Another Song Lyric Sunday Reprise

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The new WordPress feature of giving us a reminder of posts we had made on this date in previous years has given me another good one. This one takes a trip down Memory Lane, to those less complicated days when I was still at school and was having a whale of a time exploring all the exciting music that we were being treated to. I’ll drop back in again at the end for a quick final comment, but for now enjoy what I posted on 18 June 2023:

SONG LYRIC SUNDAY: THE BRITS ARE COMING!

As Jim tells us in his post Seismic Music Shift today’s theme for Song Lyric Sunday is the British Invasion, suggested by, er, me. I think it must have been something I said when commenting on a previous post! But after last weekend’s invitation to play some British music you may be a little puzzled: isn’t this the same thing? Absolutely not! Last week’s theme applied to any era of music, whereas this one is much more specific. A quick look at Wikipedia will enlighten you: “The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom, and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising counterculture on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.” The article goes on to say that British acts had enjoyed limited success in the US charts prior to 1964 – even though The Beatles had been tearing up charts just about everywhere else throughout 1963 – but for the period from 1964 to around 1966 you guys more than made up for it. I’ve avoided the easy temptation to play Beatles songs for this, and am instead playing three by bands who were also part of the Invasion. The first one is this:

And as this is SLS, here are the lyrics:

Well, no one told me about her, the way she lied
Well, no one told me about her, how many people cried
But it’s too late to say you’re sorry
How would I know, why should I care?
Please don’t bother tryin’ to find her
She’s not there

Well, let me tell you ’bout the way she looked
The way she’d act and the colour of her hair
Her voice was soft and cool
Her eyes were clear and bright
But she’s not there

Well, no one told me about her, what could I do?
Well, no one told me about her, though they all knew
But it’s too late to say you’re sorry
How would I know, why should I care?
Please don’t bother tryin’ to find her
She’s not there

Well, let me tell you ’bout the way she looked
The way she’d act and the colour of her hair
Her voice was soft and cool
Her eyes were clear and bright
But she’s not there

But it’s too late to say you’re sorry
How would I know, why should I care?
Please don’t bother tryin’ to find her
She’s not there

Well, let me tell you ’bout the way she looked
The way she’d act and the colour of her hair
Her voice was soft and cool
Her eyes were clear and bright
But she’s not there

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Rodney Terence Argent

She’s Not There lyrics © Marquis Music Co. Ltd., Marquis Music Co Ltd

She’s Not There was the debut single by the Zombies, written by keyboard player Rod Argent. It reached #12 in the UK Singles Chart in September 1964, and #2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 at the beginning of December 1964. It also reached #2 in Canada. The lead singer with that distinctive voice is Colin Blunstone, who went on to have a long solo career. After the Zombies Rod Argent formed his own band, simply called Argent: you may remember their big hit, Hold Your Head Up. The Zombies only had one other minor hit over here but were much more successful in the US, where they had a number of singles chart entries, including their biggie, Time Of The Season, which got to #1 in 1969 but didn’t even make the UK charts! It is outside the Invasion time frame, which is why I’m not playing it today – but it is a great song too. Carlos Santana covered She’s Not There in 1978 and actually did slightly better than the Zombies in the UK charts, peaking at #11, though he only made #27 in the US. I prefer the original, anyway!

The second Invasion song I’m playing today is from a band who had two huge hits in 1965. The first, For Your Love, reached #2 in the UK and #6 in the US. This is the second, which got to #3 in the UK and #9 in the US: I loved both of them then, and still do, but on balance I slightly prefer this one:

Lead guitar on For Your Love had been played by Eric Clapton, but he left the band because he didn’t like the musical direction it was taking. His replacement, who you can see in this video, was Jeff Beck, who died in January of this year so this is by way of tribute to one of the great guitarists of rock music. Beck only stayed with the band for about eighteen months, and their newly acquired rhythm guitarist stepped up to take lead: a chap called Jimmy Page. That is quite some set of alumni for one band!

I know I shouldn’t play too many songs in these posts, but we exported so much great music in such a short period that I can’t resist a third:

The Kinks released All Day And All Of The Night in October 1964 as the follow up to You Really Got Me, which had been a #1 here. This one got to #2 in the UK, and both songs made #7 in the US. That video may be a bit grainy from age, but you can still feel the raw power leaping out at you. Those were great times for those of us who were growing up here and beginning to develop our musical tastes. I know everyone thinks that the decade in which they grew up was the best ever for music. Unless, like me, that was during the Sixties, I think they are all wrong!

That’s it for this week. I could go on, and on, but I want to see what others are playing: there is more than enough great British Invasion music to go round!

See you on Tuesday 😊🎶

……………………………………………………………………………

And this is me again today. This post was well-liked at the time, and many said that it brought back memories for them. One of the good things about music is the memories it can evoke for us, so cast your mind back to those days, if you were around, when music was apparently played in monochrome! You may well have seen this before, but feel free to enjoy these tunes all over again!

See you again in a few days for a new Song Lyric Sunday post 🎶

36 thoughts on “Another Song Lyric Sunday Reprise”

  1. The Zombies to me were an overlooked band Clive…at least over here. Maybe one of the most talented bands at that time. I wished they would continue after Odessey and Oracle. Of course, I love the other songs and bands you posted…but I always speak up with the Zombies.

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  3. Clive, I love these three songs. The Zombies are terrific and had several good songs. The Yardbirds had three fantastic guitarists over their history. And, The Kinks were as entertaining off the stage as they were on.

    The British invasion was legit because American pop music got stale after Elvis decided to be a movie star, Buddy Holly died and Jerry Lee Lewis stalled his career marrying his 13 year old cousin, white stations refused to play great Black created and performed music (leading to Johnny Rivers’ cover songs), and British introduced American youths to Black influenced music – The Beatles and Rolling Stones were big fans of Little Richard, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Howlin Wolf, et al.

    You know all this, but I wanted to say thanks to these British stars for that invasion. Keith

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    • I’m pleased you like them all. You guys took a while to catch on – almost a year behind with The Beatles – but when you did you went for it in a big way. It wasn’t an ‘invasion’ as such but there were a lot of American bands and singers who were popular here, many of which are still favourites of mine, such as Dylan, The Byrds, The Beach Boys, and many more later in the decade, like The Band and CCR.

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  4. Top tunes, and some of my real favourites there, especially The Zombies and The Yardbirds. Played both of those singles to death at the time, and I had The Kinks album as my dad worked for Pye Records. Thanks for the memories!

    Best wishes, Pete.

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  5. Three classics, Clive. My favorite is She’s Not There. Listening to All Day and All of the Night made me think that this tune would have been perfect for your theme about instantly recognizable songs. I really like the way that song begins.

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  7. Three top ones from right in the middle of the Brit Invasion. I’d add Dave Clarks Five’s ‘Glad All Over’ but hey, that’s just me, having had that tune driven deep into my skull for the past year or so.😉

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  9. Ah, memories. The British Invasion was very strong here in Ohio, USA, with a lot of Limey-inspired garage bands. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and that Liverpool band kicked it off. Then a whole string of redcoats: The Troggs’ “Wild Thing” was huge, and the high-schooler across the street had a garage band that covered it. Herman’s Hermits, Animals, Petula Clark, Donovan, Freddie & the Dreamers and, of course, the Stones were all big on my block. (My friend John and I were Beatlemaniacs, but his older sister liked the Stones. We weren’t permitted to play her albums!)

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  14. Colin Blunstone was great, what a unique voice. And you’ve reminded me of Hold Your Head Up which I really liked. What an innocence there is about this music, and as you say, what a roster of guitarists The Yardbirds had. And 2.22 seconds is such a short time for a song, but it doesn’t feel it.

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