Say You Will – Blanket of Secrecy
A British new wave quartet only known as Tinker, Tailor, Sailor, and Soldier released one LP “Walls Have Ears’ in the UK and “Ears Have Walls” in the States. My friend Aaron Settipani had this tune running through his head for a long time before we tracked (no pun intended) it down. A catchy guitar riff throughout and an interesting set of lyrics, this song never charted and would not be a part of my musical heritage unless Aaron hadn’t passed it on!
We Ain’t Got Nothing Yet – Blues Magoos
By the middle of 1967 when I started listening to rock and roll, there were two recent “oldies” that I loved to play at a high decibel level, the first I mentioned the other day, “96 Tears” and here is the second one, the Blues Magoos “We Ain’t Got Nothing Yet”. Out of the Bronx, they only had this one song reach the top 40, peaking at #5 in early February, 1967, their other 3 singles languished in the lower reaches of the Hot 100. As usual, I learned something new in researching this song, Emil “Peppy Castro” Theilhelm, the lead singer here, later became the lead singer of Balance (think “Breaking Away” in 1981).
How Do You Catch A Girl – Sam the Sham & The Pharoahs
Early 1967, Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs had already had a pair of hit records “Wooly Bully” and “Lil Red Riding Hood”, songs that were considered novelty songs. ” How Do You Catch A Girl” was their entry in the charts in January of 1967, peaking at #22. Samudio (why does that make me think of Phil Collins ?) Domingo was born in Dallas, Texas, one of his early band mates was Trini Lopez. Sam formed the Pharoahs, named after Yul Bryner’s character in “The Ten Commandments” in 1961, After the Pharoahs run, Sam went solo and his 1970 LP “Sam, Hard And Heavy” won the 1972 Grammy for Best Album Notes, hey, there’s a Grammy for everything, I guess.
Sauvecito – Malo
Sauvecito is easily in my top love songs of the rock era. The melodic latin lines in it never fail to grab me. It’s still one of the few songs that I can feel goosebumps when I hear the opening notes. Malo (Spanish for bad) was a San Francisco based group that included Jorge Santana, Carlos Santana’s brother. The song, Spanish for soft or smooth, reached #18 in 1972. Personally, the song spent two weeks at #1 on my weekly top 15 the weeks of March 19th and 26th, 1972.
I love to find old clips of these groups in their prime, I found this, obviously a live clip that doesn’t quite hold the magic, at least for me, of the studio version, but well worth the watch.
Living Without You – Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
Manfred Mann broke out in 1964 with “Do Wah Diddy Diddy”, a #1 song, 4 years later they took Bob Dylan’s “Quinn the Eskimo” to #10, then it was 8 years and a re-invented Mannfred Mann’s Earth Band that had a #31 song with “Blinded By The Light’. In between those last two their 1st release as MMEB was this song that only reached #69 in the Spring of 1972, written by Randy Newman – it’s a great “lost oldie” for those of you old enough to appreciate it 😉
When I’m Dead And Gone – McGuiness Flint
Another “lost” single from 1971, this one hung around for 9 weeks on the Billboard charts and peaked at #47. Tom McGuinness came from Mannfred Mann, and later Graham Lyle & Benny Gallagher became Gallagher & Lyle and had two charting songs in the mid 70s . “Oh..oh..oh..oh, When I’m dead and gone, I want to leave some happy woman living on” and I hope she’s not happy just because I’m gone 😉 Tap your foot and sing along!
Gallagher & Lyle’s hits were “Heart on my Sleeve” & “I Want To Stay With You”
I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonite – Boyce & Hart
Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart were well-known for their writing ability – “Come A Little Bit Closer”, “Pretty Little Angel Eyes”, many of the Monkees big hits – “I Wanna Be Free”, “Words”, “I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone” and “Last Train To Clarksville”. They had a few hits of their own and this was the most successful one, peaking at #8 in the winter of 1968. I still have this 45, but I wore it out a long time ago. You gotta love the outfits in this video 😉
Being a music geek (okay, nerd, period), I actually kept a top 15 of my own for a number of years (good thing I did, there is so much music I would have forgotten about otherwise), and an annual Top 101 from 1968 to 1972. I compiled a Top 111 list from all 5 years in 1973 and this song was #11!
For more on Boyce & Hart, check out my podcast featuring much of their music: Boyce & Hart podcast
Musical Imprint – Scene from “Criminal Minds”
From Criminal Minds episode “Unusual Suspects” Season 7 episode 12. Still looking for a video to add here
Jennifer Jareau: Evanescence, Linkin Park, and Nickelback.
Derek Morgan: So Herman Scobie’s into that nu-metal goth stuff.
Jennifer Jareau: Yeah, and his tramp stamp probably spells out *Massengill*. This guy doesn’t ever have any Rage Against The Machine. I rock.
Dr. Spencer Reid: How old were you when you started listening to that band?
Jennifer Jareau: I was probably a teenager. Why?
Dr. Spencer Reid: You know, 14 is when we start to make our own musical choices. Our cognitive development evolves at that age and we start to form our own cultural identity.
Derek Morgan: We stop listening to the music that our parents put on and we start listening to the music that our friends listen to.
Dr. Spencer Reid: And those musical experiences imprint on us. Our hormonal surges as teenagers may make the choices seem more personal and passionate. And later on in life we might experiment with other musical selections, but no music ever impacts us as much as that which we listen to at age 14.
Jennifer Jareau: Herman Scobie’s what, 30?
Derek Morgan: If that.
Jennifer Jareau: Okay, so mid to late ’90s is when he started to take music seriously, stuff like this.
Derek Morgan: And the Piano Man’s songs were all early ’80s.
Dr. Spencer Reid: Which means the signature doesn’t fit. Herman Scobie’s too young to be the Piano Man.
I remember listening to this conversation and thinking it was interesting that Reid chose 14. I was 14 when I made the switch from my parents music, mostly my Dad’s Country music, to the rock and pop music of the day, that impacts what is contained in this blog, as you will notice. Many of the artists who were active in 1967 are favorites of mine, but even beyond that, the songs they released from mid 1967 through 1968 are usually my favorite songs by that artist or group (“Tuesday Afternoon, Forever Afternoon” – The Moody Blues, “To Love Somebody” – The Bee Gees, “Thank The Lord For The Nighttime” – Neil Diamond, just to name a few).
I have talked to others about this and it isn’t universal, I was the oldest of five, but I find that those who grew up with an older sibling hit this stage earlier as if on the coattails of that older sibling.
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