THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

407-Zombies-Time of the Season.

1967-It has never charted in the UK.

Best Bit-At 3.07. It’s uncanny, but when listening to this song, it makes you feel nostalgic for an era, where you possibly weren’t even born.

The Zombies (see also best songs 158) were formed in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, in 1961, by Rod Argent, (keyboards) Hugh Grundy (drums) and Paul Atkinson, (1946-2004) (guitar) they were soon joined by Colin Blunstone, (vocals) and Chris White, (bass) to complete the classic line up. White was the last to join the group, being the replacement for the original bassist Paul Arnold who lost interest in the group, leaving to pursue a career as a physician in 1962. It was Arnold who chose the bands name. The Zombies remained active until 1967, but have reformed with varying line ups, on and off since 1968. In total there have been 18 different members come and go, and at the time of writing they remain active, with the line up being the two original members, Rod Argent, and Colin Blunstone, and three others.

The discography of the Zombies includes nine studio Albums released between 1965-2023, and 19 singles released between 1964-2023, there is also one extended play, (EP) 20 official compilation Albums, and seven live Albums available. In the UK, the Zombies only top 40 single is their debut release ‘She’s Not There,’ which reached Number 12 in 1964, while in America on the Billboard Hot 100, they charted on three occasions, with ‘Time of the Season’ making Number 3 in 1969.

‘Time of the Season’ was the third of four singles released from ‘Odessey and Oracle,’ the second studio Album from the Zombies, from April 1986, the song was written by Rod Argent, with the production credited to the Zombies. ‘Odessey and Oracle’ is often included in ‘best of’ lists, with ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine placing it at Number 100 in their ‘500 Greatest Albums of All Time,’ Paul Weller of The Jam (see also best songs 670-94 and 59) has stated it is one of his all time favourites. The misspelling of ‘odyssey’ in the Albums title was the result of a mistake by the designer of the LP cover, Terry Quirk. The band tried to cover this up at the time of release by claiming the misspelling was intentional, but in later years Rod Argent has admitted, ‘We didn’t notice that the word odyssey was spelt wrongly, to our eternal embarrassment. For years I used to say, ‘Oh that was intentional. It was a play on the word ode.’ But I’m afraid it wasn’t.’

‘Time of the Season’ was written by Rod Argent, who was born Rodney Terence Argent, on June 14th, 1945, in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, in 2019 he was inducted into the ‘Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’ as a member of the Zombies. Shortly before the release of ‘Odessey and Oracle’ the second studio Album by the Zombies, the band decided to split, with Rod Argent going on to form the Rock band ‘Argent’ in 1969, with three others, including lead singer, and guitarist Russ Ballard. ‘Argent’ released six studio Albums between 1970-1975, and 14 singles within the same time period, with ‘Hold Your Head Up’ being their highest charting track, reaching Number 5 in the UK, and also Number 5 on Billboard in America in 1972. Rod Argent has also released 10 solo Albums between 1978-1998. In 2024, Argent, suffered a stroke, and on July 11th, 2024, he announced his retirement from touring.

Rod Argent has spoken about his influences for writing ‘Time of the Season.’ ‘One of my favourite records was George Gershwin’s (1898-1937) (see also best songs 286 and 231) ‘Summertime,’ we used to do a version of it when we started out. The words in the verse, ‘What’s your name? Who’s your daddy? Is he rich like me,?’ were an affectionate nod in that direction.’

The Zombies had broken up well over a year before ‘Time of the Season became a hit in America. When the Album ‘Odessey and Oracle’ was released it sold poorly, and stalled at Number 95 on Billboard. It was the A&R representative at ‘Columbia Records’ at that time, Al Kooper (see also best songs 204-12 and 7) who had faith in the ‘Odessey and Oracle’ Album that eventually made ‘Time of the Season’ a surprise hit. Kooper saw the songs potential, and kept on promoting it, and after months of bubbling under it finally took off, eventually peaking at Number 3 on Billboard in 1969.

‘It’s the time of the season when love runs high, and this time give it to me easy, and let me try with pleasured hands to take you in the sun to promised lands.’