Not to be confused with the Lovin' Spoonful song of the same name.
Heh.
In any case, like I said, I had never heard that until last Saturday. And why it wasn't as big a hit in the USA as it was elsewhere is beyond me. (BTW: You'll note that the melody is stolen, bigly, from Tchaikovksy and Swan Lake. Hey -- that was the kind of thing they were doing back then.)
I should add that, apparently. said record's been covered successfully on a few occasions since. In fact, the way I first encountered it was at my local Forest Hills watering hole -- the Keuka Kafe -- in an early 21st century sampled version by one of those crappy electronic acts the kids like, aka I Monster.
Which I won't link to, because I consider you all friends. 😎
Anyway, the 1969 version is still a great pop confection by any standard you care to mention, even if the group originally behind it was from Belgium.
[h/t Bekka Sakhno]
7 comments:
very likeable song - also interesting to learn that it is named after a famous museum in london -
if i make another trip to london - only in the musing stage, unlikely to move to the planning stage - i may take the chance to visit it
more recently [although still 20 years ago] than london, i've been to belgium - there i had the experience in brussels of a bank refusing to exchange dollars for euros, and giving me directions to a currency exchange booth that might oblige me
instead of attempting to follow these i just went to a different bank in the next block - no problem
i'm pretty sure the teller in the first bank just felt like inconveniencing me - i had a guess why but i could have been wrong
i had other very pleasant experiences in belgium, however
there's good and bad in every place
We went to Bruges a couple of years. One of the weirdest -- sort of in a good way -- places ever.
The video reminds of a gig by The Polyphonic Spree I saw a while back. I can imagine them covering the song, too. The original is very good, though I think it drags after the verses finish at about 2:30; perhaps that's why it wasn't a hit in Hitsville.
- Paul in DK
Hey Steve -
New to me as well. Thanks! The whole introduction of symphonics to pop/rock (and even soul, via the Rotary Connection) was a brief flourish in the late '60s that - not surprisingly - reflected the Beatles' incorporation of strings.
This has a familiarity that goes beyond the Beatles...Still trying to place it. Perhaps "Eres Tu," which came out a few year later? Gotta think a bit more...
Raising in me, once again, the question - has anyone written a book called Confessions of a Sixties Television Choreographer, and if not, can one please get on it?
Almost married a Gal from Belgium.
At the time my work was in the U.S
She was a looker 😍
Nice, reminds me of the NY Rock N Roll Ensemble.
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