She’s Not There | Angels Bark

Today is the Results post from my most recent battle featuring The Zombies’ “She’s Not There” against Santana’s cover. I’m going to keep this short today because I touched a super hot burner on the stove last night and severely burned three fingers on my left hand — and I’m left-handed, naturally — so it’s making it hard to type.

The really cool thing about this battle is that our own Stephen McCarthy did the same battle two years ago! His battle ended in a tie. Mine did not. The votes that came in for my battle favored the Zombies, yielding them 12 of the 19 votes (Zombies 12, Santana 7).

I definitely liked the Santana cover and their percussion just added so nicely to the song, but my vote went to the Zombies. I like this song in its purest form, done by the original artist.

In closing, here is another of my Zombies favorites, Time of the Season with some great vintage video. Enjoy!

As always, thanks for participating in my battle. See you on September 1st for the next round!

It’s time for another Battle of the Bands and today I’m featuring the Zombie’s song She’s Not There. Give a listen to the contenders and vote which one you like best in the Comments section. I’ll post the results in 6 days!

“She’s Not There” is the debut single by the British rock band The Zombies, written by organist Rod Argent. It reached No.12 in the UK Singles Chart in September 1964, and reached No.1 on the Cashbox chart (No.2 on the Billboard Hot 100) in the United States at the beginning of December 1964. In Canada, it reached number two.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked “She’s Not There” number 297 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The song’s background: The narrator has unsatisfactory dealings with an untrustworthy woman. He reproaches unspecified associates for failing to warn him of her unsavory character. The real inspiration behind the song, however, was Argent’s first love Patricia who called off their wedding weeks before and broke his heart.

I’m pitting The Zombies original against a live version by Santana.

Contender #1: The Zombies:

Unfortunately the Live version by The Zombies that I found online did not allow embedding so you’ll have to click on this external link to view it. But it’s worth it! Just right click and open it in another window or tab so you can stay on this page:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKBRc8zNQ30

Or if you’re lazy and don’t want to be bothered, here’s a high quality studio version by the original band:

Santana:

The song was a hit again for Santana, which also appeared on their 1977 album Moonflower. Their version of “She’s Not There” peaked at No.11 in the UK, No. 27 in the United States, and No.21 in Canada.

Live version:

TIME TO VOTE! Which version do you like better and why? And when you’re done voting, please visit these other BOTB participants and check out their cool battles: