Comments: 35

• Anna Ramone from N/aTo Marilyn from New York,
  That's awesome to hear. What was each member like?
• Jeanne Engstrand from Flat Rock, North CarolinaHi there. I’m late to this conversation; however, I worked for Trident Productions and the fabulous Don Graham and equally Joe Gannon (sp?it’s been many years).
  
  I was hired by Frank Werner - Kingston Trio genius- near the time We 5 broke out. Don Graham worked tirelessly promoting the group.
  
  So, I was there when We5 cut the “dub” for this tune; Beverly Bivens was in our studio in the Capital Towers Building, San Francisco.
  
  I’ll add Jerry Bergen and wife Debbie are super reliable. At time I worked at Trident PProductions, Jerry was always there with the group.
  
  Bill Board did a story about Trudent and my name is in this story, should u wish to check. Thanks and yes Beverly’s voice was incredible and no doubt still is. Jeanne
• Cerph from UsaI just saw the question here “who was the drummer on my mind” Jerry Granelli. This part spooked me out. He died 10 days ago!
• Pcl from BostonBac 59 from Ohio: Ian and Sylvia (Sylvia being the writer of the song) had a hit in Canada with a re-recorded version in 1972. But there are also numerous covers over the years, including Jay & The Americans.
• Mr Pheasent from Etna CaI can remember this on the Radio a few times.
• Kent Beuchert from Myrtle Beach I also think it was downright criminal that Bev Bivens was not provided the material to extend her career. She possessed the most astonishing voice and phrasing of any female pop singer of the past 60 years. Cast Your Fate to the Wind is all the proof anyone needs to be forced to agree with my claim. Bev was the best, period - no other female singer could compete. It wasn't even close.
• Bac59 from OhioI remember there being another cover of this song in the 70s by some other vocal group. I seem to recall that it was the Mike Curb Congregation, but I'm probably wrong about that. I remember quite distinctly hearing it on the radio at the time. But I haven't been able to find out who the performers were. If anyone who reads this here knows who they were, I'd appreciate their input.
• Anonymous from Florida I’ve spoken with a few of Debra K. Rowe’s friends and can shed some light on a couple mysteries here.
  
  When she was with the band she was a minor, and I say “with the band” because I’m not sure she was ever officially part of the band.
  
  Story goes when she was in 5th grade, so around 11-13 years old she won a contest and as her prize she toured with the band for a year. After which she returned home. Although she claimed she left due to lack of recognition. Although I don’t know her voice to recognize it; her voice can be heard on at least one of the recordings of ‘You were on my mind’
  
  She received royalties from that for the rest of her days. I know at least 2 people who have seen the royalty checks.
• Kent from Lodi, CaJerry Burgan was on "The Diner" with Lou Simon (XM Sirius Ch. 106) recently and filled a lot of holes about this song. According to Burgan, the 12 string guitar you hear throughout song after the intro is a Goya 6 string acoustic that one of the guitar players converted to 12 string. A DeArmond acoustic guitar pick up is used to make it "electric". The 12 string guitar on the intro is a Rickenbaker. At the end of the intro of the song, before vocals begin, the guitar player hits the wrong chord which is why it sounds funny. The error was never corrected, but this guitar part was added after the song was finished. The original female vocalist was Sue Ellen Davies, but Beverly Bivens is the vocalist on "You Were On My Mind".
  
  As for "Get Together", this song was recorded by everyone. Dino Valenti wrote it. It was recorded by everyone. Well almost. Here's a list, but not in chronological order (you can still get these): Dino Valente, The Kingston Trio, David Crosby, The Jefferson Airplane, and of course, The Youngbloods.
  It had regional airplay as early as 1967 (Youngbloods), but didn't score well until it was used in a commercial for/about(?) an American-Jewish organization(?).
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn December 2nd 1965, the We Five performed "Let's Get Together" on the ABC-TV program 'Shindig!'...
  At the time the song was at #51 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; it had entered the chart on November 7th at position #90, six weeks later on December 19th it would peak at #31 {for 1 week} and it stayed on the Top 100 for 8 weeks...
  The quintet had one other Top 100 record; the Top 10 hit "You Were On My Mind", which earlier in 1965 on September 19th peaked at #3 {for 1 week} and it spent 15 weeks on the Top 100...
  {See 1st & 3rd post below}.
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn August 31st 1965, the We Five performed "You Were On My Mind" on the ABC-TV week-day afternoon program 'Where The Action Is'...
  At the time the song was at #7 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; nineteen days later on September 19th it would peak at #3* for one week...
  The We Five had one other Top 100 record, "Let's Get Together"; it reached #31 {for 1 week} on December 19th later in 1965...
  * The week “You Were On My Mind" was at #3, the #2 record for that week was "Hang On Sloopy" by the McCoys and at #1 was "Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire.
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn June 25th 1967, Crispian St. Peters' covered version of "You Were On My Mind" entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #79; and on July 16th, 1967 it peaked at #36 (for 2 weeks) and spent 6 weeks on the Top 100...
  The following week it was at #49 and then fell completely off the chart...
  His biggest hit was "The Pied Piper", it reached #4 in 1966.
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn December 2nd, 1965 the We Five performed "You Were On My Mind" on the ABC-TV program 'Shindig!'...
  Five months earlier on July 24th it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; eventually it peaked at #3 and spent 15 weeks on the Top 100...
  And on September 4th, 1965 it reached #1 (for 5 weeks) on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Tracks chart...
  R.I.P. Jimmy O'Neill (Shindig's host, 1940 - 2013).
• Elmer H from Westville, OkThis is a great song from '65. My brother Jim bought the single & I loved it too. I was 15 years old at the time. I always had a fascination with the ending guitar sound. Thanks to everyone for all the background info on this hit and the We Five.
• J from Seattle, WaUpdate: Jerry Burgan confirms that the only female voices on any We Five recording are those of Beverly Bivens and Debbie Burgan
• J from Seattle, WaThe voice made my 16 year old spine tingle, and affected my musical taste ever after.
  Now, I have a mystery to submit that really seems far fetched to me but here it is: There's a 2009 obituary published in several places online including findagrave.com for a Debra K. Rowe of Daytona Beach, FL. It states that she "was a member of the 1960's band "We Five"." There's a somewhat intriguing photo of the plaque on her gravestone. There are also comments on the youtube videos of "You were on my mind" by someone claiming to be her son and claiming that the voice on the studio recording is hers. I suspect this is a case of family mythmaking. I can't seem to find contact information for any of the living principals who were there, to confirm or debunk this.
• Fred from Laurel, MdSylvia's maiden name was Fricker (no relation to Jonathan Winters' irreverent granny character, Maude Frickert ;-). In 1965, when I started to take up folk music, someone told me that was her name, and I assumed she didn't change it in marrying Ian Tyson. That seems not to be the case, as Wiki has her last name as Tyson. It doesn't say whether she reverted to her maiden name after the divorce in, or soon after, 1974. *** Anyway, this song features one of the knockout female voices of recorded 60's folk/pop, a few others being Cass Elliot of the Mamas & Papas, Judith Durham of the Seekers, Elaine "Spanky" MacFarlane of Spanky & Our Gang, Maddy Prior of Steeleye Span ("All around My Hat"--OK, 1975, but...), and, bending the genre a bit, Janis Joplin. Very heady company, indeed!
• Donna from Long Beach, InIn the mid 1970's I lived in Vail, Colorado...it was a great place then...and many bands came through inbetween recording sessions from LA...one of them was the "We Five"....but they were "reassembled" when they came to Vail. One of the bandmembers had been killed in a terrible auto accident, they told me, and so they regrouped with one of the members and his wife...Debbie Bergen,
  who famously sang "you were on my mind" with her husband playing bass guitar with 2 other band members. Debbie was fabulous, and they continued the "We Five" band singing their signiture song and carrying on the legacy of the original We Five Group with this remaining 3 members and Debbie.
  In the early 1980's I moved to Los Angeles to pursue my own successful acting and singing career and I was invited by the Bergens to visit them....I saw them perform again in front of enthusiastic crowds in Hollywood and around Southern California....always singing their signiture song "You Were on my Mind"...That is the "rest of the story" you may not have known about the We Five/The Bergens !
• Brian from Altamonte Springs, FlFor years, I thought that this was performed by the Everly Brothers. Sounded just like them, though a little more 60ish.
• Garth from Villa Park, IlDoes anyone know if this song's original recording was in Stereo?
• Mark from Miami, FlI was from this time. I was like 13 and really into the culture already. Notice this original group disbanded in 1967. Alot of that had to do with the fact being in San Francisco a huge melting pot with many groups like Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, and others going harder rock and folksy groups were going out. Also these kids did not do drugs But the song was awesome and remains so for me today. It was timing. But you can add the other things and see the quick rise we five had but between the culture gravitating toward harder rock, a country desperate for and end to chaos after Nov 22, Vietnam going to a new level - with all this who's going to notice a nice buch of kids that were just that - nice. They helped to give me my own love of music that I still have.
• Del from Dallas, Tx Ahhh! when I woke up this morning you were on my mind......and now I can't get them off my mind!
  That's the term my younger brother used for me as I played that record thin in the 60's.
  No, Beverly is alive and well and living in Berkeley. I use to write them faithfully once a week and even send Bev birthday cards. She was my idol when I was just 15, actually younger as I was in junior high when that song came out.
  To me, and for my money there's simply no one better!! That PBS special was Jerry's wife, Debbie. I wished I'd have been old enough to go see them in concert before the break-up, but I couldn't drive then, and I was just too young in my mom's eyes. It sometimes makes me sad to listen to them when I know they're no longer around, but that beautiful voice never seems far away. The first group I ever "fell in love" with and stayed in love!!!
  I, too, heard the rumor of an accident with Bev, but it was just a rumor.
• Jimmy from Grove Hill, AlTake a look at http://www.wefive.net/ for band info. The singer on PBS appears to be Debbie Burgan.
• Steve from Brooklyn, NyBeverly Bivens definitely sang "You were on my mind" and there's a video on YouTube (Hollywood palace - where they are introduced by Fred Astaire) where you can get a sense of the power of her voice. If she hadn't disappeared into the Avant-Garde, she would have been a big star.
• Rob from Central, FlYes, Beverly Bivens did not die. That was just a rumor that spread around back then. She was still singing up through 1999 and I just saw her on PBS reunited with We Five. Same face. Not much voice left but it was good to hear the song again. It was a great song!
• George from Ewing, NjSeems to me that the stylistic midpoint between Ian & Sylvia's folk version and We Five's folk-rock version is one I've heard once or twice by (I believe) Matthews Southern Comfort. I have to assume We Five had heard it before they came up with their arrangement (unless of course the MSC version followed, rather than preceded, WF's). As for Crispian St. Peters's version, I don't think I've heard it. Does anyone know anything specific about how WF came up with the arrangement? That is, was it a group effort, or did one of them work it out? (Marilyn in NYC, do you know, by any chance?)
• Marilyn from New York, NyBeverly Bivens *was* the female singer on "You Were On My Mind." She also sang all the other songs on their albums; there was no other female singer in the We Five before their break up in 1967. My sister and I were friends with We Five when the recordings were made. Also, the song may have first "taken off" on KHJ in LA, but Dick Biondi, a DJ at KRLA, was the first to play it, after much persuasion on our part. He had said he had listened to it and didn't think it would be a hit. I think this is the only time in his long career that he was proved wrong. :-)
• Chris from Stouffville, CanadaDonald is correct. The confusion over the auto accident may be related to a serious crash involving Sweetwater lead singer Nancy Nevins. Sweetwater was the first act on stage at Woodstock. Four months later, Nevins was in a serious wreck in LA, was in a coma and spent 12 years recovering. She is alive and well, and is back singing.
  
  Sadly, Bev Bivens retired her incredible voice with far too few tracks for us to enjoy. But by all accounts, she too is alive and well...
• Donald from Miami, FlBeverly Bivens was not killed in an automobile accident. The band broke up shortly before their second album was released, and she effectively dropped out of pop music. She married a jazz musician whose band did the sound track for Peanuts specials. They had a son in 1971, Yoshi Marshall. She did some singing for her husband's band and commercials jingles, etc., but seems to have kept herself out of the spotlight since that one hit single.
• Wicked Wahine from Aiea, HiThe lead singer, who performed with the We Five at my college in the 60s, was killed in an auto accident in 1965. That's the reason she's only on the first issues of "You Were On My Mind." I never knew her name, but I guess it's Beverly Bivens.
  Wicked Wahine, Aiea, HI
• Dave from Scottsdale, AzMichael Stewart, the younger brother of John Stewart was in this group. John wrote "Daydream Believer" for the Monkees and was a member of the Kingston Trio. Michael played guitar on John's "Phoenix Concert" album
• Alan from Grande Prairie, Alberta, CanadaJust a minor correction. Ian and Sylvia were a Canadian Folk singing duet. Ian Tyson's "Four Strong Winds" is a classic folk song and if you see the DVD "Heart of Gold" Neil Young calls "Four Strong Winds" the most beautiful song ever written. He performed it on "The Last Waltz" the Bands last concert but it was left on the cutting room floor.
• Silverado from Green Bay, WiThe We Five did have one other Top 40 hit. It was the follow up to this song, it was called Let's Get Together, it peaked at #31 in 1965.
• Susy from New York, NyThis is one of the many American songs that was
  remade by an Italian group in the 60's by the Italian composer Mogol who also worked with the late singer/songwriter Lucio Battisti who is now a musical legend in Italy. Mogol and Battisti took on the very difficult task of translating
  song lyrics (timing, rhyming and using words that
  make sense isn't easy!)
  In 1966 the popular Italian group Equipe 84
  (written by Frickes and Mogol) recorded "Ho in
  Mente Te" (You're on my mind)
  Susan-New York City and Italy
• Keith from Slc, UtThe name of the group was derived from "We Seven," the first book about the Mercury astronauts. They were a California group, and the song first took off on LA radio station KHJ. It was not uncommon that summer to be stuck in traffic on the way to the beach and hear that song played at full blast from dozens of cars, making it the first "road party" song. People would pound out the last few drumbeats on their doors, and I watched one guy dent the door on his Ford Comet doing this. If you remember the Comet, you know how hard he had to be pounding. Their first album was carried by this song, but while several other songs were respectable (and pulled off for 45s), none was anything like this title track. This was their only hit before they broke up in 1967.

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