I first used ‘Hello, Mellow’ six years ago. It had fewer than 200 views on YouTube. Now, it has more than 500. Progress!
And here’s the white version of Mellow, which is actually yellow.
Category: Music
Small Records With Big Rabbit Holes
Looking at the charts Denro provided in the previous post, I see ‘Nothing But a Heartache’ by the Flirtations. A powerful, catchy record that deserved to do better, it peaked at #34, even lower than ‘Will You Be Staying After Sunday’.
How did a 1968 Psychedelic UK record that didn’t chart in America (was it even released here?) …
… get reworked into the Soul Pop sound of ‘Nothing But a Heartache’?
Here’s the explanation. Its history starts with a former Beatle.
Five years later came this Sugar Pop classic.
Setting the Record Straight on Records
Denro has replied to my recent request for clarification on two favorite singles from ’69 — ‘Will You Be Staying After Sunday’ and ‘Morning Girl’. The big surprise for me was that WABC didn’t play the Peppermint Rainbow’s record. Doing well in Los Angeles and Boston apparently wasn’t enough to compensate for the lack of airplay in New York.
It may have only hit #32 on Billboard, but ‘Will You Be Staying After Sunday’ peaked at #12 on WRKO and #11 on WMEX. I know, because I bought the original 45, probably at Woolworths in the Falmouth Plaza.
Later, when I started getting Joel Whitburn’s books, I was always confused by lower charting songs that I knew were “hits” in my mind. Then I discovered the treasure trove of local Radio Charts!
Of course, if you had stayed in Norwalk and listened to WABC, you were out of luck. It never charted – nor was it apparently played – on WABC. But it was big on local CT stations!
It reached #4 on KHJ – 3 weeks before! The week that WYBSAS peaked on RKO, Morning Girl was making its debut.
1969-04-24 — WRKO 680 AM (Boston, Massachusetts)
The Neon Light Orchestra
Before the Electric Light Orchestra in England, there was America’s Neon Philharmonic. ‘Morning Girl’, was released on April 5, 1969, just one week before ‘Will You Be Staying After Sunday’. The Neon Philharmonic peaked at #17 on Billboard, compared to #32 for the Peppermint Rainbow.
Forty years ago, Tipper Gore put attention on song lyrics in popular songs.
Songs from the Sixties about sex had lyrics that were coded, rather than explicit: “How’d you sleep last night? You’re several ages older now.”
My father would immediately turn off the car’s AM radio when Gary Puckett’s ‘Young Girl’ started playing on WABC. A #2 hit that debuted in March, 1968, what I paid attention to weren’t the lyrics, but the record’s sound.
Peppermint, Lemon and Steam
Here again is The Peppermint Rainbow’s delightful single, “Will You Be Staying After Sunday”, this time in stereo. Be sure to let it play through all the way to the end. The lyrics of this song are transcendent.
The group covered the Lemon Piper’s “Green Tambourine”.
The instrumental track is so close to the original recording, it must be either the same or an alternate take from the same session.
Which isn’t surprising, as the co-writer, arranger and producer of both recordings was Paul Leka.
“Green Tambourine” was a #1 hit released on December 16, 1967.
Leka’s name is on another single from 1969.
Released October 18, “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” didn’t stall on its way up the charts. It spent two weeks at #1.
“Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” and “Will You Be Staying After Sunday” are most likely not mono mixes, but simple fold-downs from the stereo mixes, as became the common practice in ’69.
Will You Be Staying After Sunday
Don’t let lonely Monday come again
Will you be staying after Sunday or go home on Monday
Will you be staying after Sunday or go home
Your lips are warm on Friday night
The next two days you hold me tight
But when it’s done, you always run, and I’m alone.
Will you be staying after Sunday or go home on Monday
I’ll keep waiting for that one day you’ll be mine
I’d give the world to keep you here
Why do you need to disappear
And when I press you do your best to stall for time.
I wouldn’t try to own your soul
You can be free
I only want you here each night
Loving me
Will you be staying after Sunday or go home on Monday
We gotta let this feeling grow or let it end
You say you care well if you do
Don’t ever go I’m begging you
Don’t let lonely Monday come again
Will you be staying after Sunday or go home on Monday
Will you be staying after Sunday or go home on Monday
Will you be staying after Sunday or go home on Monday (fades out)
Songwriters: Al Kasha / Joel Hirschhorn
Stalled Sunny Songs
This superbly produced single was released on April 12, 1969. Opening like a Four Seasons song, it should have been a top ten hit on Billboard, but it peaked at #32. Sisters Bonnie and Pat Lamdin provide the glorious vocals.
Here’s one, from 1966, that didn’t even chart on Billboard. Sincerely, this was how it felt being young in Christian Fellowship.