Sunday Will Never Be The Same
And we finish up the week of songs about weekdays with this one from 1967, “Sunday Will Never Be the Same,” one of the most cheerful-sounding songs of disappointed love you’re ever likely to come across.
Spanky and Our Gang’s hits (this was the only time they reached the top 10) were part of a run of female-fronted records at around that time, and they’re obviously under the influence of both the Mamas and the Papas and the 5th Dimension, but Our Gang tend to be called a folk rock group, rather than pop.
Really, I’m not hearing it — a female vocal doesn’t make you folkies, and they are far too much of a studio creation for that. Elaine “Spanky” McFarlane’s good voice is reverbed to a fare-thee-well on this record, and the harmonies are obviously much enhanced and, per the video, nothing that could be reproduced live.
Still, it really is all about the lead vocals — I believe the obligatory term is “soaring” — and, aside from a bit of pitch wobbliness on the low end and that silly reverb, this is quite nicely done. And I’d rather hear a good singer miss here and there than a mediocre (or worse) singer slicked up and pitch-corrected anyway.
And what’s she singing? “Sunny afternoons that make me/Feel so warm inside/Have turned as cold and grey as ashes/As I feel the embers die.”
Apparently this was originally intended to be played as a ballad — no kidding — but whatever optimistic soul produced “Sunday” made a good choice, swirling strings aside (and is that a harpsichord?). The sound is close to joyous, and the contrast makes the dumped-and-depressed lyrics seem a lot deeper and more interesting than they are on the page.
This is a fine, Sunday-sounding record to end the Week of the Week. (And how can anyone not be made happy by the drummer’s hat?)
Categories: Uncategorized
1 Comment »
« Can I get a horn section with that? | Home | A Song for Sunday »
March 18th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
This has been a really fun week
and I thank you for what you added to it.
(I really did listen to everything during when it was posted
just getting around to really writing now though)
This was a fun song, even if the lyrics were rather depressing.
I could just see it as a ballad, young lovers leaping off bridges in despair, much better recorded as it was.
I missed the harpsichord, but between her outfit (is that a jumpsuit?) and the drummers hat,
well it was quite a presentation.
Thanks again Bridey!