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When you have a collection of more than 600 cds there will definitely be quite a number that don’t get played for a long time. Thinking about all the cds I still have in storage, this spurred me to rummage around and rediscover some that hadn’t been listened to in at least five years. As I suspected, there were some almost-forgotten musical treasures I’ve enjoyed listening to again these past three weeks.
Harpers Bizarre is one of those bands which was overshadowed by The Beatles, The Byrds, Jefferson Starship, The Rolling Stones, Simon & Garfunkel and other bands which are icons of the 1960s counterculture and firmly embedded into collective memory as the prime examples of the Vietnam War and “protest-against-the-establishment” era. Harpers Bizarre originated in California like many other bands had and began their professional life as The Tikis in lovely Santa Cruz, California. This small, beautifully situated beach town in Northern California, known for its surf culture was an ideal beginning point for the “sunshine pop” band which would soon become Harpers Bizarre.
The five member band was comprised of Ted Templeman (vocals, drums, guitar), Dick Scoppettone (vocals, guitar,) Eddie James (guitar), Dick Yount (bass, vocals) and John Petersen (drums, percussion, and vocals). As The Tikis they had limited local success with two singles released through Autumn Records during 1965-66. However, things really began to move with an image makeover. Their new name of Harper’s Bizarre came about after Autumn Records was sold to Warner Brothers. A producer there knew a woman who had worked for a music publisher and an advertising agency, and due to that was quite clever with word play and came up with a unique name for the Tikis. “Harpers Bizarre” was her choice because the first word sounded like the popular magazine name, but the second word was not spelled Bazaar and changed to “Bizarre” as in “strange”.
Personally, I love puns and other funny plays on words, and this totally fit in with the general vibe of 1960s music. Once the band was christened with their new name it gave them a new lease on life to create their first album with Warner Brothers. Instead of sounding too much like the Beatles or other popular bands of that ilk Harpers Bizarre developed more of the “sunshine sound” which was characterized as breezy, cheerful, with light lyrics and instrumentals — not getting much into brooding or social protest statements.
Although sunshine pop was typically ignored or derided by music critics, it’s hard to imagine the 1960s without it. Despite the turmoil associated with the Vietnam War, Civil Rights protests and anger over numerous other social ills, the decade also had its positive vibes. Although an era may be dominated by a certain type or style of music, I think there’s always room for others (and should be!) to express themselves, offer an alternative point of view and be available to the public. Speaking of positive vibes, Harpers Bizarre would become best known for the hit “Feelin’ Groovy” also known as the “59th Street Bridge Song”. Originally recorded by the aforementioned Simon & Garfunkel in 1966, it was the Harpers Bizarre version of the song which became their signature hit in early 1967.
”Feelin’ Groovy” peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 magazine chart and made it to #4 on the Easy Listening chart. This is exactly what the song is – an easy, joyful tune about simply being alive…and so many of us easily take that for granted among the stresses and strains of everyday life that tend to eat away at our joy, contentment, and emotional wellness. First written by Paul Simon the “59th Street Song” (or “Feelin’ Groovy”) was supposedly inspired when he was taking an early morning walk alone along the bridge which links Manhattan to Queens. Officially named the Queensboro Bridge, on the Manhattan side it’s locally known as the 59th Street Bridge where anyone walking across it from Queens would end up.
I like the Simon & Garfunkel version from their Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme album released in 1966. However, the Harpers Bizarre version comes off better because it’s more lilting in the vocals and has a smoother quality to it. Their version makes better use of the “Feelin’ Groovy” hook while the Simon & Garfunkel version is too short at 1:44 seconds. The song can be appreciated better with the Harpers recording bringing the extension to 2:31 seconds with the richer instrumentals as well.
In any event, “Feelin’ Groovy” is a sparkling delight with lyrics like: “Slow down, you move too fast . You got to make the morning last” and “Life I Love You, All Is Groovy” can give the listener time to pause and reflect on simple pleasures like a morning walk before the pressures of daily life such as long commutes to tedious jobs, repetitive tasks, and difficult bosses or co-workers start consuming much of our day.
For reasons such as those, it’s vital to take some time off, close out the cacophony of the world at large… and enjoy some sunshine pop tunes! With that said, there’s more about the music of Harpers Bizarre I’ll expand on with a following post coming up later this month, because I didn’t want this one to be too long.
