"Christmas for the Free"

A couple months ago, I listened to Argent's In Deep (on vinyl, even).  Recently, I finally got around to researching something I noticed about "Christmas for the Free" (which is also true of the version the Zombies recorded for Breathe Out, Breathe In).

I noted before that the lines "Blunt is the pain of hunger / Cold is the wind of grief" are inverted so that the predicate adjectives precede their subjects and consequently receive some emphasis.  When I listened to the song again recently, I realized that the particular sonic qualities of blunt and cold carry a sort of inherent emphasis of their own.  If I understand the phonetics correctly, the initial sound of each word is a plosive (labial and velar, respectively).  This force at the beginning of the words combines with their unusual placement in the syntax and results in an even stronger accentuation.

"God Gave Rock and Roll to You" b/w "Christmas for the Free"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (23 February 1973), Argent's "God Gave Rock and Roll to You" (edited) b/w "Christmas for the Free" (Epic S EPC 1243) was released in the U.K.  The U.S. and Canada release (Epic 5-10972) was on 26 March.

"Christmas for the Free"

I've been going through the liner notes booklet from Breathe Out, Breathe In and copying out the lyrics as they're printed.  While transcribing "Christmas for the Free," I noticed something that should have been obvious:  the third line ("Joy to the world at Christmas") quotes the Christmas hymn "Joy to the World," written by Isaac Watts.  The first line of the hymn is "Joy to the world, the Lord is come!"

It also occurred to me that in the first two lines of the second verse, the clauses are inverted so that the predicate adjective precedes the subject:  "Blunt is the pain of hunger / Cold is the wind of grief."  That way, those qualities are emphasized.

"Christmas for the Free"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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Yester-day, I figured out the chords for the verses of "Christmas for the Free."  I used Argent's original version, but I'm fairly certain the Zombies' version from Breathe Out, Breathe In uses the same chords.

I also figured out one phrase, and it contains Argent's characteristic sequential half-steps, although there're four notes this time: B, C, C#, D.

Anyway, the interesting thing: part of this chord progression has a descending bass part that's achieved through 7ths, which is the same thing that Rod Argent does in "She's Coming Home" and "I Want Her She Wants Me."  I've written about this before, but not at the length that it really deserves.

Like I mentioned in that post, according to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, Rod Argent took part of the chord progression for "She's Coming Home" from Howells' Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis.  Last summer - after writing that post I just linked to - I got a copy of this.  I didn't find the phrase then, but I listened to it this morning, and I think I've discovered it in the "Gloria Patri” from the Magnificat section.  It's the part that corresponds to "Holy Ghost" in the text.

So now I'm fairly confident that the section of "She's Coming Home" that Argent took from Howells is that descending bass part achieved through 7ths.  In "She's Coming Home," it's E major, E major 7th (although played the same as an inverted G# minor), and then C# minor.  To complete that phrase in "She's Coming Home," there's a B major, but I don't think that same phrasing is in Howells' Magnificat (also, I think Howells starts on F major, so his progression is half a step higher).

Like I mentioned last summer, that same sort of thing is in the bridge of "I Want Her She Wants Me."  There's a difference I didn't notice though: that's a dominant 7th.  (G major, G major dominant 7th, Eb major, Eb major 7th)  That descending bass part is still achieved (G, F, Eb, D), but the intervals aren't the same as the descending bass part in "She's Coming Home" (E, D#, C#, B).

"Christmas for the Free" features this same descending bass through 7ths.  It's A major, A major 7th (or an inverted C#m, which - incidentally - is a chord change present in "This Will Be Our Year"), F# minor, F# minor 7th (which I think is equivalent to an inverted A major - E, [F], A, C#).  So, like "She's Coming Home," you get those same descending intervals (A, G#, F#, E).

What's more interesting:  "Christmas for the Free" uses the same descent that Howells has (assuming I've identified the correct phrase in Howells' Magnificat), and the Magnificat is Mary's response a while after the angel announces to her that she will bear God's Son - an event that culminates in Christmas (the Magnificat actually occurs when she visits her sister; see the first two chapters of Luke for more on this).  So - provided I have that phrase sussed out and traced the history from "She's Coming Home" to "Christmas for the Free" right - the Christmas element of "Christmas for the Free" inadvertently continues that inspiration from Howells.

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Oh, and this is a new one in the catalogue.