The group scored British and American hits in 1964 with "She's Not There". In the US, two further singles—"Tell Her No" in 1965 and "Time of the Season" in 1968—were also successful. Their 1968 album Odessey and Oracle is ranked number 100 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The Zombies were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.
The Zombies signed to Decca and recorded their first hit, "She's Not There" after winning a beat-group competition sponsored by the London Evening News. "She's Not There" was released in mid-1964 and peaked at number twelve in the U.K., where it would be their only top-forty hit. It was first aired in the United States in early August 1964, on New York City rock station WINS by Stan Z. Burns, who debuted the song on his daily noontime "Hot Spot" segment during which new songs were played. The tune began to catch on in early Autumn and eventually climbed to number two.
In early 1965, "Tell Her No" became another big seller in the United States but had failed to make the Top 40 in the band's native U.K Subsequent recordings such as "I Love You" (which became a hit for People! in 1968), "Indication", "Whenever You're Ready", and "Is This the Dream" failed to achieve the success of the previous two singles.
Their first LP, Begin Here (1965), was a collection of early singles, half a dozen original songs combined with several R&B covers. The Zombies signed to CBS Records for one final LP in 1967. The resulting album, Odessey and Oracle, was one of the very first to utilise a Mellotron keyboard, as the band's budget did not allow for the hiring of session musicians. The band discovered too late that "odyssey" had been misspelled by the cover designers and were reportedly deeply embarrassed.
By the time Odessey and Oracle was released in April 1968, the band had broken up. The album sold little, and was only released in the U.S. because musician Al Kooper vouched for it. It has since gone on to be recognized as one of the greatest albums of all time, with Rolling Stone ranking it eightieth on its 500 Greatest Albums list. An album track called "Time of the Season" was released as a single. and eventually (1969) it became a huge nationwide hit (Billboard number three) after a radio DJ discovered it and put it on heavy rotation.
After The Zombies disbanded, Rod Argent formed a band called Argent; Colin Blunstone started a solo career. In1991 Blunstone, Grundy, and White briefly reunited as The Zombies with guitarist Sebastian Santa Maria, and recorded the album New World.
Iconic British psychedelic pop legends The Zombies have returned to celebrate the release of their latest Billboard-charting album, Still Got That Hunger, lead by founding and current members, vocalist Colin Blunstone and keyboardist Rod Argent, alongside bassist Jim Rodford (formerly of ARGENT and The Kinks), Rodford’s son Steve Rodford on drums, and renowned session guitarist Tom Toomey.
The band’s live performances, described by Rolling Stone as “absolutely triumphant”, take fans on a journey through time, from their early hits…their 1968 masterpiece Odessey & Oracle…post-Zombies solo favorites…right to today with Still Got That Hunger.
The second U.K. band following the Beatles to score a #1 hit in America, The Zombies infiltrated the airwaves with the sophisticated melodies, breathy vocals, choral back-up harmonies and jazzy keyboard riffs of their 1960’s hit singles “She’s Not There” and “Tell Her No.” Ironically, the group broke-up just prior to achieving their greatest success – the worldwide chart-topping single “Time of the Season,” from their swan-song album Odessey & Oracle, ranked #100 in Rolling Stone’s ‘500 Greatest Albums of All Time.’ To this day, generations of new bands have cited The Zombies’ work as pop touchstones, and the band continues to be embraced by new generations of fans.
Following the break-up of the original band, lead vocalist Colin Blunstone went on to develop an acclaimed solo career (with hits including "Say You Don't Mind," "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted", and “Old & Wise” with Alan Parsons Project) and keyboardist/songwriter Rod Argent rocked ‘70’s arenas with his eponymous band ARGENT (“Hold Your Head Up,” “God Gave Rock ‘n’ Roll To You”), but the legend of The Zombies continued to take on a life of its own. By the start of the new Millennium, Blunstone and Argent were inspired to resurrect The Zombies.
The explosive release of Still Got That Hunger proved that Zombies fever is stronger than ever, with premieres at Rolling Stone, Mojo, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian Speakeasy, and Spin, alongside special broadcast performances, including Later…With Jools Holland, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and AOL Sessions. Moreover, it marked a historical moment on the Billboard charts, as The Zombies’ critically acclaimed album Odessey And Oracle re-entered the Billboard 100 forty-eight years later at the same time as Still Got That Hunger!
The Zombies look forward to an even busier 2017, with a major world tour, table-top book release and other exciting projects to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the recording of Odessey And Oracle.
Butcher's Tale
The Zombies Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But the king's shilling is now my fee
A butcher I may as well have stayed
For the slaughter that I see
And the preacher in his pulpit
Sermon: "Go and fight, do what is right"
But he don't have to hear these guns
And I
And I can't stop shaking
My hands won't stop shaking
My arms won't stop shaking
My mind won't stop shaking
I want to go home
Please let me go home
Go home
And I have seen a friend of mine
Hang on the wire
Like some rag toy
Then in the heat the flies come down
And cover up the boy
And the flies come down in
Gommecourt, Thiepval,
Mametz Wood, and French Verdun
If the preacher he could see those flies
Wouldn't preach for the sound of guns
And I
And I can't stop shaking
My hands won't stop shaking
My arms won't stop shaking
My mind won't stop shaking
I want to go home
Please let me go home
Go home
The Zombies' song "Butcher's Tale" narrates a heart-wrenching experience of a British soldier who had to leave his profession as a butcher to fight for the king in a war. The soldier expresses his regret of ever taking up the call to arms as he has witnessed atrocities and brutalities of war that haunted him forever. He juxtaposes his former profession as a butcher to his current situation, acknowledging that both were the same, except now he is slaughtering human beings rather than animals. The soldier then goes on to speak of a preacher who urged him and his comrades to fight and "do what is right" but the preacher doesn't have to face the torment of war or see his friends die gruesome deaths.
The second part of the song speaks of a traumatic experience where the soldier sees his friend hang on the wire and then covers up in flies as the heat sets in. He narrates how the flies come down in different places where battles take place and muses that if the preacher could see this, he wouldn't preach for war anymore. The soldier keeps repeating how his hands, his arms, his mind, all won't stop shaking and he wants to go home, to be away from this living nightmare. The song ends on a haunting note of the soldier, questioning if he can ever go back to leading his normal life after seeing the horror of war.
Line by Line Meaning
A butcher yes that was my trade
I used to be a butcher
But the king's shilling is now my fee
But now I'm a soldier, being paid by the king
A butcher I may as well have stayed
Despite being a soldier, I still witness plenty of slaughter
For the slaughter that I see
I constantly see people being killed in war, just like how I saw animals being killed as a butcher
And the preacher in his pulpit
The preacher in church
Sermon: "Go and fight, do what is right"
His sermon is telling us to fight for what is right
But he don't have to hear these guns
But he doesn't have to experience the violence of war
And I'll bet he sleeps at night
He probably sleeps peacefully, while I can't stop thinking about everything I've witnessed
And I
And me, the artist
And I can't stop shaking
I'm so traumatized by what I've seen that my body won't stop shaking
My hands won't stop shaking
Specifically, my hands are shaking uncontrollably
My arms won't stop shaking
My arms are also shaking uncontrollably
My mind won't stop shaking
Even my mind is shaking - I can't get these memories out of my head
I want to go home
I just want to leave this war and go home
Please let me go home
I'm begging to be released from this nightmare
And I have seen a friend of mine
I witnessed my friend's death during the war
Hang on the wire
He was caught in barbed wire
Like some rag toy
He looked like a discarded toy
Then in the heat the flies come down
The hot weather caused a swarm of flies to gather around my friend's body
And cover up the boy
The flies completely covered him
And the flies come down in
This happens all the time during war, specifically in places like
Gommecourt, Thiepval,
Gommecourt and Thiepval
Mametz Wood, and French Verdun
As well as Mametz Wood and the French town of Verdun
If the preacher he could see those flies
If the preacher could see the horrors of war firsthand
Wouldn't preach for the sound of guns
He probably wouldn't encourage people to go to war if he truly understood what it's like
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: C. WHITE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@DHudelson
this song has been coming to mind a lot over that past month.
"War is a place where young people who don't know each other, and don't hate each other, kill each other, by the decision of old people who know each other, and hate each other, but don't kill each other..."
@chicobeat
The horror of war represented with music. This is a masterpiece, an eternal work of art of pop music.
@G8GT364CI
No song has ever made me feel the horrors of war like this song.
@longandwindingroad
check out from a parachute by the third rail. very obscure song about war
@G8GT364CI
@pet3rgriffin I've never heard that one,(listening now) but I remember Run Run Run well, it was a hit on my local AM station in 1967. Thanks. Studio band, these two tunes seem like they're from different bands.
@longandwindingroad
@Bob pretty sure its the same band. theyre on the same album
@G8GT364CI
@pet3rgriffin It is, it was a studio band, studio musicians can usually play in a lot of different styles or the producer will call in different players for different styles, The Archies were another studio band. The lead singer sang lead on several different big hits with different band names, probably all the same people, interchanging.
@randallkennedy2066
You must be joking.
@jeremyschep3589
The sudden change from the warmth of This Will Be Our Year to the coldness of Butcher's Tale makes for quite a jarring contrast
@metisslo8800
As Pet sounds from Wouldnt it be nice to I just wasnt made for these times