Night Owl Blues - Lovin' Spoonful

[luvtotruck]

Always Johnny's guest subtle yet cool harp lick on the titile track of CSN&Y Deja Vu:-)

[paurb789]

A great piece of music by a vastly underrated group

[doubleotwentyone]

The b side of Daydream...

[ROCKnROLL1406]

Hi YA Gang Hi YA Hi Ya Hi Ya....Pluck Your Magic Twanger Froggy

[retroron5053]

Used to play harmonica along with the 45 in my basement as a young musician. Glad to hear this one again finally. Great song. "Retro Ron" on you Tube

[moondog7786]

Well maybe, both Marine Bands and Blues Harps were made with wood back then and people used to soak them to bend the notes easier.... I think Blues Harps were made cheaper but were easier to bend...The Marine Bands costed more as it was the cadilac of the harps and took a while to break in..... I couldnt tell you the differant in sounds between them though....hehe all this talk about it im ready to buy another D harp : )

[jb92034]

@moondog7786 Saw em live one time and he head the harp in a glass and ripped it out ,slung water and played it -never forget that ! Some damn fine music !!!!!!

[tmf945]

Love to hear the other 20 minutes of this

[1qaz2wsx3edc5753]

this is the best song by the Lovin' Spoonful!!!! the guys can play the blues!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Vazmusic]

John is one of the most original blues harp geniuses ever. He just guested on my new album "Swinging guitar Sounds of Young America Volume 2" and played the harp solo in one take! it was burning. he played on my Spoonful Homage "the Moment". U can check it out at CD Baby.

Peace,

Vinnie Zummo, former Joe Jackson guitarist

[ModGirl1967]

Harp + Guitar

♪♫♪ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♪♫♪



[hotlipbrown]

Not as hard as Howard Levy !

[moondog7786]

hehe i know he is using a D harp but boy that is hard to copy

[Keyboardman88]

@moondog7786 If he's "cross harping" then the song is in the key of "A". He's using an old blues players trick. Soak the Blues Harp in water. It causes the wood to swell and narrows the pathway for the air. You get some really nasty gritty bends that way. The down side is that the harps don't last as long.

[moondog7786]

@Keyboardman88 hey, thanks for the info , ya i figured hes playing cross harp.... i get close then slack off and loose interest for awhile caus i cant master it...........i just use a special 20 D harp,, ya back in his day he was probably playing with a marine band... on Road House Blues by the Doors that is John playing harp.. i do the best on bass..

[Keyboardman88]

@moondog7786 You may be correct on the harp he's playing...but it doesn't sound like a Marine Band to me...more like a blues Harp that's been soaked in water.

[moondog7786]

i did get to see the Lovin' Spoonful do a concert here at the a akron rib fest ,it was awsom,, im not sure who filled in for who,, but im sure john wasnt there,,, there songs sounded just they recorded them... steppen wolf came afterwards,, i think it was in the 90s

[Vazmusic]

Zally was one of the greats.He never got his due as a guitar player. He could say a lot with very few notes.

[ModGirl1967]

@Vazmusic So true.

[NavyFlyer1325]

All American rock music, and most, if not all, British rock music, as well, descends from Blues and Jazz, which originated in New Orleans, Memphis, and all along the Mississippi Delta. TRUE STORY!

[moondog7786]

@NavyFlyer1325 the blues came from a 5 note scale that came from the blacks who came here as slaves, they had hard times so they sang about there hard times in this 5 note scale.. C major scale has no sharps or flats,, C blues scale b and e would be flat so they combined the the 2 scales

[triptoheaveandho]

i grew up loving the Spoons.....my first concert i learned alot about the Blues from John Sebastian

[harponercam]

Haven't heard in years- this track was on their 2 record greatest hits album on vinyl in the late 60's but disappeared on the CD collection I have now- great! love this tune- great blues harp!

[jackscholesbramall]

awesome havn't heard this in years thanks

[felliniesque2000]

Zal played a Guild Thunderbird and John played a '59 Les Paul. John's Dad had many records out as a harmonicist on Columbia, Decca, Deutsche Grammaphone and other labels. Widely considered the greatest harmonica player ever.

[jb92034]

Oh man --awesome

[suitman36]

great blues instrumental by a group that no one ever thought could play the blues. i get a kick out of it every time i hear it!!! but, it would be surprising, if you research, how many bands started off by playing the blues!!

[knownonsense99]

@suitman36 Would you believe The Moody Blues? Even The Kinks early stuff was really hard rock rhythm and blues.

[joddajoy]

sweet memories of long, long ago! Original b side to daydream if my memory serves me correctly! love, love, love this track. thanks for sharing.

[cfrat52]

@joddajoy Yes, you're right... It was the flip side of Daydream. And oh what memories of this song... ahem.. haha

[bolishstiffney]

love this song i love the blue,s so sexyyyyyyyyyyyy

Daphne

[Zendishwasher1]

blew my mind the first time i heard this.

[captainsoul1953]

Great track...theres a longer version of this on the Daydream cd

Jim

[waylo4526]

never knew that the lovin spoonful even played the blues,man there were some good blues up north very very cool,the blues was really everywhere then man.we need music like this just good old jamming and having fun. :)

[lamper2]

first concert i ever saw (beach boys headlined) they did this and it was the first blues harp style i ever heard-i thought the armory windows were going to shatter!

[ThomasDeLello]

John Sebastian's father was a superb harmonica virtuoso who made records back in the days of the 78 RPM's and did classical concerts.

[9mej]

the whole track is superb but who playes the superb sounding guitar it sounds like a bigsby bar is being used

[DesmonJones]

That would be Zal.

[9mej]

thank you do you know what make of guitar he is using im guesing it would be a gibson or a grestech with a bigsby bar

[ThomasDeLello]

Well... every picture that I have ever seen of him he plays a Guild solid body. And I have seen then live in two concerts with it also.

[doubleotwentyone]

@DesmonJones playing that Guild Thunderbird if I remember correctly...

[Rockers1957]

It's John Sebastian (Lovin Spoonful)! He's playing a D-crossharp, song is in A. You can usually tell it's him because he plays the 4hole draw/bend and slides it quite a lot.

It was the B-side to Daydream.

Fabulous but underrated harp player!

[PatWardMagic]

I had this 45 to,I can't remember A side either ,you know what they say about memory of the 60's.I liked the B side best[I think]

[Kegwithlegs]

This was the B side to Daydream, at least in the UK

[PatWardMagic]

Thanks It's comming back to me now.Daydream was the A side here in the States.

[bluesbuy29]

This is a great song, Im glad to find it here

Thanks for posting!

[MARCIABIJOU]

I LIKE IT! VEEEEEERY NIIIICE....

[Kegwithlegs]

I have this as a B side to....Daydream I think, or was it Nashville cats? I liked this more than the A side!