She's Not There

The Zombies, from Hertfordshire, England, recorded "She's Not There" after they won a talent contest that led to a recording session. They were all teenagers at the time. The group signed to Decca Records, and their keyboard player, Rod Argent, wrote the song for the session. It tells the story of an alluring woman who won't be tied down to one man - the singer wants to let us know all about her, but he can only use words, since she's not there.

This song has a lot of distinct elements that made it a rock classic and landed The Zombies in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2019. For starters, the lead instrument is Rod Argent's electric piano, which was very unusual at the time - in the UK it was the first hit song with that lead instrument. And then there's the breathy vocals of lead singer Colin Blunstone. The vocal has loads of dynamic range, as Blunstone starts softly to open the story: Well, no one told me about her The way she lied And then gets increasingly agitated, punctuating the chorus: Please don't bother trying to find her She's not there!

The Zombies got a big break when the recording engineer for the session passed out on the floor. That's because the assistant, who took over, was Gus Dudgeon, who went on to produce Elton John's seminal albums. Before he passed out, the original engineer was surly to the group and keen to get it over with - not a great environment for a band's first recording session! With Dudgeon at the controls, The Zombies were able to relax and do a great take of the song. It was a big moment for Dudgeon as well because it was his first session as the main recording engineer. The session started at 7 p.m. because recording at night was very rock and roll, but the engineer went to a wedding that day showed up drunk. "We are just going through some songs and I put some headphones on, and this engineer is screaming down in these headphones with the worst language you can possibly think of - very, very aggressive," Colin Blunstone said on the Songfacts Podcast in 2023. "It makes me laugh because having been in the business for over 60 years, in that first half an hour with this guy screaming at me, I was thinking, I don't think this music business is for me. Then we had a bit of luck and he passed out. He passed out cold on the floor. We had to carry him out of the studio, one on each arm and one on each leg. We took him up two flights of stairs and we put him in a London black taxi and waved him goodbye. We never saw him again, ever."