# Turn It Up! - The Lovin' Spoonful



## Guest (Aug 23, 2018)

_"Turn it up, turn it up, little bit higher, radio
Turn it up, that's enough, so you know it's got soul
Radio, radio turn it up..."_
- Van Morrison

The average length of the 45 rpm single is 3 minutes and 30 seconds...

If you can't say what needs to be said in 3 minutes and 30 seconds then it probably isn't worth saying...

"Turn It Up!" is a series about those classic tunes played on radio stations the world over that still live on over the airwaves of our memories and the artists who created them...

View attachment 107009


*The Lovin' Spoonful
*
The Lovin' Spoonful is a U.S. rock band, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 and well known for a number of hit songs in the 1960s including "Summer in the City", "Do You Believe In Magic", "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?", and "Daydream".

The band had its roots in the folk music scene based in the Greenwich Village section of lower Manhattan during the early 1960s.

The Lovin' Spoonful was one of the most successful pop/rock groups to have jug band and folk roots, and nearly half the songs on their first album were modernized versions of blues standards. Their popularity revived interest in the form, and many subsequent jug bands cite them as an inspiration.

With commercial success waning, the Lovin' Spoonful lasted only until early 1969.

The band's name was inspired by some lines in a song of Mississippi John Hurt called the "Coffee Blues". John Sebastian and others in the jug-folk scene of the time such as Geoff Muldaur credit Fritz Richmond for suggesting the name.

The song "Coffee Blues" is a tribute to Maxwell House Coffee, which Hurt describes, "rapping" in the beginning of the song, as being two or three times any other brand, ergo, he only needs one spoonful to make him feel all right, what he describes as "my lovin' spoonful" in the song.

*John Lennon's* personal jukebox was found to contain the Lovin' Spoonful record "Daydream." Interviewed about the find, John Sebastian revealed he had been given a Beatles rehearsal tape that contained *Lennon* singing "Daydream."

*Paul McCartney* has stated that "Good Day Sunshine" was "really very much a nod to The Lovin' Spoonful's 'Daydream,' the same traditional, almost trad-jazz feel. That was our favorite record of theirs. 'Good Day Sunshine' was me trying to write something similar to 'Daydream.'"

*Dave Davies* of the *Kinks* has stated he and brother *Ray Davies* listened to the Lovin' Spoonful "above and beyond the Beatles". He cited the band "integrating lots of different elements - blues, country and folk music and a bit of rock.

Peak US chart position in in parenthesis -

"*Do You Believe In Magic?*" - 1965 - (# 9)










 - (Live Video) - Highly Recommended - Cool Clip!

"*You Didn't Have To Be So Nice*" - 1965 - (# 10)










 - (Live Video)

"*Daydream*" - 1966 - (# 2)










 - (Live Video)

"*Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind?*" - 1966 - (# 2)










 - (Live Video)

"*Summer In The City*" - 1966 - (# 1)










 - (Live Video)

"*Rain On The Roof*" - 1966 - (# 10)










 - (Live Video)

"*Nashville Cats*" - 1966 - (# 8)










 - (Live Video)

"*Darling Be Home Soon*" - 1967 - (# 15)










 - (Live Video)

"*Six O'clock*" - 1967 - (# 18)






"*She Is Still A Mystery*" - 1967 - (# 27)










 - (Live Video)


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Really liked a lot of American pop-rock from the mid-late 60s - The Lovin' Spoonful, The Box Tops, The Turtles, The Youngbloods… _Daydream_ was one of the very first records I can remember.


----------



## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

I have this: a 10 song compilation, that has all but the last track from your list. I've always favored "Do You Believe in Magic" and "Darling, Be Home Soon," but I may prefer Joe Cocker's version of the latter.

I recall that in 9th Grade (1967) our English class had to write song parodies. I can't even remember the one my group composed, but I do remember:

What a day for detention
What a day to stay after school


----------



## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Again, a classic group representing the warm, golden era of "Sunshine Pop" that strangely flourished in the 1960s following the death of JFK: the growing quagmire of the Vietnam war, and burning American cities. A curious and wonderful phenomenon.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I didn't know they were that influential. I just thought they were fun.

Does anyone remember John Sabastian's kids' TV show, That's Cat?


----------



## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

I played John B.'s first solo album a lot as well.


----------



## Guest (Aug 24, 2018)

jegreenwood said:


> I played John B.'s first solo album a lot as well.


Here's a link which will allow you to listen to each of the tunes on "John B. Sebastian" which was released in 1970.

"In selecting musicians to work with on the album, Sebastian likewise looked to friends from his pre-Lovin' Spoonful days as a New York session man; he would later be quoted as saying "I wanted this opportunity to play with the same guys I'd been playing with when we were all broke ... Dallas Taylor, Steve Stills, Harvey Brooks, Paul Harris." In particular, Harris' work as a keyboardist and arranger on John B. Sebastian would begin a three-year working relationship between Harris and Sebastian. Other notable musicians of the period, including David Crosby, Graham Nash, Danny Weis and Buzzy Linhart, would also contribute to the sessions."

It was a really rock solid effort - excellent craftsmanship - which reached #20 on the Billboard Album Charts.






And we shouldn't overlook this quite tuneful song -






Link only to "Welcome Back" - 




""Welcome Back" is a popular record that was the theme song of the 1970s American television sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter. Written and recorded by former Lovin' Spoonful frontman John Sebastian, it reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week in May 1976 after only five weeks on the chart, and also topped the adult contemporary chart (the show itself had become an instant ratings success upon its premiere the previous fall). It also reached No. 93 on the country chart.

TV producer Alan Sachs wanted a Lovin' Spoonful-like theme song for a new ABC sitcom entitled Kotter. Sachs's agent, Dave Bendett, also represented Sebastian and arranged for a meeting between the two.

Initially, Sebastian had considerable difficulty with the lyrics since including the title character's name didn't lend itself to a sufficient number of obvious rhymes. Instead, Sebastian decided to focus the lyrics on the idea of the series' premise of Kotter returning to the very place he grew up and having dreamt of leaving to do something positive.

The producers liked the resulting song so much that they changed the name of the series to Welcome Back, Kotter. Co-produced by Steve Barri and Sebastian, the song eventually sold over one million copies."

Northern California experimental band Mr. Bungle covered the song on January 13, 1992, in back-to-back English and Spanish versions, at The Berkeley Square in Berkeley, California.

English version - 




Spanish version -


----------



## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Sydney Nova Scotia said:


> Here's a link which will allow you to listen to each of the tunes on "John B. Sebastian" which was released in 1970.
> 
> "In selecting musicians to work with on the album, Sebastian likewise looked to friends from his pre-Lovin' Spoonful days as a New York session man; he would later be quoted as saying "I wanted this opportunity to play with the same guys I'd been playing with when we were all broke ... Dallas Taylor, Steve Stills, Harvey Brooks, Paul Harris." In particular, Harris' work as a keyboardist and arranger on John B. Sebastian would begin a three-year working relationship between Harris and Sebastian. Other notable musicians of the period, including David Crosby, Graham Nash, Danny Weis and Buzzy Linhart, would also contribute to the sessions."
> 
> ...


Hey! - it's on Tidal! I haven't listened to it in over 30 years. Looking forward to a re-introduction.


----------

