Jug Band Music

Album: Daydream (1966)
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Songfacts®:

  • Lead singer John Sebastian wrote this song, where he sings about getting sick in Savannah (after eating cream and bananas on a hot day - not a good idea). The remedy is jug band music, which as the doctor points out, makes him feel just fine.
  • Sebastian cops to stealing many song ideas from the "jug band masters of Memphis, Tennessee." On his Welcome Back concert DVD, he explained: "This tune didn't come from Memphis, Tennesse, it came from New York City. It's sort of a disturbed tune, you see. People think I write all positive songs - this is not true.
  • In 1964, before forming The Lovin' Spoonful, John Sebastian and Zal Yanovsky were in a group called The Mugwumps along with Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty, who later formed The Mamas & the Papas. When this song was released on the Daydream album, the Mugwumps were only a memory, but a cover version was released as a single on Sidewalk records by a completely different group called the Mugwumps. This was clearly a bit of misdirection, and it worked: the single bubbled under at #127 on the Hot 100.

Comments: 2

  • Barbintheboonies from WashingtonI am looking for a CD I lost that had 24 Loving Spoonful songs, or more. One I really enjoyed was about a guy who always did the wrong thing. I can't remember it.
  • NormMaybe the Even Dozen Jug Band had something to do with it.
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