|
Fifty years ago this fall, one of the biggest hits in the country was a lightly-psychedelic pop tune performed by a family band from Newport.
"The Rain, The Park & Other Things" by The Cowsills sat unreleased for nearly a year after teenaged brothers Bill, Bob, Barry and John Cowsill originally recorded it in late 1966 while the band searched for a new record label.
Then their producer Artie Kornfeld decided the song needed something, or someone, to set The Cowsills apart from other rock acts of the era. Kornfeld hit upon an idea: The boys' mother Barbara was added to the lineup and onto the already completed single.
"We had to go back into the studio with mom and get her on that record," Bob Cowsill recalled. "That’s her and me singing the melody in the chorus. She was shaking so much out in the studio; she had never done this before. I had to stand behind her, near her ear, so she would sing it and we'd do it together."
The song was finally released by MGM Records in September 1967, debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at the end of the month, and entered the Top 40 in mid-October. By December, it was the No. 2 song in the country, held off from the top spot by "Daydream Believer" by The Monkees.
Even so, the band did not realize how popular their song had become until Bob, Bill and Kornfeld received a phone call from MGM informing them the single had sold 1 million copies.
"We're not naive, but we're small-town kids and they’re playing us in Colorado?" Bob said. "Anything would amaze us at that age and at that time."
Bob thinks the song picked up an audience because it was different from almost everything else on the radio at the time.
"It was the antithesis of what was going on in the country, in the news and across the land," he said. "It was something that was beautiful, light, airy, fluffy and not heavy. On the airwaves were Motown, acid rock and heavy protest music, and in comes this lilting recording that got everyone's attention. The song, when it was heard, made people feel good."
'It succeeded against its title'
The song was written by Kornfeld and his songwriting partner Steve Duboff specifically for The Cowsills. He first met the band during their brief tenure at Mercury-Phillips Records, and was taken by the boys' talent at their young age. When they were dropped by the label following three unsuccessful singles, Kornfeld left with them.
"Artie swears they wrote it in two hours," Bob said. "He said that we inspired them to write that song. By then, he knew our sound, we had worked on that together, and he knew our harmonies and how important our vocals were going to be."
The original sessions for the song took place at A&R Studios in New York City in 1966. Despite being capable instrumentalists, The Cowsills only provided vocals for the recording and were accompanied by session musicians.
Kornfeld had difficulty finding the perfect rain sound effect to act as the song's introduction; recordings of real rain proved too faint to hear on record. So he improvised.
"The sound of the rain at the beginning is actually the sound of sizzling bacon," Bob said. "That’s what it is. It sounds like rain."
There was one more change made to the song before its release. Kornfeld and Duboff originally named the song "The Flower Girl," but MGM Records President Mort Nasatir had them change the title to avoid confusion with Scott MacKenzie's then-current hit single "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)."
Kornfeld came up "The Rain, The Park & Other Things," a phrase that does not appear anywhere in the lyrics.
"We’re thinking 'No one's going to remember the name of this song'," Bob said. "And lo and behold, people don’t remember the name, but it was still a big hit. It succeeded against its title."
While the song was climbing the charts, the band was invited to perform on "The Ed Sullivan Show," then the most popular program on television. By the time they appeared on the show on Oct. 29, the brothers' 8-year old sister Susan was added into the group. Their 16-year old brother Paul also joined the band, after their second appearance on the show in December
"It broadened our vocal sound to have those two come in and be added," Bob said. "With me and Bill down below and Paul in the middle, now we got Barry, John and Susan, three really high vocalists in the stack, and you can hear them up there."
Susan said her brother Bill told her he didn’t seriously consider adding her to the lineup until he heard her sing along to a Monkees song on the radio.
"He made it clear that in the band, you had to perform properly," she said. "I wanted to be in that band really badly. It looked like so much fun and I wanted to always do everything my brothers did."
The Cowsills followed their first hit with two more Top 10 singles -- "Indian Lake" in 1968 and "Hair," another million seller, in 1969. The group also inspired the popular ABC sitcom “The Partridge Family,” which aired from 1971 to 1974.
The group’s popularity cooled after the release of "Hair," and they disbanded around 1972. The siblings pursued separate musical careers over the next two decades before Bob, Paul, John and Susan reformed the band permanently in the 1990s. John is currently the drummer for the Beach Boys and performs occasionally with his siblings. Their mom Barbara died in 1985, and brothers Barry and Bill died in 2005 and 2006 respectively.
For the past three summers, the remaining trio has performed around the country on the Happy Together Tour, organized by The Turtles and features other 1960s pop acts like The Association and The Box Tops.
The band usually opens their set with "The Rain, The Park & Other Things" with Bob performing his late brother Bill's lead vocals. Fifty years after its release, the siblings still enjoy performing their biggest hit to audiences consisting of those who grew up with the song and younger fans hearing it live for the first time.
"That song makes a whole lot of people really happy," Susan said. "When I'm watching these folks when we start that song, sometimes they'll all stand up and start cheering. It's exhilarating, it's a rush and it's a beautiful moment of pure energy."
|
