Music Blog, Theme Prompt, Writing Challenge, Writing Prompts

There Be Zombies About!

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Written for Song Lyric Sunday –
“Queen of the Gods”
This is my response to the challenge.

This week at Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday, the theme is “Queen of the Gods”. Our challenge is to write about a song written or performed by someone born in the month of June.

© Rough Cut

Rod Argent, keyboardist, singer, songwriter, and record producer, was born June 14, 1945 in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, UK. In a career that has spanned more than half a century, Argent has outlasted countless musical and cultural changes in order to remain true to his own distinctive style. Argent’s musical adventures began early in life, absorbing jazz, classical and early R&R while singing in the St. Albans Cathedral Choir. During his early teens, Argent launched the Zombies, with singer Colin Blunstone, guitarist Paul Atkinson, bassist Chris White and drummer Hugh Grundy; all five members were still in school at the time. Although he had originally intended to be the Zombies’ lead singer, Argent’s keyboard skills made it apparent that he was destined to be the group’s keyboardist, and he relinquished frontman duties to Blunstone.

It didn’t take long for the Zombies to stand out among the rising tide of young British Invasion acts. In December 1964, when Rod was just 20, one of his earliest compositions, “She’s Not There,” made the Zombies the first British group, after the Beatles, to reach #1 on the American singles charts. The Zombies continued to record and tour, expanding their musical horizons as well as their popularity. Another Argent composition, “Tell Her No,” became a massive U.S. hit in 1965. By the summer of 1967, though, the Zombies’ commercial fortunes seemed to be on the wane, and the band set about recording the ambitious album Odessey and Oracle. Intended as the band’s swan song, the album was initially a commercial disappointment; however, in 1968, Odessey and Oracle would emerge as one of rock’s most beloved cult items

When “Time of the Season” became a surprise hit, Argent and the other band members resisted the temptation to re-form the Zombies, preferring to focus their energies on other projects. “Time of the Season” received a BMI Award for achieving 7 million plays on U.S. radio in 2015, and the songs that Rod Argent wrote as a member of the Zombies in the 60s continue their relevance today, with over 3 million monthly listeners on Spotify alone.  

Now almost 80, Rod Argent has finally called an end to his touring career, after suffering a stroke following a triumphant tour of the UK in 2024.  However, he remains committed to creating vibrant new music with his bandmates.

This is “She’s Not There” by The Zombies

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 trying to find her
She’s not there

Well, let me tell you ’bout the way she looked
The way she acts and the color 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 trying to find her
She’s not there

Well, let me tell you about the way she looked
The way she acts and the color 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 trying to find her
She’s not there

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

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Rodney Terence Argent
She’s Not There lyrics © Music Sales Corporation

This is “Tell Her No”, by The Zombies

Songwriters: Rod Argent
Tell Her No lyrics © Music Sales Corporation

This is “Time of the Season” by The Zombies

Songwriters: Rod Argent
Time of the Season lyrics © Music Sales Corporation

Bonus Album – a delightful 35 minutes: This is “Odyssey and Oracle” by The Zombies

Image by Me & Gemini
Queen of the Gods

Big thanks to Jim Adams for hosting another great Song Lyric Sunday this week and every week. Be sure to follow his link and check out his site.

Thanks for stopping by and listening to some great music. I hope you enjoyed the theme for this week as well as the information and songs I featured.

That’s all she wrote, kids. See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2026

Everything on The Elephant’s Trunk was created by me, unless otherwise indicated. Thank you for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.

40 thoughts on “There Be Zombies About!”

  1. Another amazing post Sis so sorry I am rushing in and out …. but I am so busy…. headless chickens have nothing on me right now…..Arrrrgh!

    I love this post I love the Zombies 💜💜💜

    Liked by 1 person

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  4. Oh I love the Zombies! Odyssey and Oracle is one of my favorite albums by anyone. It has a song called In Care of Cell 44…that song sounds like if Brian Wilson collaborated with Paul McCartney…a pop masterpiece. Great post Nancy!

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  6. Nancy, excellent choice of June-born artist. Such a talented group of people, and Argent’s song, “Hold Your Head Up” stunned me the first time hearing it as a kid. Love your playlist here and good to hear Argent (the man) had been going strong until recently. Glad he’s still alive.

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    1. Thanks very much, Lisa. I have been a fan of Argent and The Kinks since the beginning. That was the British Invasion era and a very exciting time in my life. I’m so glad to know you enjoyed hearing these songs today. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. 😌

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    1. Thanks very much, Christian! I love The Zombies, too; the whole British Invasion was an exciting and memorable time in my life. Thank you for asking about my recovery. My fingers are moving nicely and I am doing a little more with my hand now, but my wrist is still very stiff so I will be in physical therapy for a while yet. I appreciate you thinking about me. 😌

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  10. Great choice, Nancy as I have always loved the Zombies.  ‘She’s Not There’ is about an alluring woman who won’t be tied down to one man, and the singer wants to tell us all about her, but he can only use words, since she’s not there.  The group had been on the road for three years and they were managed very poorly, which meant that they never earned much money, although the song writers, Rod Argent and Chris White, had income that came from an independent company, so they were getting writer’s royalties.  After they broke up, The Zombies had been extinct for some time when one of the tracks from Odessey, ‘Time of the Season’, was released as a single, almost as an afterthought.  It took off in early 1969 to become their biggest hit, but the members resisted temptations to re-form, leading to a couple of bizarre tours in the late ‘60s by bogus “Zombies” with no relation to the original group.  Four kids from Texas were hired to tour America pretending to be a defunct British psych-rock band, even though the real Zombies were a five-piece band.  There were two different impostor groups touring the United States in 1969 calling themselves the Zombies. I really like the British Invasion banner that you created.

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    1. Your detailed descriptions are most interesting, Jim. I chose to take a different path today by writing a shorter post and not giving detailed information for each song.
      There have been a few bogus bands, popping up here and there; I recall one that simply went by the name “?”.
      I see a number of us are creating our own banners and I think that’s a great, fun thing to do. It makes our posts individualized.
      Thanks for your great comments, Jim. 😊

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  11. Great choices and write up Nancy. They have one of the eternal smooth sounds you find very rarely and have definitely secured a special place in rock history. Loved all three of your choices.

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  12. what a brilliant write up Nance and fab choice it’s been an age since I’ve heard the first and last of those songs they are so good but I’d not heard ‘Tell her No’ before. I’ll have a listen to your bonus album later 😀

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  13. A creative blog challenge response—written for Song Lyric Sunday under the theme “Queen of the Gods,” presenting a lyrical interpretation or personal reflection inspired by the prompt. 🎶✨📖

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  14. A great choice for today’s theme. And you’ve given us some fantastic music. Time Of The Season wasn’t a single here: CBS Records thought so little of it that they included it on one of their Rock Machine budget sampler albums, which I bought.

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