The Electric Prunes - I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)

Sunday, time for a classic.

"I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)" is a song written with music by Annette Tucker and lyrics by Nancie Mantz, which was recorded in late 1966 by the garage rock band THE ELECTRIC PRUNES. Released as the band's second single November 1966.

It was also the lead track of the band's debut album, and became more widely known as the opening track on the influential Nuggets compilation of garage rock and early psychedelic music, released in 1972.

The title is a play on words, namely on having "too much (alcohol) to drink": its lyrics describe how the singer has woken from dreaming about an ex-lover.

THE ELECTRIC PRUNES originally formed as THE SANCTIONS at Taft High School in Los Angeles, renaming themselves in 1966. They were introduced to record producer Dave Hassinger, and after a series of rehearsals at Leon Russell's house released a debut single, "Ain't It Hard". Despite its commercial failure, Reprise Records agreed that the band could record a second single.

Convinced that the band could not write their own songs, Hassinger sought material from the professional songwriting team of Annette Tucker and lyricist Nancie Mantz. One of the tunes was "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)", a song that, according to some sources, was originally conceived as an orchestral piano ballad. However, according to Tucker, "I came up with the title one day and called Nancie. She loved it and we wrote it the next day in one half hour....The words were there and my melody came easily. I was influenced by the Rolling Stones at the time and that is how I heard that song being recorded....Nancie and I envisioned this as a rock song." A demo version recorded for Hassinger by singer-songwriter Jerry Fuller (in some sources wrongly identified as Jerry Vale), may have been the source of the story of the song's origin as a ballad.

At the time, THE ELECTRIC PRUNES comprised singer James Lowe, lead guitarist Ken Williams, rhythm guitarist James "Weasel" Spagnola, bassist Mark Tulin, and drummer Preston Ritter. The oscillating, reversed guitar which opens the song originated from the rehearsals at Russell's house, where Williams recorded with a 1958 Gibson Les Paul guitar with a Bigsby vibrato unit. According to Lowe, "We were recording on a four-track, and just flipping the tape over and re-recording when we got to the end. Dave cued up a tape and didn't hit 'record,' and the playback in the studio was way up: ear-shattering vibrating jet guitar. Ken had been shaking his Bigsby wiggle stick with some fuzztone and tremolo at the end of the tape. Forward it was cool. Backward it was amazing. I ran into the control room and said, 'What was that?' They didn't have the monitors on so they hadn't heard it. I made Dave cut it off and save it for later."

The single was released in November 1966. At first it was caught up in the Christmas rush, but in early 1967 it made steady progress up the US chart and finally peaked at #11. It also reached # 49 in the UK chart. Its success enabled the band to tour, and to release an album and a successful follow-up single "Get Me to the World on Time".

Enjoy today's classic!



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Tim Hardin - How Can We Hang On To A Dream

Sunday, time for a classic.

"How Can We Hang On To A Dream" is a song composed and recorded by Tim Hardin.

James Timothy Hardin (December 23, 1941 – December 29, 1980) was an American folk musician and composer. He wrote many hits during his carret, tunes like "If I Were A Carpenter", "Reason To Believe" and "How Can We Hang On To A Dream". Hardin is also known for his own recording career.

Today's tune "How Can We Hang On To A Dream" is taken from the debut album "Tim Hardin 1" by folk artist Tim Hardin, released in 1966 on Verve Records. The album contains one of his most well-known and frequently covered songs, "Reason to Believe" a notable hit for Rod Stewart in 1971. Some of the songs were demos that ended up on the final release. Hardin was reportedly displeased with the string arrangements added after principal recording was completed.

The album photography was shot by Lisa Law (credited as Lisa Bachelis) in the garden of her home, which was known as "The Castle" and where Bob Dylan was staying at the time. One of the outtakes of this album shoot was used for Hardin's last album as well as he died the day Law was to photograph him for his new album, Hang On to a Dream

"Tim Hardin 1" is one of the most powerful and compelling records of its era".

On December 29, 1980, Hardin was found on the floor of his Hollywood apartment by longtime friend Ron Daniels. He died of a heroin overdose. His remains were buried in Twin Oaks Cemetery in Turner, Oregon.

Many covers of the song have been recorded by prominent artists of the age, including a 1969 psychedelic rock recording by the short-lived band GANDALF. A cover version with a choral arrangement by Duncan Browne was recorded by THE NICE, as "Hang On To A Dream", on their third album, "Nice", and NAZARETH on "Snakes 'N' Ladders" (1989). A closer cover version was performed by FLEETWOOD MAC on a 1969 BBC recording, released on "Live at the BBC" in 2001. EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER covered it on "The Return Of The Manticore". Johnny Hallyday released a French version in 1969, as "Je m'accroche à mon rêve", with French lyrics by Georges Aber. It was once again covered in 2019 by prominent Irish rap star Rodney Paz for a special edition of The Late Late Toy Show.

THE LEMONHEADS released a much better cover of the track as a bonus addition to online editions of their 2009 covers album Varshons. Life of Riley: The Lightning Seeds Collection includes a cover version of the song. Françoise Hardy recorded the song for her album En Anglais under the title "Hang On to a Dream". THE MOODY BLUES with Denny Laine recorded two complete versions of the song (on April 5, 1969, and July 5, 1969). Both versions remained unissued until the late 2014 UK Esoteric 2-CD boxset of The Magnificent Moodies. Kathryn Williams recorded a cover version on her album Relations. Hardin's version appeared on the soundtrack to the 1997 film Fever Pitch; the English Romo band Orlando contributed a cover version to the Fever Pitch E.P. which was released to accompany the soundtrack.

Enjoy today's classic!



Tim Hardin performing the tune "How Can We Hang On To A Dream" on the piano, filmed 1979



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