"Caroline Goodbye" b/w "Though You Are Far Away"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (8 October 1971), Colin Blunstone's "Caroline Goodbye" b/w "Though You Are Far Away" (Epic S EPC 7520) was released in the U.K.

"Though You Are Far Away"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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Because I'm a completist, I listened to One Year a few days ago so that I listened to all of the Colin Blunstone albums I have within two weeks.  While listening to it, I remembered that at one point I'd figured out a few notes from the beginning of "Though You Are Far Away."  To-day I figured out the rest, so now I have the whole introduction.

I did this on piano because I don't own a harp, so it's more like the re-recorded version on On the Air Tonight (which I used as a template) than the original on One Year.

I feel like I should note the rubato in the original; it's not my being inconsistent in speed.  Also, I recorded the two hands separately because while I can sort of play the two parts at once, I can't play them together at that speed.

One Year

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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To-day's Colin Blunstone's birthday, so I listened to One Year this morning.  I don't think I've listened to it since I started doing transcriptions of all of the lyrics, so I noticed a couple things.

The line "I'm sittin' here goin' out of my head" in "Mary Won't You Warm My Bed" recalls the Zombies' version of "Goin' out of My Head."  However, neither song was written by a Zombie.  My vinyl record of One Year credits "Mary Won't You Warm My Bed" to "M. d'Abo," and some internet searching seems to suggest that it's Michael d'Abo.  "Goin' out of My Head" is by Teddy Randazzo and Bobby Weinstein, according to various liner notes of Zombies albums I have.  So while neither song was written by a Zombie, it's interesting that there's that lyric connection.

"Though You Are Far Away" and "Her Song" both have "sleepyhead" in a line.  "Though You Are Far Away" has "Sleepy head, lay close to mine,"* and "Her Song" has "And in the light there I can see / A sleepyhead so close to me."  It's weird how the lines are so similar but they weren't written by the same people.  "Though You Are Far Away" is by Blunstone, and "Her Song" is credited to Argent/White.

Russo's Collector's Guide (which I reference all the time for release dates) claims that "Rod Argent wrote 'Her Song.'"  I'm sort of dubious about this sole authorship, not only because it's credited to both Argent and White but because there's a lyrical resemblance between it and White's "Don't Go Away" from the Zombies' Decca era.  The first line of "Don't Go Away" is "Day comes, sun comes, climbs the other side of the hill," which is fairly similar to "Another day begins to climb" in "Her Song."  (Incidentally, "Don't Go Away" was recorded on Blunstone's birthday in 1965.)

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*I wasn't sure if it was "lay" or "laid," so I referenced the lyrics in the liner notes of On the Air Tonight (which features a re-recorded version).  In doing so, I discovered that the new version changes that line to "Sleepy head, rest next to mine."  The next line is "And I'll whisper quietly in your ear," which seems to suggest that it's "lay."