😂😂😂

🤣👍

True!

I almost shot my lunch out of my face reading that! LOLOL

Is there a 9pm of the morning? 😄

Absolutely -- note all of the verbs. He's singing that they WOULD BE happy together, not that they are. IF I should call you up, expend a dime, and you say you belong to me... Paul has the image for the ending (banging his head against the wall in frustration) exactly right.

And I always loved the line " how is the weather". A topic used in conversation when nervous or uneasy. It's always the go to phrase to keep a conversation going.

you're quite right, this is one of those " Oh man how I wish she loved me " songs. Love it, grew up listening to The Turtles. Hard to pick a favorite but another one of theirs I love it " She's My Girl "

@@Dooklawz after "Happy Together" it's "Elenore" for me.

Yes sir.

@Joan In Florida Actually, if you go on KZfaq and find videos from the song's composers, as well as histories of the Turtles, you'll find out this is true: imagined, unrequited love.

Poor Joan, so emotionally invested and denying the truth. It's sad.

Yes. What's more, the follow-up aside that Howard Kaylan tosses out off-handedly after the "Imagine me and you" -- "I do" -- confirms that, yes, this idealized romance of his is all in his head, at least at the point when the song is sung. Plus, as you said, the entire second verse is based upon the first word -- "if" -- and is thus a conditional, rather than already realized.

Should’ve read this comment before I posted mine! Fascinating!

I'd always thought the line "the only one for me is you, and you for me" was awkward -- it says the same thing twice (both times saying "for me"). It never does say "me for you", so it's definitely a one-way desire.

Not to be something, but isn't this obvious? It's right there in the lyrics, as you've pointed out. You'd have to be not actually listening to the lyrics to think it was about an existing couple, as it's all written as someone talking about a potential relationship. I mean the very first word of the song is "imagine".

​@@Saan42 Also the musical tone of the verses sound more like sad longing than anything else while the chorus is rainbow, sugar and unicorns. Finally, the outro music part is "will they be together or not?", until the last note which is tending more toward hopefulness than sorrow, so we kinda guess that they eventually got together but the relationship probably wasn't the expected bliss heard in the chorus.

As far as happy, feel good songs with a great sound go, that one must be at the top.

Get Together is a great youngbloods song

After which "Darkness, Darkness" can knock their *socks* off, it's such a different song.

One of the best songs ever made!

To me it is a song that exemplifies the late 60's early 70's

And that’s why they called the genre Sunshine Pop

gonna be a bright, bright, bright, sunshiny day...

Razor...if you were alive in the 60s...lol. Oh I was!

...or "Ernest Goes to Camp."

Yes!

Don't forget Windy

@@FutureReferenc And their first #1 hit...Cherish

@@ponymon4283 I was just going to say, Cherish would be the next thing to hear!

100 % agree. one of the happiest songs ever.

I saw that too, the magic of this song is still strong.

That, and the whine in his vocal inflection. The guy is looking for a pity f@€k, or trying to attack from the friend zone.

“How is the weather?” says it inevitably turns into a “small talk, friends” relationship.

This song is about a guy who loves a girl but has not yet revealed his love for her. He's uncertain, should he tell her, will she reject him. He's concerned because they were meant to be together but does she know that...

@@thomasg5968 Interesting idea! I always thought they just needed a rhyme. But then, why? The fact that they did not just repeat "happy together" over and over, but instead, deliberately chose to include "how is the weather", has some meaning! Your idea is very interesting, and means you pay attention to details!

In spite of the stalkery lyrics

One of the greatest of all time for sure, or at least one of the most recognizable

Orange sunshine that is ;)

Andy & Alex really ought to react to "The Rain, the Park, and Other Things". I don't know if they'll like the song or not, but they'll certainly marvel at the intricacy of its arrangement.

That is still one of my favorite songs

yes you guys should hit this one!

ABSOLUTELY! Great song. Highly recommended. It sort of encapsulates the entire Summer of Love in 2 1/2 minutes......Creative, fresh ideas, with great harmonies. Unfortunately, the song & The Cowsills inspired and led to "The Partridge Family" TV show. Nothing against the TV show, but originally the show was created around the actual Cowsills family and written for them. But it hit a snag when the TV producers did not want Mrs. Cowsill, the mother of their family, in the band, or the group.They thought it wasn't good TV. The Cowsill family rallied around her, and they were summarily dismissed, and Shirley Jones, David Cassidy and the rest is history. As great as they were, you probably don't need to be that concerned about more than 3 or 4 other Cowsills songs. "Indian Lake" - "C'mon Get Happy," and their version of the theme from HAIR, "Aquarius Let the Sun Shine In". And one other note of interest for you was that sister Susan Cowsill went on to have a hit of her own with Carol King's "It Might As Well Rain Until September". It's hard to say whether Susan's or Carol's is the better version. They're both great. You guys should do some comparison segments, where you could actually play 2 or 3 versions of the same song, compare & discuss them. I think you eluded to something like that with "Proud Mary", and another good one are the 3 or 4 great versions of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine". Sometimes you get two WAY different versions of the same song, such as "Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones, and by DEVO.

I love the Flower Girl was good. I didn't think anyone would remember the Cowsills.🤣🤣✌🌻🌻I was in love,with David Cassidy. Of course I was 11 years old.🤣🤣

Elenore has the greatest teenage boy pickup line of the 60's... "Gee I think you're swell"

Both are GREAT, FUN pop songs! My fave is "She'd Rather Be with Me".

They'll never get to those without support from their polls. Also, "It's not #1 on Spotify!"

Another Turtles song I liked was "Your Ma Said You Cried in Your Sleep Last Night". And their cover of Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction"

@@septictopix4797 And it was written because their record contract needed a new song fast and they didn't want to make a good song and it ended up being a great song even with the crazy lyrics. We have their DVD concerning the history of The Turtles. Quite entertaining in itself. :)

That’s what I think it is too 👍🏽

That’s what I’ve heard/think as well. He wants to call her up and say all this stuff but in the end he can’t and just makes small talk instead. “How’s the weather?”

Now THAT'S a good (I didn't say great) song.

Yes, "Windy" for sure, and here are a few others that I think are in the same general neighborhood: The Seekers - "I'll Never Find Another You" & "Georgy Girl" Petula Clark - "I Know A Place" & "Downtown" The Turtles - "Elenore" The Beach Boys - "Don't Worry Baby" The Beatles - "I'll Follow the Sun" The Tremeloes - "Silence Is Golden" & "Here Comes My Baby" Gary Lewis and the Playboys - "You Didn't Have To Be So Nice" The Left Banke - "Walk Away Renee"

@@paintedjaguar Good suggestions. FYI: Your second-to-last one is actually by the Lovin' Spoonful, not Gary Lewis.

@@alanarakelian5021 Both bands covered that song, both versions were on the radio a lot. Dealer's choice.

I played my 45 out playing Windy. God I'm old.🤦‍♀️✌🌻🌻

lol--the very different context makes it a very different version

I was just about to say the same thing. "Here comes my bullet"

@@professorg9424 correction--big hit single WITH the BULLET! :D :D

so agree Jay! I need to dive in more on that version of the Mothers

I really can't stand it....

Barry Mcguire sang "Eve of Destruction and The Spokesmen sang "The Dawn of Correction" as an answer to it.

I had an older sister that I borrowed records from too and of course she had this album.

Also "You Baby"

@@MagravatorMag 48's with the little plastic ring you had to stick inside that were a pain. Lol

@@aileenturrietta7553 45s, not 48s

Yes, they need to check out the Association. "Along Comes Mary," "Windy," ""Never My Love," "Cherish"

For sure "vehicle" by the ides of march! Classic rock

Yes, the Association: "Require for the Masses," "Windy," and "Along Comes Mary" are great starters to try.

Omg, Vehicle is so good. Forgotten about that one!

Vehicle by Ides of March a song I always enjoy hearing.

Midnight Confessions by the Grass Roots is fantastic!

@@angelatheriault8855 Also "Sooner or Later." 😊

Mercy. 😂

I do agree that they would like that one, but for me "Running Scared" is Roy Orbison's best solo song. It's haunting as hell and gets more haunting, before just barely resolving itself. The ending note is one of the finest vocal performances I've ever heard.

@@-Ricky_Spanish- "Only the Lonely" is a great one too. It will be good to see them get started on Orbison.

@@otisdylan9532 Good call. Also "Love Hurts", although I prefer the version by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris.

@@-Ricky_Spanish- "Love Hurts" was originally written for, and recorded by, the Everly Brothers. Orbison's version was the B-side of his hit "Running Scared". But for the '70s generation, Parsons and Harris notwithstanding, the definitive version will always be the bluesy, hard-rocking version done by Nazareth, featuring Dan McCafferty's impassioned wail and Manny Charlton's slide guitar solo that uncannily sounds as though the guitar is crying.

Both great bands try bit’s and pieces live by the Dave Clark 5

Kicks is so good!! No one reacts to it; really deserves a listen!

Yes, Kicks!!!!!!!

Ah, Flo and Eddie, now the boys need to listen to "Illegal, immoral and fattening".

And sang it on Zappa’s Live at the Fillmore East album.

@@johnclibbens6803 #1 with a bullet

@@carlfisher3924 One of the lines that’s safe to quote…

@@johnclibbens6803 I would suggest the boys play this on the channel but Zappa's estate/record label blocks 99% of all attempts at reactions. It's a shame since Zappa deserves to be heard by today's listeners.

🌻

Hey @@Shadowrider1872! Happy Friday! 🤩

Spinning Wheel - Great song. I should have thought of that.

“You Made Me So Very Happy.” by Blood, Sweat and Tears.

@@johnhughes3214 I think they'll love it!

That "How is the weather?" line always really bugged me when he could have sung "together forever" or "forever and ever" or many better things but it makes more sense when viewed in this light.

@@ScottKornfeld It bugged me too and for years I thought they were just playfully coming up with a nonsense phrase just for the rhyme. They fooled around a lot like that with the lyrics to Eleanor.

"Eleanor" is so great, and lyrically clever: 'Eleanor, gee I think your swell, and you really do me well. You're my pride and joy, etcetera'

@@darrins601 The Turtles were told to write another hit like Happy Together so they deliberately stuffed the single with as many cliches as possible as a joke. For spite. The song still works. Really well.

The drummer actually gets mentioned quite a bit. That's because the drummer was Johnny Barbata, who was considered one of the top drummers of the 1960s. After he left the Turtles Barbata went on to play with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and with Jefferson Airplane/Starship. People who know about great rock drummers know about Johnny Barbata.

Oh, YEAH! when Tre Narcisse played it, I was sold and listened to everything they did after that!

Yes Undun must be done soon.

@@duneshard lol 😂

I agree! They absolutely need to hear it!

I always felt the Classics IV were a bit underrated. "Stormy," "Spooky," and "Traces" are all elite songs.

Oh man, I LOVE Spooky!!!! ❤

Classics IV became the Atlanta Rhythm Section. Lots of good stuff from them, including a better version of "Stormy" and "Champagne Jam."

@@bobangell1679 "Alien" by ARS is one of my favorite all-time songs. It was a hit in the Fall of 1981, during a time when I was really "feeling like an alien" and the song really resonated with me, and still does!

Agreed!!

Agreed. And their "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice,'" "Younger Girl," "Nashville Cats," "Never Goin' Back" and "Darling, Be Home Soon" are all classics of the era as well,

The Association perfectly fits into this mold! "Cherish" or "Wendy" amazing vocals.

Yea, The Association is great. I very strongly recommend "Windy" by them. Another one you'd like is The Fifth Generation's song(s) "Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In".

@@brians933 I think they heard 'Aquarius' during their last livestream.

I agree. It's in the very first line, "Imagine me and you." The situation is not real.

@@bobrob2004 Right. A friend will sing one of the verses as ‘Imagine me and you and you and me and me and you and you and me and me and you and you and me and me and you and you and me and me and you and you and meeee!! His point is that it’s a fantasy and that most likely the other person isn’t even aware of this person’s obsession.

True 😁

As someone said upthread, this song's chorus has been making people burst into a smile for over a half-century now. It's irresistible.

"You're my pride and joy, etc." LOL!

@@MissAstorDancer "Elenore, gee, I think you're swell" is so deliberately over-the-top nerdy that you can't help but smile when you hear the Turtles sing it.

@@gregsager2062 Absolutely! And the deliberate but obscured references in the lyrics that they were like, OK, you want a hit? Here you go!

Buzzzzz Saw

And so is Turtle soup

These guys and Just JP. Best in the business!!

It makes the music brand new, watching this show.

And that goofy side is why they sand with Zappa for a couple of years!

Flow and Eddie toured with Frank Zappa. Insanely raunchy. Check out Mud Shark Frank Zappa.

Flo is short for the nickname The Florescent Leech btw

Thanks for noting the names Flo and Eddie!

"Eleanor" was written to be intentionally bad. It was a parody of pop songs that the record company wanted them to create. But it is a pop masterpiece nonetheless.

"If I should call you up, invest a dime . . . " it's unrequited love. "And how is the weather" at the end tells us she's not interested.

I'd go with "Waterloo Sunset."

Good observation 👍

Totally agree. Never thought anything but positive from the sixties till now, but you & A bring good thoughts to this, and it does sound more and more ‘insistent’ and nearly ‘demanding’ toward the end. Really interesting take. Thanks much!!

Two of the creepiest stalker songs, but great-sounding, are "Every Breath You Take" by the Police and "Nights on Broadway" by the Bee Gees (this one is really creepy).

Gary Puckett & The Union Gap's pedo & misogynistic "hits" -- Young Girl, This Girl is a Woman Now, Lady Willpower, Woman, Woman. All catchy and all creepy -- then and now.

Nothing but a "crush" song here (same with “Turn Around, Look At Me”), you want to hear a real stalker song then wait a few years and Jim gives it to you with "Riders On The Storm".

watched the "Echo in the Canyon" documentary last night - which talks about how the Byrds, Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, The Mamas and the Papas, Beatles, Eric Clayton, Turtles and Crosby Stills and Nash influenced each other, and specifically the impact of Pet Sounds. I can definitely hear Pet Sounds in this. The doc is a good watch

Thought the exact same thing.

Junior high chorus for me. So fun to sing!

We convinced our HS choir leader to let us do this. We knew it from the otherwise extremely raunchy Frank Zappa album Live at Filmore East. The conductor was just happy because we would usually refuse to sing anything this cheesy (as we saw it at the time) (some of the Turtles joined Zappa's Mothers of Invention)

The Turtles were a group put together by music executives. The members themselves were genuine folkies, with serious and real talent.

@@raenellefisher8514 That was the Monkees. The Turtles went to high school together and started playing music then.

@@letno3662 yes...on The Battle of the Bands Album, one of the faux groups was the Crossfires, the Turtles stage name from High School, that song, Surfer Dan, mercilessly mocks the Beach Boys style.

@@thefoss5387 Loved that album. Especially loved the made up names of the Bands. One was King Kawanawana Mea and His Royal Macadamia Nuts. I had the privilege of seeing Flo and Eddie right before Kaylan quit touring and Ron Dante took his place.

Fun fact: Turtles was originally spelled "Tyrtles," in homage to the Byrds.

Had a Flo & Eddie album, "Moving Targets.".. "The Love You Gave Away" and "Keep It Warm." are great songs!..As funny as these guys were they could really sing, and harmonized so well together...Check out the video they posted on how they got screwed out of money over the years by their managers..Very funny..They have a great sense of humor about it.

For awhile they took over as the frontmen of the Mothers (they were initially dubbed "the Phlorescent Leech and Eddie" -- "Phlorescent" was eventually shortened to "Flo" -- because Volman and Kaylan were still under contract to Turtles' label White Whale Records), because Zappa was pushed off of the stage of the Rainbow Theatre in London and was seriously injured, including suffering a badly-broken leg, forcing him off of the road and temporarily reducing him to being just the songwriter and creative force of the Mothers. That fateful London show, incidentally, took place during a December 1971 tour of Europe. Several days earlier the band had played the Montreux Casino's arena in Switzerland, only to have "some stupid" in the audience fire a flare gun into the ceiling of the arena during the band's song "King Kong", causing the entire casino to burn down. This, of course, is the incident immortalized in Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water". When the Mothers later played that gig in London in which Zappa was hurt, they had to use rented equipment, as they'd lost all of their own equipment in the Montreux Casino fire. In the BBC live version of "Smoke on the Water", Deep Purple lead vocalist Ian Gillan uncharitably mutters the words, "Break a leg, Frank!" in mid-song. Pretty cruel, considering how badly Zappa was injured in that attack; in fact, he suffered from back pain from it for the rest of his life.

They also sang back up for Marc Bolan and T Rex.

Yes! I don’t over-analyze them. I just enjoy them.

'Illegal, Immoral and Fattening' and 'Moving Targets' are two of my all time favorite albums. Chaotic and harmonious at the same time. Lucky enough to have seen Flo & Eddie and the Turtles in concert twice; so much fun and great music.

Just called "Summer in the City." For those looking it up.

Of course it didn't help much that a lot of us were listening to little mono transistor radios when we first heard it. LOL Something they can't even imagine.

My late lifelong friend's band JF Murphy and Salt was on that show!

All good choices. You are right about "She." Such dark lyrics for a Monkees song.

Happy Together sounds light, but there's dark humor in there. It's a guy attempting to pick up or get to the next stage with a girl...at the end you can sense it's not going well for him...

Agree. Heart Full of Soul is a must do!

Great song great band got to listen to Eleanor

Totally agree! Besides being part of Zappa’s band, Flo & Eddy have sung backup on many great songs through the years. “Hungry Heart” by Springsteen, for example.

They were being sued by the label, so they used the moniker Flourescent Leech and Eddie, based on two of their roadies, in court. The Flourescent Leech wore flamboyant outfits hence his nickname and Eddie was really Dennis but they said he looked more like an Eddie, hysterical.

Great record.

Isn't it great to be reminded of this. Growing up and living in the Sixties and Seventies, we invented this $hit. Gawd, what great music we had.

Pop Goes the 60s did a 3 or 4 part series on the history of the Turtles. Interesting.

@@pokeysd3886 It was 3 parts. Very good, as usual!

"Imagine me and you.... I do...."

Love that song! My fave Turtles 🐢

@@angier5775 Yeah, it's unique. Kind of like a Brian Wilson structure that just unfolds and keeps unfolding until the very end.

Not weird at all….they were great singers and Frank Zappa was a great composer who appreciated true talent and these gentleman could sing the phone book.

I think they do a version f this song on the Live at the Filmore East album. There was some musical skill on that album, tucked in between all the rank obscenity.

I never knew that and I am a huge Zappa fan. Lol yes, how weird.

Flo & Eddie

They all lived in Laurel Canyon at the time.