by Kevin Burton
When you bite the hand that feeds you, chances are you won’t get fed anymore.
Or you could say it this way: “no more fun and games.”
That’s the story of the Houston-based, late 60s sunshine pop band The Fun And Games, according to published accounts.
Not very many published accounts mind you, because this band disappeared quickly.
The backstories behind popular music are as much fun as the songs we remember and play on repeat. The twists and turns can be random, the truth lost to obscurity and probably more so to mythology.
But if you poke around some, you’ll come up with some gems, both of stories and of songs.
Somebody – bless their rock and roll hearts – did a series of videos on You Tube called “Songs…That Should Have Bigger Hits.” These were separated by years.
Included on the video called “Songs of 1969 That Should Have Been Bigger Hits” was an infectious musical joyride called “The Grooviest Girl In The World” by The Fun And Games.
The song had everything you needed for success at the time. The adjective “groovy” alone, even in comparative form, would have gotten your attention. The song has a double dose of the sha-la-las, overlapping harmonies, driving bass, shimmering keyboard and a heaping helping of outright theft, which never hurts.
The pre-chorus alone “Hey, little Judy in disguise, my Lucy in the sky, come fly with me in my balloon” stole from three popular songs before the singer could even take a breath.
But the chorus “’Cuz, you’re the grooviest girl in the world, you’re a feminine portrait of grace. You’re the grooviest girl in the world, and I’m a guy with impeccable taste,” stands out as original and un-imitatable.
I’m like, did that guy just drop “impeccable taste” into a rock and roll song?
“Sounding like the Turtles on a bubblegum bender, ‘The Grooviest Girl In The World’ received loads of airplay throughout Southern California and the Southwest during the early months of 1969, but for some lame reason, reached only number 78 on the national charts,” wrote music reviewer Beverly Patterson on somethingelsereviews.com.
“Bursting at the britches with colossal harmonies, merry melodies and references to ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’ and ‘Judy In Disguise With Glasses,’ the intensely irresistible ditty boldly declares its love for a ‘feminine portrait of grace’ and talks of playing with her hair and sipping strawberry fizzes.”
“Dripping with lyrical innocence, but possessing a powerful performance that stops the listener dead in their tracks, ‘The Grooviest Girl In The World’ (UNI Records) sires such a happy, positive vibe that it’s bound to make even the lonely and depressed feel romantic.”
Patterson writes of “strapping breaks and muscular arrangements” and said ”the tune spells pop perfection at each and every curve and slope.”
So what happened to contain such a musical tidal wave?
“The Fun And Games’ “Grooviest Girl In The World” climbed to 78 in the U.S. Top 100,” wrote Bryan Thomas on allmusic.com. “During this same time, label boss Russ Regan of UNI Records unveiled the group at a huge music industry showcase at a club in Los Angeles.”
“But once onstage, singer Sam Irwin proceeded to insult many of the UNI staffers. Shortly after this obvious display of poor judgment, Regan completely pulled the plug on promoting the band. They dissolved not too much later.”
And that, was that.
I for one think that is a shame. The group bubbled up through several iterations beginning in 1964 and by 1969 was clearly ready for its closeup.
If the whole of their album “Elephant Candy” didn’t completely knock you out, anyone with a musical ear would want to hear a second effort.
Another never came, I guess thanks to Irwin’s big mouth. Surely there was more to it, but I haven’t found any further explanation.
The rest of “Elephant Candy is worth a listen. You’ll want to skip over the wooden remake of the Beach Boys’ “Don’t worry Baby” and focus on “Close to Carmel,” which evokes The Association.
My favorite song outside of Grooviest Girl is “Something I Wrote,” which sounds so much like a Beatles tune that I wouldn’t be shocked to see it show up one of those lists of songs the Fab Four gave away.
A British label called Rev-Ola re-issued Elephant Candy in 2005, with some bonus tracks. Wish we had more than that.
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