"She's Not There" is the debut single by the British pop band, The Zombies. It reached number twelve in the UK Singles Chart in August 1964,[1], and became a top-ten hit in the United States. In Canada, it reached number two.
Rolling Stone magazine ranked "She's Not There" #291 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[2]
Song profile
Songwriter Rod Argent's second song was recorded and released in mid-1964. 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 minor key, jazz-tinged single was first aired in the United States during the first week in August 1964, on New York rock radio 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 fall and eventually reached #2 in the Billboard Hot 100.[3]
Album releases
The song was later released both on The Zombies' UK album "Begin Here" (Dec 1964) and US album "The Zombies (Jan 1965).
Cover versions
- A French version makes a prominent, yet uncredited, appearance in "A Sting to the Tail", an October 1965 episode of BBC's Danger Man (known as "Secret Agent Man" in the US), starring Patrick McGoohan.
- The Litter recorded it on their debut 1967 album, Distortions
- The Vanilla Fudge included a version on their debut album in 1967.
- A group named The Road covered the song in 1969, for the label Kama Sutra Records
- In 1975 an all-girl band, Band of Angels released a gender reversed version: "He's Not There"[1] on Mums Records produced by Neil Merryweather, "heavy Girl version Zombies song, Mums 6035 ’75"
- The song was a hit again for Santana on his 1977 album Moonflower. It peaked at #27, and reached #21 in Canada.
- A version by the UK Subs was released in 1979.
- Tim Curry covered this song in 1981 on his album Simplicity.
- Panic covered the song in 1982 on PRT label 259.
- Crowded House recorded a version of this song in 1990, which featured in the film "The Crossing" (1990).
- Finnish band Russian Love covered the song on their third album, Hover Jack, in 1992.
- The Cruel Sea recorded it for the 1996 film Boys.
- Former Top Of The Pops presenter, Mark Franklin covered this song in dance form in 1997. It features on the double CD compilation NRGx2 which was a big seller in the north of England.
- The Magnets covered the song on their 2001 debut album Giving It All That.
- Chris Sligh covered the song on the 2007 season of American Idol.
- Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush covered it instrumentally on the 2004 Real Live album.
- Steve Carlson covered the song on his 2007 album Groovin' On The Inside.
- Israeli 70's retro band Uzi Navon and Acquaintance released a Hebrew version of the song in 2009[4].
- Jennifer Finney Boylan borrowed the song's title for her memoir "She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders", in which she discusses the song's impact on her.
- The song is featured in the musical Return to the Forbidden Planet.
- The Road covered the song WKBW 30 Klassics 30 album on Post Records.
- "About Her", Malcolm McLaren's mash-up of "She's Not There", and Bessie Smith singing W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues", was heavily featured in the Quentin Tarantino film, Kill Bill. (See also: Kill Bill Volume 2 (soundtrack))
- TV pop band Bel's Boys recorded a cover version of the song.
References
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
