Tuesday, November 18, 2008

I Don't Know About Sunday, But Certainly I Was Never Quite the Same


You may know about my love of music but you may not know who my first love was (musically.) Her name was Elaine, but the world knew her as Spanky and she had the ability to out sing Mama Cass, in my opinion. And unlike Cass, I found her very attractive -- whatever that means to a ten year old in the sixties.

When I saw Spanky and Our Gang on the Ed Sulivan show, maybe this clip, but probably Lazy Day, I knew this was it. I was kind of fascinated with the Indian on the drums and her mustachioed friends who got to sing with her. I think on some level I wanted to be one of those guys. Check out McFarlane's wide-eyed determination in delivering this song, even if she is lip-synching, it is quite impressive.

Later that Christmas, I received the first Spanky LP. I think it was my first grown up album, along with Incense and Peppermints by the Strawberry Alarm Clock and the Best of Sonny and Cher. I was getting sick of books about animals and Disney family comedies at this time. So images of adults younger than my parents dressed up in colorful and different clothes who seemed to be having a pretty good time interested me a lot. I figured they all lived in a big house together with colorful stuff also on the walls like the Beatles did in Help! or like those Jefferson Airplane people I saw in a family friend's Look magazine.

I played that first album many, many times. I loved Lazy Day, their take on the Trouble from Music Man ("Words like Swell and So's your Old Man or Bon Voyage Titanic! --What's that have to do with it?") They did this mock commercial about....well,mmm an illegal substance that I didn't really understand but was entertained by. Her soulful version of Brother, Can You Spare A Dime served as kind of Great Depression history lesson Also they had a song with lyrics consisting of the Webster dictionary definition of love. But my favorite of all was (It Ain't Necessarily) Byrd Avenue I still appreciate its lyric:

Cherry blossoms lost their bloom in the autumn,
You lost your cool in the fall,
You stumbled and you fell, right down to the bottom,
Nobody cared at all.
But for me --You would have stood their with egg on your face
The bitter taste of old champagne,
Up to your neck in rain.

A few hits followed after the first album, but theirs was a meteoric rise and fall at the end of the sixties. Leaving the world with clear, clean vocals and tight harmonies which became a big part of the template that made up much of seventies pop. Regardless, I still think they sound great as I tap into all three of their albums from time to time.
posted by well-executed buffet at 7:30 AM
Comments: Post a Comment