"Like Honey"

I listened to Argent yester-day (partially because I realized recently that it was recorded fifty years ago this year), and I noticed a handful of things.

In "Like Honey," the various lines about night falling ("When night falls on rare wine," "When night falls on stone rooms," and "And night falls no longer") are all sung to a (generally) descending melody (B D B B A G). musically giving a sense of that (metaphorical) "fall[ing]."

"Fly" in the first line of the bridge ("So rise and learn to fly") is sung with a melisma (B D A), so even though it has a general descent, it gives an impression of movement.  "Fly" in the backing vocals at the end of the bridge ("So fly") is sung with an ascending melisma (A B C D E), musically giving a sense of that upward movement.

"Pass" in the line "Help the lonely hour of the night pass by" also seems to be sung with a melisma to indicate the "pass[ing]" of time, but it's very subtle.

"Wings" in the line "So rise and spread your wings" is sung with yet an-other melisma (D C B A), musically giving a sense of that "spread[ing]."

"Like Honey"

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When I listened to Argent a few days ago, I noticed that the word-less vocal part (which I'm pretty sure is Rod Argent) during the introduction to "Like Honey" is doubled by organ.  And then while verifying that to-day, I realized that the bass part of the guitar arpeggiation is doubled on organ too.

The organ part in my example is considerably louder so that it's easier to hear that part.  Also, I might have articulated that descending bass part wrong.  I just went from note to note, but I think there might be a sort of skipping.  So, instead of going straight from A to G, it’s A, *rest,* A, G.

"Like Honey"

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I've been having problems uploading audio, so I hope this works.

While listening to Argent yester-day, I realized that the opening guitar figure of "Like Honey" is double-tracked in some places.  The left track plays the whole arpeggiated part and then the final A minor chord, but the right track breaks off at the end of the first phrase and plays an Esus4 and E major before repeating the phrase exactly the same as the left track (ending with the A minor).  I'd missed the Esus4 completely and thought the E major was overdubbed just by itself.

Argent

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I listened to Argent this morning and worked on transcribing the lyrics.  And I noticed some things.

In "Like Honey," there are some lines about flying:

So rise and learn to fly
Help the lonely hour of the night pass by
So rise and spread your wings
Help the lonely hour of the night begin

And then a few songs later, in "Be Free," there are more lines about flying:

If you're gonna spread your wings
And hear the song that freedom sings
Remember that I told you to be free
If you're gonna sweep the sky
And feel the wind come rushing by
Remember that I told you to be free

Both sets of lyrics are also pretty parallel structurally.

This might even bear some comparison to "Wings against the Sun" from the Zombies' 2004 album As Far as I Can See.  I haven't explored that yet.

On the second side, there's an-other instance of this - where the same theme is present in two songs - although it's not as strong a connection as that between "Like Honey" and "Be Free."  "Stepping Stone" has the line "I would gladly made you happy," and "Bring You Joy," the next song, has:

And I'll make you feel so happy
You could cry
Yes, I'll make you feel so happy
You will die

However, while those lines are sort of similar, the songs have different outlooks.

Additionally, I found some more instances of remembering, which is a major theme in Chris White's and Rod Argent's songs.  "Be Free" has the line "Remember that I told you to be free."  "Schoolgirl" (written by Russ Ballard) starts out with "Remember when you were a schoolgirl."  And "Stepping Stone" starts out with "Remember days when we were close and warm as night turned to dawn" and later has "Remember fresh and sweet the thought of summer ways, loving eyes, lazy day."  Those lines in particular connect "Stepping Stone" to the Zombies' "Beechwood Park," specifically the first two verses:

Do you remember summer days just after summer rain
When all the air was damp and warm in the green of country lanes
And the breeze would touch your hair, kiss your face, and make you care
About your world, your summer world
And we would count the evening stars as the day grew dark in Beechwood Park

Do you remember golden days and golden summer sun
The sound of laughter in our ears and the breeze as we would run
And the breeze would touch your hair, kiss your face, and make you care
About your world, your summer world
And we would count the evening stars as the day grew dark in Beechwood Park

Both refer to summer, warmth, and the day-to-night transition (although "Beechwood Park" is day to night and "Stepping Stone" is night to day).

"Like Honey" and "Lula Lula"

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Way back in May 2012, I noted the similarities between the opening guitar figures for the Zombies' "Lula Lula" (on the New World album) and Argent's "Like Honey" (the first track on Argent).  (I'm actually sort of embarrassed about how insistent I was.  And I think I was wrong; everything I've found credits "Like Honey" to Argent and White.)  After learning both of them (both of the guitar parts at least), I discovered that they both start with an arpeggiated A minor.  Recently, I realized that both also contain chromatic phrases within the arpeggios.

In "Like Honey," the chromatic phrase is in that opening arpeggiated part.  While the higher notes mostly stay around A minor, the bottom note of the arpeggios goes from A to G to F# to F to E (incidentally, this phrase - A G F# F E - is also part of the bass line in the Zombies' "Indication").

"Lula Lula" is the opposite.  In the part after the opening, the bottom note goes up - from E to F to F# to G.

So, along with the same opening arpeggiated A minor, both songs have a chromatic figure from G to E.  One going up and one going down.

"Like Honey"

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Argent's "Like Honey"

My voice doesn't suit this at all, hence the lack of any vocals.  The remaining parts sound sort of bare without either vocals or percussion.  It doesn't help any that I don't have the electric piano part exactly right.

But it's more than I knew a few months ago.

"Like Honey"

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I learned the middle part of Argent's "Like Honey" to-day, so now I know the whole song and should be able to record a rough cover version in the next few weeks.

"Like Honey"

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I learned the introductory guitar part for Argent's "Like Honey" to-day.