This memory of this song came to me this morning--where its still Sunday and it seems like a day for pause and a bit of reflection. Not all Sundays are that way for all of us I know, but at least we all get a "Sunday" now and then.
The American folk-rock band "Spanky and Our Gang" debuted in 1967 with an album that contained three hits, including this one, which topped out at Number 9 on the Billboard Charts.
Owing in part to the tragic early death of group member Malcom Hale, (from a faulty space heater in his home, of all things) the group released only a couple more albums, then broke up in 1969. Elaine "Spanky" MacFarlane--whose named was inspired by television reruns of the old "Our Gang" comedy short films from the 1930's--went on to tour with the Mamas and the Papas as a replacement from the late Mama Cass Elliott who died in 1973. She also had a solo career.
I was almost-fourteen when this came out - and having been a fan of folk-music (the precursor to this style) when I was five, I was fond of this one and those like it immediately.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the memory, Doug! Summer of '68 was a good one....
That late Sixties period certainly created some great music, Astra--songs like this provided a calmer and less edgy respite from the turbulence of the times.
ReplyDeleteI have always enjoyed this song. I thought when I saw this we were going into Our Gang re-runs. I am not disappointed. Although this is a little tame for my normal music choices. Thank you for reminding me Sunday's will never be the same
ReplyDeleteSounds very "mama & pappa ish" Never heard of this group, or the song. But really good.
ReplyDeleteSomething very different here. Not too bad at all.
ReplyDeleteI've never come across this one either Doug.....nor the band... which I also think sounds a bit mamas and popasish but with touches of very early Carol King as well perhaps? I even got a bit of a Dusty Springfield vibe as she came from a similar sort of band to this, The Springfields who were big here in the early 60s.
ReplyDeleteI liked this song when it came out, and I think it just gets better with age, kinda like Scotch! lol
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome Fred. Funny how an nice old tune just pops back into one's head from who knows where.
ReplyDeleteI like a less tame tune now and then--don't want toscare off too many newbies to Multiply with a lot of Led Zepplin.
As for "Our Gang" or "The Little Rascals", my blog on Alfalfa and Dara as the prototype tp Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie will have to wait.
I'm not sure who was quite before whom here, Jeff, but suffice to say both groups could've covered each others hits and no one would have thought it a stretch.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it Frank. It's always good to find a video that shows a group in performance I think, especially one that is vintage to whichever era they debuted in.
ReplyDeleteGood plan
ReplyDeleteI doubt "Spanky and Our Gang" lasted as a group to have much transoceanic penetration, AA. Of course, these bands always get back together later and do a bit of touring for the nostalgia circuit, but their other hits ("Lazy Day" and "Give a Damn") might not have got much play outside the States. Nobody talked much about Cliff Richard for instance over here in his prime, but he got a big of some Top 40 action in the early 80's.
ReplyDeleteI forgot about Dusty with The Springfields---bit of that "blue eyed" soul there in this tune.
Good point Jacquie. Time does sometimes work wonders on a tune, seperating it from other popular material of the time can bring out the nuances in the music.
ReplyDeleteI remember this song but not the group but then I was only 9/10 in 1967. Would have heard it on the radio only. I find myself transfixed by her outfit though, I so remember sewing patterns like that in Simplicity and Butterfield pattern books lol. It looks so strange now.
ReplyDeleteWell the song definitely made it to Kiwiland, I remember it well, just not who sang it. It was a good song and she is a great singer.
ReplyDeleteYes, I can remember when all this stuff was the height of cool as well. The hat the drummer is wearing is a bit much.
ReplyDeleteDidn't your country have television yet? Or were your parents smart enough not to have television in the house?
ReplyDeleteI think so.
ReplyDeleteIn '67, yes we did finally have tv pretty much throughout the country even over on the wild west coast where we were. But I don't recall a lot of music being shown although digging deep I do remember the Cilla Black show (UK), Nana Mouskouri and James Last (shudder) (the programmers were into "wholesome entertainment") and we did have what is now regarded as an iconic Kiwi music show called C'mon where New Zealand singers covered popular music. Alas they never archived most of those programmes and so heaps of our musical history was dumped and forever lost.
ReplyDeleteTV was only brought out in NZ in the early sixties, starting from up north and gradually being rolled out throughout the country (we were an awkward shape and the mountains didn't help) as the technology was put in place. I think it was only about '67 that Backball finally was able to get reception.
Oh yeah and we only had one channel. In black and white.
I remember in '68 or so on the American version of "Wild West Coast" we had three network stations and a couple independent stations and one public broadcasting station that broadcast strictly in black and white. (This was in the San Francisco--SanJose area.) This was a metro area so you could say i was lucky/unlucky to have some choices. A person I was talking to on another social network from South Africa told me they didn't have television service until 1976!
ReplyDeleteI can remember most shows were in black and white but in the late sixties everything new on the networks went to color.
My wife grew up in rural Oregon and they had just the one television station at the same time. It was a big when ABC or one of the big three networks came in.
A lot of the smaller indy stations wouldn't start broadcasting until late afternoon. I remember watching the "test pattern"waitingfor some cartoon I wanted to watch to go on.
The big American music show was "American Bandstand". We also had a couple shows like "Shindig" and "Hullabaloo" and other facsimiles that rolled out for a season or just a Summer replacement series. As I got more into music I watched "Bandstand" on Saturday Afternoon. This was before any music television stations so it was a big weekly treat for all the young would-be criminals in my neighborhood. ;-)
Cilla Black was one of the first pop singers from England that I recall. I think her real name was Priscilla White.
LOL my Mom liked him :-)
ReplyDeleteBy 67 I'd left home and hardly ever saw a TV well certainly not a legal (Licence paid) one anyway, so I'm not sure what else was on other than Top of the Pops (where I first saw Jimi Hendrix, doing 'Hey Joe'...a life changing moment)...but a little later there was The Old Grey Whistle Test one of the best music shows on British TV during the 70s and early 80s.
ReplyDeleteI missed quite a lot then because from 1977-80 I was in the Middle East and southwest Asia and I never really caught up....I departed as the Sex Pistols exploded on the scene, but when I got back it was Duran Duran and I was already an old fogey, tsk....'can't tell what they're singing about'.
Living rough like that, one could hardly blame you for not being too concerned with the musical fare on the tube, AA. "Hey Joe" is a definitive classic, as well--the honesty of the sound rang home. "Purple Haze" as well. Jimmi was gone by the time I heard about him--saw him in the "Monterey Pop" film and thought he was so bold. His interpetation of "The National Anthem" was rather an opening salvo to the heavy metal alternative-rock movement in America.
ReplyDelete"American Bandstand" is rather stingy with its clips on YouTube (Dick Clark, the host, is not a man to miss a chance to make a buck). But there was another afternoon music show I remember that came on right after his:
If you have heard Tina Turner's story, you know Ike was a mean little wife-batterer who got what he deserved----Tina was/is still a star and Ike was a joke.
I remember watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. I was the only one in my class whose parent allowed me to watch them.
ReplyDeleteI thought that was just tooo cool! lol
You must have been a big hit with the kids in your class the next day, Jacquie. :-)
ReplyDeleteI sure was, and I rode that wave for all it was worth! lol
ReplyDeletegood for you!
ReplyDeleteMan of few words was Ike, wasn't he Doug?.
ReplyDeleteRiver Deep And Mountain High has a special significance for me I love that song and can recall every note and word instantly when I think about it... as clearly as if I am listening to it now on my MP4, or whatever they call the damned thing.
LOL! He may have had a talent for music production, AA, but Ike comes off here as charming as a rock.
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