"Untie Me"

Earlier this year, I started a blog focused on the Hohner Pianet.  Last month, I posted the notation for the Pianet* part in "Untie Me," so I thought I'd better post it here too.

The Pianet simply doubles selected portions of the piano part.  Throughout the song, there are a handful of single D notes in the lower register (nearly two octaves below middle C), and this phrase is at ~2:20:

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*According to some internet sources, Manfred Mann also played the Hohner Cembalet, but I haven't seen any evidence of this.  As far as I can tell, the only difference between the Cembalet and the Pianet is the range of the keyboard (the Cembalet is C to C where the Pianet is F to F).

"Hoochie Coochie"

In the lines "Ev'rybody knows I'm here" in "Hoochie Coochie," the four syllables of "ev'rybody" are all sung to different pitches, and the notes span a sixth (G D C Bb).  Both of these features give a musical sense of breadth, and both of these are also present (although perhaps slightly different) in Muddy Waters' version.

Introduction

This is the latest in what has become something of a series of projects in which - ostensibly - the overambitious goal is to learn every part to every song by a specific band (or a related group of bands).  In reality, these projects have turned into endless musicological explorations.

The focus of this project is Manfred Mann.  In these early stages, however, I expect the scope to be somewhat limited.  Total, I have only seven albums that fall under this project's banner:

• The Five Faces of Manfred Mann
• Mann Made
• As Is
• Live at the BBC 64-66
• Live at the BBC 66-69
• The Best of Manfred Mann's Earth Band
• Watch [on vinyl]

Four of these I've listened to only once or twice.

Over the course of the next couple months, I'll post the musicological notes I've made so far (many of which are rather low-hanging fruit:  things along the lines of "this phrase about going down is sung to a descending melody").  For now, I'm not going to write about the albums that I haven't yet listened to very much; I want to familiarize myself with them first.

I hope eventually to post recordings of the parts I've learned (although my general rule is that I need to know at least two parts to warrant a recording) and possibly even notation, chord progressions, &c.

Inspired by some of the man(n)-based wordplay on Mann Made, the name of my project is derived from the Latin phrase ecce homo (behold the man).  Initially, I mis-remembered it as ecco, which is actually the Italian word, but this provided an-other pun.  Since this project aims to comment on the Manfreds' music, it is something of an echo.