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| "A Rose for Emily" | |
|---|---|
| Song by the Zombies | |
| from the album Odessey and Oracle | |
| Released | 19 April 1968 |
| Recorded | July or August 1967 |
| Studio | Olympic, London |
| Genre | |
| Length | 2:19 |
| Label | CBS |
| Songwriter | Rod Argent |
| Producer | The Zombies |
"A Rose for Emily" is a song written by Rod Argent that was first released on the Zombies 1968 album Odessey and Oracle .
"A Rose for Emily" is a ballad which AllMusic critic Matthew Greenwald described as "one of the most evocative songs" on Odessey and Oracle. [1] . Irish Independent critic Ed Power described it as a "swirling mini-symphony." [2] Greenwald describes the music by saying that the song is "surrounded by an elegant, wistful, classically inspired piano figure." [1] . Zombies' biographer Claes Johansen said that "simple beauty markes this melancholic song." [3] Music professor Christian Matijas-Mecca called it a "sublime love song." [4] Piitsburgh Post-Gazette critic Scott Mervis described it as a "minor key delicacy." [5] The piano, played by Argent, is the only instrumentation. Colin Blunstone sings the lead vocals, with Argent and Chris White providing backing vocals. [3]
Matijas-Mecca described the arrangement as being "unusually simple." [4] Johansen described the vocal arrangement as "extraordinary", for the way that the backing vocals "[weave] in and out of what is quite simply one of Colin Blumstone's most astonishing performances ever." [3] Allmusic critic Fred Thomas said that Blunstone's "smoky, whispering singing accentuates the crushing loneliness" of the lyrics. [6] Prog critic Claudia Elliott also praised Blumstone's "high-pitchedm wistful vocal." [7] Johansen described Argent's piano playing as being "understatedly played in a sort of mock-beginner way, somehow supporting the lyrical theme of English village life, with old ladies living in a world of comfortable loneliness, rose gardens, missed opportunities." [3]
The lyrics are about a lonely spinster. [1] The theme has been compared to the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby", which Argent has acknowledged as an inspiration for the song. [1] [3] [8] [7] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian also sees a similarity between the song's subject and Sylvilla in the Kinks "Two Sisters" and the subject of the Who's "Odorono". [8] Petridis stated that the lyrics focus on "the heroine’s otherness, her isolation, her sense of chances missed, her frustration, her pride." [8] Music critic Jim DeRogatis suggested that the heroine of "A Rose for Emily" may be the same girl as the heroine of Pink Floyd's "See Emily Play". [9]
Although the song shares its title with William Faulkner's story "A Rose for Emily", which is about the death of a spinster, Greenwald does not believe that the lyrics are related to the story, and Matijas-Mecca agrees. [1] [4] On the other hand, music columnist John O'Connell believes that the song "compresses Faulkner's story of that name into two minutes and nineteen seconds," and Petridis agrees that the song is a "retellingling of Faulkner’s tale." [8] [10]
Ultimate Classic Rock critic Michael Gallucci rated "A Rose for Emily" as the Zombies' third greatest song, stating that it's "one of Odessey & Oracle's most melodically somber songs, and one of the best." [11] Galluci also stated that "The chamber-pop movement of the '90s pretty much starts here." [11]
"A Rose for Emily" was used as the ending theme of the investigative journalism podcast S-Town . [8] [12] [13] Petridis stated that even though the song appears to be an odd choice, it is appropriate due to the "eerie melancholy" of the song and the fact that the themes of the song also apply to the S-Town main character, John B McLemore. [8]