Laurel Canyon Music

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Daydream - The Lovin' Spoonful (1966)

Photo Credit: Henry Diltz

Our LCM classic this week is "Daydream" which was written by John Sebastian and  first released in 1966. The song was originally recorded that year by Sebastian's group The Lovin' Spoonful and released on their album of the same title.

The song reached No. 2 on both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. In New Zealand, the song spent three weeks at No. 1. It also reached No. 1 in Canada, and No. 13 in Australia. "Daydream" originated with John Sebastian's attempt to rewrite The Supremes' "Baby Love".

The Lovin' Spoonful is a U.S. rock band, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 and well known for a number of hit songs in the 1960s including "Summer in the City", "Do You Believe In Magic", "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?", and "Daydream".

The band had its roots in the folk music scene based in the Greenwich Village section of lower Manhattan during the early 1960s. John B. Sebastian, the son of classical harmonicist John Sebastian, grew up in the Village in contact with music and musicians, including folk musicians who were involved with the American folk music revival of the 1950s through the early 1960s. Sebastian formed the Spoonful with guitarist Zal Yanovsky from a bohemian folk group called The Mugwumps (two other members, Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty, later formed half of the Mamas & the Papas), playing local coffee houses and small clubs. The formation of the Lovin' Spoonful during this period was later described in the lyrics of the Mamas & the Papas' 1967 top ten hit, "Creeque Alley".