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You may remember the song, “The Rain, the Park and Other Things,” also known as “The Flower Girl” song. Perhaps you remember the theme song from “Hair” or the theme from the televisions show “Love, American Style.”
There were all hits for one of the first family bands, the Cowsills, who were the inspiration for the hit television show, “The Partridge Family.”
In a telephone interview from California, Bob Cowsill spoke about bringing the band on tour again after the tragic loss of two of his brothers in the last two years.
The band began in Newport, R.I. in the mid-1960s, were Bob and Bill and their younger brothers John and Barry sang Beatles songs in local clubs.
“We were picked up by a record label, but we bombed,” Bob says. “The label dropped us. It was my dad’s decision to add our mother to the group. This was not good news to teenage boys. Mom didn’t want to do it. She had stage fright.
“We recorded “The Rain, the Park and Other Things” and MGM bought the package. They loved the song and the concept, a mom and kind of cute sons. At the time, it seemed insane. The song was a very big hit and it meant that Mom was in for the long haul.”
When their sister Susan turned seven, in 1968,l she became a member of the group.
“She and mom could sing,” Bob Cowsill says. “We went out and had a run from 1967-1971. We were on “Ed Sullivan,” “The Tonight Show,” and we had our own special
Our biggest hit, “Hair,” came in 1968 and it was fantastic, especially in the middle of the Beatles, the British invasion, (and groups like) the Mamas & the Papas and The Lovin’ Spoonful.
In 1971, the got a call about putting the story of the Cowsills into a television show.
“We toured in a big bus, but not a colored one like that, thank God,” Bob Cowsill says. “They wanted to see if we could be the kids, but we were too old. The mother was always going to be Shirley Jones. We always viewed David Cassidy as Bill and me and Danny as a mixture of Barry and John. They observed us for a while and we were honored and humbled by ‘The Partridge Family.’
We thought it was great. They took our creative team, Wes Farrell and Tony Romeo, and they wrote and produced the show.”
The group disbanded in the early 1970s and most of the siblings had careers in the music business.
Their mom, Barbara, died in 1985, and in 2005, Barry, who was living in New Orleans, died in Hurricane Katrina.
It took some months to learn what had happened to him, and on the day they buried him, Bill died in Canada after years of medical problems.
“We hadn’t played together, but when the promoters called about the 40th anniversary of “The Rain, the Park, and Other Things,” we said yes. Our children were older, Bill and Barry had died, and it was great to spend the year together. Now, the shows are fantastic. People come with albums. I’m humbled by it.
“We like to give a bit of history, including early flops that were good sons. We do some Beatles because we’ve always been a Beatles band, and it’s a nice trip down memory Lane. The sibling harmonies are our favorite. John tours with the Beach Boys. When he can’t be with us, Susan’s husband, Russ Broussard, comes in.”
Today, the band consists of Paul Cowsill on vocals and keyboard, Bob Cowsill on vocals and guitar, Susan Cowsill on vocals and guitar, Russ Broussard on drums, Robby Scharf on vocals and bass and Timmy Bryson on vocals and guitar.
There are efforts afoot by fans to the original group into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame, but for Bob Cowsill, it’s about family and giving back.
“We’re looking to get tighter,” he says. “With two deaths in the family, it’s a human reaction. You need to share when you’ve been given something special.”
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