The Sound Hole: Tommy James & The Shondells - Crimson and Clover
Thud! Thud! Is this thing on?
Welcome, once again, to another wholesome, unwarranted, and not at all reputable, imbuement of music into your bright and shining day. With my unwieldy talons and my forced alacrity, I have reached far into my sound hole and clutched upon a small gem from the 1960s.
Please, take the five minutes you would usually use to daydream about a slightly better version of your life and, instead, listen to this wonderful piece of history – even though it’s only 40 years old.
‘Now, I been waitin' to show her’
Tommy James and the Shondells.
You may know them best for having written and recorded ‘I think we’re alone now’; a song famously covered by teen superstar Tiffany - may she rest in peace…she isn’t dead, but I’ll be chiselling ‘Mega Python vs. Gatoroid’ into her career’s epitaph.
Tommy James and the Shondells are a 60s American rock band. They had two No. 1 singles in the U.S., "Hanky Panky" (July 1966, their only RIAA Certified Gold record) and "Crimson and Clover" (February 1969).
The latter of these two number one hits is the focus of our ear candy – Crimson and Clover. Now, I’m not going to go into depths about the band and their musical career (that would cease to be of interest to some), instead, I’m going to cut to our devilish chase of exhibitioner by exhibitionee. There may be better ways to start your day, but I can find none at hand that, as so much, can warm me through with a cool 60s groove. Scrape the wax from your ears and have a good ole gander…
‘Now, I don’t hardly know her’
What you’re hearing is a sound cooler than Wrigley's chewing gum. A standard band set-up (Vocal, Guitar, Drums, Bass) with some extra sprinklings of flavour to get you going.
Following a brief vocal moan, the guitar, bass, and drums enter. Now, that guitar effect you’re hearing is known as a tremolo effect; you will hear this throughout the piece, but also specifically, and uniquely, over the vocal line at 4:25 - but let’s not rush ahead of ourselves.
The song gives you a little breadcrumb trail of lyrics leading right up to a beautiful splash of extra instrumentation that suddenly fills out the stereo field at 00:25. You should now be submerged in two electric guitars, a 12-string acoustic guitar and a tambourine.
Around 1:23 the backing vocals sink into the background; close enough to hear, but not so close as to be intrusive to the rest of the ensemble – perfect. Also, sitting neatly behind it all are these sporadic slides on what I assume is a Güiro or…the ‘scrapey instrument’ – 0:26 specifically.
Other things to listen out for are:
The intermittent tremoloed ‘pings’ of a guitar string throughout almost all of the song. This just gives the beat that little extra something-something and adds to the colour of the track.
The Wah-Wah effect on the second guitar, especially around the solo at 2:30.
The cleanest guitar sound in the song is around 1:58, and makes use of a bottle-neck slide and reverb; a sound that is reminiscent of Hawaiin country and surf-rock music.
There are so many beautiful little effects that have most likely been attached to the track at post, but they give the song this rich, full-flavoured, and thick stereo field that backs up such a sparse vocal line with a wonderfully textured warmth.
Oh, what it is to listen and want for nothing more!
Most personally relatable lyrics award goes to:
"My mind's such a sweet thing,
I wanna do everything,
What a beautiful feeling"
I wanna do everything,
What a beautiful feeling"
‘Crimson and clover, over and over’
What a journey it has once again been, my friends! I hope that your day has been made better by your listening to such a track and that it continues to yield an unending supply of undiluted salubriousness. Now, go into the world and share what you have found – go, be free!
The Sound Hole will return with yet another gem, till then, may your amassed knowledge of life and its failings, aid in your survival.
Over and out,
Dan