THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,308) John Sebastian — “She’s a Lady”
John Sebastian’s first solo A-side, featuring Stephen Stills and David Crosby on guitars (Richie Unterberger, http://www.richieunterberger.com/sebastian1.html), is a “string filled” “delicate ballad[]” (William Ruhlmann, https://www.allmusic.com/album/john-b-sebastian-mw0000743465), a “British Invasion-style fey love song . . . that echoes the sound of the Rolling Stones circa 1965” (Steve Horowitz, https://www.popmatters.com/john-sebastian-john-b-sebastian-tarzana-kid-welcome-back-2495807402.html) The “poetic [song] . . . reflects the more mature songwriting direction he was heading in toward the end of The Spoonful”. (Alan Bershaw, https://www.wolfgangs.com/music/john-sebastian/audio/1239-3540.html?tid=648) It only reached #84.
“She’s a Lady” and other Sebastian songs were used in the Broadway play Jimmy Shines starring Dustin Hoffman. Sebastian told Pop Culture Classics that:
It was frustrating. Oh, my God, so frustrating. That project, they had ‘She’s A Lady.’ They had a couple good songs. But when I was called into the first meeting, they said, ‘We really appreciate your doing this project.’ I said, ‘Yes, and listen, you really don’t need to worry about a huge musical bill, because I’m used to working with four people.’ The producer leaned forward and said, ‘Could you do it with three?’ [Laughs]’’ And that was like the template for the entire experience. It kept coming back. . . . I was told, ‘Look, this isn’t a musical. This is a play with a few songs.’ ‘Okay.’ So, the fact was that they used a couple of tunes of mine that I thought were appropriate. But then they didn’t like go the whole distance. The thing was never recorded. The music was always the poor stepchild, So it was a really frustrating experience. And sometimes it’s not hard being gay. That was one of those times.”
As to Sebastian, William Ruhlmann writes:
[Sebastian] grew up in Greenwich Village . . . . By . . . 16, he was stepping onto the stages of coffeehouses and folk clubs, and by . . . 18 he was appearing as a sideman on recordings. In 1964, he joined the Even Dozen Jug Band . . . . [and] was also briefly in Mugwumps, along with future Lovin’ Spoonful guitarist Zal Yanovsky and future . . . Mamas and the Papas’ Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty. In the winter of 1964-1965, he and Yanovsky began assembling the . . . Lovin’ Spoonful . . . . In the meantime, he continued his session work . . . . [I]n the summer of 1965 [the Spoonful] released their first single, “Do You Believe in Magic,” on which he sang lead vocals (as he did on all the group’s singles while he was a member, in addition to writing or co-writing all their hits). It peaked in the Top Ten, and so did its follow-up, “You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice,” while a[n] . . . album . . . spent eight months in the charts. The third . . . single, “Daydream,” was a number one hit, accompanied by a . . . LP that reached the Top Ten. The group’s fourth single, “Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?[]” . . . reach[ed] the Top Five, and the fifth single, the timely “Summer in the City,” became a gold-selling number one hit . . . in the summer of 1966. . . . . [After] a soundtrack album for the Woody Allen film What’s Up, Tiger Lily? . . . . their sixth consecutive Top Ten hit, “Rain on the Roof,” followed by their seventh, “Nashville Cats[]” . . . simultaneous with a Top 20 showing for the band’s third album . . . . “Six O’Clock” gave them another Top 20 hit by June. That summer . . . Yanovsky and Boone were arrested on drug charges, resulting in Yanovsky’s departure . . . replace[d by] Jerry Yester. . . . “She’s Still a Mystery” became their eleventh consecutive Top 20 hit . . . but Sebastian was becoming dissatisfied, and after . . . a fourth LP . . . he quit the band. . . . [He] ultimately reject[ed] an offer to join a trio of his friends who went on to become Crosby, Stills & Nash. . . . [“She’s a Lady”] was released on Kama Sutra, but Sebastian had determined to leave the label and he signed to . . . Reprise . . . . Kama Sutra . . . felt he still owed them an album, and a legal battle ensued which delayed the release of his debut solo album for a year. Although Reprise won the right to release John B. Sebastian, and did so in January 1970, Kama Sutra’s parent company, MGM . . . also put out its own version . . . which was then withdrawn. In the meantime, Sebastian . . . made an inadvertent but memorable appearance at . . . Woodstock . . . . John B. Sebastian . . . ma[de] the Top 20 . . . and [his] solo career really took off when he was featured on the . . . Woodstock soundtrack album . . . and in the documentary film . . . . MGM . . . . obtained a tape of a concert he performed . . . and released it . . . . Another legal battle ensued, and this album too was withdrawn. . . . Sebastian released his second studio album, The Four of Us, in August 1971 . . . [which] sold disappointingly. Tarzana Kid, which followed in September 1974, missed the charts entirely, and Sebastian’s recording career was virtually moribund when he was asked to write a theme song for . . . Welcome Back, Kotter, which premiered in September 1975. Sebastian [also sang] “Welcome Back[]” over the credits each week. . . . [A] single version . . . topped the charts in May 1976 . . . .
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/john-sebastian-mn0000814852#biography
Live at Tanglewood:
Live on the BBC:
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