Back to our old ways....
I don't really remember when I first became aware of this week's tune, but I do remember what reminded me of how much I love it. Dennis Hartley, who writes about movies and music for Digby's Hullabaloo, wrote a best summer songs post and as I was listening to each of his choices, this week's song came back like a long-lost friend. Funnily, I've listened to the songs from many of Mr. Harley's music theme posts, and for the most part he and I do not share the same taste in what we consider best songs....
Chad & Jeremy (Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde) formed in London in 1962, after having met in drama school and beginning to perform as a folk duo (Chad taught Jeremy how to play guitar). They would release their debut album in 1964 when they joined the British Invasion of America and had their first hits. The duo would release several more albums by 1968, but in a fit of pique due to artistic differences walked away from their record label in 1968. They reunited from 1983 through 1987, and then again in 2003 which lasted until Chad retired in 2016. For their career, Chad & Jeremy released eleven studio albums, one live album, and five compilations, as well as nineteen singles. Surprisingly, they only had one hit in their native U.K., with the bulk of their commercial success being here in the States. Sadly, Chad Stuart passed away in 2020; Jeremy Clyde continues to perform. On a somewhat poignant side note, the pair both admitted in their later years that they wished they had stuck it out in 1968, feeling that they had been talented enough to have achieved considerably more success. That may be the first time I remember of all the disbanded bands I've featured of any of them regretting not staying together....
Fun Fact: During the pandemic my youngest son and I became huge fans of the old standard The Dick Van Dyke Show, and one of its latter episodes was a spoof of Beatlemania featuring a band called The Redcoats (Freddy and Ernie). Much to my surprise, Freddy and Ernie were played by Chad & Jeremy, who it turns out, both had that wonderful British sense of humor.
"A Summer Song" was the third single released from their 1964 debut album, the rather belatedly entitled Yesterday's Gone. The single peaked at #7 in America, the highest charting single of their career, but did not chart in the U.K. The album was also the highest charting of their career, reaching #22 again in America, but I was unable to find out if it charted in Great Britain.
If ever there was a song that was a quintessential sixties pop song, "A Summer Song" might just be it. Full of lush harmonies and having a lovely melody, the song just screams of the innocence that would be lost in the storms toward the decade's end. For those wondering, Jeremy sang the melody and Chad sang the harmonies, and the pair's vocals were just this side of heaven. Whilst doing my half-assed research, I happened to notice for the first time ever how great the drums were in the bridge, almost like a distant echoing of the song's theme, the regret of the end of a summer romance. It also features some nice acoustic guitar work and some seriously plaintive lyrics that help to make if one of the truly great, uh...summer songs, ever recorded.
Lyric Sheet: "They say that all good things must end some day/Autumn leaves must fall/But don't you know that it hurts me so/To say goodbye to you..."
Enjoy:
Republicans = Nazis
Peace,
emaycee
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