Click to copy, then share by pasting into your messages, comments, social media posts and websites.
Click to copy, then add into your webpages so users can view and engage with this video from your site.
Report Content
We also accept reports via email. Please see the Guidelines Enforcement Process for instructions on how to make a request via email.
Thank you for submitting your report
We will investigate and take the appropriate action.
Care Of Cell 44 Butchers Tale The Zombies
Care of Cell 44 Album: Odessey And Oracle (1968)
Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914) Album: Odessey And Oracle (1968)
by The Zombies
Paul Ashley Warren Atkinson (19 March 1946 – 1 April 2004) was a British guitarist and record company executive, best known as a founding member of the pop/rock band The Zombies. Atkinson was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.
At St Albans, Atkinson met Rod Argent and Hugh Grundy, and the three formed a band initially called the Mustangs, later changed to The Zombies. Colin Blunstone and Paul Arnold joined the new band in mid 1958, but Arnold soon left and was replaced by Chris White. After the group won a local contest, they recorded a demo as their prize. Argent's song "She's Not There" got them a deal with Decca Records and was a hit in the UK and US.
An album, Begin Here (renamed to The Zombies when released in the US) would follow. They would appear on American television for the first time on January 12 1965, when they appeared on the first episode of Hullabaloo.
The Zombies would have another chart-topper in 1964 with Tell Her No. The group continued to record successfully through the 1960s, but disbanded in December 1967, reportedly over management disagreements.
Care of Cell 44 is an uptempo pop symphony about a guy writing to his girlfriend, who is in prison. The group's main songwriter Rod Argent recalled in Mojo Magazine February 2008: "It just appealed to me. That twist on a common scenario, I just can't wait for you to come home to me again."
This was released as the first single from the Odessey And Oracle album in the UK, but it didn't make the charts, which surprised vocalist Colin Blunstone. He said in his Songfacts interview, "It's a wonderfully crafted song. I think it's got an incredible lyric, wonderful chord sequences and a great melody - it's just got everything."
Blunstone was shocked by the song's lack of popular appeal, as he thought it was a very commercial track. Soon after it stiffed, the band split up and Blunstone took a job in the Burglary Department of a London insurance office. Bassist Chris White admitted: "We tried to promote 'Care Of Cell 44,' but there was no positive reaction. It was downhill from then on." However the band did have a surprise hit in America a year after their breakup when "Time Of The Season" peaked at #3.
Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914) is written by Zombies bassist Chris White, who recalled in Mojo magazine February 2008 how this dark and chilling war protest number came about: "I'd been reading AJP Taylor on the First World War and my uncle had died at Passchendaele. I was driving to St. Albans and working out that in the first morning there were 60,000 casualties in the Battle of The Somme. The enormity hit me and I had to pull over to the side of the road because I was shaking. That's where that (lyric) came from. 'I just can't stop shaking.' In the flat I had an old American pedal organ with the knee swells.
Category | Music |
Sensitivity | Normal - Content that is suitable for ages 16 and over |
Playing Next
Related Videos
Roll Me Away Like A Rock Bob Seger And The Silver Bullet Band
2 days, 20 hours ago
Seven Turns Soulshine The Allman Brothers Band
3 days, 6 hours ago
Crazy Little Thing Called Love Keep Yourself Alive Another One Bites The Dust Queen
3 days, 23 hours ago
Hard To Handle Remedy Jealous Again The Black Crowes
4 days, 20 hours ago
There Goes Another Love Song Dixie Highway Outlaws
5 days, 18 hours ago
Chicken Train Stomp Standing On The Rock Ozark Mountain Daredevils
6 days, 7 hours ago
Warning - This video exceeds your sensitivity preference!
To dismiss this warning and continue to watch the video please click on the button below.
Note - Autoplay has been disabled for this video.