This was a parody of "
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds," which The Beatles released a year earlier. Instead of the psychedelic sound of the Beatles song, this was bubblegum pop, but with similarly obtuse lyrics. According to John Fred, John Lennon loved the song. Said Fred: "When I met John Lennon, that's the first thing he asked me. He thought it was great. He said the first thing he was going to do when he got home was write a song called 'Froggy in a Pond with Spectacles.'"
John Fred Gourrier was a star baseball and basketball player for Southeastern Louisiana University, where he went on scholarship. This was his only hit, but he did have some popular, non-parody songs in Louisiana with titles like "Up and Down," and "She Shot a Hole in My Soul." His song "Shirley" also did well locally, and was a #6 hit in the UK for Shakin' Stevens in 1982.
Following "Judy In Disguise (with Glasses)," Fred got a deal with UNI records, who also signed the unknown talents Neil Diamond and Elton John. His follow-up song was "Hey, Hey Bunny," which failed to chart. With the label putting most of their efforts into Elton John, Fred's career stalled. He worked for a record company for a while, in the early '80s returned to music, once again touring the south. He died on April 15, 2005 at age 63 due to complications from a kidney transplant.
John Fred came up with this song when he was touring southern states in 1967 behind his minor hit "Agnes English." He explained to One Shot magazine that he was looking for material for a follow up song when he found inspiration in the crowd. Said Fred: "We were playing in Florida and the girls at the time had these big old sunglasses. One of the guys was hustling this chick. She took off these glasses and she could stop a clock. I said, 'That's it.' That's what gave me the idea. I said, 'She's kind of in disguise.'"
At first, the girl in this song was named Beverly, but Fred changed it to Judy because it was much easier to sing and went along with the "Lucy" from the song he was parodying.
The lyric, "Cross your heart with a living bra" was very strange, but this was a strange song. Fred was writing lyrics while watching TV, and he cribbed the line from a Playtex commercial.
This song was also recorded by Tommy Roe.
Not everybody appreciated the fact that it was a parody. The comedian Dickie Henderson (1922-85) used it in his stand up routines, quoting the lyrics to ridicule '60s popular music. His favorite lines were: "Lemonade pie with a brand new car" and "Cross your heart with your living bra."
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Suggestion credit:
Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 2
