The grittier sounding album also included "Give a Damn", which despite a widespread radio ban because of its title, still managed to reach #43. The single brought Spanky And Our Gang back into the Billboard Top 20 when it peaked at #17 in the Summer of 1968. Included in the recording sessions of their second album was a song called "Like To Get To Know You", which lent its name to the LP. The new combination of band members and studio staff produced "Sunday Morning", which climbed to #30 in America in the Spring of '68. Unhappy with the squeaky clean, polished sound that Jerry Ross had provided, the group turned to Stuart Scharf and Bob Dorough, a pair of producers / songwriters who had worked with The Chad Mitchell Trio on Mercury Records. In early 1968, guitarist and vocalist Lefty Baker (real name Eustace Britchforth) was added to the band and his friend Kenny Hodges replaced Oz Bach on bass. A self-titled debut album was put together which included the three singles as well as a handful of quickly rehearsed new tracks, some of which the group were not happy with. A second release called "Making Every Minute Count" reached #31 in the Fall of 1967 and a third, "Lazy Day" made it to #14 by the end of the year.
When the demand for personal appearances started to grow, drummer John Seiter was added to the mix. The tune was a perfect vehicle to showcase McFarlane's powerful voice and a month after the single was released in May, 1967, it peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100. Here they were given a song which had already been turned down by The Mamas And Papas as well as The Left Banke called "Sunday Will Never Be The Same". Producer Jerry Ross spent a year polishing their sound before taking them to New York to record.
As the group progressed, guitarist Malcolm Hale was brought in and they moved up to bigger and better venues, with Curly Tait acting as their manager.īy late 1966, representatives of Mercury Records took notice and signed the band to a contract. Somewhat surprisingly, things went rather well and after receiving favorable reviews in a local newspaper, they decided to keep the name.
With McFarlane playing washboard and kazoo, Pickering on guitar and Bach on bass, the trio jokingly began calling themselves Spanky And Our Gang, playing on their singer's nickname. She quickly recruited Pickering and Bach. Later that year, McFarlane was working as a singing waitress at a club called Mother Blues, when owner Curly Tait offered her a chance to form a group to open for his featured acts. While stranded during a hurricane, the trio jammed for three straight days, resulting in her inviting the boys to come to Chicago with her. It was here that she met multi-instrumentalist Malcolm Hale and came by the nickname 'Spanky', because of her resemblance to George 'Spanky' McFarland of The Little Rascals / Our Gang comedy series.īy the Winter of 1965, The New Wine Singers had split and McFarlane headed to Florida where she met Oz Bach and Nigel Pickering. The following year, as the Folk music scene grew in popularity, she joined an ensemble called The New Wine Singers, who mixed Folk with Dixieland.
SUNDAYS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME SONG PROFESSIONAL
Elaine McFarlane was a fan of Blues and Jazz and her first professional appearance was with a Jazz-based group called The Jamie Lyn Trio in 1962. Although their Pop music career was brief, the group known as Spanky And Our Gang secured their place in Rock 'n' Roll history by placing five songs in the Billboard Top 40.
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