"Walking in the Sun" and "I Don't Want to Know"

Before I wrote a post about "Walking in the Sun" a couple days ago, I read the older posts I'd written about the song, in order to make sure that I hadn't already written about the significance of that conjunct phrase.

In this post from December 2018, I wrote out the guitar part and noted that a short phrase in between a C major and an A minor (first at ~0:50) is the same (albeit an octave lower) as a short phrase in between a C major and an A major (at ~1:43) in "I Don't Want to Know" (I wrote out that guitar part in September 2016).  The two phrases have the same rhythm and fall in the same place in the measure:

Yester-day, I was thinking about this similarity again, and I realized that these two songs were recorded at the same session, on 25 November 1964.  This similarity is still a rather trivial point, but now I know that the songs are closely connected chronologically.

"I Don't Want to Know"

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At the end of July, I said I had only one more notation post planned, but then I never got around to posting it.  Part of that was procrastination, and part of it was just my forgetting about it.  So I finally got around to finishing off a patchwork notation (actual notation, chords, and tabs) of the guitar part in "I Don't Want to Know."

When I wrote out the riff in notation, I discovered that - while it's repeated so that it lasts a while - it's actually only two measures:

Here's the whole song written out:

|: Riff, played thrice
A major
C major / A major / B major :|

D major / A major
Solo*
A major
C major / A major / B major

Riff, played just once
A major
C major** / A major / B major

D major / F# minor / G major / A major
D major / F# minor / G major / A major
F# minor / G major / A major / D major

–
*This was the cause of most of my procrastination; I had to write out the tab for this, but I couldn't just write it out in this post because the formatting would be off, so here's a screen clipping of it written out in characters of equal width:

I used tildes (~) to indicate glissandi.  I should also note that I put a line break there, lest it get too long.

**In the transition from this C major to A major, there's an added figure:

The way I play it, all of the chords are barre chords, which makes it easier to play this figure.

"I Don't Want to Know"

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Collection Audit:

Yester-day I listened to the Zombies' The Decca Stereo Anthology and noticed a few things.  The first was in "I Don't Want to Know."  There are the lines "I believe what I want / No matter what you do," and I'd always understood the "do" there as representing an action.  "I believe what I want / No matter what action you perform."  But listening to it yester-day, I realized that it could be a sort of abbreviation standing in for the same verb, so "I believe what I want / No matter what you believe." 

The singer/speaker's steadfastness in his belief remains the same, but - depending on how that second line is parsed - he's resisting different things.

"I Don't Want to Know"

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I have a binder in which I've been keeping the tabs, chord progressions, and occasional notation I've written down, and I looked in there last night to see what I had for "I Don't Want to Know."  I found that I had the whole twelve-string part (which I still remembered), but I didn't have the bass part (which I'd forgotten).  So I had to relearn the bass part, and then I wrote it down.

While writing it down, I realized that this does the same thing as "I Remember When I Loved Her" (the bass part to which I also need to re-learn) and "Time of the Season."  I mentioned about a year ago that the bass parts during the solos in those songs are the same as the bass parts during the verses but with extra notes.  The solo in "I Don't Want to Know" is much shorter (I think only eight bars) and on guitar rather than a keyboard instrument, but there's a similar feature here.  However, it's slightly different in that there are more notes rhythm-wise, not pitch-wise.  It's the same D, E, G, F# phrase, but with four notes of each pitch where there are only two or three of each in the verses.

"I Don't Want to Know"

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After forgetting "I Want You Back Again," I figured I should go back and refresh some parts I hadn't played for awhile, like the bass part to "I Don't Want to Know."  And I actually learned it more accurately.  I'd thought one part was D E G A, but it's D E G F#.  That phrase is underneath the solo too, and I'd thought the bass part during the solo was different.

I think my twelve-string is too treble-y in this, but this was the best-sounding of the three series of settings I tried.  I think I missed two notes in the solo too.

Begin Here Session

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Fifty years ago to-day (25 November 1964) was the second session for the Zombies' Begin Here album.  For the album, they recorded "I Don't Want to Know," "What More Can I Do," and "I Remember When I Loved Her."  They also recorded "Walking in the Sun," "Tell Her No," "I Want You Back Again" (although not the single version), and the rehearsal version of "The Way I Feel Inside" found on disc 3 of Zombie Heaven.

I think this was also the session when the band received the phone call from Al Gallico that "She's Not There" was a #1 hit.  I've read interviews where they said they got that phone call while recording "Tell Her No," which would make it the 25th, but the Zombie Heaven booklet (where I get most of these dates, cross-referenced with the liner notes of the Decca Stereo Anthology) says that the call was during the session on the 24th.

"I Don't Want to Know"

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I tried figuring out that little bass riff in "Hung up on a Dream," but it's still too elusive.  So instead, I worked out at least the majority of the bass part for "I Don't Want to Know."  I'm not sure of the accuracy during the solo or the very end.

"I Don't Want to Know"

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I tried doing some of the vocals for "I Don't Want to Know," and they actually turned out pretty good.  (Not as good as the original though, obviously.)

I had a lot of fun overdubbing my voice multiple times.  I double-tracked the lead vocals and triple-tracked the backing vocals.  The guitar is also double-tracked - I re-recorded it just on six-string, but it didn't sound too good, so I imported the twelve-string version I recorded on the 18th.  Since I record most of the VCP demos while listening to the original backing tracks, the tempi match.

"I Don't Want to Know"

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Recently, I've been playing twelve-string guitar more, and since the only twelve-string guitar songs I know are songs by the Zombies, I've been playing those a lot more.

This morning, I figured out the solo for "I Don't Want to Know."

I still think the chords are broken up into arpeggios, but I'm not sure what those are yet, so I just played them straight.

Also, I've figured out how to play the main riff in a way that doesn't leave the A string vibrating for too long, which I discovered was an issue last time I posted a version.

And there's quite a bit of fret buzz at the very end because I'm still not very good at twelve-string guitar.

"I Don't Want to Know"

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I only started putting serious effort into learning "I Don't Want to Know" a few days ago, so this may be a bit rougher than most.

For instance:  I need to find a new way to play the riff because otherwise the A note sustains for too long.  I don't know the solo yet, so there's a sonic dead spot in the middle of this.  And I'm not sure if the chords are played straight or broken up into arpeggios or something.  I'll have to listen to the Decca Stereo Anthology version.

Also, to-day marks the tenth day in a row I've done VCP demos!

"I Don't Want to Know"

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Lately, I've been posting rough versions of a lot of songs from the Begin Here album, and I'm getting close to the point where I can play all of the songs straight through on at least one instrument (although most of them are just the guitar chords), so I thought I would try learning some of the other ones.

So I went back to "I Don't Want to Know," which I figured out the main riff for about a year ago.  If I can trust the "date created" for the .txt file I started for it, it was 28 April 2012.

Anyway, in playing through that, I've discovered that - again - Chris White uses the F#m G A D chord progression that he's (apparently) so fond of.