"One Note Man," a song off the Youngbloods' first album (1967). I love this song but can't pick out all the lyrics, and also can't find them
on the net –– so I thought I'd put the question on this blog.
In the course of looking, I found out that perhaps the Youngbloods' best known song, "Get Together," was once placed on a list of "lyrically questionable songs" by the media conglomerate Clear Channel Communications. After 9/11 Clear Channel sent a list of 166 such songs to over 12,000 radio stations. The list includes: "Johnny Angel" by Shelley Fabares, "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel, "That'll Be The Day" by Buddy Holly and the Crickets, "What A Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong.
For more information, as well as a pretty good time, click on “Clear Channel's list of questionable songs.” Scroll down to the bottom of the webpage to see the entire song-list.
Note: "Get Together" was written by Chet Powers. Using the stage name Dino Valenti, Powers was a founding member of Quicksilver Messenger Service in the 60s. "Get Together" was first recorded by The Kingston Trio in 1964 and thereafter by a number of groups, including the Jefferson Airplane and the We Five.
10-31-2012 Addendum: Paul Arnoldi wrote "One Note Man," a
credit-oversight on my part. The song first appeared on Arnoldi's
1966 vinyl album, A One Note Man, and its lyrics are more clearly
articulated than those in the Youngbloods' cover. See Paul Arnoldi's
Comments below for more information, and click on song #2 in the
blue playlist to hear Arnoldi's version.
credit-oversight on my part. The song first appeared on Arnoldi's
1966 vinyl album, A One Note Man, and its lyrics are more clearly
articulated than those in the Youngbloods' cover. See Paul Arnoldi's
Comments below for more information, and click on song #2 in the
blue playlist to hear Arnoldi's version.
8 comments :
Cork and I are new to being followers, we are leaders as you know but I am now a fan
Hey Kit,
It's not the great american novel but it IS about time....Love this. A-
Hi, Kit,
I couldn't find the lyrics for "One Note Man" either, and I checked all my usual suspects. If there's a "fake book" out there with the song int, you might find the lyrics there.
Love the blog, by the way.
Lolly
Hi. I wrote ONE NOTE MAN, and will email lyrics to you, or a CD, titled ARNOLDI, that I produced is available through cdbaby.com..or from me. thanks very much for your interest,
Paul Arnoldi
paulleearnoldi@gmail.com
hello again, I forgot to say that you can hear a more legible recording of ONE NOTE MAN at paularnoldi.com. The lyrics hard to understand, after the instrumental, (youngbloods recording) are " gallon or a dram, gallon or a dram, blessing or a damn". I like there rendition of it also!
so long, Paul Arnoldi
Thank you very much, Paul. You've solved a lyrics-question I've been confused about for over 40 years. [I'm sorry to only now be responding; I was editing old posts and came across your comments.]
THANKS ! WHEN THE YOUNGBLOODS , MY FRIENDS , LEARNED MY SONG 'A ONE NOTE' , RECORDED THEY SANG ALL THE ACTUAL WORDS ! SO LOTS GOT THE HAD?
OH, WELL. DO YOU ALL PROPER LYRICS/
THANKS, PAUL
All these years later, and after Paul Arnoldi has left this world (in 2017, I think), I’m chiming in that I too experienced this exact lyrical confusion. But a couple days ago I found Mr. Arnoldi’s recording, which resolved it (and nowadays the song lyric sites all have it right, I found). Further confusion was added by Swampwater’s ca. 1971 version which used “Yet I’m gonna dream.” I accepted that rendering for many years, but uneasily.
Comments are appreciated: