I don't know the proper way to deal with a section like that, and this is the best I could come up with.

Thursday, August 8, 2019

"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."

Thursday, February 9, 2017

"Can't Nobody Love You"

Yester-day, I listened to the first disc of Zombie Heaven.  I rediscovered something I'd noticed before but hadn't written about, so I thought I might as well write about it.

In "Can't Nobody Love You," there's the phrase "apple of my eye," which has Biblical origins.  I first thought of Psalm 17:8:  "Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings."  But I did some research, and apparently the first instance anywhere is Deuteronomy 32:10, where Moses says, "He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye."

The song was written by James Mitchell, so this is kind of a tangential note to the Zombies themselves, but I still felt it worth noting.

Saturday, February 27, 2016

"Can't Nobody Love You"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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When I started recording the songs on the anniversaries of their originally being recorded, I substituted the studio version (if there was one) for the live version.  This particular recording of "Can't Nobody Love You" - while for the anniversary of the radio appearance - is still based on the studio version, but at some point, I need to start learning the differences between the studio and live versions.  I'm pretty sure the live version of "Can't Nobody Love You" features a regular six-string guitar instead of twelve-string (which would make it much easier to play).  I'm also curious about the bass part; I think I noticed a slight error in the bass part of the studio version, so I want to see whether it's in the live version or not (to see if it really is an error).

I don't really have the time to compare the different versions now, but eventually, I'd like to get around to it.

Friday, December 11, 2015

"Can't Nobody Love You"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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This one has sort of fallen through the cracks.  I haven't recorded it for over two years.

Apparently, I learned the bass part in April 2013, and I remember learning the chords in late 2013/early 2014 (that's when I got my twelve-string guitar, so I figured I'd better learn a song that actually uses a twelve-string guitar).  I guess it was in the months after that when I figured out the actual guitar part (it's not just plain chords).  But I'd never recorded the parts together.

I was having some problems re-learning and then remembering the bass part for this, so yester-day, I notated the whole thing.  In doing so, I discovered that this - like "Summertime" - is in 6/8.

Sunday, July 26, 2015

"Can't Nobody Love You"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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I'm listening (for the first time!) to a Sam Cooke compilation album.  It includes "Nothing Can Change This Love," which is one of only two songs on this album that I've heard before, but in listening to it, I've discovered that it's the song that's referenced in the bridge of "Can't Nobody Love You":
Listen now, Sam bought you cake and ice cream
Called you "Cherry pie"
Ray Charles called you his sunshine
But you're the apple, apple of my eye, oh
"Can't Nobody Love You" specifically references (the first half of) the bridge of "Nothing Can Change This Love":
Oh, you're the apple of my eye
You're cherry pie
And, oh, you're, you're cake and ice cream
Oh, you're sugar and spice
And everything nice
You're the girl of my, my, my, my dreams
"Nothing Can Change This Love" doesn't mention buying cake and ice cream, but all four foods mentioned in "Can't Nobody Love You" are there:  "apple of my eye," "cherry pie," and "cake and ice cream."

I have a few compilation albums of Ray Charles, but I haven't listened to those more than a few times each and amn't as familiar with those as I am with Cooke, so maybe the referent for "Ray Charles called you his sunshine" is lurking somewhere in my collection too.

Friday, March 6, 2015

Top Gear

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (26 February 1965), the Zombies recorded "Rip It Up" and "Can't Nobody Love You" for the Top Gear radio show (tracks 11 and 12 on the fourth disc of Zombie Heaven).  It was broadcast on 6 March (incidentally, Hugh Grundy's 20th birthday).
Reblogging because this radio appearance was broadcast fifty years ago to-day.  Also, to-day's Hugh Grundy’s birthday!

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Top Gear

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (26 February 1965), the Zombies recorded "Rip It Up" and "Can't Nobody Love You" for the Top Gear radio show (tracks 11 and 12 on the fourth disc of Zombie Heaven).  It was broadcast on 6 March (incidentally, Hugh Grundy's 20th birthday).

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Begin Here Session

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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Fifty years ago to-day (10 December 1964), the Zombies had an-other session for the Begin Here album.  They recorded "Can't Nobody Love You," "The Way I Feel Inside," "I Got My Mojo Working," "You've Really Got a Hold on Me/Bring It on Home to Me," "I Can't Make up My Mind," and "Work 'n' Play."

They also received an award for "She's Not There" - it had been #1 on Cashbox.  I'm fairly certain that most of the pictures of the Zombies in the Decca studio in West Hampstead were taken on this day, as some sort of publicity event because they received that award.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

"Can't Nobody Love You"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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Back in April, I learnt the bass part for "Can't Nobody Love You," but I never posted it.

So, again, this is long overdue.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

"Care of Cell 44" / "Can't Nobody Love You"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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I recently realised that while I thought I knew all of the bass part for "Care of Cell 44," I had the very beginning wrong.  So I fixed that yester-day, and I just now spent awhile figuring out the bass part for "Can't Nobody Love You."

Saturday, March 23, 2013

"Can't Nobody Love You"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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"Can't Nobody Love You" (work in progress)

Thursday, December 27, 2012

"Can't Nobody Love You"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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Yester-day, I learned the chords to "Can't Nobody Love You" along with the riff at the end.  I had some audio problems, so I couldn't really record a version until now.  Apparently, I have to have my ceiling light turned off (since it's on a dimmer) and turn my wireless internet off.