My Top 1000 Songs #616: Green Tambourine

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

I'd call this one a Guilty Pleasure, except I feel absolutely no guilt about my love of good bubblegum music. And let's be clear, in the pantheon of good (mostly late 60s) bubblegum pop, the Lemon Pipers' 1967 single "Green Tambourine" sits high atop the list. Alongside, say, the Archies' "Sugar Sugar" and Ohio Express' "Yummy Yummy Yummy," it pretty much defines the genre. Which means it's a silly, lightweight pop song, hopeless cheesy but impossible not to love. And it's given an added boost of longevity with some nifty but non-threatening psychedelic touches.

Of course, the band wasn't crazy about it--the short-lived Ohio-based Lemon Pipers were pushed to record a string of Brill Building ready-made pop tunes, when what they really wanted to do was play lengthy blues-rock psychedelic excursions somewhere between the Byrds and Vanilla Fudge. Some of which were kinda cool if bland--there's a reason people hired Brill Building songwriters to craft surefire radio hits like "Green Tambourine"--but it does make their two albums actually kinda interesting, bouncing back and forth between bouncy bubblegum and more inventive but less catchy psychedelic blues. 

Status Quo's version:

Given a 90s alt.rock sheen by Love Nut: