The Blades of Grass-Happy 1967

[KnightVow]

A mellow and memorable song.

[fun457]

ahh... sigh

[desert3347]

I became "engaged" to David in August 67 & we were so Happy.

We went all through High School together.

Sadley, our Love wasn't strong enough. I think of him, hearing this song.

[ejcm55]

I have never heard this before but it well represents a style of that time.

[sonofretrotvluver]

What a beautiful song!

[Justliquor]

What a great song and the girl is a twin for one of my daughters!

[picniclover]

Another underrated feel good song from the sixties.

[tigerssixty]

Back when music and the words created beautiful meaningful poetry. Thanks for this.

[desert3347]

I "lost" the only man I ever Loved in 1967 & couldn't bear to here this song. :(

[manoarainbow796]

Haven't heard this song in forever. Love it! Brings back nice memories. Thank you for posting it!

[marsman231]

It definately should have made the top 10! A great wedding song! The lyrics would fit in great with my Brother and his Fiance who will be geeting married on 10/08/11!

[jaemel1]

Just beautiful! Thank you.



[garageband66]

@jaemel1 Thank you. You are very kind.

[marsman231]

Happy should have done much better on the charts! It should have cracked the top 40! A great wedding song!

[mugatomick]

Pretty nice song and a wonderful girl´s pictured here (in this video)!

[garageband66]

@mugatomick No self-respecting young man ever picked up an instrument to play in a band and said "Lord I hope I don't meet girls from doing this."

[psychedelicsam1]

hit # 87 on billboard in july of '67. from new jersey

[Antlers68]

Thanks so much for posting this. When i saw "1967" I knew I had to check it out. I was in Viet Nam in '67 and I still run across songs I simply never heard. This is one of them.

[jfrank94608]

Both versions charted in my area (Boston/southern Maine)

I'd only remembered the Sunshine Company's version. Both are really nice, but I think I like the Blades' version more. Lovely song. Too bad it wasn't a bigger hit!

[xbillzbobx]

This was one of my very favorite songs when I was in junior high school. It still is.....beautiful! And for the record, I like this version better!

[tigerssixty]

I only knew of the Sunshine Company version. This one is as good and the video is great. I agree with the post that it is a love song of love songs. I have so many 45's and albums but there is a void by not having this. Thanks for the post. I will play it from time to time.

[marcblackmarc]

this was my band when I was in High School. The album came out the summer that I graduated. We actually called ourselves 'The Furnace Men', but our producers wanted to cash in on the whole 'hippie, I smoke grass' thing and changed our name.

We did shows that summer with the Doors, the Dave Clark Five, Neil Diamond, and Van Morrison, among others.

Cheers,

Marc Black

[wynonie]

WNMB AM in North Myrtle Beach STILL plays this as a regular oldie. Great 1967 memories! ENJOY!

[videoarchiveman]

This version pales in comparison to The Sunshine Company,which charted at # 50. . Never heard this version back in 67. Here in Detroit the stations played the best version, which flows better and is much more singable.

[pennydog567]

Both versions(Blades of Grass & The Sunshine Company) are available on CD at Collectors Choice Music.

[laxdad15]

Just as good as the Sunshine Company version

[HEMISUPERBEE426]

ONE OF THE GREAT SONGS THAT JUST DON'T GET PLAYED ANYMORE .

[larrynealwaxmuseum]

Good Post. This particular record made our local top 40 radio station survey back in 1967. Can't remember how high it got locally without checking but came out on Jubilee Records. Also have a copy.

Larry N. Boyington, aka Larry Neal, former curator of the Wax Museum on the big 1520 KOMA

[cmulwee001]

This may have been released two weeks after The Sunshine Company's rendtion, but it sounds like it may have been recorded before TSC's rendtion.

Anyway, both versions are wonderful. Young people who listen to "singers" like Miley, Britney, Hilary, The JoBros,Justin Bieber and a few others have NO clue what REAL music is. THIS is what real music is all about. Agree anyone?

This stuff is timeless

[johnnypoker46]

That's gorgeous! It's every bit the equal of the Sunshine Company version, if not better, and I'm usually very partial to the one I've got used to. I wish I had heard it before 2010.

Added to the "Songs With Two Incredible Versions" list ...

[tippstarz]

what a fantastic song so 6os perfect romantic song mmm

[gmkell59]

This is the rare case where both versions are excellent thanks for posting this one, I had forgotten who had done it. Cheers!

[garageband66]

Thanks for the nice comments.

[betramsey]

Thank you!!! Thank you!!! Thank you!!!! This was "our" song back in 1967. We thought it was the most perfect love song then and still do to this day 42 years later!!! It brought tears to my eyes to hear it again with the amazing video. What an incredible video and music. I shall replay it many, many times. Incredible!!!!!

[garageband66]

I imagine it was in many weddings in the 60's too.

[Mojomatrix]

@betramsey Nice ! Hopefully it will last another 42 years !

[AmazingG07]

This is the first time I've heard this song and I love it - it's so sweet! The pictures match the song perfectly - Right On!

[garageband66]

Thanks for the nice comments.

[64whitedove]

Cute video, and the music arrangements and harmonies on this version are incredibe. When I first heard this song, I could envision my church's folk choir singing this at my wedding. (I had to wait 9 years, and by then I opted for pipe organ/piano and "Somewhere In Time," "All I Ask of You" and "Elsa's Procession" by Wagner.) Still a favorite of mine to this day!

[garageband66]

Those are a good group of wedding songs just the same. Glad you found it here.

[ynot723]

Great Video to set to this song. My father wrote this song, so it means a lot to me!

[garageband66]

It means a lot to all of us here too.

This was played at one of my best friend's wedding on a harp, a cello, and a violin, no vocals but there was not a dry eye in the church. I think many were mouthing the words and this was 1981. Just a testament of the beauty of your dad's song.

[FredFrick16]

Song hit Bill Board on August 16 , 1967

It reached # 87 .. Group from New Jersey

[tigermark64]

This is a wondeful song, it is a song typical of the many great groups of the 1960's. I'm certainly going to want to listen to other songs. These would have been top 40 songs if they would have gotten more airplay. Thanks for posting this song.

[garageband66]

well....the competing version by The Sunshine Company had a lot to do with that.

[tigermark64]

I have listened to both versions of this song, and I like this version better because it sounds more like a real love song. Sunshine Company's edition has a faster tempo to it, but for a real nice love song I like the Blades of Grass edition more.

[garageband66]

I would agree with that statement. You can really see and hear a difference between east and west coast pop of the 60's.

[ynot723]

Wow, that is great to hear, my Dad wrote this song.

[tigermark64]

Your father did write a very beautiful song indeed! This is such a good song to listen to. I like this edition from Blades of Grass better than the one by Sunshine Company. The lyrics are sung so nicely here.

[Antisthenes1]

Another great song. Thanx mate. Who is this girl with the strange eyes anyway?

[garageband66]

Strange eyes? At what point in the video?

[deanster369]

i close my eyes and remember those days i spent with you, together.......those were the happy days to treasure

[garageband66]

Glad I could help.

[steveinbelgium]

The Sunshine Co.'s version is great but this is very, very good!! I'm glad I listened.

[garageband66]

Yes I have another one on my sister site called sunshinetunes67, check it out.

[PussanLeeJones]

Erazo

[garageband66]

Thanks I think.

[artlongjr]

As a longtime fan of the Sunshine Company, I wanted to give this version a thumbs up...it sounds just about as good in my opinion. I'm curious to hear their version of "Walk Away Renee".

[garageband66]

It's not bad; i'll post it along with a few other interesting cuts probably a few of them on sunshinetunes67. It's dedicated to the softer sunshine pop stuff in my collection.

[rslitman]

Another thing about the Blades of Grass - on July 8, 1967, they were an opening act for the Dave Clark Five at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington. Another opening act was an up-and-coming singer named Neil Diamond. (According to a Neil Diamond fan website, there were two shows that day, including a matinee, something that was common with packaged shows back then.) I was not able to go because my family was packing for a move to a new house that weekend.

[garageband66]

Neil's done all right for himself since then though.

[rslitman]

I've always liked the Sunshine Company's version and have always disliked this one. I may have lived on the east coast but was a west coast gal in my music tastes. One major DC area Top 40 station (I think I recall it was WEAM) played only the Sunshine Company's version, while the other major DC area Top 40 station (I think I recall it was WPGC) played only the Blades of Grass's version.

[garageband66]

Fun times when stations played what they wanted to and what their listeners asked for. They really did a good job most times of supporting regional talent and I have to say the rest of what I've heard is quite good.

[rslitman]

That same summer, there was another song out by two different groups in which one got played on WPGC and the other got played on WEAM, and just as with the two versions of "Happy", one was played in early summer and the other in late summer. The song was called "Dance, Dance", and the two groups were the Fourmost Authority and the Chartbusters. The Chartbusters were based in DC and had one national hit a few years earlier, "She's the One".

[garageband66]

The Chartbusters had a follow up? I have not heard that one. I've found their first effort to be kind of annoying actually. The harmonies were OK it's just the song as a whole is not my cup of tea. IMO.

[rslitman]

The Chartbusters had a few follow-ups, although none were national hits. Some got airplay in the DC area because they were based in (but not all members were originally from) the area. One was a song called "One Bird in the Hand", sung in a falsetto even higher than Frankie Valli's. I remember hearing it on quasi-Top 40 station WWDC in the summer of 1966.

[Jeffnfun631]

yessssssssssss you found this you made one Happy Man thank you so much

[garageband66]

Took a while, but it finally showed up.

[frightfan1]

I've always enjoyed this version more than The Sunshine Company. Happy is what I was listening to songs like this back in the day when radio stations actually played more than the same 10 songs.Thanks for uploading!

[garageband66]

Yes, the DJ's would play everything both national and regional stuff. I actually have grown a bit on this version although I've been exposed to TSC's a lot longer.