"How We Were Before"

Earlier this week, I wrote out the bass part for "How We Were Before."  In doing so, I discovered a couple notes I'd been playing wrong and also an odd measure of 6/4 at the end of the verses (the last measure in the second line).  As always though, there's the disclaimer that I may have something wrong.

"Whenever You're Ready"

Last week, I wrote out the notation for the bass part in "Whenever You're Ready."  I noticed before that writing notation forces me to pay closer attention to parts, and while writing out this part, I discovered a significant contrast between the verses and the bridge.

For most of the verse, the rhythm is two dotted quarter notes and two eighth notes:

(Many other Zombies songs feature a similar rhythm, including "I Can't Make Up My Mind," "Tell Her No," "I'll Keep Trying," "If It Don't Work Out," and "Time of the Season," although some of these substitute a single quarter note for the two eighth notes.)

The bridge retains this rhythm for the first half of each measure, but the second dotted quarter note is often tied to a regular quarter note (although the program I used to make this notation tied an eighth note to a half note instead):

There's a contrast between the rhythms of these two sections, and this mirrors the lyrics in the bridge:  "But if you call me / You've gotta treat me in a different way" (my italics).  To some degree, this difference is even emphasized because some of the pitches occur in the same order (E F Bb, in the tenth to twelfth measures in the verse and in the second to fourth and eighth to tenth measures in the bridge), making the contrast a bit more obvious.

Here's a scan of the complete notation, with the disclaimer that I may have something wrong:

"I Want Some More" b/w "Pay Me Later"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (20 April 1973) Colin Blunstone's "I Want Some More" (edit) b/w "Pay Me Later" (Dut. Epic EPC 1513) was released (I'm assuming the "Dut." abbreviation means it was a Dutch release).  The U.S. and Canada release (Epic 5-10981) was on 23 April.

"Remember You" [soundtrack version]

I wrote out the bass part for the soundtrack version of "Remember You" years ago, but recently, I did it again.  My intent was just to make a better looking copy, but in comparing my old notation to the recording, I discovered that I had some notes in the wrong octave.  What I have now is more accurate, although there's still the disclaimer that I may have something wrong.

"I Must Move"

Here's the notation for the bass part in "I Must Move," with the disclaimer that I may have something wrong.

"She's Coming Home"

I recently wrote out the bass parts for some Zombies songs, which I'll be posting over the next few days.  As always, there's the disclaimer that I may have something wrong.  Here's "She's Coming Home":

I squeezed in the last four measures so I didn't have to use a second piece of paper.

"Shadow of a Doubt"

I'd previously noticed the alliteration in the lines "The nosy next door neighbours would have laughed if they could see / That mutual acquaintance introducing you to me" in Colin Blunstone's "Shadow of a Doubt," but I was thinking about the song yester-day and realized a function of this alliteration.  The repeated N sound mirrors the persistence of being "nosy."

In Deep

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (23 March 1973), Argent's fourth album In Deep (Epic S EPC 65475) was released in the U.K.  The U.S. and Canada release (Epic KE 32195) was on the 26th.

"God Gave Rock and Roll to You" b/w "Christmas for the Free"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (23 February 1973), Argent's "God Gave Rock and Roll to You" (edited) b/w "Christmas for the Free" (Epic S EPC 1243) was released in the U.K.  The U.S. and Canada release (Epic 5-10972) was on 26 March.

"Dance with Life"

The other thing I noticed when I listened to Colin Blunstone's The Ghost of You and Me recently is that in the line "I will make ev'ry day count" in "Dance with Life," "day" is sung with a melisma (D A), musically giving a sense of number for that "ev'ry."

"The Ghost of You and Me"

A few days ago, the Zombies posted the track listing of the new album.  The title "The Sun Will Rise Again" seemed familiar to me, and I suspect that this is a re-recording of a song from Colin Blunstone's solo album The Ghost of You and Me (the Zombies also re-did "Any Other Way" from the same album for Breathe Out, Breathe In).  It had been years since I last listened to the album, and when I listened to it a couple days ago, I found some small features to note.

In the lines "What am I supposed to do with all these blues / Haunting me ev'rywhere no matter what I do" in "The Ghost of You and Me," "ev'rywhere" is sung with a melisma (F# B B C B A G), musically giving a sense of that breadth.

"How Could We Dare to Be Wrong" b/w "Time's Running Out"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (19 January 1973), Colin Blunstone's "How Could We Dare to Be Wrong" b/w "Time's Running Out" (Epic S EPC 1197) was released in the U.K.