"Just a Little Bit"

When I listened to the first disc of The BBC Sessions yester-day, I also noticed some new things.

I noticed a couple significant melismas in "Just a Little Bit."  "All" in the line "No, I don't want it all" is sung with a melisma (B A) for a sense of entirety.  "Low" in the second "Turn the lights down low" line is sung with the same melisma, musically giving something of a sense of that decrease. 

I also referenced the version of "Just a Little Bit" that's on the second disc (which is the same performance as that on the Live at the BBC disc of Zombie Heaven and the only one I'd been familiar with until I got The BBC Sessions).  In that version, "all" is sung with a different melisma (A E D, I think), but it has the same effect.  "Low" isn't sung with a melisma in either "Turn the lights down low" line.

"Just a Little Bit"

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[link to original on tumblr]

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I've been looking into bass parts recently, so I wrote out the notation for "Just a Little Bit."  In doing so, I discovered that I was wrong about the bass part during the organ solo.  I'd thought the notes get progressively shorter, but it's actually just that they become more frequent.  What I thought were whole notes and half notes are actually just quarter notes.

I should also mention that I'm not quite sure about the time signature change at the end.  But I knew that if I didn't write down something, the notation I'd already done would just languish unfinished.

For much of this, the guitar just doubles the bass, just an octave higher.

"Just a Little Bit"

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[link to original on tumblr]

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Verulam Cover Project:

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (8 November 1965), the Zombies recorded "Just a Little Bit" for "The Beat Show."  The show was broadcast on 11 November.

"Just a Little Bit"

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[link to original on tumblr]

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After listening to "Just a Little Bit" to-day, I figured out the bass part.  It gets pretty fast near the end, and since I just learned it, it's probably not as good as it could be.

I'd never really paid attention to it before, but the part during the organ solo is really interesting.  As it goes on, the note values become progressively shorter.  First, they're whole notes, then half notes, then quarter notes, and then finally eighth notes:

I'm not familiar with any other version of the song, so I don't know if that's a feature specific to the song or something that the Zombies came up with.

"Just a Little Bit"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (8 November 1965), the Zombies recorded "Just a Little Bit" for "The Beat Show."  The show was broadcast on 11 November.