Saturday, July 19, 2025

Manfred Mann's "The One in the Middle"

I recently listened to Manfred Mann's Live at the BBC 64-66 and remembered that there's Hohner Pianet in "The One in the Middle" (although it's actually not in the live version on the album).  I'd figured out the part almost five years ago, and I finally wrote it out in notation last week.  It's basically just this ostinato figure (played an octaver lower than written):


There are some small differences at the beginning of the song (where, after a two-measure introduction, this figure is absent for the first two measures of the first verse) and in the instrumental section (where the figure continues throughout instead of the rests in measures seven, eight, fifteen, and sixteen).  The figure in the ninth measure is repeated a number of times as a coda until the song resolves.

This part (played as written, not an octave lower) is also doubled on guitar, which is usually more prominent than the Pianet.