"Imagine the Swan" is a song by the British rock band

the Zombies The Zombies are an English rock band formed in the early 1960s in St Albans and led by keyboardist and vocalist Rod Argent and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The group had a British and American hit in 1964 with "She's Not There". In the US, two fu ...

, released as a single in May 1969. It was written by keyboard player

Rod Argent Rodney Terence Argent (born 14 June 1945) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and record producer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Argent came to prominence in the mid 1960s as the keyboardist, founder and leader of the ...

and bass player Chris White. It was recorded following the unexpected success of "Time of the Season" and intended for a Zombies album following ''Odessey and Oracle'' that went unreleased at the time.

Background

In 1968,

and Chris White began working on material for a possible new band when they were approached by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

to do another Zombies album. "Imagine the Swan" was one of many new songs recorded with a lineup of Argent,

Hugh Grundy Hugh Birch Grundy (born 6 March 1945) is an English musician. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Grundy came to prominence in the mid 1960s as the drummer of the English Rock music, rock band the Zombies. He was inducted into the Rock and ...

Jim Rodford James Walter Rodford (7 July 1941 – 20 January 2018) was an English musician, who played bass for several British rock bands. He was a founding member of Argent, which was led by his cousin Rod Argent, and performed with them from their format ...

(bass) and Rick Birkett (guitar). An album's worth of material, tentatively entitled ''R.I.P.'' was recorded, but remained unreleased at the time. It was first released in Japan in October 2000 by

Imperial Records Imperial Records is an American record company and label started in 1947 by Lew Chudd. The label was reactivated in 2006 by EMI, which owned the label and back catalogue at the time. Imperial is owned by Universal Music Group. Early years to 19 ...

Reception

"Imagine the Swan" was released in May 1969 as a single in the United States, backed with "Conversation Off Floral Street". It peaked at #9 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

Chart and #77 on the '' Cashbox'' chart. In

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, the single peaked at #59. ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record Wo ...

'' called "Imagine the Swan" a "nifty pretty ditty" and "good contemporary rock." ''

'' called it "smooth rock" with "strong material and performance." ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' called it "delightful" and said "Ballad in a melancholy tone is supported by a relatively simple instrumental track with well-worked time changes and a stunning organ close."

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

critic Matthew Greenwald noted that the lyrics were about a "lonely spinster", similar to the '' Odyssey and Oracle'' song "Rose for Emily", and that the melody was based on Johan Sebastian Bach's ''

The Well-Tempered Clavier ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'', BWV 846–893, consists of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. In the composer's time, ''clavier'', meaning keyboard, referred to a variety of in ...

''.

Charts

References

{{The Zombies The Zombies songs 1968 songs 1969 singles Songs written by Rod Argent Songs written by Chris White (musician) Song recordings produced by Rod Argent CBS Records singles