I was in Trader Joes the other day and this was playing softly in the background...I didn't think much of it and went humming along...until the coda started and this wave of nostalgia swept over me. Powerful stuff. Very sweet song.
The other unique and wonderful thing about the 60's and its music was the message: it was about peace and love and caring. No hate, no glamorizing pimps or gang or drug dealers...I thank God I was lucky enough to be a teen during that time. The Beatles, Stones, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, Cream, etc.etc. Try and top that!!!
@crushsatan---how would I know? It is like asking me how do I feel about the 1920's which I can assure you I wasn't around for. Still, we can all agree that the 60's was a unique decade!
The late summer days of 1968... driving with the windows open... the scent of goldenrod blooming in August... going out to the beach.... listening to great music on AM radio, and not having a real care in the world. How could it ever be any better than that?
I'm so glad I had the chance to have watch these group's on so many Variety shows.3-network station's across the nation,Such talent truly brings a tear to my eye,to have wittenessed; the birth of the creativity of technology,just for the pleasure of sight and sound!
@MultiCodger-- couldn't agree with you more brother. The music was truly better back then and though our society was going through a great change then I think most people felt they were Americans. Nowadays its all identity politics. How about we are all just Americans period sans the hyphens!!!!
as a person who is considered a modern day leper scorned by society when living in the poconos in 2003-2005 i would play this song.....sometimes the beauty of it would be uplifting other times oh well...
@Fuzzmanz Welcome home, brother. I loved this when I got home from being a Doc and asst. patrol leader with 1st Force Recon. Just back last spring with my 18 year old son soon for the Corps. Took a while; but we won. God bless, Michael
@justTrinidad--Times were so different back then that I have a hard conceptualizing that I actually lived back then. I have written a number of short stories about the era (none of them worth reading by anyone else then me) and I have more planned. I have been banging away on a story from 1966 for about a year now (80 pages in desparate need of editing) but between a demanding job, exercise, reading and working around the home time is unavailable for me to finish it. Maybe the upcoming year!
OMG..the message of our music was so positive and loving...I'm 58 now and have heard nothing that reflects the loving and positive feeling of this song...and I'm still looking...to the current generation..peace and love is the answer....end all wars and love each other.
For the past week at bedtime, I start up Pandora and put in "Spanky And Our Gang" and get, not only them but an assortment of this genre to send me back "home", including The Rascals, The Mamas and The Papas, Simon and Garfunkel, The Box Tops, The Turtles, The Grass Roots...I could go on, but those you who know what I mean, know what I mean...
Getting grears in a 1967 Buick Grand Sport with 425 horse power 3/4 race cam! Racing on High street in Poittstown pa. Missed 3 third grear and had to shut her down.
There were alot of women I wanted to get to know after I came back from Vietnam,but I had only had 30 days before they shipped me off to Holy Loch, Scotland and the Sub Tender, USS Simon Lake. This song was #17 on the BILLBOARDS TOP 40 at that time.
sixtiesforever, I don't think Richard Nixon tore this country apart to the degree that you do. This country was falling apart well before Richard Nixon took office with the Viet Nam War, race conflict, the Cold War, and student protests. In some ways the 60's was pretty hellish despite the good music. This may be an over simplification but the 60's put us on course for where we are today with continuing political polarization and exploding deficits... things destined with or without Nixon.
@sixtiesforever1966---it was a great time, even if you were a little kid like I was (4-14). The panorama of the world was that all the social ills of it could be cured by rock n roll in the age of Aquarius. As time went on this turned out not to be the case but we started with JFK asking what we could do for our country and ended the decade with Richard Nixon tearing the country apart--what an era!
The great years of pop music the 60's, This song always brings me back to the girl in high school geometry class that sat behind me and I never had the guts to ask out. But I still have a great memory every time I hear it. Thanks for posting!
I hit my teens in the early 80's and I am truely and Glam or Hair Metal fan BUT, This is what I grew up on. I love all of these old tunes. Reminds me of being a young kid in the 70's and singing along with my mom in her Big Black 1970 Chevy. Those were the day. I miss them. Thanks for posting this.
Psychedelic Muzak "The Elevator Years"... Our folks listened to some pretty cool stuff back in the day. I like playing this through my windows media player with the visualizations set on Alchemy Random
My parents grew up in the 60's and this is the type of music I was raised with! Absolutely love everything about this song-so beautiful and meaningful!!! I'm only 31 years old but I appreciate beautiful music! Thank you so much for posting this song. God bless. :)
I have this album,,,,vinyl. Ive had it for years. This band was a lot more than they seemed to be. I dont think of them as a simple "pop" group at all. This album cover says much more than that ( if youve ever really looked at it well)
It also has the original POSTER inside! :)) (wow! who knew?) well...mine still has the poster.Its so cool to have. Loved this growin up. Still do.. Thank you for posting this. Made my mornin~Peace
Enjoy reading everyone's comments. As long is there is YouTube, there are memories we can bring back of the 60's. That decade, for better or worse, will never return but at least we can bring back our memories of that long passed decade through its music which is by far the best decade for rock and roll, pop, and folk music!!
@chuckbuckbobuck It was the variety of the music that made the 60's so great and memorable to those of us who came of age during that time. Soft rock, hard rock, middle of the road pop, soul, psychedelic, progressive rock, country, folk rock and everything in between were played side by side on the radio. You really had to be there to appreciate it.
OMG! your comments is Amazing..... I feel the same way! don't get down on yourself.... just love yourself and send your love to Betty now, she will feel it, she's probably thinking of you.... beautiful innocent time.... thanks for this song, God Bless :)
I don't know if I am old or just feel it really deep inside me. It's one of those things that's so beautiful it hurts. And it was a '66 catalina. Lynda was so young and so beautiful. And her and I will be that young forever in my memory. Thank you so much for this song.
@reine71658 And for me it was my fathers 66 Pontiac "Executive" and my first love ...Janice.I lived fairly close to Spanky Mcfarland and loved Sp. & Our Gang. What a beautiful voice !! What a time to be alive.....& then came the war....good bye innocence & hello Casualties /Hospitals/Surgery's/Emergency Rm. duties. Peace
Seems the music back in the day, our younger days, was more "friendly" than the current songs... you from those days know what I am saying...
manhattanbeefman, you stated it exactly as I was thinking, except I had a 62 chevy! Shame how it is gone forever; well, until a tune like this one brings it all back!
I think this one reminds us all of that someone we could never quite work up the nerve to talk to or ask out. This one is up there with "Birthday Morning" by the Association as nothing more than beautifully unique...and powerful. God bless the long lost 60's.
This was originally released on vinyl in mono. I'm usually a traditionalist, but the stereo CD version really brings out the instruments. Especially during the instrumental segue where one channel pops on (2:12).
I'm old too, and yes long lost loves seem to be recollected when you hear a song such as this from those "good old days" from long ago. I know where you are coming from MANHATTANBEEFMAN. Maybe she'd feel the same way if she heard this song again....here's hoping she does.
This is absolutely one of the best songs of the late 60s when I was attending Bethel College in St. Paul, MN. Shortly after this song came out in 1968, I met a beautiful young woman named Jenne with long, flowing dark brown hair to her waist and a smile that would warm any one's soul. While our time together was short, she left her footprints in my heart and just last week we met again after all these years. Our time together was such a blessing and she will always remain in my heart!
THIS SONG REMINDS ME OF A MIX OF MOODY BLUES AND 5TH DIMENSION ...NOW THATS AN UNUSUAL COMBO! BUT A SIGNATURE SOUND OF 68...ON A UNBELIVEABLE NOTE. I ONLY HEARD OF THIS SONG RECENTLY ON A SOFT ROCK STATION ON AM.....IM 40 AND FIGURED ID HEARD AT SOME POINT IN THE PAST, BUT NEVER RECALLED IT. bUT BETTER LATE THAN NEVER...
This level of music artistry is indicative of the amount of work the artists put into getting the best production, and of having the right balance of harmonies to express a very specific emotion. I am uplifted each time I hear this song, and transported to a place where only this kind of music can take me. Thank you.
I love this song so much but I can never get through it without tearing up. I have visions of all the young fellas heading off to Vietnam who would never come back. We were soldiers but we were also still kids simply wanting to chase girls, drive fast cars and enjoy the companionship of a sweetheart on a warm sunny day. This song still haunts me dispite it's beautiful message.
They say you can't travel back in time , but with music it's possible. This song brings me back to Saturday drives with my parents riding in the back seat of my Dad's '65 Bonneville 2 door hardtop with the red interior, great times ,great tune!
my god, this is beautiful. i am crying right now. from the beauty of the song and from the memories it has brought me. i am old. this song reminds me of my lost youth and the wonderful girl i loved in the '60's. how i would love, again, to be in my '65 ford galaxie, listening to this song, speeding down the highway with Betty by my side. those were the best years of my life and i did not realize it. i miss those years, i miss Betty and i miss who i was then.
@lactatingdog ...if....if only to go back. I'd do it better than before, but I think I'd hope to be as innocent as I was then. God, we had such hope and dreams...anything was possible. Yes, it's over. But my friend, all those good times we had then and the way we feel about them now...are pointers to a higher beauty that is ahead of each of us. By God, it was so beautiful in the 60's...but heaven is so much more beautiful.
@lactatingdog yeah man..I feel as you do..best time of my life..being a kid in the 60's..I raise my glass with you and toast the good old days my friend..cry those tears ..they are a tribute to wonderful warm times
@lactatingdog I hear all that you're saying, lactatingdog. Every word of it. Perhaps it's time to get back to who you were and lose the lactatingdog moniker. We all drive our cars into dead ends once in a while. Every darn one of us. I say that with respect. I too sometimes take a hard look at myself and say....My God....who the "F" am I and what happened to that guy I used to be? Best of luck, bro. Best of luck.
@lactatingdog And by the way, Lactatingdog....you sharing with all of us in here that you were crying over this song for your lost youth, your '65 Galaxie and your co-pilot back then "Betty".....that tells me you're a man's man....and you got some real SOUL sir. God Bless from a guy who cries over old memories and lost friends too. And....I grew up in the back of a 66 Galaxie Ranch Wagon and a 67 Galaxie 4 door to boot. Even threw the 67 into drive after going 40mph in reverse..it SURVIVED!
@bkeay100 Yea, when members of the band have to give their lives in a far away shithole....For a nothing cause....How did you put it?...Oh yea..."Life was easier then"....And I am a vet, so lets not go down the dumb hippie road.......I mean you no ill feelings.... I Just don't understand what you were thinking when you came up with that.
1968...When you could call the radio station and dedicate songs...new girl at school and in chorus...chorus car wash/fundraiser...met her when she threw a soapy sponge at me...that night, I dedicated this song to her, via radio...next Monday in the hall, she smiled and said "Me too." We dated for about 6 months...lol...til she got to know me. True story.
@altoidsmit You just dropped a bomb on me with this. I grew up listening to this tune. And now that you've put it out there, you've hit on something that I never put together. They do sound like the 5th Dimension a bit. They're in the same genre of music. I just love where this tune takes me as far as the memories go. Just like the 5th Dimension.
This group had such a smooth melodic style with tight harmonies. Spanky was a top notch vocalist who really stood out. She should have had a bigger career. I was fortunate enough to see them in concert with Vanilla Fudge and The Bee Gees.
cruzing fairmont park in riverside on sundays with my new wife in our 1967 rs/ss camaro 396 4-speed, what fabulous times those were, I would love to go back to that! If only for a visit. This music was so fitting for the summer of love..poppa
I was born in '53 and I've loved this song from the day I first heard it...especially the coda at the end. When I hear this song I think of "her" who I've been looking for so long...I actually fantasize about finally finding her...then the song ends and reality returns.
I associate this 1968 song with someone I knew for eight years before going on a date with her. She's a physician in Minneapolis now. She's never married either. What a waste. In '68, she was a HS junior, I just finished college.
Cleen and DJ Hoppa Get to Know You - did a very creative take on this in their video posted on Youtube.. /caution a few bad words if you're sensitive.
I really enjoy this song but at the same time it's sad. They guy finally finds the woman who he considers "the one" for him. She's his world and then he loses her. The saying goes "It's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all." I'm not so sure this is true.
Another "oldster": born in 1955, grew up during the 60's, high school and college during the 70's. OH HELL YEAH, THIS IS MUSIC! I've re-discovered this group and, like you, am just blown away, with the timelessness, the ethereal nature of their hits!
Pretty obvious, they're were competing, with the Mamas and the Papas. All they needed was the face of Michelle Phillips! "Spanky" could hold her own, with Cass Elliot. Thanks for posting the music, for listening. Peace & Love
@thespotteddog Generally speaking, I would agree with that, but there are still bands that do good stuff, like tori amos, K T Tunsstall, aND one of the best in the world, Axl Rose. Times change and so does the music, but there still great musicians out there.
"Beautiful"...."Remembering My Childhood" - "And The Good Times That We Had Growing Up, Back In The Day"!
poosie52 1 day ago
A great song ..........thanks
gzirastokie 1 day ago
I'm 24 and love listening to the music of the 60's 70's and 80's.
fcampbell696 2 days ago
I was in Trader Joes the other day and this was playing softly in the background...I didn't think much of it and went humming along...until the coda started and this wave of nostalgia swept over me. Powerful stuff. Very sweet song.
jarchitect 1 week ago
The other unique and wonderful thing about the 60's and its music was the message: it was about peace and love and caring. No hate, no glamorizing pimps or gang or drug dealers...I thank God I was lucky enough to be a teen during that time. The Beatles, Stones, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, Cream, etc.etc. Try and top that!!!
paleblue498 3 weeks ago 2
@paleblue498 but there was no COMPTERS back then how did we survive
elvispresley718 3 weeks ago
@elvispresley718 Survived by being people interacting with other people, and not a machine. That's how.
JET997u 1 week ago 2
@crushsatan---how would I know? It is like asking me how do I feel about the 1920's which I can assure you I wasn't around for. Still, we can all agree that the 60's was a unique decade!
chuckbuckbobuck 3 weeks ago
does anybody remember the movie in health class about a kid who got stabbed and this song was on it in the eighties
montroclq 3 weeks ago
Love this!!
gloriafiona3 3 weeks ago
I'll never figured out how Spanky never thought this would be a hit.
StanBennet 3 weeks ago
beautiful song..thanx for sharing!!
ger221054 3 weeks ago
The late summer days of 1968... driving with the windows open... the scent of goldenrod blooming in August... going out to the beach.... listening to great music on AM radio, and not having a real care in the world. How could it ever be any better than that?
JET997u 4 weeks ago 2
@JET997u Couldnt have said it better myself JET
99ontguy1 1 week ago
oh those happy care free days.....gone but not forgotten. thanks Spanky
turkey61 1 month ago
I'm so glad I had the chance to have watch these group's on so many Variety shows.3-network station's across the nation,Such talent truly brings a tear to my eye,to have wittenessed; the birth of the creativity of technology,just for the pleasure of sight and sound!
PathfinderMac 1 month ago
@MultiCodger-- couldn't agree with you more brother. The music was truly better back then and though our society was going through a great change then I think most people felt they were Americans. Nowadays its all identity politics. How about we are all just Americans period sans the hyphens!!!!
chuckbuckbobuck 1 month ago
as a person who is considered a modern day leper scorned by society when living in the poconos in 2003-2005 i would play this song.....sometimes the beauty of it would be uplifting other times oh well...
deeva56 1 month ago
like a sunny summer day at the beach back there somewhere in the mist..in my memoriy
TheVineyarder 1 month ago
tunes I took w/me to Okinawa in 68, but had to leave my LP's when I headed to Vietnam in early 69 and joined up w/ India 3/26
Fuzzmanz 1 month ago
@Fuzzmanz Welcome home, brother. I loved this when I got home from being a Doc and asst. patrol leader with 1st Force Recon. Just back last spring with my 18 year old son soon for the Corps. Took a while; but we won. God bless, Michael
rcndoc 1 month ago
One of the unforgettable songs from my childhood. The coda still gives me goosebumps.
ejourneys 1 month ago
@ejourneys yeah its great
elvispresley718 3 weeks ago
great music, great memories from my best years. I'd live it all over again.
theJetta1995 1 month ago
elvispresley718 Get over what you Moron?
jimblue39 1 month ago
@justTrinidad--Times were so different back then that I have a hard conceptualizing that I actually lived back then. I have written a number of short stories about the era (none of them worth reading by anyone else then me) and I have more planned. I have been banging away on a story from 1966 for about a year now (80 pages in desparate need of editing) but between a demanding job, exercise, reading and working around the home time is unavailable for me to finish it. Maybe the upcoming year!
chuckbuckbobuck 1 month ago 2
@chuckbuckbobuck, Wishing you the very best, for me that was living...sure miss it..Mike
MultiCodger 1 month ago
awesome ..........tune.
008BUCKINSSR 1 month ago
it was great growing up in the 60s
hunter147able 2 months ago 12
@hunter147able Yes it was.
7jpt 3 weeks ago
it's hard to beieve led zep and these guys were makin g music at the same time
elvispresley718 2 months ago
OMG..the message of our music was so positive and loving...I'm 58 now and have heard nothing that reflects the loving and positive feeling of this song...and I'm still looking...to the current generation..peace and love is the answer....end all wars and love each other.
flydadj 2 months ago 3
Certainly,This Song Takes Me Back
campbellbossier 2 months ago
A Girl asked me the other night and I quote..I do not even know you..I said listen maybe you will get it!
appreciateok 2 months ago
A song that brings back memories from High School. The 60's, a great time to grow up in.
4130Oz 2 months ago 2
Mesmerizing yes, and a bit haunting and sad for me, but one of my all time favorites nonetheless. An awesome song!
jjtopp99 2 months ago
I was in grade school back them , thought this was Mamas and the Papas .But I figured it out .Mesmerizing song .
MrWillie5877 2 months ago
For the past week at bedtime, I start up Pandora and put in "Spanky And Our Gang" and get, not only them but an assortment of this genre to send me back "home", including The Rascals, The Mamas and The Papas, Simon and Garfunkel, The Box Tops, The Turtles, The Grass Roots...I could go on, but those you who know what I mean, know what I mean...
mproviz8r 2 months ago
I MISS U DEBBIE L
hunter147able 2 months ago
Getting grears in a 1967 Buick Grand Sport with 425 horse power 3/4 race cam! Racing on High street in Poittstown pa. Missed 3 third grear and had to shut her down.
Kinseydsp 2 months ago
4 people dislike this.... Must be U S congressman
bkeay100 2 months ago
There were alot of women I wanted to get to know after I came back from Vietnam,but I had only had 30 days before they shipped me off to Holy Loch, Scotland and the Sub Tender, USS Simon Lake. This song was #17 on the BILLBOARDS TOP 40 at that time.
surfside48 2 months ago 9
sixtiesforever, I don't think Richard Nixon tore this country apart to the degree that you do. This country was falling apart well before Richard Nixon took office with the Viet Nam War, race conflict, the Cold War, and student protests. In some ways the 60's was pretty hellish despite the good music. This may be an over simplification but the 60's put us on course for where we are today with continuing political polarization and exploding deficits... things destined with or without Nixon.
529wes 2 months ago
Virgil, When I hear some of this music,I think of you and Sunday afternoon drives.
phylliselm 2 months ago
Really beautiful song. Thanks for posting it.
tmmmviii 3 months ago
@sixtiesforever1966---it was a great time, even if you were a little kid like I was (4-14). The panorama of the world was that all the social ills of it could be cured by rock n roll in the age of Aquarius. As time went on this turned out not to be the case but we started with JFK asking what we could do for our country and ended the decade with Richard Nixon tearing the country apart--what an era!
chuckbuckbobuck 3 months ago
Aw Man so so mellow. One of my all time favs.
4774patrick 3 months ago
@4774patrick
Agreed.
tmmmviii 3 months ago
The "aaaahhhhh" falling part is one of the most gorgeous musical moments ever. It gives me goosebumps even now, in 2011!
mrsmagloo 3 months ago
What a moving and heart wrenching song that reminds me of my teen years in the late 60,s! Oh the memories and friends long gone but not forgotten!
TigerTrak 3 months ago
wonderful song. Our HS reunion DVD had this song on it!!! brought tears my eyes!!
rita7662 3 months ago in playlist YouTube Mix for Spanky & Our Gang 2
The great years of pop music the 60's, This song always brings me back to the girl in high school geometry class that sat behind me and I never had the guts to ask out. But I still have a great memory every time I hear it. Thanks for posting!
ltpls1 3 months ago 2
I hit my teens in the early 80's and I am truely and Glam or Hair Metal fan BUT, This is what I grew up on. I love all of these old tunes. Reminds me of being a young kid in the 70's and singing along with my mom in her Big Black 1970 Chevy. Those were the day. I miss them. Thanks for posting this.
THEATREofPAIN270 3 months ago
think you're clouding up npw?
try to last through the original, long version...
dreemeagle 3 months ago
Memories of lost loves from the late '60s and early ,70's
surfside48 3 months ago
and suddenly I'm 8 years old again watching this on "The Commander Tom Show" after school, totally mesmerized by this.....
galenmark 3 months ago
Oh Lord thank you... one of my all time favs!
1960sgirl1 3 months ago
Psychedelic Muzak "The Elevator Years"... Our folks listened to some pretty cool stuff back in the day. I like playing this through my windows media player with the visualizations set on Alchemy Random
markstarr66 3 months ago
I've always loved this song...why didn't we ever see them on t.v. or anything. I don't remember ever seeing them perform on any shows.
greenpilgrim50 3 months ago
Once I thought I found her
Doce built my world around her
Noe ewe Noe ewe Noe ewe
harponercam 3 months ago
It reminds me of a date I had this week! lucky me! I still have my original album with this on it. What great times. Where are they now?
KayeKPWhite 3 months ago
It reminds me of a date I had this week! lucky me!
KayeKPWhite 3 months ago
My parents grew up in the 60's and this is the type of music I was raised with! Absolutely love everything about this song-so beautiful and meaningful!!! I'm only 31 years old but I appreciate beautiful music! Thank you so much for posting this song. God bless. :)
AlmaLE80 3 months ago
This ecstatic little heartbreaking song.
moussiagilda 3 months ago
to an old love from way back when Bev Parrott
erniesmallwood1 3 months ago
I have this album,,,,vinyl. Ive had it for years. This band was a lot more than they seemed to be. I dont think of them as a simple "pop" group at all. This album cover says much more than that ( if youve ever really looked at it well)
It also has the original POSTER inside! :)) (wow! who knew?) well...mine still has the poster.Its so cool to have. Loved this growin up. Still do.. Thank you for posting this. Made my mornin~Peace
NoRosesForMe 3 months ago
love it! never heard this one before!!
samspace81 4 months ago
wheres the "slipper" intro
19Chuck80 4 months ago
Simplemente perfecta !
gilberto55255 4 months ago
Enjoy reading everyone's comments. As long is there is YouTube, there are memories we can bring back of the 60's. That decade, for better or worse, will never return but at least we can bring back our memories of that long passed decade through its music which is by far the best decade for rock and roll, pop, and folk music!!
chuckbuckbobuck 4 months ago 25
@chuckbuckbobuck Yes most of the comments are worth reading and the stories that they tell.
YouTube brought us all together with the memories we bring with us.
Read On Brother!
sixtiesforever1966 3 months ago
@chuckbuckbobuck OH Like your name game., shirley ellis
sixtiesforever1966 3 months ago
@chuckbuckbobuck Amen friend- Always
justTrinidad 1 month ago
Comment removed
crushsatan 3 weeks ago
@chuckbuckbobuck It was the variety of the music that made the 60's so great and memorable to those of us who came of age during that time. Soft rock, hard rock, middle of the road pop, soul, psychedelic, progressive rock, country, folk rock and everything in between were played side by side on the radio. You really had to be there to appreciate it.
songster56 3 weeks ago
OMG! your comments is Amazing..... I feel the same way! don't get down on yourself.... just love yourself and send your love to Betty now, she will feel it, she's probably thinking of you.... beautiful innocent time.... thanks for this song, God Bless :)
Raquel5750 4 months ago 2
I don't know if I am old or just feel it really deep inside me. It's one of those things that's so beautiful it hurts. And it was a '66 catalina. Lynda was so young and so beautiful. And her and I will be that young forever in my memory. Thank you so much for this song.
reine71658 4 months ago
@reine71658 And for me it was my fathers 66 Pontiac "Executive" and my first love ...Janice.I lived fairly close to Spanky Mcfarland and loved Sp. & Our Gang. What a beautiful voice !! What a time to be alive.....& then came the war....good bye innocence & hello Casualties /Hospitals/Surgery's/Emergency Rm. duties. Peace
dbrinkm1 3 months ago
No matter what type of music you like or don't like, if you don't like this song, you are impossible to please!
sebring884 4 months ago 2
Seems the music back in the day, our younger days, was more "friendly" than the current songs... you from those days know what I am saying...
manhattanbeefman, you stated it exactly as I was thinking, except I had a 62 chevy! Shame how it is gone forever; well, until a tune like this one brings it all back!
sparx1951 4 months ago
@sparx1951
OOPS my comment was directed toward lactatingdog,
Don't get old! LOL!
sparx1951 4 months ago
I think this one reminds us all of that someone we could never quite work up the nerve to talk to or ask out. This one is up there with "Birthday Morning" by the Association as nothing more than beautifully unique...and powerful. God bless the long lost 60's.
bixbyglaser 4 months ago
This was originally released on vinyl in mono. I'm usually a traditionalist, but the stereo CD version really brings out the instruments. Especially during the instrumental segue where one channel pops on (2:12).
OffTheCharts365 4 months ago
I love this group, they had such a great sound.
jimblue39 4 months ago
@jimblue39 it's just rap now get over it!
elvispresley718 1 month ago
Such a heartfelt song.
sunni643 4 months ago
Thanks, gang- the days of smokestacks are done. What a piece of work. Sunday will never be the same...
Paulieford 4 months ago
i feel sorry for the ones who did not grow up with this song and music like this
I think this country would be a better place
bmoore591 4 months ago 2
This is pretty ok and good,but i seriously don't understand why some
people say that this their favorite all time song.
Pentagonshark666 4 months ago
@Pentagonshark666 maybe be cause it's the coda or the bridge that's so unusual
elvispresley718 2 months ago
one of my favorite romantic melodies. I love this song
huitzil07 4 months ago
I'm old too, and yes long lost loves seem to be recollected when you hear a song such as this from those "good old days" from long ago. I know where you are coming from MANHATTANBEEFMAN. Maybe she'd feel the same way if she heard this song again....here's hoping she does.
mrbigkell 4 months ago
An Absolute Gem, Thanks boswell69.
badoocee 4 months ago
it brings back great memories for me aiso
gds765red 4 months ago
This is absolutely one of the best songs of the late 60s when I was attending Bethel College in St. Paul, MN. Shortly after this song came out in 1968, I met a beautiful young woman named Jenne with long, flowing dark brown hair to her waist and a smile that would warm any one's soul. While our time together was short, she left her footprints in my heart and just last week we met again after all these years. Our time together was such a blessing and she will always remain in my heart!
mnswede55 4 months ago 8
@mnswede55....poignant, touching words of a good man.
bharfarar 4 months ago
@bharfarar
Amen
7771sandi 4 months ago
THIS SONG REMINDS ME OF A MIX OF MOODY BLUES AND 5TH DIMENSION ...NOW THATS AN UNUSUAL COMBO! BUT A SIGNATURE SOUND OF 68...ON A UNBELIVEABLE NOTE. I ONLY HEARD OF THIS SONG RECENTLY ON A SOFT ROCK STATION ON AM.....IM 40 AND FIGURED ID HEARD AT SOME POINT IN THE PAST, BUT NEVER RECALLED IT. bUT BETTER LATE THAN NEVER...
jepsipepsi17 4 months ago
@jepsipepsi17 even if it's an old song if your'e hearing it for the first time it's a new song
elvispresley718 1 week ago
IMO, one of the ten best songs of the 1960's.
pjstrupp 4 months ago
One amazing song I will never forget!! I love the "dramatic instrumental" here and wish it were really long----I'd listen to it for hours!
moodygal51 4 months ago
so love the ending of this song. thanks for posting.
divaenvy 5 months ago
This level of music artistry is indicative of the amount of work the artists put into getting the best production, and of having the right balance of harmonies to express a very specific emotion. I am uplifted each time I hear this song, and transported to a place where only this kind of music can take me. Thank you.
Endrium100 5 months ago
PEORIA , ILLINOIS OWN...
nowatout 5 months ago
Probably one of the most power songs in all of history. This one does me in ,
The sad part is they could have done so much more , Sad
vegasshowgirlshoes 5 months ago
I love this song so much but I can never get through it without tearing up. I have visions of all the young fellas heading off to Vietnam who would never come back. We were soldiers but we were also still kids simply wanting to chase girls, drive fast cars and enjoy the companionship of a sweetheart on a warm sunny day. This song still haunts me dispite it's beautiful message.
pennridgeboy 5 months ago 2
I find this song incredibly soothing and it reminds me of my childhood and the people I loved who have left this world.
eileenbrid1 5 months ago 3
To Grace at the school dance 1968, Im sorry I was so shy. I wish I had a time machine.
MrJohnnyrace 5 months ago 3
The chase....beautiful song of potential romance....
centralparocker 5 months ago
the best of time
dmiked2000 5 months ago
They say you can't travel back in time , but with music it's possible. This song brings me back to Saturday drives with my parents riding in the back seat of my Dad's '65 Bonneville 2 door hardtop with the red interior, great times ,great tune!
oldaze5647 5 months ago
wow!!!! I saw them in concert @ the 'UM'....they were really FAB!!!
dianesingleton674 5 months ago
Nam flashback, man............ another Nam flashback ;-D
surfstrat59 5 months ago
What a groovy tune this is! Thank God I found this awesome toe-tapper so quickly! :)
califgirl101 5 months ago
thats a love song
gds765red 5 months ago
my god, this is beautiful. i am crying right now. from the beauty of the song and from the memories it has brought me. i am old. this song reminds me of my lost youth and the wonderful girl i loved in the '60's. how i would love, again, to be in my '65 ford galaxie, listening to this song, speeding down the highway with Betty by my side. those were the best years of my life and i did not realize it. i miss those years, i miss Betty and i miss who i was then.
lactatingdog 5 months ago 52
@lactatingdog now you're making me cry! This song does bring back some memories tho
mojorising0071950 4 months ago
@lactatingdog ...if....if only to go back. I'd do it better than before, but I think I'd hope to be as innocent as I was then. God, we had such hope and dreams...anything was possible. Yes, it's over. But my friend, all those good times we had then and the way we feel about them now...are pointers to a higher beauty that is ahead of each of us. By God, it was so beautiful in the 60's...but heaven is so much more beautiful.
bharfarar 4 months ago 3
@bharfarar I couldn't agree with you more! There's so many things I wish I could do over...and it really was beautiful in the '60's!
flydadj 4 months ago in playlist flydadj's favorites
@bharfarar Amen brother! I was there too...I'm 58 now and the music we had then is incredible.
flydadj 2 weeks ago
@lactatingdog Amen brother!
flydadj 4 months ago in playlist flydadj's favorites
@lactatingdog Same here!! And I had a '64 Ford Galaxie... grew up in northern CA, and this song brings back some fine memories!
ScottInVa1760 3 months ago in playlist SPANKY AND OUR GANG
@lactatingdog yeah man..I feel as you do..best time of my life..being a kid in the 60's..I raise my glass with you and toast the good old days my friend..cry those tears ..they are a tribute to wonderful warm times
TheVineyarder 3 months ago 2
@lactatingdog I hear all that you're saying, lactatingdog. Every word of it. Perhaps it's time to get back to who you were and lose the lactatingdog moniker. We all drive our cars into dead ends once in a while. Every darn one of us. I say that with respect. I too sometimes take a hard look at myself and say....My God....who the "F" am I and what happened to that guy I used to be? Best of luck, bro. Best of luck.
WickedTornado 3 months ago
@lactatingdog And by the way, Lactatingdog....you sharing with all of us in here that you were crying over this song for your lost youth, your '65 Galaxie and your co-pilot back then "Betty".....that tells me you're a man's man....and you got some real SOUL sir. God Bless from a guy who cries over old memories and lost friends too. And....I grew up in the back of a 66 Galaxie Ranch Wagon and a 67 Galaxie 4 door to boot. Even threw the 67 into drive after going 40mph in reverse..it SURVIVED!
WickedTornado 3 months ago
You sound a lot like me! Sniff
mrsmagloo 3 months ago
@lactatingdog I was there too brother...God Bless you!
flydadj 2 weeks ago
Sublime & wonderful easy listening music.
Childofthemoon1969 5 months ago
this song mellowed me out while I was over in Nam. Didn't need the drugs, I just fantasied what life would be like when I got back to Chicago.
dogleg97 5 months ago 3
@dogleg97
same here, if it wasnt for that music, i am scared what would have happened to me.
srdib1 5 months ago 2
4 people would not like to get to know you
pepemauricio 5 months ago
A wonderful tune...it only invokes good feelings...Spanky's voice was incredible.
Sami42653 5 months ago
4 people dislike this...What?
a couple members of this band gave their lives in Nam
I miss the 60's
Life was easier then
bkeay100 5 months ago 3
@bkeay100 Yea, when members of the band have to give their lives in a far away shithole....For a nothing cause....How did you put it?...Oh yea..."Life was easier then"....And I am a vet, so lets not go down the dumb hippie road.......I mean you no ill feelings.... I Just don't understand what you were thinking when you came up with that.
474TFW 5 months ago
The woman singer had one of the most beautiful voices in rock or pop music!
VABkWrm 6 months ago
@VABkWrm That's Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane.
davidhalldurham 6 months ago
This is classy music and thank goodness these tunes will live on and on...
patmray1957 6 months ago 2
Does anyone remember the rumor that the lead singer was Spanky Mcfarland's daughter?
MrBassmanjoel 6 months ago
The break in this song is absolute melodic genius! Wow!
860anthony 6 months ago 3
Really brings back a lot of Memories from that time.
americaneagle2076 6 months ago
One of the most beautiful songs ever written! This and "Everything That Touches You" by the Association.
blabblab1212 6 months ago
They should make a rap version of this song! Wouldn't that be ccccOOOOOL? HAHAHAHAHA. Just kidding! You didn't think I was serious did you?
blabblab1212 6 months ago
@blabblab1212 yer scaring me now
elvispresley718 1 month ago
1968...When you could call the radio station and dedicate songs...new girl at school and in chorus...chorus car wash/fundraiser...met her when she threw a soapy sponge at me...that night, I dedicated this song to her, via radio...next Monday in the hall, she smiled and said "Me too." We dated for about 6 months...lol...til she got to know me. True story.
MHFROX 6 months ago 7
Love this song
celestehtkj27 6 months ago
Suddenly I found her.....built my world around her....I'm still looking for her....maybe she's not there.
flydadj 6 months ago 4
reminds me of the 5th demention
altoidsmit 6 months ago 2
@altoidsmit
This song does remind me of the fifth dimension..when Elaine starts her solo...it could be Marilyn McCoo....good call
kyraleighsdad 6 months ago
@altoidsmit You just dropped a bomb on me with this. I grew up listening to this tune. And now that you've put it out there, you've hit on something that I never put together. They do sound like the 5th Dimension a bit. They're in the same genre of music. I just love where this tune takes me as far as the memories go. Just like the 5th Dimension.
IRONMANHONDO87 6 months ago 2
pure melodic genious
dougcash1 6 months ago
A perfect blend of easy listening, folk and a rock psychedlic edge...............
MultiBudboy 6 months ago 7
@MultiBudboy
Very well put :)
Jynner 6 months ago
@MultiBudboy -- you summed that up, very well
mxfog 6 months ago
Maybe my favorite song of all time - that's all!
MANHATTANBEEFMAN 6 months ago 26
This group had such a smooth melodic style with tight harmonies. Spanky was a top notch vocalist who really stood out. She should have had a bigger career. I was fortunate enough to see them in concert with Vanilla Fudge and The Bee Gees.
mortyfromc 6 months ago
Who hasn't felt like the end of this song?
someone never in love....
harponercam 6 months ago 5
cruzing fairmont park in riverside on sundays with my new wife in our 1967 rs/ss camaro 396 4-speed, what fabulous times those were, I would love to go back to that! If only for a visit. This music was so fitting for the summer of love..poppa
MrPoppa2 6 months ago 3
The music. The love. The memories.
hersheybarblues 6 months ago
I was born in '53 and I've loved this song from the day I first heard it...especially the coda at the end. When I hear this song I think of "her" who I've been looking for so long...I actually fantasize about finally finding her...then the song ends and reality returns.
flydadj 7 months ago 8
I associate this 1968 song with someone I knew for eight years before going on a date with her. She's a physician in Minneapolis now. She's never married either. What a waste. In '68, she was a HS junior, I just finished college.
7927jackpark 7 months ago
Perfect summer evening song.
rmtmiller 7 months ago 5
I heard this in Brad Jones' (The Cinema Snob) movie "Game Boys" ists at the end of the movie.
jediknight1298 7 months ago
Cleen and DJ Hoppa Get to Know You - did a very creative take on this in their video posted on Youtube.. /caution a few bad words if you're sensitive.
cheztano10 7 months ago
I really enjoy this song but at the same time it's sad. They guy finally finds the woman who he considers "the one" for him. She's his world and then he loses her. The saying goes "It's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all." I'm not so sure this is true.
meego12345 7 months ago
I'm just a young 47, I was wondering what the heck my parents were listening to. Good stuff, always embedded in my head.
Bloodstock64 7 months ago
Another "oldster": born in 1955, grew up during the 60's, high school and college during the 70's. OH HELL YEAH, THIS IS MUSIC! I've re-discovered this group and, like you, am just blown away, with the timelessness, the ethereal nature of their hits!
Pretty obvious, they're were competing, with the Mamas and the Papas. All they needed was the face of Michelle Phillips! "Spanky" could hold her own, with Cass Elliot. Thanks for posting the music, for listening. Peace & Love
cajun1955 7 months ago
This is music. There is no music anymore.
thespotteddog 7 months ago 3
@thespotteddog I was thinking the same thought yesterday. Sad.
MrCombat1965 7 months ago in playlist 1967-1973 Mellow Music Playlist
@thespotteddog Generally speaking, I would agree with that, but there are still bands that do good stuff, like tori amos, K T Tunsstall, aND one of the best in the world, Axl Rose. Times change and so does the music, but there still great musicians out there.
corgi4u 7 months ago
unfortunately we can't revisit the past but we sure can hold all those warm and fond memories close and tight within our hearts
robotchicken506 7 months ago 2