(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
Tommy James & the Shondelles - "Crimson and Clover"
Hit Number 1: February 1, 1969
Stay at Number 1: 2 Weeks
Back in 1964, the Beatles were one of the first artists to experiment with studio equipment. On their song, "I Feel Fine", they had the idea to use guitar feedback on the intro of the song, and the result was pretty cool. Though we didn't see much of that in the following years from anyone, it's still a possibility that other artists tampered with studio equipment, just to see what kinds of cool sounds they could make. Well five years after the Beatles hit #1 with "I Feel Fine", another song hit #1 that also includes some equipment tampering. But where "I Feel Fine" was a British rock banger, the next song, "Crimson and Clover" by Tommy James & the Shondelles, is a song that tries to cling onto the now-dying psychedelic era.
"Crimson and Clover" was not the first #1 hit by James and the Shondelles, as they had a chart-topper with the silly garage rock hit "Hanky Panky". It was, however, their first hit that could be dubbed as "psychedelic". Before "Crimson and Clover", the band relied on their own songwriters, and they rarely created their own material. Things changed in 1968 when James wanted to steer his group in a different direction, and he became the chief songwriter for them after they departed their old songwriters. Allegedly, the song title "Crimson and Clover" occurred to James after he woke up one morning, and thought that pairing his favorite color (crimson) and his favorite flower (clover) would create a good song. There was just one problem though, and that was the fact that he had no music or lyrics in mind for it. All he had was the title.
James and one of his bandmates, bassist Mike Vale, came up with a song to go with the title, but it was discarded. James then teamed up with his drummer, Peter Lucia Jr., and together they came up with the version of "Crimson and Clover" that we know today. (Lucia claims that he was the one who came up with the title "Crimson and Clover" after watching a high school football game between his hometown Morristown Crimson and Hopatcong, which translates to "green" or "clover". You're free to believe whatever you want) This is where the experiments come in. In "Crimson and Clover", the group tampered with tremolo effects on the guitar, resulting in a vibration in time with the song's rhythm. The band then came up with the idea to use the effect on their own voices, with James singing "Crimson and clover, over and over", well, over and over again with the same effect on his voice.
With all that being said, "Crimson and Clover" is a strange song. I have no idea what "crimson and clover" is even supposed to mean, but since it came at the tail end of the psychedelic era, maybe it wasn't supposed to mean anything. It's very obviously a love song, with a guy who thinks he can love a girl, who he feels he hardly knows. It's a care-free song, lost in its moment of psychedelic love and freaky euphoria. For years after its release, it's become a favorite to play at weddings, and everyone in the comment section of the YouTube video I pasted in this post had all kinds of cool stories to share with memories of this song playing. One guy even talked about how he was blind most of his life, and never even knew what the color crimson looked like, but once he got his sight at the age of 17, he noticed a beautiful girl while this song was playing. He now always associates this song with her. I don't even know who that guy is, but that sounds like a cool story!
Unfortunately though, "Crimson and Clover" is a song that I've never gotten that excited about. It's a nice little song, and the weird little experiments that the band threw in are strange, but still cool. It's a great identity tag for the song. But it's very repetitive, and about halfway through, I'm just kind of tired of it. The guitar strums and rhythmic feel of the song don't change a whole lot, and I'm someone who usually loves songs that will get you "moving" so to speak. I know a lot of you out there probably adore this song, and that's great; I really wish I was among you. But throughout this entire series, this is me babbling on about each #1 song on the Hot 100, and what I think of each of them. I try to be as subjective as possible. And unfortunately, "Crimson and Clover" just doesn't cut it for me.
After the psychedelic era died down completely, Tommy James and the Shondelles stuck around a little bit, and they cranked out a few songs. Later in 1969, they made it to #2 with "Crystal Blue Persuasion" (a 9), and after they disbanded in 1970, James went solo. James had a decent solo career, and he made it to #4 in 1971 with the fun and loose "Draggin' the Line". (That one is an 8) Even though I'm not much of a fan of perhaps their most famous song, I have a lot of respect for what they were able to accomplish for a few years there. Those guys knew how to make a pop song.
GRADE: 5/10
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