From 1965, please enjoy oddly underrated singer/songwriter Jackie DeShannon, backed by the original Byrds(!), and her "Splendor in the Grass."
Okay, the band performance is a little sloppy, but the song itself is ineffably touching, and the minute David Crosby comes in with that unmistakable low harmony I just lose it. DeShannon eventually released another much slicker version of the song, and there were a couple of covers by other artists -- there's one on YouTube by an L.A. band called The Boys that gives it the full Mamas and Papas treatment -- but the understatement of this one is moving and sweet in a way that the others just don't get near.
[h/t Andy "Folk-Rock" Pasternack]
9 comments:
Absolutely lovely.
This song absolutely cements my life-long love for Jackie DeShannon.
And, of course, Crosby's harmony.
I got this song for Christmas last year off the Rhino compilation Where The Action Is. Never heard it before either but is just glowed. Why was this never a hit??
I too always loved Jackie. She had the whole package, good looks, voice, songwriter. A real talent. And she got to hang out with The Beatles
Nice! Sounds like a rehearsal/run-through to me, which may explain its obscurity all these years.
According to the liner notes on the above mentioned collection, it was released as a single, sloppiness notwithstanding. I guess people's ears just weren't listening for it May of '66.
This brings the number of Byrds movie-tie ins to four, if my math is right. Spendor in the Grass (as backups), Don't Make Waves, Candy (the Child of the Universe track from Dr. Byrds), and Easy Rider. Steve, are there any others?
Jackie was essential to folk rock.
AP
Love Jackie. But whatever you do, don't deny yourself the additional pleasure of the abovementioned Boys clip (they're really girls). It's gorgeous.
Re: Faze's comment, I agree, it's a treat. Great arrangement, great harmonies.
But who are The Boys? (Google doesn't seem able to handle or elucidate "The Boys girl group."). In the clip, which looks like Hullabaloo to me, they're wearing Nehru-suit era outfits which I bet were made by their mothers, and one of them has glasses like my sister had around the time of her bat mitzvah.
AP
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