Sunday Will Never Be The Same

Feeling rather hairy today, so I pulled a couple of Rhino CDs collecting Summer of Love singles. Nuthin' will pull you out of sixties nostalgia quicker than a too-large heaping of the pop singles packaged as feel-good grooviness, but listening to one of 'em, I was reminded of one of my first big adolescent FA lusts: Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane. Other boomer fat admirers, recalling the era, look to "Mama Cass" Elliot, the one Mama of the Mamas & Papas who could really sing. Me, I had a case for the plump hippie chick in the big hats.

The single included in the Summer of Love set, "Lazy Day," is arguably one of the band's ickiest. But with their better 45s ("Sunday Will Never Be the Sun," "I'd Like to Get to Know You") and album tracks (a great version of "Brother Can You Spare A Dime," for instance), S&OG was a swell 60's folk-pop band. And Spanky was an even sweller singer. A few pounds later, she took the late Mama Cass' place in a revived version of the Mamas & Papas, but I have happier memories of seeing her in the 80's as a part of Flo & Eddie's (a.k.a. the Voices of the Turtles) Happy Together revival tour. She was no longer just plump by then – but a fat-&-happy Earth Matron, wearing a fringed vest that nicely showed off her fulsome arms, happily singing the earnestly liberal songs (remember "Give A Damn"?) of her youth. If I wasn't married, I'd have gladly signed up then and there to be her groupie/roadie. Every once in a while, I'll read some crap claiming that yer typical Baby Boomer is youth obsessed, yet, as so often happens, I found the older and fatter Elaine to be even hotter than her younger self. She still had a great voice.

Visiting a Spanky & Our Gang fan site, I now see a retrospective four-disc boxed set of Miz Spanky and the Boys is scheduled for release this season. About time, think I, since up 'til now the only CD of the Gang available in the U.S. was a Greatest Hits collection. As someone who has pleasant memories of the group's full vinyl releqses, I'm looking forward to the retrospective - "Lazy Day" and all - even though I know the chances of seeing her at her Happy Together fullest in the box set booklet are pretty damn slight. . .