These guys have a great sound.
These guys have a great sound.
"She's Not There" was the second of four songs recorded by the Zombies at a 12 June 1964, recording session at Decca's West Hampstead Studio No. 2 after they won a talent contest at their college called the Herts Beat competition. The prize was a recording session. The song's backing track necessitated seven takes. One of the song's most distinctive features is Argent's electric piano sound; the instrument used was a Hohner Pianet. The backing vocals are in a folk-influenced close-harmony style.
This song was inspired by John Lee Hooker's "". The real inspiration, however, behind the song was Argent's first love, Patricia, who called off their wedding weeks before and broke his heart. Argent explained: "If you play that John Lee Hooker song you'll hear 'no one told me, it was just a feeling I had inside' but there's nothing in the melody or the chords that's the same. It was just the way that little phrase just tripped off the tongue. I'd always thought of the verse of 'She's Not There' to be mainly Am to D. But what I'd done, quite unconsciously, was write this little modal sequence incorporating those chord changes. There was an additional harmonic influence in that song. In the second section it goes from D to D minor and the bass is on the thirds, F# and F, a little device I'd first heard in 'Sealed With A Kiss' and it really attracted me, that chord change with bass notes not on the roots. And I'm sure I was showing off in the solo as much as I could!" Following an 29 April 1964, performance by the Zombies at St Albans Market Hall, Argent played the one verse he had written of the song for Ken Jones who was set to produce the band's first recording session. Jones encouraged Argent to write a second verse for the song, intending for the band to record it. Argent recalls: "I wrote the song for Colin's range"—referring to Zombies' vocalist Colin Blunstone -- "I could hear him singing it in my mind".
Rod Argent on the marriage of lyrics and melodies: "Words have to sit, they have to sort of combine seamlessly with the way the melody is being sung. I know I was very concerned with the lyrics on 'She's Not There' but in the sense that they had to really complement the melody. They had to stand on their own, and had to have their own rhythm and, in that last section I was using the words with different stresses at different times to propel it along towards the final chord. So lyrics have always been very important to me in that way, but not necessarily in a sense of having to explain something concrete. They're an important part of the jigsaw, because I think bad lyrics can screw up a song".
"She's Not There" was the second of four songs recorded by the Zombies at a 12 June 1964, recording session at Decca's West Hampstead Studio No. 2 after they won a talent contest at their college called the Herts Beat competition. The prize was a recording session. The song's backing track necessitated seven takes. One of the song's most distinctive features is Argent's electric piano sound; the instrument used was a Hohner Pianet. The backing vocals are in a folk-influenced close-harmony style.
This song was inspired by John Lee Hooker's "[No One Told Me](https://hooktube.com/watch?v=j4Sg7YwlvCg)". The real inspiration, however, behind the song was Argent's first love, Patricia, who called off their wedding weeks before and broke his heart. Argent explained: "If you play that John Lee Hooker song you'll hear 'no one told me, it was just a feeling I had inside' but there's nothing in the melody or the chords that's the same. It was just the way that little phrase just tripped off the tongue. I'd always thought of the verse of 'She's Not There' to be mainly Am to D. But what I'd done, quite unconsciously, was write this little modal sequence incorporating those chord changes. There was an additional harmonic influence in that song. In the second section it goes from D to D minor and the bass is on the thirds, F# and F, a little device I'd first heard in 'Sealed With A Kiss' and it really attracted me, that chord change with bass notes not on the roots. And I'm sure I was showing off in the solo as much as I could!" Following an 29 April 1964, performance by the Zombies at St Albans Market Hall, Argent played the one verse he had written of the song for Ken Jones who was set to produce the band's first recording session. Jones encouraged Argent to write a second verse for the song, intending for the band to record it. Argent recalls: "I wrote the song for Colin's range"—referring to Zombies' vocalist Colin Blunstone -- "I could hear him singing it in my mind".
Rod Argent on the marriage of lyrics and melodies: "Words have to sit, they have to sort of combine seamlessly with the way the melody is being sung. I know I was very concerned with the lyrics on 'She's Not There' but in the sense that they had to really complement the melody. They had to stand on their own, and had to have their own rhythm and, in that last section I was using the words with different stresses at different times to propel it along towards the final chord. So lyrics have always been very important to me in that way, but not necessarily in a sense of having to explain something concrete. They're an important part of the jigsaw, because I think bad lyrics can screw up a song".
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