Friday 7th July

I loved the singles “Happy Together” and “Elenore”.  Happy sunshine songs from the West Coast of America, but there was always that little touch of irony in the lyrics – that word ‘really’ qualifying the love for Elenore – and the slight touch of naughtiness – ‘can we’.  It was a few years later that I bought a Zappa album ‘Just Another Band From L.A.’ when I realized that the two main vocalists from The Turtles had mutated into a comedy duo ‘Flo and Eddie’.  And they went far beyond irony now, verging on extremely rude and crude – but also hilariously funny too.

So, I started to look for old Turtles records.  The first one I found was ‘The Battle of The Bands’, where The Turtles pretend to be different groups in a talent show.  Surf songs, pure pop (Elenore) and traditional country tunes mix with some comedy numbers like “I’m King Kamawanalea and we’re the Royal Macademia Nuts” and ‘Food’ where they describe their favourite snacks.  Clever, witty and great singing, especially the harmonies of Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan.  I found a few others down the years too.  And there are wacky songs all over the place, as well as a surprising number which became big hits and some lovely gentle Dylan covers.  Along the way they also ‘discovered’ Judee Sill, recording her song ‘Lady-O’, which became a big hit in America.

I don’t really know why I like them so much, but my record collection is guided by Magnus Magnussen “I’ve started, so I will continue” – once I get fixated on an Artist I have to keep buying them.  But whenever I play The Turtles songs I feel good, they always cheer me up, brighten my day and are great to sing along to.  A small entry in the canon of popular music but one of my favourites.