Smed Expounds On "Darling Be Home Soon" by The Association. No, Really, He Does!
Hello, denizens of heydomsar, I�m Smed purveyor of Smed�s Corner. If you haven�t read my stuff, I�m glad to have met ya. Click on my site. I write a lot! I write often! I write a lot about music, too � just check the archives!
Anyway, as you now know Dom has left us all an assignment, and at first I thought it was going to be impossible. You see, to me music is fluid. What is my favorite and most meaningful song today isn�t necessarily the same song tomorrow, as my moods change with the rustling wind (or something purty like that).
But I wanted to really help Dom out.
At that very same time he sent out his request, I posted this essay on the classic song, �Moulty� by the Barbarians, as it was Music Week at Smed�s Corner.
But that wouldn�t do, really.
I could have picked the #1 song on this one, since the Beach Boys do rule, but I�m not always all about �Wonderful� being THE song.
So I sat and thought.
If you have been reading my site this week, you know that Liz and my 11 month old Kristin flew out to Phoenix to be with my MIL, who is sick. So I am staying here in BFE land with my 4 � year old Katie. We have quite the packed schedule for the next few days, and I�m wearing out fast.
And that�s when I found THE song that means the most to me right now.
The song is �Darling Be Home Soon�; written by John Sebastian and originally done by the Loving Spoonful on the soundtrack to the movie You�re A Big Boy Now . The single hit #15 on the charts.
But it�s not that version I�m remembering.
The particular version that I�m remembering is a cover version, recorded by the Association in 1972. Yes, the Association. You know, �Windy�, �Cherish�, etc.
(Others, like Joe Cocker, Bobby Darin, and Slade have also recorded it. Yes, Slade. No kidding. Slade. ON A LIVE ALBUM! I�m not joking. You can look it up on All Music. Go on�Slade. See? Told you.)
The Association�s version is on their last real album as a group, when everyone in the world forgot about them except their record company, and the record company only remembered because they just signed the band to a contract, perhaps to trick some aging hep-cats that they were still relevant. The record was called Waterbeds In Trinidad. People were so enamored of it that it hit #194 on the charts in 1972. As a single, the song didn�t chart at all.
I first heard the song at the tender age of 8, on one of those compilation albums record companies made back then. This was on a sampler by Columbia records, I believe, and it threw on a little bit of everything, and then some. It had Blood, Sweat and Tears, the Rascals, Carole King, Sly and the Family Stone, Tommy Roe, Pacific Gas and Electric, Argent, Looking Glass, amongst others.
It was a simple, pleasant, peaceful ballad, with the trademark Association harmonies It�s probably a tad bit overproduced, maybe a bit over-lush and a bit too laden with syrup, but that doesn�t matter. It�s the song for me, right now.
Everything is going well here, Liz. But darling, be home soon.
Posted by smedindy
May 11, 2006
go back | random brainstorm | go forth
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