"Celebration"

I listened to Ring of Hands yester-day and noticed a few small things.

In the line "Dancing ev'rywhere" in "Celebration," "ev'rywhere" is sung with four syllables and to three different pitches (C# D# E E), musically giving a sense of breadth.

"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."

"Kind of Girl"

When I listened to Begin Here a couple days ago, I also noticed something in "Kind of Girl," which is included as a bonus track.  The three syllables of "ev'rything" in the line "You think you've got everything" are all sung to different pitches (E D B), musically giving a sense of breadth.  The three syllables of "anyone" in the lines "Don't you understand that she / Runs away with anyone who happens / In her sight" are also sung to different pitches (also E D B), for a similar effect.

"Can't Nobody Love You"

I listened to Begin Here yester-day, and I noticed a merism in "Can't Nobody Love You," specifically in the lines "Oh, I'm gonna love you in the morning / Love you late at night."

"Mystified"

I watched the Live at Metropolis Studios DVD this morning and noticed a small thing in "Mystified."  "From the first to the last" in the line "Well, I try to remember from the first to the last" is a merism.

Argent

On page 67 of his autobiography Banging On!, Bob Henrit writes, "The very first Argent album finished with a forty-eight hour session [at Sound Techniques Studio] on 10 July 1969, the day Apollo 9 landed on the moon."  There are some factual errors here:  it was Apollo 11 that landed on the moon, and it happened on 20 July 1969.  If Henrit's recollection is correct, however, and the recording of the Argent album finished with a forty-eight-hour session that was completed on the day of the moon landing, to-day and to-morrow mark the fiftieth anniversary.

"Brother Lover"

Shortly after Colin Blunstone's birthday, the Zombies Fan Club posted a concert he did in Holland in 1974:

The day after I listened to it, I realized something about "Brother Lover."

In the coda, the vocal alternates between "Brother lover" and "Lover brother," both sung to this phrase:

The first word is sung on the off-beats, and the second word is sung on the beat (save for an added syllable).  The alternating of the order of the words and the words' falling on or off the beat illustrates the singer/speaker's confusion as to whether "the man sitting next to the beautiful young lady was her brother or her lover."

"Caroline Goodbye"

I was out of town recently, so I was unable to write about it, but I listened to Colin Blunstone's One Year on 24 June and noticed a few small things in "Caroline Goodbye."

"Way" in the line "Looks like you're gonna make it in a big way" is sung with a melisma (D C D E), which gives something of a sense of that "big."  I don't find this a very convincing argument myself, but I thought I'd mention it.

"Last" in the line "Here's your song to make them last" is also sung with a melisma (A G E, I think), and this gives a musical sense of duration or continuation.

"Leave Me Be"

The other thing I noticed when I listened to The Decca Stereo Anthology a few days ago is that the "-more" of "anymore" in the line "You'd better leave me be till I don't need her anymore" in "Leave Me Be" is sung with a melisma (C B, I think).  Musically, this gives something of a sense of the word's meaning.

"It's Alright with Me"

Since the 12th was the 55th anniversary of the Zombies' first (proper) studio session (on 12 June 1964), I listened to The Decca Stereo Anthology.

I noticed a small thing in "It's Alright with Me."  "Far" in the line "My bank account won't see me very far" is sung with a melisma (Eb C, I think), musically giving something of a sense of distance.  It's negated in the lyric though, so perhaps it's appropriate that the interval is only a minor third.

"Walking in the Sun"

A couple weeks ago, I figured out one of the backing vocal parts during the bridge of "Walking in the Sun" (this is one of the overdubs added in December 1968).  I don't know if this is just coincidence or if it's an indication of Rod Argent's cathedral choir background, but the first few measures bear some resemblance to the first phrase in hymn tune "Jefferson."

Here's the backing vocal phrase (during "You will laugh and walk with me..."):

Here's a recording I made of "Jefferson" a few years ago for my blog about hymns.  Here's the first phrase in notation (I adjusted the key so that it's easy to compare with "Walking in the Sun"):

The note values in each tune are considerably different, but if the first note of "Jefferson" is disregarded, the intervals of the first seven notes match.

I also noticed a small point about the lyrics in the bridge:  "ecstasy" in the line "And we will share our ecstasy" is sung with a melisma (I think it's E F G F E in the lead vocals), and since it's divided among a number of notes, there's a musical sense of that "shar[ing]."

Ready Steady Go!

[source]

I was looking through Zombies pictures recently and found this one, which I've never seen before.  The caption reads:  "English rock group The Zombies perform on the set of the music television show Ready Steady Go! at the Rediffusion studio in Kingsway, London in September 1964.  The band members are, from left, Rod Argent, Paul Atkinson, Colin Blunstone, Hugh Grundy and Chris White."

It's clearly early days since they're wearing the same stage clothes as they did during the Herts Beat competition in April and May 1964.  Rod Argent doesn't have his Vox Continental, just his Hohner Pianet (although, as I explain here, I think he got his Vox Continental in late August 1964), and it looks like Hugh Grundy is playing someone else's drum kit.  Based on what letters are visible ("ley... is... ts"), I think it might be Bill Haley & His Comets.

The Zombie Heaven liner notes list only one Ready Steady Go! appearance in September, on the 11th.  Paul Atkinson notes that because they did Ready Steady Go! they were late to a gig in Birmingham later the same day.