THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,832) The Peppermint Trolley Co. — “Sunrise”
A new sun rises over a new year. Take a ride on the Peppermint Trolley with this lustrous and consoling song by America’s greatest 60’s TV band, a song “about hope and finding strength to carry on during a dark time”. (Face the Music, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQfRQSUX-1k) “Sunrise” “featur[es] delicate guitar and keyboard arpeggios enveloping tender vocal passages, creating perfect moments of folk-pop, with instrumental effects in the background that lead into a beautiful, undulating vocal section”. (Magic Pop Blog, https://magicpopblog.wordpress.com/2021/09/10/out-sider-guerssen-reedita-el-disco-popsike-de-culto-de-the-peppermint-trolley-company/)
Band member and “Sunrise” singer Danny Faragher explains:
“Sunrise” was penned solely by Pat [McClure]. It is a song that spoke to me, and which I had the good fortune to sing lead on. Years later he provided the back story of its creation. He’d been up north dealing with the draft, and had driven back through the night. Just before dawn he pulled off to the side of the road, grabbed his guitar, opened the back door of his bread truck, and sat there strumming as the sun rose. The words and music came simultaneously, and the song was completed within minutes. “Today let me down but I know that the sun will shine”. These lyrics bear the imprint of a McClure song: Sad, but always hopeful. In my opinion these tunes are timeless. In a just world they would be recognized as the musical gems they are.
http://www.dannyfaragher.com/tag/peppermint-trolley-company/
Fifty years ago the Peppermint Trolley Company recorded this beautiful Patrick McClure song . . . . I got the chance to sing the lead vocal on it. The tune was special to me; it seemed to embody the way I felt in that turbulent moment. The performance was so nakedly honest and vulnerable that for decades I could not listen to it. . . . A half century [later] I find the song’s sad but hopeful vibe still haunts just as it did when Pat first played it for me. My voice may no longer have the fresh-faced innocence of the kid who performed it in 1968, but the hope and longing are still there.
America’s greatest TV band of the 60’s? Don’t think simian, think peppermint. The Peppermint Trolley (see #54, 136, 318, 426, 1,409) appeared rehearsing in an episode of the classic detective drama Mannix (see #136) and camped it up on The Beverly Hillbillies, and that’s just for starters. They also recorded the theme song to the generation-defining iconic TV series The Brady Bunch (at least for the first season). Talk about Monkee business!
In addition to the Trolley’s contributions to television, it was a wonderful pop psych/ baroque pop band (not bubblegum, despite what its name might suggest). “Sunrise” is taken from their sole LP, which Beverly Paterson aptly describes:
[T]he self-titled platter was padded to the ceiling with layers of sweet soaring harmonies stacked neatly atop pastoral textures, glistening melodies and exotic interludes. The band’s attention to detail and their ability to deliver the songs in such a natural manner remains flawless. A spiffy paisley pop vibe, akin to that of the Poor, the Left Banke, and the Strawberry Alarm Clock [see #127, 272, 901, 1,111, 1,700] , hugs the tunes. Challenging and ambitious, but highly accessible, [it] is one of the greatest overlooked efforts of the era.
As the the Trolley, Al Campbell tells us:
Formed in Redlands, CA, in 1967, Peppermint Trolley Company managed to release one album and five singles. They were one of the initial bands signed to the Acta label, whose biggest success was the American Breed “Bend Me Shape Me.” Only one of Peppermint’s singles managed to make the charts, “Baby You Come Rollin’ Across My Mind[]” [see #54]. It peaked at number 59 in the summer of 1968. They managed to keep a relatively high profile by performing the weekly TV theme songs for Love American Style and the first season of The Brady Bunch (the cast members sang the theme from the second season on). The band consisted of Bob Cheevers (vocals and guitar), Jimmie Faragher (bass, guitar, and sax), Danny Faragher (keyboards), Casey Cunningham (guitar and flute), and Greg Tornouist (drums). Their success was short lived and by the early ’70s the band changed their name to Bones and finally the Faragher Brothers before disbanding. Bob Cheevers gained success as a solo artist, releasing several discs in the contemporary folk genre.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/peppermint-trolley-company-mn0000411009#biography
Danny Faragher wrote a great history of their career which I highly recommend —http://www.dannyfaragher.com/bio/the-peppermint-trolley-company/. Here is Danny, 50 years later:
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