The Inaugural Wittie Awards

Welcome to the opening installment of Psychosomatic Wit's 40 years of music. Think of it as the TV Land Awards for music. I will give an award (probably weekly) for one song for each of the past 40 years. To qualify, a song must be on the charts at any time during the year in question. A song cannot win a Wittie for two consecutive years - even if their presence on the charts overlap two years.

The award is the Psychosomatic Wit Award of TMF (Tickle My Fancy) - heretofore known as the Wittie! This award will be given for any piece of art (song, movie, blog, etc.) that just does something for me.

In this particular case, it will be a music Wittie. Be on the look-out for Witties in other categories. Some accomplished bloggers reading this may even get a blogger Wittie of their own someday to display on their blog mantle piece.

Now is time for the first Wittie given for the TMF song of 1968. The Wittie goes to . . .

Elenore by The Turtles

This song was written and performed for the purpose to upset the record label, White Whale Records, who wanted the band to do another sappy love song ala Happy Together from the year before. Irritated, the band strung together some sickening lyrics like, "Gee I think you're swell" and even gave it an obligatory sounding "You're my pride and joy, etcetera."

However, the public went bonkers for the song, anyway, so their little scheme backfired. I guess the tune was just too catchy. For all these reasons, Elenore tickled my fancy and earned a Wittie for Song of 1968. Give it a listen:







8 comments:

chosha said...

That's funny. I mean, I knew the lyrics were a bit over the top, but I didn't know the story behind it. Great song, too.

Meg said...

I've never heard that. Good song, though.

Michelle said...

Great story. THe song is so corny, but makes perfect sense once you know the history. LOL

Jeff said...

Chosa: Sometimes when you think of a song that is 40 years old or so, you seem to think that it wasn't quite so weird a lyrics for the times. Not in this case, however. :)

Meg: Quite catchy, isn't it?

Michelle: I love history. History + Pop Culture = Great Blogging! :)

The Real Mother Hen said...

The Turtles? Never heard of them before... wait, are they related to Ninja Turtles? The only Turtles I know are Ninja.

Anonymous said...

Its all in the hook of the melody if you ask me. Though I do love "you're my pride and joy etcetera".

Nice "Wittie" selection!

Sayre said...

My dad was a GM/programmer/salesman/reporter at our local am station. I remember him getting this, giving it a listen and laughing his ass off while wiping tears away and gasping, "What the hell is THIS?"

Given that this was during the Beatles era and weird lyrics were starting to come into vogue, that was quite a reaction...

Charles said...

LOL, I never heard of or the story behind this song. Rebels against the music industry even back then. Too bad it backfired. We can sure use someone like that today with today's music industry.

I kind of liked the vocal arrangement of the song.