"She Does Everything for Me"

An-other thing I noticed when I listened to I Love You yester-day is that "all" in the line "I don't care at all" in "She Does Everything for Me" is sung with a melisma (I'm unsure of the exact notes, but most - if not all - of them are C#s).  This articulation gives a sense of degree.

"She Does Everything for Me"

I was thinking about "She Does Everything for Me" recently and noticed a small thing about the chorus.  The three syllables of the first "ev'rything" ("She does ev'rything for me to make me feel alright") are sung to three different pitches (C# E G).  Musically, this gives an impression of the breadth of that "ev'rything."

"She Does Everything for Me"

Last week, I learned the bass part and chords for the Four Tops' "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" and discovered something that might have influenced the Zombies.

At the beginning of "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)," the bass plays the same figure over and over again, beneath a C major:

The first thing I noticed is that the rhythm for each measure (for this introduction but also for almost every measure in the entire song) is three eighth notes, one quarter note, and three eighth notes, which is a rhythm that Rod Argent often uses in the bass parts for his songs.

Then I realized that this has a more specific similarity to the beginning of "She Does Everything for Me," where the bass plays the same figure over and over again, beneath an A major:

Where the bass in "I Can't Help Myself" plays the root (C), fifth (G), and sixth (A), the bass in "She Does Everything for Me" plays the root (A), fifth (E), and flatted seventh (G).

The chronology for this possible influence works out too.  According to the liner notes of the Four Tops' Anthology, "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" was released in 1965, and according to the liner notes of the Zombies' The Decca Stereo Anthology, "She Does Everything for Me" was recorded on 4 May 1966.

It seems relevant to note that the beginning of "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" starts playing immediately after the live version of "Going to a Go Go" on Into the Afterlife (apparently on the PA system of whatever venue where the Zombies were performing), although the recording is sped up significantly so that it's in Eb major instead of C major.  After having discovered this similarity in the bass parts, I'm wondering if the Zombies askt for it to be played.  (I remember reading somewhere that - in a similar way - Rod Argent askt for Ravel's Bolero to be played over the PA system before Argent concerts.)

It also seems worth noting that the Zombies covered the Four Tops' "Loving You Is Sweeter than Ever" live on the BBC.

"She Does Everything for Me"

Last week, I was playing the guitar solo from the Beatles' "Every Little Thing" on piano, and I realized something that it has in common with "She Does Everything for Me."  I pointed out some lyrical similarities between the two songs a couple years ago, but now I've found a musical similarity too.  Before each of the first two phrases of the guitar solo in "Every Little Thing," there's the four-note phrase E F# G# A (I'm pretty sure it's played on a six-string guitar where the guitar solo is done on a twelve-string).  This same four-note phrase (albeit with different note values) is in the backing vocals during the choruses of "She Does Everything for Me."  It's the "and now I know" after the lead vocal's "She does everything for me / To make me feel alright."  In both songs, the phrase serves to introduce the main part, whether it's a guitar solo or lead vocal.

But that's not all!  A couple months ago, I discovered that this same E F# G# A phrase alternates with phrases at the beginning of the guitar solo in Elvis Presley's "That's All Right."  Along with the Beatles, Elvis Presley was an influence on Rod Argent, who wrote "She Does Everything for Me."

The phrase is so small that its resemblance to those in "That's All Right" and "Every Little Thing" might just be coincidental, but since Argent often mentions Elvis and the Beatles as influences, it could be at least a subconscious borrowing.

"She Does Everything for Me"

I listened to the I Love You album to-day, and I remembered something I noticed in "She Does Everything for Me" a couple months ago (more like half a year; it was in August) that I neglected to write about.

The first line is "There is nothing to say; it's all been said," and that "said" has a melisma.  It's sung to the notes E F# E D.  Because it's sung to more than one note, there's almost a musical representation of "all" having "been said."  It's as if each note to which "said" is sung represents a past conversation.

"Goin' out of My Head" b/w "She Does Everything for Me"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide and the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (17 March 1967), the Zombies' "Goin' out of My Head" b/w "She Does Everything for Me" (Decca F. 12584) - their last single for Decca - was released in the U.K.

"She Does Everything for Me"

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I've gotten into the habit of playing the backing vocal part from the chorus in the bass register of the electric piano part (the "And now I know" is prominent), which I don't think is particularly accurate, but which makes this more interesting to listen to.

I'm not sure that my tambourine part is exactly accurate, although the tambourine's dropping out for the third chorus is correct.  I don't know why it's that way on the original recording.  A couple times when I was playing it, I forgot that the chorus repeats there, so maybe whoever played tambourine forgot too and then they just didn't go back to fix it.

Recording Session

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According to The Decca Stereo Anthology liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (4 May 1966), the Zombies recorded "Indication," "I'll Call You Mine," "Gotta Get a Hold of Myself," and "She Does Everything for Me."

Unlike the previous Zombies sessions (all held at Studio No. 2 at Decca West Hampstead), these were recorded as Lansdowne Studio.

"She Does Everything for Me"

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Almost a week ago now, I was thinking about "She Does Everything for Me," and I realized a musicological feature I hadn't noticed before.  In the first verse, there's the line "She won't lead me up with air," and throughout that first verse, the chord progression descends (F# minor, E major, D major, C# major).  The chord progression there further emphasizes what the lyrics have.

I Love You

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Like I mentioned earlier, I listened to I Love You this morning, and I noticed a few other things:

The backing vocals in "How We Were Before" sing the chromatic phrase that's in the chords.  I don't know how I missed it before.  Also, I'd never thought about this before, but the bongos that Hugh Grundy used on "How We Were Before" are probably the same ones that he later used on "Changes" from Odessey and Oracle.

The guitar phrases in "You Make Me Feel Good" have glissandi.  I'd sort of been playing the second (the G# to A) that way, but the first is (I think) D# to E, not just E.

I haven't really figured out either, but the organ parts for "Leave Me Be" and "Sometimes" seem to have a bit of a relation.  Specifically, a three-note phrase that starts on the fifth of whatever chord is being played.  Both have a D major chord above which there's a A, B, C, B, A, B, C, B sort of figure.  I'm not extremely confident on that though.

At the end of "She Does Everything for Me," someone (I think it's Rod Argent) sings along to the last guitar phrase, and I realized that it's the same thing that he does at the end of "Indication," except that's with the electric piano part.

"She Does Everything for Me"

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I've been looking for a particular song that I know the Beatles covered, so I've been listening to a lot of the early Beatles albums and finding some interesting (possible) Zombies' connections.  Yester-day, I found one to "She Does Everything for Me" and remembered an-other one I've been neglecting.

The chorus to "Every Little Thing" on Beatles for Sale bears quite a lot of resemblance to that of "She Does Everything for Me."

The chorus to "Every Little Thing":

Every little thing she does
She does for me, yeah
And you know the things she does
She does for me, ooh

The chorus to "She Does Everything for Me":

She does everything for me
To make me feel alright
Everything she does for me
Makes me feel alright

Individually, both choruses say pretty much the same thing between the two couplets.  The first and third lines of each are just reshuffled, and the second and fourth are almost identical.  Both choruses also say pretty much the same thing as each other - "she does every (little) thing for me."

I don't know how to play any part of "Every Little Thing" (yet), so I don't know if there's any resemblance musically, but lyrically, they seem to be from the same mold.

I also listened to disc two of On Air - Live at the BBC, Vol. 2 yester-day, which reminded me of one musical element of "She Does Everything for Me" that I thought might have Beatle origins.  At the very end, there's a glissando from D to C# in the guitar part.  This same sort of thing is at the end of "You Can't Do That" from A Hard Day's Night.  Granted, that's three notes (F to F# to G), and it's ascending where the glissando in "She Does Everything for Me" is descending, but it still ends the song.

And of course, the usual disclaimer that these are only conjectured influences.

"She Does Everything for Me"

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My novice audio engineering skills make themselves known with this.  I think the audio's peaked except for the introductory electric piano phrase and the very end, but it's still listenable.  (I would try to fix it, but I don't keep the project files for these, so I'd have to re-record the whole thing.)  I always have problems recording the guitar part for this.  I double-tracked it here with two different settings, which might have resulted in some of the audio peaking.

I got a word wrong - "Now I've found a girl that / I love instead" instead of "Now I've found a girl who / I love instead"

I can't do falsetto at all, so I dropped the falsetto backing vocals by at least an octave, probably two.

I don't think I'd ever really noticed that there are hand-claps in this song.  This is only the second time I've tried recording hand-claps.  This turned out better than that other time.

"Will You Love Me Tomorrow"

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I think this is the first Zombies song that I've done that they didn't record "properly."  They did this live on the BBC.

Last month, I got a CD of the Shirelles greatest hits, and I listened to it for the first time to-day.  Since it includes "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" (they did the original), I tried figuring out the Zombies' version.  I got the chords and at least an approximation of the electric piano solo (although I kept the organ part underneath, unlike the recording).  I'm not sure of the harmonies, so when the backing vocals' lyrics were the same as the lead vocals', I just sang them the same way (so because some parts are essentially quadruple-tracked [double-tracked lead vocals and double-tracked backing vocals] they're louder than I'd like).

I think Colin sings, "When I can feel the magic of your sighs" in the second verse (which I followed), but in the Shirelles' version, it's "Can I believe the magic of your sighs."  He also goes straight to "Will you still love me tomorrow" as the last line of the first verse, but that form doesn't come until the second verse.  The first is "But will you love me tomorrow."  Also, he takes the "and" out of the line "So tell me now, and I won't ask again," which makes him seem more insistent as a singer/speaker than that in the Shirelles' version.

I think there might be some connection between "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" and "She Does Everything for Me."  Both are mostly in A major with the prominent exception of a C# major.  The Zombies recorded "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" for Saturday Club on 20 September 1965 (and it was broadcast on 2 October 1965), and "She Does Everything for Me" was recorded in May 1966, so chronologically it's possible that "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" influenced "She Does Everything for Me."

"She Does Everything for Me"

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I think I learned the bass part for "She Does Everything for Me."  It's actually pretty easy, provided I learned it correctly.

The guitar tone on this might have too much treble, but I did about five takes with different settings.  This was close enough.

"She Does Everything for Me"

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I transcribed the lyrics to "She Does Everything for Me" because - while I haven't really learned any more of it - I've been kind of obsessed with it lately.  And I found something interesting.

There are falsetto parts during the second half of each of the verses (or whatever they're called; I'm bad at song terminology; they might technically be pre-choruses), and in both cases, those falsetto parts are reductions of the lyrics in the verse proper.

[Disclaimer that my transcribed lyrics are as I hear them and quite possibly might be wrong.]

So, in the second half of the first verse, the lead vocals are:

She won't lead me up with air
And tell me that she doesn't care
About the way I feel
'Cause I'm a fool

[Side note to point out the interesting line-ending words here (feel and fool), which differ only in the vowels.]

And the falsetto part is:

She won't lead me
Up with air and
Tell me I'm
A fool

So, all of the lyrics in the falsetto part are contained within the lead vocals:

She won't lead me up with air
And tell me that she doesn't care
About the way I feel
'Cause I'm a fool

And in the second half of the second verse the lead vocals are:

She's a girl who makes me feel
That you're not there, you weren't real
I feel so good that
I don't care at all

And the falsetto part is:

She's a girl who
Makes me feel that
I don't care
At all

So, likewise:

She's a girl who makes me feel
That you're not there, you weren't real
I feel so good that
I don't care at all

I'm pretty sure that some of these features in the main vocals/backing vocals relationship (with special regard to lyrics) are also present in some Argent songs.  Maybe not where the lyrics in the backing vocals are reductions of the lyrics in the main vocals, but at least where the backing vocals are delivered with either longer notes or melismas so that they sort of match up to the main vocal's longer lyrics.  (Looking quickly, the only one I can find that does this is "Sleep Won't Help Me" from Ring of Hands.  During the choruses, the backing vocals deliver the same lyrics as the lead vocals but with different note values corresponding to particular syllables.)

Anyway, I think this is a really cool feature.  It's almost like counterpoint, but lyrically instead of musically.

"She Does Everything for Me"

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While listening to the I Love You album a few days ago, I remembered that I knew the first chord (A major) and guitar riff from "She Does Everything for Me."  So I figured out the rest of it, including - to my own surprise - part of the electric piano part (although I'm not sure it repeats as much as how I've played it here).

In that post I wrote about the I Love You album, I said I got it for my 17th birthday.  The more I got thinking about that, the more I'm unsure of it.  I may have gotten it earlier.  I know I got Begin Here and I Love You at the same time.  I know I got Into the Afterlife for my 17th birthday, and I know I got As Far As I Can See the day after.  But I don't think I got all four albums within two days.  Still, whatever point I made about it still stands.

More relevant commentary: "She Does Everything for Me" sees Rod Argent's playing around with keys again.  It seems like most of it is in A major, but there are some weird accidentals, like an F natural in the guitar riff and G major and C# major chords.  (A major would have F#, G# major or minor, and C# minor.)

There's a glissando in the guitar part at the very end (from D to C#), but I'm not sure I did it very well.

I Love You

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I realize I haven't been doing very much on this project lately, but by the end of the week, I'll be completely done with university, so I'll have some more time to work on this.  I do have some songs I've been meaning to update ("Is This the Dream," "Remember You," and "Beechwood Park" in particular).

In the meantime, I just wrote a post about the I Love You album as part of my Collection Audit project:

I went a bit out-of-order this morning and listened to the Zombies compilation album I Love You.  The Zombies have been my favorite band for the past five or six years, yet I'm still finding new things about their music (although I don't know whether that means they're a incredibly nuanced band or whether I'm not very good at listening). 

I finally determined that "How We Were Before" features twelve-string guitar.  I'd been suspicious of this (I'd played parts of it on my own twelve-string and thought it sounded pretty good), but now I'm fairly certain of it. 

I discovered that Rod Argent uses organ on "Woman."  This realization came after noticing the really long sustain on the G major chord during the guitar solo.  It just keeps going, which means it has to be organ rather than electric piano. 

For the first time, I noticed the three distinct vocals parts at the end of "Don't Go Away."  Two parts are alternating with "don't go away," but the third is just an "ooh." 

This album includes some stereo mixes of songs (which in some cases are different stereo mixes than those that appear on The Decca Stereo Anthology), so on some songs, things were placed in sonically different places, which made it easier to distinguish some parts.  This is the case on "I Love You," and because of that I heard some interesting rhythmical interplay between the guitar and the bass during the "if I can find / the words in my mind" part. 

Another suspicion that was confirmed is the guitar glissandoes at the beginning of "Remember You."  I'd been suspicious of these since I listened to The Decca Stereo Anthology about a month ago.  The guitar part at the beginning alternates between two D's an octave apart and a D and some-other-note-that-I-still-have-to-determine that then slides up to a D. 

Also, I may have found a reference to "She's Not There" in "She Does Everything for Me."  "She's a girl who makes me feel / That you're not there, you weren't real" recalls the "she's not there" from "She's Not There."  The "she" in "She Does Everything for Me" seems to have replaced the "she" in "She's Not There."  In any case, it's an interesting parallel, as "She's Not There" was the Zombies' first single for Decca, and "She Does Everything for Me" was the B-side of their last single for Decca.  Also, kudos to Rod Argent for getting the relative pronoun correct.

I got that album for my 17th birthday, and now I'm 22, but I'm still finding new things in the Zombies' music.

Also, I just checked my posts for "How We Were Before," and when I did a rough version last September, I actually did use twelve-string.  So apparently I forgot I knew it had twelve-string.