"You Make Me Feel Good"

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This is actually only the second time I've recorded "You Make Me Feel Good," which I was surprised about.

I included the electric piano part, but the only part of it that I'm sure about is the opening figure (doubling the guitar part).  Otherwise, I just played chords, except for the very end, where I doubled the bass part.  There's more rhythm to it than that, but I haven't really explored that yet, and I feel that a lot of these re-recordings I'm doing will be based more on my memory of how I once played them than strict accuracy.

I flubbed one of the half-step phrases in the guitar part (G# A G#) half-way through the song, but I was having troubles with it.  There are only four chords in this, and sometimes it's hard to remember where I am in the song, so I didn't want to have to attempt it yet again.

"She's Not There"

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About a month ago, I had the idea to go through and record the whole catalogue again (or at least what I know of it).  Originally, I'd wanted to write down all of the parts too, but for now I think I'll just refresh what I know and get around to writing them down later.

I figured to-day would be a good day to start going through the catalogue again since the first Zombies songs were recorded on 12 June 1964.  I plan on going roughly chronologically by recording date, so I started with "She's Not There."  I'm going to try to do these daily, but I don't know how much I'll hold to that.

I'm still uncertain of the bass part during the "Well, let me tell you 'bout the way she looked" part, but I think what I have now is better than the last iteration (from August 2013!).  Also, I referenced the book I have by the Alfred company that contains the guitar chords, although I changed a few from what they have.  (I'm not sure the parts they have are entirely accurate.)

I took the version from The Decca Stereo Anthology and split the stereo into two mono tracks in an effort to hear the bass part more clearly.  In the right track, there's a guitar part during the electric piano solo that I'd never really heard before.  I tried approximating it, but if you have the means, you should really hear it for yourself.

"I Don't Want to Worry"

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I think I figured out the rest of the guitar part for "I Don't Want to Worry."  It might still be a little rough though.  I should have waited to post a version yester-day because it was only a few hours after I posted just the bass part that I figured out the phrases and the two chords I was missing (B minor and D major 7th, for the record).

Near the end in the original recording, there's a weird rhythmic change in the guitar part.  I don't know whether it's supposed to be like that or if Paul Atkinson forgot that the progression at the end is repeated.  In any case, I didn't include that.

"I Don't Want to Worry" also exhibits the whole start-a-diatonic-descent-in-the-bass-via-a-7th-chord that I've talked about before.  I'm not sure about "Celebration" or "Christmas for the Free" because Argent and White were sharing the writing credits by then, but the other songs I've found this in are Rod Argent songs - "She's Coming Home" and (to some degree) "I Want Her She Wants Me."  "I Don't Want to Worry" is a Chris White song though, which makes the occurrence of that feature even more interesting.

It occurs during the second half of the verses (or maybe it's the beginning of the choruses).  Whatever it's called, it's the part with "It seems to me / We used to be / So happy now."  Interestingly, that diatonic line is broken off when the lyrics get to "It worries me."  Instead of continuing the D C# B phrase to an A, it goes to an E.

"I Don't Want to Worry"

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Last night/this morning, I tried figuring out some things.  The bass part to "I Don't Want to Worry" was the third thing I tried, but the first thing that I got.  The second thing I tried was the chords to "I Don't Want to Worry," and while I'm still not sure how to play them (they're not just simple strums), I'm missing only one or two.

(The first thing I tried was the guitar part to "Out of the Day," and while I refreshed the small part I know [the introductory guitar phrase], I didn't make any progress.)

"Maybe after He's Gone"

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For whatever reason, I got to thinking about "One Day I'll Say Goodbye" this morning.  It's one of those songs that I learned parts of so long ago that I don't really remember it anymore (although I do still remember [most of] the bass part!).  In any case, I remembered that the liner notes to Zombie Heaven mentioned something in common between "One Day I'll Say Goodbye" and "Maybe after He's Gone" ("'One Day I'll Say Goodbye' provided the basis for 'Maybe after He's Gone'").  I'd never really understood how, but I realized this morning that it's the melody.  The melody of the verses in "One Day I'll Say Goodbye" is fairly similar to the melody of the choruses in "Maybe after He's Gone" ("One Day I'll Say Goodbye" is half a step lower though).

That got me thinking about "Maybe after He's Gone," which reminded me that it's one of the two songs from Odessey and Oracle that I still need to learn the bass part to.  So, I spent some time on it, and I think I've figured it out.

This certainly isn't the best recording I've ever made, but the bass part was the thing I was focused on.  I didn't even double the acoustic guitar part with electric guitar.

So now, the only bass part I have left to learn is that of "Friends of Mine" (plus that little part in "Hung up on a Dream").

"Whenever You're Ready" / "You'll Go from Me"

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I listened to the demos of the songs that were recorded sometime this month fifty years ago, and I noticed something about "Whenever You're Ready" and "You'll Go from Me"/"Don't Go Away."

The second line of each verse in "Whenever You're Ready" ends with "like this before" or "like before" (often with a "yeah" capping the line):

First verse:

Well, I've been hurt, but I still love you
I've been hurt like this before, yeah

Second verse:

I know you laugh, but I still love you
And though I've cried like this before, yeah

Third verse:

And never hurt me 'cause I love you
Never hurt me like before

"You'll Go from Me"/"Don't Go Away" also exhibits this repeating sort of feature in that both verses start with "Through the night."  The first verse starts with "Through the night I can feel you love me," and the second with "Through the night you'll tempt my feelings."

I checked the demos against the final versions, and both versions exhibit these traits.

Recording Session

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Some of the recording dates listed in the Zombie Heaven liner notes are just the month and year, so sometime this month fifty years ago, it seems that the Zombies recorded demos for "Whenever You're Ready," "You'll Go from Me" (later released as "Don't Go Away"), "I Know She Will," and "I'll Keep Trying."

I'm fairly certain that this session was before the 24th because that's when they recorded the final versions of "Whenever You're Ready," "Don't Go Away," and "I'll Keep Trying."  (A final version of "I Know She Will" wasn't recorded until 8 July.)

In the track-by-track section, the Zombie Heaven liner notes list "April or June 1965" as the recording dates for the demos of "Whenever You're Ready" and "You'll Go from Me," but in the chronology section, it has all four demos listed under "?-6" (sometime in June).

The demos of "Whenever You're Ready" and "You'll Go from Me" are on the third disc of Zombie Heaven, but the demos of "I Know She Will" and "I'll Keep Trying" are bonus tracks on a re-issue of Begin Here.  It doesn't make sense to me that they're split up, but at least they were all released.

"I Want You Back Again" b/w "I Remember When I Loved Her"

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According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (31 May 1965), the Zombies' "I Want You Back Again" b/w "I Remember When I Loved Her" (PAR 9769) was released in the U.S. and Canada.

"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.

"It's Only Money, Pt. 1"

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I wasn't going to do a version of "It's Only Money, Pt. 1" because the guitar parts I know are pretty boring just by themselves, but I think I figured out the organ chords beneath them, which makes it slightly more interesting.

I'm not sure about the voicings I have here.  Some of the chords in Argent's version include some higher notes.

"It's Only Money, Pt. 2"

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I was bored last night, so I decided to figure out a part and I got the introductory guitar part for "It's Only Money, Pt. 2."  Later, I got a few phrases from "It's Only Money, Pt. 1" too (but since most of that is just a two-note phrase that's repeated throughout the verses, I don't think it'd make that interesting of an audio example).

As usual, my guitar tone leaves something to be desired, but I'm pretty sure I have the notes right (although I think I flubbed one in the third phrase).  I was surprised by how chromatic some of these phrases are.

There's an organ part underneath this, and I know it starts with an E and ends with a B, but I'm still not certain if it's D# and C# or D and C or some other combination of notes between that E and B.  I tried both when I recorded this, but neither sounded right, so I just left it off.

"Lonely Hard Road"

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I listened to Argent again this morning, and I noticed these piano chords at the end of "Lonely Hard Road."  There're some fairly interesting dynamics involved.  It just goes between C minor and F major, but the C minor is forte where the F major is piano.  Since it's only two chords, I didn't feel that it was worth it to record an example.