Their next single "Eleanor" was a parody of this but turned out to be a huge hit. Mark & Howard both recorded under "Flo & Eddy" and sang back up for T-Rex, The Mothers and others.
I've always thought this was the perfect pop song. Catchy hook, great chorus, great vocal harmonies, varied instrumentation, polyphony, lyrics that sneak up on you...
Great understanding of song structure and noticing the various layers. At that later point in the song when you are marveling at the backing harmonies, you can hear a flute or at least I do in my left ear, tracking along with the descending harmony line. Also it pulls a little Switcheroo near the end call a false cadence, because you are expecting it to go from a minor key up into that soaring major key chorus, but instead it goes right back into the minor key, which really throws your brain for a loop for a second. And it all feels so emotional.
"call you up, invest a dime". A dime was what a phone booth cost to call a phone number. It would be hard to find a phone booth now days if there are any at all.
I so agree with you---perfect song!!!! This is their most beloved song, but they have other great tunes too ("She'd Rather Be WIth Me", "You Baby", etc)
I listened to Flo and Eddie‘s radio show on KMET in LA in ‘74-‘75. They stitched together sound clips of popular songs, and made collages. Very psychedelic and very creative. Man they were something!
The Turtles had many hits, this was their biggest. They recorded a version of Eve of Destruction at the same time Barry McGuire did , but Barry had the hit. The Turtles hits include [Bob Dylan's] It Ain't Me Babe, and Let Me Be, Eleanor, She's My Girl, She'd Rather Be With Me, You Baby, Grim Reaper of Love. Litlle remebered fact: They played at the White House for President Nixon's duaghter,Tricia Nixon's birthday party. in 1969 . They were her favorite band. Years later they bragged about how they smoked pot in the bathroom of the WHite House lol.
Wow it is 1967 I am in fourth grade and ridding my bike singing this song. I remember it vividly. Probably my favorite by them is “She’d Rather Be With Me” Nice cowbell in that one 😊🐄🛎️
Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman (Flo & Eddie) joined the Mothers of Invention in the early 70's. Bassist Chip Douglas (who was also a former member of the Modern Folk Quartet) left after this record to produce the Monkees , he was replaced by Jim Pons ( Formerly of The Leaves) who also went on to join the Mothers. Drummer John Barbata later played for CSN&Y and Jefferson Starship.
This is pop perfection c. 1967! Definitely give a listen to the Turtles' "Elinore", and "It Ain't Me Babe". Another band w great harmonies from that year were The Association! "Cherish", "Windy", Never My Love", and "Along Comes Mary" ❤
Love it, Shawn ~ ".... if I should call you up, invest a dime...." > that was the cost a call on a pay phone back in the day ! lol. The 60's were jam packed with Great songs!
What's insane about this and many other classic songs is, you hear SO MUCH more detail listening to this with ear phones and modern tech than you ever heard on the radio. I've heard this song a thousand times and I've never heard those backing vocals before today. That blew me away.
Shawn, any minute now you’ll pass 10K subs. Very well deserved. You have become one of the most intelligent, perceptive, sensitive, and informative reaction channels on RUclips. Man, congratulations and best wishes.
😀😀😀😀😀 SO happy you did this song! The Turtles are awesome!!!!! They have a lot of great songs and I’m really looking forward to more Turtles!!!!! 😀😀😀😀😀 “Elenore” “She’s my girl” “It ain’t me babe” “She’d rather be with me” “You showed me” 😀
Nothing like music from the sixties and seventies. Hey, the sixties gave us both The Beatles and Bob Dylan. Yeah, that really happened! That ain't ever happening again. Merry Christmas Peace ❤
The second greatest 60’s band with 7 letters ending in …tles. Great period vibe, another is their hit “You Showed Me”. I think you will really like it as well.
I saw them in concert about 20 years ago and when the opening to "you showed me" started the crowd went wild. One of the turtles said wait a minute you don't know what we're going to sing. And he used lyrics from a pink song to the you showed me music. It was awesome
Perfection. So catchy, so clever, great harmonies, keep throwing different elements and instruments all the way through that just made it keep getting better. So great that you loved it. Try Elenore and She'd Rather Be With Me.
Shawn, you are correct “this is perfection”. The Turtle performed with Frank Zappa as “Flo & Eddy” recorded a live album under Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention LIVE. It a hilarious live musical masterpiece full of funny inside jokes which is a good listen. Way fun.
I love this song. These harmonies, and those of The Mamas and the Papas, led to my fandom for VoicePlay and Home Free, all these years later. Okay, decades.🎶☮
I remember I was just 9 when this song hit the airwaves, because it was just a year prior to my mother's passing, and it was my favorite song then. Thanks for the memories!!❤ I hope everyone's holiday is filled with all of your favorite things!
I really hadn't thought of it until listening with you now, the harmonies remind me of The Beach Boys. And that's quite a compliment! Turtles singers, Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, are also known as Flo and Eddie and they sang background vocals on T. Rex's Get It On (Bang a Gong), which you just heard and sang on T. Rex albums Electric Warrior and The Slider. Great group and great song!
This song IS perfection! I fell in love with it the 1st time I heard it, back when it came out ✌️🎶 I was 10 years old, and my mom had died when I was 9. Music became my anchor, and this beautiful song eases the soul
Sorry for your loss at such an early age! Love that music could help your soul and be a support line! I know that feeling, that's why so many songs make me emotional. The language of song is great!
Totally. Eleanor is also equally fun and perfect. Two of the main dudes, Flo and Eddie, they called themselves, after Florescent Leech and Eddie was deemed too long, teamed up with some of Zappas people, also in L.A. and toured. I saw Florescent Leech and Eddie...basically the heart of the Turtles. There is an infinitude of Zappa I could recommend. "Happy Together" was a huge hit, and everyone of a certain age knows it by heart, and probably loves it.
Great reaction. I've liked this song since it was new. I saw Turtles' Mark and Howard as "Flo and Eddy" in the mid 70s perform this and other Turtles hits, but with some really great wit and spot-on parodies of other performers' songs too.
this is another example of 1967's music, the year it turned hard and possible the best year of the 69's musically. read the list of the top 100 songs and artists so many new one and few repeats by the established ones! If it is 67, it is usually a banger. try more 67 songs, prove me wrong!
I’m 70 and listened to all these songs on the radio. The reason the songs from that period were so short was the radio station’s requirement or they wouldn’t play them…too long they said.
Shawn, you needed to be born in the late 1950's so you were young in the later 1960's - this is one of the songs that are the soundtrack of my life. As stated, "Eleanor" is fantastic, also. i believe that is an oboe weaving its way in the second chorus.
Mark and Howard headed up a nostalgia tour called Happy Together for some years now. I was lucky enough to see the tour earlier this year, but sadly Mark was not touring and I'm pretty sure this is Howard's last year for touring as well. Maybe if we're lucky he can make another year, but together they've given us decades of fun. By the way, another great version of Happy Together is when Mark and Howard sample it on The Mothers' Live at the Filmore East from June of '71.
So many positive song back then. Beatles, Beach Boys, Hollies, and on and on... So much of today's music is at best self-aggrandizing . The world was, as always, bleak if you dwelt on it, but music helps with keeping balanced. The young are meant to help too. With a much richer history to build upon, they should really get at it.
Flo and Eddy are the AKA's of the two original members, Mark and Howard. They are the same people but due to long legal contract battles with the record label, were not allowed to use The Turtles name while touring even though they were the founders of the band and wrote the songs. So they toured using the names Flo and Eddy instead of using The Turtles.
They did a few I liked here in UK back in 67, there was one which was a B SIDE I think to Elenore called Surfer Dan, I swore it was beach boys when I first heard it but it was a brill surfer song, this and others from 67 gave you the smell of the time more than any other decade with flowerpower
"Summer in the city" is another iconic 60s song.
Their next single "Eleanor" was a parody of this but turned out to be a huge hit. Mark & Howard both recorded under "Flo & Eddy" and sang back up for T-Rex, The Mothers and others.
Their next single was "She'd Rather Be With Me"... Elenore came out a year later!🤔
Glad you Loved it, The Turtles covered Bob Dylan's song, "It Ain't Me Babe" which played all over the airwaves back then.
All five Turtles songs you mentioned are bangers...pick one! 😎..pick them sll! 😁
I've always thought this was the perfect pop song. Catchy hook, great chorus, great vocal harmonies, varied instrumentation, polyphony, lyrics that sneak up on you...
Great understanding of song structure and noticing the various layers. At that later point in the song when you are marveling at the backing harmonies, you can hear a flute or at least I do in my left ear, tracking along with the descending harmony line.
Also it pulls a little Switcheroo near the end call a false cadence, because you are expecting it to go from a minor key up into that soaring major key chorus, but instead it goes right back into the minor key, which really throws your brain for a loop for a second. And it all feels so emotional.
"call you up, invest a dime". A dime was what a phone booth cost to call a phone number. It would be hard to find a phone booth now days if there are any at all.
Pure AM gold from the 60's....part of the soundtrack of my life.....great song
Check out the harmonies on the Turtles' elenore-exquisite etc.
When I was a kid, this song was one of my favorites. Still is.
Add this to your play list and the rest of the TURTLE's catalog.
Another group with a similar feel is The Association. Both really are a great representation of this part of the history of popular music.
The '60s were full of great songs: flawless melodies, simple lyrics and pristine production. "Happy Together" is a perfect example of that. A+
"You Showed me The Way" or "It Aint Me babe" "Eleanor" too
My favorite from The Turtles is You Showed Me. A changeup from the style of their other (all great) songs, this one is more mellow, yet deep.
I so agree with you---perfect song!!!! This is their most beloved song, but they have other great tunes too ("She'd Rather Be WIth Me", "You Baby", etc)
They were a GREAT band with plenty of hits!
Great band.
I listened to Flo and Eddie‘s radio show on KMET in LA in ‘74-‘75. They stitched together sound clips of popular songs, and made collages. Very psychedelic and very creative. Man they were something!
The Turtles had many hits, this was their biggest. They recorded a version of Eve of Destruction at the same time Barry McGuire did , but Barry had the hit. The Turtles hits include [Bob Dylan's] It Ain't Me Babe, and Let Me Be, Eleanor, She's My Girl, She'd Rather Be With Me, You Baby, Grim Reaper of Love. Litlle remebered fact: They played at the White House for President Nixon's duaghter,Tricia Nixon's birthday party. in 1969 . They were her favorite band. Years later they bragged about how they smoked pot in the bathroom of the WHite House lol.
Feel good music... throwback to a better time.
So great seeing a young man like yourself enjoying the songs of old.
Thank you
Wow it is 1967 I am in fourth grade and ridding my bike singing this song. I remember it vividly. Probably my favorite by them is “She’d Rather Be With Me” Nice cowbell in that one 😊🐄🛎️
I agree with you. It's a gem. Not only that, they were very entertaining live.
I highly suggest "Ellenor."
They were a fun band to watch too!
Mark was hysterical!
I sang this song in High School choir. The harmonies are perfect.😁💖
You smiled through the whole song. Only great music can make that happen. ❤
Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman (Flo & Eddie) joined the Mothers of Invention in the early 70's. Bassist Chip Douglas (who was also a former member of the Modern Folk Quartet) left after this record to produce the Monkees , he was replaced by Jim Pons ( Formerly of The Leaves) who also went on to join the Mothers. Drummer John Barbata later played for CSN&Y and Jefferson Starship.
This is pop perfection c. 1967! Definitely give a listen to the Turtles' "Elinore", and "It Ain't Me Babe". Another band w great harmonies from that year were The Association! "Cherish", "Windy", Never My Love", and "Along Comes Mary" ❤
This song is pure sunshine and happiness.
It absolutely is!!!❤
This was a huge hit back in 1967!
Love it, Shawn ~ ".... if I should call you up, invest a dime...." > that was the cost a call on a pay phone back in the day ! lol. The 60's were jam packed with Great songs!
What's insane about this and many other classic songs is, you hear SO MUCH more detail listening to this with ear phones and modern tech than you ever heard on the radio. I've heard this song a thousand times and I've never heard those backing vocals before today. That blew me away.
Love The Turtles. Happy Together is one of the best songs of the 60’s. Agree that it’s perfect.
Which reminds me, Love was also a great 60s band
The quintessential feel good/happy song! ❤
Yes 😁
Absolutely loved this as a 13 year old girl and still do ❤❤❤
Shawn, any minute now you’ll pass 10K subs. Very well deserved. You have become one of the most intelligent, perceptive, sensitive, and informative reaction channels on RUclips. Man, congratulations and best wishes.
I couldn’t agree more!!! 😀
Prezactly the words‼️ You really are quite incredible Shawn. More & more, all the time.
I have loved this song forever it seems I was 10 when it came out. Enjoy
1960s sunshine pop at its best.
Great reaction, love The Turtles, great great song
"Happy Together," "Penny Lane" with "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Light My Fire" were, and remain, my favorite records of 1967! ❤
😀😀😀😀😀 SO happy you did this song! The Turtles are awesome!!!!! They have a lot of great songs and I’m really looking forward to more Turtles!!!!! 😀😀😀😀😀 “Elenore” “She’s my girl” “It ain’t me babe” “She’d rather be with me” “You showed me” 😀
Let Me Be, You Showed Me, Grim Reaper, Me About You, It Ain't Me Babe also the Lovin Spoonful was an amazing 60s folk rock band!!✌️🎸🕊️
YES! CAN’T WAIT till Shawn gets to the Lovin’ Spoonful!!!!! 😃
Great Reaction, I think you might be an old soul 😀😇😀😇
There is SO MUCH more going on in this than I ever realized😃
It IS a great pop masterpiece, every moment and choice is creative - and perfect.
Flo and Eddie, the two vocalists, went on to join The Mothers o Invention with Frank Zappa.
Later writing the music for Care Bears movies
Perfection! I totally agree. Loved this for years. Glad you do too!
Nothing like music from the sixties and seventies. Hey, the sixties gave us both The Beatles and Bob Dylan. Yeah, that really happened!
That ain't ever happening again.
Merry Christmas
Peace ❤
Check out "She'd Rather Be With Me" by The Turtles.
It’s just not possible to not love this song! 🎹🥁🎤🎸🎷🎺
The second greatest 60’s band with 7 letters ending in …tles. Great period vibe, another is their hit “You Showed Me”. I think you will really like it as well.
I saw them in concert about 20 years ago and when the opening to "you showed me" started the crowd went wild. One of the turtles said wait a minute you don't know what we're going to sing. And he used lyrics from a pink song to the you showed me music. It was awesome
Perfection. So catchy, so clever, great harmonies, keep throwing different elements and instruments all the way through that just made it keep getting better. So great that you loved it. Try Elenore and She'd Rather Be With Me.
Shawn, you are correct “this is perfection”. The Turtle performed with Frank Zappa as “Flo & Eddy” recorded a live album under Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention LIVE. It a hilarious live musical masterpiece full of funny inside jokes which is a good listen. Way fun.
Ah, the good old days when phone calls were a dime 😂
These guys went to my high school.
They went on to be Zappa’s vocalists. Lots of talent.
Love when you check these bands out!
Their live vocals are funny.
Love this song because it is so 60s
Please check out The Association next. "Never My Love," "Windy" and "Cherish." Great 60s music, harmonies - just a vibe.
Definitely if he loves harmony nobody does it better than The Association.
I love this song. These harmonies, and those of The Mamas and the Papas, led to my fandom for VoicePlay and Home Free, all these years later. Okay, decades.🎶☮
Yes! Shawn would be blown away by the Mama’s & Papa’s!!!!!
I remember I was just 9 when this song hit the airwaves, because it was just a year prior to my mother's passing, and it was my favorite song then. Thanks for the memories!!❤ I hope everyone's holiday is filled with all of your favorite things!
Talking about excellent harmonies, how about checking out some of the greatest hits by Spanky & Our Gang from the same era.
It is maybe the most well crafted pop song.
I really hadn't thought of it until listening with you now, the harmonies remind me of The Beach Boys. And that's quite a compliment! Turtles singers, Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, are also known as Flo and Eddie and they sang background vocals on T. Rex's Get It On (Bang a Gong), which you just heard and sang on T. Rex albums Electric Warrior and The Slider. Great group and great song!
This summer you will see in concert the happy together tour they will be on the tour with the cowsells on tour
We always go see that. Mark from the Turtles is suffering from Lewy dementia. Hopefully he can keep it going for awhile.
Have always loved this song. The live version is great too. They were good performers,
Just watched them perform live on an episode of "Shivaree", probably 1965. A handsome group of guys, and having so much fun on stage.
This song IS perfection! I fell in love with it the 1st time I heard it, back when it came out ✌️🎶
I was 10 years old, and my mom had died when I was 9. Music became my anchor, and this beautiful song eases the soul
Sorry for your loss at such an early age! Love that music could help your soul and be a support line! I know that feeling, that's why so many songs make me emotional. The language of song is great!
This is such a beautiful classic, I was about 11 years old when this record came out. How time flies. ❤️❤️🎶🎶👍
You might like to find a performance video of this. They are so much fun to watch!
Totally. Eleanor is also equally fun and perfect. Two of the main dudes, Flo and Eddie, they called themselves, after Florescent Leech and Eddie was deemed too long, teamed up with some of Zappas people, also in L.A. and toured. I saw Florescent Leech and Eddie...basically the heart of the Turtles. There is an infinitude of Zappa I could recommend. "Happy Together" was a huge hit, and everyone of a certain age knows it by heart, and probably loves it.
Love the reaction! This is about one of the most perfect pop songs ever!
Not only have you heard them, you mentioned them the other day. They sang the high background vocals on Bang a Gong by TRex which you liked.
Cool! I didn’t know that!
Those great 60s memories'...
Agree, it's a great song!
The list of their top hits you read are all great songs, Eleanor and You Showed Me are two of my favorites.
💯agree, those are great too!
I also think that You Showed Me was one of the first examples of a Moog synthesizer in a pop song.
I'm so glad to know that you like this song as much as I do. It's just perfect, isn't it? And can I just add, GREATEST CHORUS EVER! Lisa
Great reaction. I've liked this song since it was new. I saw Turtles' Mark and Howard as "Flo and Eddy" in the mid 70s perform this and other Turtles hits, but with some really great wit and spot-on parodies of other performers' songs too.
this is another example of 1967's music, the year it turned hard and possible the best year of the 69's musically. read the list of the top 100 songs and artists so many new one and few repeats by the established ones! If it is 67, it is usually a banger. try more 67 songs, prove me wrong!
I’m 70 and listened to all these songs on the radio. The reason the songs from that period were so short was the radio station’s requirement or they wouldn’t play them…too long they said.
Next you should listen to their song "Elenore"
Classic hit! Such a fine song. This makes me think of the Mamas and the Papas.
I saw The Turtles in concert. The most fun thing was their tambourine player who did Harlem Globetrotter style tricks with the tambourine.
They were the opening act as Flo &Eddie for Dave Mason at the concert where I fainted and security rescued me. They were great live. ✌️♥️🎶
“Eleanor” is a good Turtles song.
One of my favorite songs.
A cover of this was done by the Partridge Family which also charted.
Elenore is great also❤
It is pop rock perfection
Shawn, you needed to be born in the late 1950's so you were young in the later 1960's - this is one of the songs that are the soundtrack of my life. As stated, "Eleanor" is fantastic, also. i believe that is an oboe weaving its way in the second chorus.
This is one of those songs with which I HAVE to sing along. It is impossible not to.
Mark and Howard headed up a nostalgia tour called Happy Together for some years now. I was lucky enough to see the tour earlier this year, but sadly Mark was not touring and I'm pretty sure this is Howard's last year for touring as well. Maybe if we're lucky he can make another year, but together they've given us decades of fun. By the way, another great version of Happy Together is when Mark and Howard sample it on The Mothers' Live at the Filmore East from June of '71.
I’ve been lucky to see various iterations of that tour. Uplifting, happy, stand up & sway & clap & sing‼️❤️
These guys, Flo & Eddy, were in high demand back in the day.
Frank Zappa hired the Turtles to become "the Mothers of Invention!"Isn't that a Trip!
So many positive song back then. Beatles, Beach Boys, Hollies, and on and on... So much of today's music is at best self-aggrandizing . The world was, as always, bleak if you dwelt on it, but music helps with keeping balanced. The young are meant to help too. With a much richer history to build upon, they should really get at it.
The “bah, bah, bah” chorus always sounds like Beach Boys to me. Actually their harmonies do. That’s not a bad thing!❤
Flo and Eddy are the AKA's of the two original members, Mark and Howard. They are the same people but due to long legal contract battles with the record label, were not allowed to use The Turtles name while touring even though they were the founders of the band and wrote the songs. So they toured using the names Flo and Eddy instead of using The Turtles.
When I was a small child this was on the radio all the time! Huge hit! Glad you liked it!
Iconic song that all the world knows except you!😃
They did a few I liked here in UK back in 67, there was one which was a B SIDE I think to Elenore called Surfer Dan, I swore it was beach boys when I first heard it but it was a brill surfer song, this and others from 67 gave you the smell of the time more than any other decade with flowerpower
If I had to pick one song that embodied the 60s music style and content, this is it.