Songs I'd Forgotten Existed Let Alone Loved (An Occasional Series): Special Splendeur dans l’Herbe Edition

From 1965, please enjoy the great Jackie deShannon -- backed by none other than the original Byrds(!) -- and her quite ineffably touching "Splendor in the Grass."

In stereo, as nature intended, I might add.

I can sort of get why this wasn't a hit at the time -- the band's playing is a little raggedy if truth be told -- but there's no question the record deserves to be much better known (Byrds fanatic that I am, I actually had never heard it myself until 2010, when my late bandmate Andy "Folk Rock" Pasternack brought it to my attention). I mean, yeah, it isn't slick, but the song is, IMHO, to die for, and the minute David Crosby comes in with that unmistakable low harmony I just lose it. DeShannon eventually released another more MOR 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.

In any case, I bring it up in part because of a curious accident of fate. DeShannon is married to Randy Edelman, a singer/songwriter and film composer of some repute I actually went to high school with, and I was already planning to have a little fun with something of his. Stay tuned -- we'll get into THAT on the morrow.