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Argent — Hold Your Head Up
Album: All Together Now
Avg rating:
7

Your rating:
Total ratings: 1799









Released: 1972
Length: 6:13
Plays (last 30 days): 2
And if it's bad
Don't let it get you down, you can take it
And if it hurts
Don't let them see you cry, you can make it

Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head high
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head high

And if they stare
Just let them burn their eyes on you moving
And if they shout
Don't let it change a thing that you're doing

Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head high
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head high

Hold your head up
Hold your head up
Hold your head up
Hold your head up
Hold your head up
Hold your head up
Hold your head up
Hold your head up
Hold your head up
Hold your head up
Hold your head up
Hold your head up

Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head high
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head high

And if they stare
Just let them burn their eyes on you moving
And if they shout
Don't let it change a thing that you're doing

Hold your head up
Hold your head up
Hold your head up
Hold your head up
Hold your head up
Hold your head up
Hold your head up
Comments (150)add comment
Has a "Wings" feel to it? 
 Zep wrote:

I kind of feel that "Liar" was the song where Rod Argent was no longer a Zombie. Then when he recorded "Hold Your Head Up," he was a Zombie again.



He left Zombies for good with Oblivion Express
OMG!! I was 22, in college, partying and living life!!! this song reminds me of the great era of my life.  No 72 yrs long!! But memories last forever.
St Albans finest. Rock on, lads.
 unklefurry wrote:

Remember taping this tune on  my little portable cassette machine  from my parents 
clock radio. 




Cool! Fond memories!  ...now, thanks to RP. you can hear it in ultra hi-fidelity FLAC!   Thanx RP!   
 Edweirdo wrote:

CHOON!



TRUTH
CHOON!
I just saw The Zombies last Thursday night in San Francisco. Rod Argent - who is 78 (!!) recounted that Chris White started writing this song for his wife, who was having some difficulties. Chris discussed the lyrics with Rod, and then they finished the song together. That's why the chorus goes, hold your head up woman. And of course we were all singing along. 

Phish regularly covers this song and the song played just before it "Peaches in Regalia". Weird coincidence....

 fredriley wrote:

Nice keyboards from the golden age of organs. 



I'm sure that long organ solo was cut out for radio when this came out.
I was in college when this song came out.  Loved it and the album.

Brings back great memories.

Love Radio Paradise!!
 joejennings wrote:

They say "hold your head up", 38 times! LOL! Still a good tune!



Lyrics were at a premium in those days.
I kind of feel that "Liar" was the song where Rod Argent was no longer a Zombie. Then when he recorded "Hold Your Head Up," he was a Zombie again.
This is my anthem.
It might need more cowbell though.
Rod is still touring with Colin Blunstone and the Zombies. Still not to late to see them live and this song is usually in their set!
It really didn't matter: a crappy portable radio, a booming car stereo, or the big old console at home; when this jam came on, IT HAD TO BE CRANKED!

Fishman Electrolux vacuum solo intro
Other songs this age don't have this effect... but hearing this song makes me feel really old.
 the_jake wrote:

Never knew the song lyrics were "woman" at the end of - hold your head up.
I thought they were singing whoa!



same!
Nice keyboards from the golden age of organs. 
Saw them live on a famous triple bill in 1974.  REO Speedwagon opened.  Followed by Argent.  Headliners were Aerosmith!  The laters 2nd album had just come out. I mean we were at The Cape Cod Coliseum in Mass. Go figure!  Argent was great. So was Tyler and the boys. REO was before Kevin Cronin.....
Now go listen to the 2nd album - Ring of Hands!

Ring of Hands (YouTube)
More cowbell 👍
Just what I needed to affirm my female strength this day.  
More cow bell!
 joejennings wrote:

They say "hold your head up", 38 times! LOL! Still a good tune!



It's good advice. ;) I love the killer whales holding their heads up. 
Silver. Great memories of dancing to this. Perfect song for the times. And all times! 
Best song everrrr! 
Saw them at the Horn of Plenty (now The Horn) in St. Albans, great band, great gig, great evening.
Rod Argent, keyboard God extraordinaire.  
Guys, I like that sound!  But I really gotta hear more cowbell.
 unklefurry wrote:

Remember taping this tune on  my little portable cassette machine  from my parents 
clock radio. 



This was on the juke box at the Kiwanis Club, right next to the four square court.  I played it every weekday, the whole summer
Limited lyric, but great instrumental work. Shades of Yes.
I searched this out to listen to only last week....    Great memories...

Always got them confused with Atomic Rooster...
They say "hold your head up", 38 times! LOL! Still a good tune!
 joejennings wrote:

Good tune! Brings back memories!




Even better now in FLAC w/ great phones, amp & DAC!  Thanx RP!
A staple of late-night classic rock radio in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when stations went to "deep track" songs with longer playtimes.  For that reason, this song reminds me of being up late at night or working night shifts in that era.
 
And...
 
 lbclark wrote:
Camping at the lake, listening to KOMA on a transistor radio.  Back when you had to wait for the sun to go down so that AM stations could crank their signal. 
  
Nice description... I can almost picture myself there.  Great to hear peoples' memories in these comments.
driving on motorway + this tune = potential ticket! (but valid excuse, '...but sir, I was listening to Argent!')
 kingart wrote:

Great and classic.  But...since I heard it x,000 times back in the '70s and on the airwaves of Jurassic Classic FM, I gotta change the channel. 




I agree! Except, it has been soooo long since I have heard it!
Good tune! Brings back memories!
10 for me !!
How is this 6.9? Crank it up.... :)
Great and classic.  But...since I heard it x,000 times back in the '70s and on the airwaves of Jurassic Classic FM, I gotta change the channel. 
 Shaken_Bake wrote:
Do you have any idea how long ago this song came out? I was in like third or fourth grade, riding my dinosaur to school!
 
RP is so kind as to tell us the year each cut was released! 1972 for this gem.
 SpinyNorma wrote:
In all of the years I heard this pumping out at rock discos and bike rallies,  I never really knew what the lyrics were until recently. Yeah, I know. 

Life-affirming stuff for an ageing female non-conformist.
 
Funny, I have always thought they were saying 'Hold your head up, whooaa!'. Now I know!!
Mussbe a generational thing on this Marginal tune.  It's too repetitive and dirge-ish for me. Sounded like Styx to me... so I realize who influenced whom.  

Just not my thing.  
Camping at the lake, listening to KOMA on a transistor radio.  Back when you had to wait for the sun to go down so that AM stations could crank their signal.
In all of the years I heard this pumping out at rock discos and bike rallies,  I never really knew what the lyrics were until recently. Yeah, I know. 

Life-affirming stuff for an ageing female non-conformist.
Pardon me, how shall I hold me head?
 Stephen_Phillips wrote:
Anybody like to guess some the people in the black and white photo montage of the cover?

I think I see (left to right)... Elton John, Luciano Pavarotti and Stevie Windwood.
 
IIRC, the vinyl album (which opened up to a display inside) actually had a whos-who of everyone in the line-up. I don't think they are famous, I think they are just friends and family of the band.
I don't care what the lyric sheets says, I can only hear "Hold your head up, BOY"
I don't think an album cover can get more 70s than this!
I was there , just don’t care much anymore
 Stephen_Phillips wrote:
Anybody like to guess some the people in the black and white photo montage of the cover?

I think I see (left to right)... Elton John, Luciano Pavarotti and Stevie Windwood.

 
 

If so, good company!!
 Limpopoking wrote:
Blast from the past {#Dancingbanana_2}
 
That still kicks ass today, as it did when it came out!!! Full volume tune, to be sure!!!
 the_jake wrote:
Never knew the song lyrics were "woman" at the end of - hold your head up.
I thought they were singing whoa!
 

Me too!  FWIW, the correct link: Argent
RUSHED to the 'puter to rate this within 2 chords. 
Shades of Teen years. *sigh*

LOVE you RP, B&R!!!!
Never knew the song lyrics were "woman" at the end of - hold your head up.
I thought they were singing whoa!
 RabbitEars wrote:
having the lyrics on the page reveals with regular frequency... on this one, I never knew they were singing "woman." 

Neither did I, and I heard it 100,000 times on FM when it was released. 

Interpretation?  As of this afternoon: "Theme Song for a Defiant Walk of Shame."
............................................................

Having the Wikipedia entry on the page often leads to humorous connections.
the correct wiki entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argent_(band)

Great song, btw 
10
It appears someone needs to disambiguate the Wiki.
 RabbitEars wrote:
having the lyrics on the page reveals with regular frequency... on this one, I never knew they were singing "woman." 
 Nor I until you pointed it out. Learned something new today, yaaaaaaaaay!

 ColdMiser wrote:
The name derives from Latin argentum, translated as "silver" or "white metal". The word argent had the same meaning in Old French blazon, whence it passed into the English language.
 
AG!!  
having the lyrics on the page reveals with regular frequency... on this one, I never knew they were singing "woman." 
The name derives from Latin argentum, translated as "silver" or "white metal". The word argent had the same meaning in Old French blazon, whence it passed into the English language.
Remember taping this tune on  my little portable cassette machine  from my parents 
clock radio. 
Russ Ballard has written many songs covered by Rock bands.  I doubt they'd be played on RP, though, without some listeners having a fit.
 westslope wrote:

True, there was lots of gratuitous doodling but not all the 'prog' music was like that.

See:  the Yes album Relayer for example.   Camel is a great example.  I never found myself saying oof! listening to the Moody blues or most of Pink Floyd.  There some show off material on Jethro Tull but not all of it.  
On Quebec prog star Serge Fiori, or his band Harmonium's there was no empty doodling.  I have not listened to Argentinian Sui Generis in quite some time but do not recall any empty doodling.  

There are a couple of Steven Wilson songs where doodling creeps in but he has gone on record as being opposed and has talked about reining in lead guitar superstars like Guthrie Govan.

 


Ohhh, first time I have seen Guthrie Govan on a comment here in RP, my sister really thinks highly of him and went to one of his guitar workshops, and came home learning quite a lot from him.

We have also seen Steven Wilson a few times and 100 percent recommend anyone going to see him.
Now Argent, great tune, even now after all this time.
 VV wrote:

...correct me if I'm wrong... but wasn't "doodling" (keyboard or otherwise) a staple of most prog rock? It was (in part) this kind of experimentation that helped set it apart as its own genre. 

 
True, there was lots of gratuitous doodling but not all the 'prog' music was like that.

See:  the Yes album Relayer for example.   Camel is a great example.  I never found myself saying oof! listening to the Moody blues or most of Pink Floyd.  There some show off material on Jethro Tull but not all of it.  
On Quebec prog star Serge Fiori, or his band Harmonium's there was no empty doodling.  I have not listened to Argentinian Sui Generis in quite some time but do not recall any empty doodling.  

There are a couple of Steven Wilson songs where doodling creeps in but he has gone on record as being opposed and has talked about reining in lead guitar superstars like Guthrie Govan.
Maybe I should hold my head up, hold my head up, hold my head up, hold my head up, hold my head up.
Blast from the past {#Dancingbanana_2}
Anybody like to guess some the people in the black and white photo montage of the cover?

I think I see (left to right)... Elton John, Luciano Pavarotti and Stevie Windwood.

 
Watched them perform this on The Midnight Special in the 70s.  Some great, cheesy, "psychedelic" camera effects — which I still remember. 

Had a cassette of this album.
One of th entries in an odd little list I keep of songs in which the first word in the lyrics is "And"
 westslope wrote:

Interesting comments.  Liked some of ELP's material but much of it fell flat.

Loved Yes but my favourite Yes album does not have Rick Wakeman on it.  

Count me in as a life-long fan of prog but not gratuitous keyboard doodling.  For that matter, I am not a fan of gratuitous guitar doodling either.  

————————————————————-

This is great if nothing else for the nostalgia factor.  Apt for the President-elect Trump period going forward.  I expect many on the American street to hold their heads up high.
 

 
...correct me if I'm wrong... but wasn't "doodling" (keyboard or otherwise) a staple of most prog rock? It was (in part) this kind of experimentation that helped set it apart as its own genre. 
Special moment in my early youth, hearing this on AM radio and thinking, wow, what's that? That. Is. Cool. Nothing else matters until I know what THAT is! 
true music!
10
Happy teenager days.  I held my head up and rocked the long, long hair.
 Derecho wrote:


If that's too much, there's plenty of cowbell here to zone in on.

 
Well I like Argent's key work here. I don't find it overdone. I was just saying with Emerson, as much as I liked some of ELP's stuff it was too much at times.

It's just noise. 
If you like Rod Argent's keyboards, check out his work with the Zombies.
boy - reminds me of going to the neighborhood pool when I was a teenager in the '70s
 LowPhreak wrote:

Keith Emerson had Wakeman beat all to hell on gratuitous keyboard doodling. I could barely ever sit through one album side of ELP, and I've been a prog fan over 40 years.

 

If that's too much, there's plenty of cowbell here to zone in on.


 konakid wrote:
Love this song! A true anthem for the seventies and a life saver for those who needed a lift. {#Smile}

 
+1, brother… 
Classic gem, rod argent great keyboard player
 NorthernLad wrote:
No one compliments me on my organ.
 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rodney_dangerfield_2390.jpg
"My wife, she's no bargain either . . ."
 LowPhreak wrote:

Unfortunately, Chopin and Rachmaninoff aren't alive today to make critiques.

Keith Emerson had Wakeman beat all to hell on gratuitous keyboard doodling. I could barely ever sit through one album side of ELP, and I've been a prog fan over 40 years.

 
Interesting comments.  Liked some of ELP's material but much of it fell flat.

Loved Yes but my favourite Yes album does not have Rick Wakeman on it.  

Count me in as a life-long fan of prog but not gratuitous keyboard doodling.  For that matter, I am not a fan of gratuitous guitar doodling either.  

————————————————————-

This is great if nothing else for the nostalgia factor.  Apt for the President-elect Trump period going forward.  I expect many on the American street to hold their heads up high.
 
 konakid wrote:
Love this song! A true anthem for the seventies and a life saver for those who needed a lift. {#Smile}

 

Yup!  Hearing this song on the radio certainly gave me a lift occasionally when I needed it while growing up.  {#Sunny}
 jimmygee848 wrote:
Rod Argent, not Rick W.

 
I know that. I was replying to Skydog's remarks about Wakeman.
 LowPhreak wrote:

Unfortunately, Chopin and Rachmaninoff aren't alive today to make critiques.

Keith Emerson had Wakeman beat all to hell on gratuitous KB doodling. I could barely ever sit through one album side of ELP, and I've been a prog fan over 40 years.

  Rod Argent, not Rick W.


Love this song! A true anthem for the seventies and a life saver for those who needed a lift. {#Smile}
 Skydog wrote:

yeah but that was Rick Wakeman the king of keyboard doodles

 
Unfortunately, Chopin and Rachmaninoff aren't alive today to make critiques.

Keith Emerson had Wakeman beat all to hell on gratuitous keyboard doodling. I could barely ever sit through one album side of ELP, and I've been a prog fan over 40 years.
 easmann wrote:
Anthemic! I really liked it back in '72 and I find I still like it today, flaws and all. I do not apologize. : )

 
Yes, there's no need for an apology - it's a good song.
Outstanding.
 Skydog wrote:

yeah but that was Rick Wakeman the king of keyboard doodles

 
Sill, 1 tip o the hap to the Northern Lad.
 a_genuine_find wrote:

The Hammond B3 solo on the track was cited by Rick Wakeman as the greatest organ solo ever.

 
yeah but that was Rick Wakeman the king of keyboard doodles
 NorthernLad wrote:
No one compliments me on my organ.

 
The Hammond B3 solo on the track was cited by Rick Wakeman as the greatest organ solo ever.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hold_Your_Head_Up
 thewiseking wrote:
One more time, please, what shall I do with my head?

 
I'm not quite sure . . . but if you're a woman I think . . . they want you to hold your head up? 
{#Smile}
 thewiseking wrote:
One more time, please, what shall I do with my head?

 
Do you really want me to tell you what you should do with it?
One more time, please, what shall I do with my head?
No one compliments me on my organ.
Just an OK song in its day, I still like Rod Argent's keyboards, esp the shimmery bits.

Any chance of digging up Russ Ballard's "Born on Halloween"? My birthday song.  
Mi radio favorita. Saludos desde Chile
It was good to hear this again, well done RP.
Outstanding nugget 
Anthemic! I really liked it back in '72 and I find I still like it today, flaws and all. I do not apologize.  : )
I like it :)
I saw these guys around 1972 in Dortmund/Germany. Really good show. Good rock music!
 Tony0600 wrote:
I don't like the repetitive chorus, spoils it for me

 
What repetitive chorus?
So great to hear this cherished old song here!
This song is much worse than I remember. It does have nostalgia going for it, but the keyboard work is terrible, the rhythm section is a dirgeful boring chunka chunka backing. 

PSD. 
This song is much better than I remember it.  I'd never really cared for it when it came out.  And the lyrics (which I mostly couldn't make out on my crappy early 70's radio) are surprisingly good with a strongly feminist message.

Picked up this 45 back when I was in 6th grade... in a trade for Crocodile Rock. I remember some tough negotiations but I’ve never looked back. Great memory.


I remember the radio station (WCMF in Rochester, NY) played this song when the Skylab fell back to earth over Australia in 1979. HAHAHAHA

Argent?
Argent?
I must've heard this 1,000 times in the last 20+ years (and changed the radio station 950 of those times) and never, ever knew this was by "Argent"... REO Speedwagon maybe, but never Argent 


I don't like the repetitive chorus, spoils it for me
 bev wrote:
The organ reminds me of Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Too often when I hear their songs I'm down with it up until the organ solo; then...they've lost me. Same with this; really good until the organ solo...it's just dated and annoying.

 
At least with ELP the obligatory organ solo was good, on account of Keith Emerson being a classically-trained pianist, even if it was usually way de trop and baroque.

Note to under-30s on here: electric organs were the precursors to synthesisers. Back in the Cretaceous they were bloody expensive so a band having one was a status symbol, and added many points to the band's coolness factor.
Eleven percent of the votes on this are 1 votes. I think that's a bit harsh. We saw The Zombies in concert in the past year, and they played this during their encore. It had the crowd on its feet. It was a great jam.