Lyme and Cybelle
Encyclopedia
lyme and cybelle was a short-lived male/female folk/pop duo formed by Warren Zevon
and Violet Santangelo. The duo is best known for its moderate chart hit "Follow Me," which represented the first commercial recording of Zevon's long musical career.
in Los Angeles
, California
. The two became close platonic friends and quickly found they shared musical interests, singing songs by The Beatles
. They soon formed a musical partnership. Zevon took the stage name
of Stephen lyme, while Santangelo called herself cybelle, a name inspired by the 1962 French film
Sundays and Cybele
. The pair fashioned their names in lower case in the style of American poet e.e. cummings
.
On one occasion, the duo sang songs for a group of friends that included child actor
Michael Burns
, whose mother worked at White Whale Records
. Through this connection, Zevon and Santangelo obtained a contract with White Whale to record a single as lyme and cybelle.
produced their first single
for White Whale, called "Follow Me." Howe, famed for his production work on hits by The Association
and The 5th Dimension, later considered "Follow Me" to be the first psychadelic pop
record. The single, backed with the lush ballad "Like The Seasons," reached number 65 on the Billboard
pop charts in April 1966.
Rather than having the duo record an album to cash in on its success, White Whale opted to have Howe produce a second lyme and cybelle single. The resulting single, a cover of Bob Dylan
's "If You Gotta Go, Go Now
" backed with "I'll Go On," failed to make a dent in the charts. According to Santangelo, the single began selling well, only to have its momentum crushed when Bill Galvin, a powerful radio industry figure, claimed the song was sexually suggestive.
After the failure of their second single, Zevon left the duo. Several reasons have been given for why Zevon departed. Some accounts claim that Zevon became more uncompromising in his artistic vision. Santangelo claims that she walked away from Zevon because of his excessive drinking and drug use.
Zevon was replaced by a new "lyme," Monkees
guitarist Wayne Erwin. The first and only single issued by the second version of lyme and cybelle was "Song 7," backed with "Write If You Get Work," both allegedly written by Erwin, although credited to "Joe Glenn." The single was produced by Curt Boettcher
, who had just produced The Association's first album. This incarnation of lyme and cybelle lasted into 1967, when Erwin fired Santangelo.
, she earned a talent scholarship
at the University of Southern California
. She became a successful Broadway
actress under the stage name Laura Kenyon.
Zevon's subsequent demo recordings indicated an evolution toward incisive and darkly humorous lyrics and a rough sound far removed from the mellow vibe of lyme and cybelle. He scored a couple songwriting successes: "Outside Chance" was covered by The Turtles, while "He Quit Me" was included on the soundtrack
from the 1969 drama film
Midnight Cowboy
. Zevon's first solo album, Wanted Dead or Alive
, was released by Imperial Records
in 1970. Although that album was not a commercial success, Zevon would eventually rise to fame with his classic albums Warren Zevon
(1976) and Excitable Boy
(1978).
The Turtles
recorded a cover of lyme and cybelle's "Like The Seasons" as a B-side
to their #1 hit from 1967, "Happy Together
."
entitled Warren Zevon: The First Sessions, released by Varèse Sarabande
in early 2003, shortly after Zevon was diagnosed with fatal mesothelioma
. This compilation also included two previously unreleased lyme and cybelle recordings, "I've Just Seen A Face
" by the Beatles and "Peeping And Hiding" by Jimmy Reed
, plus a demo recording of "Follow Me." This album is currently out of print
.
Warren Zevon
Warren William Zevon was an American rock singer-songwriter and musician noted for including his sometimes sardonic opinions of life in his musical lyrics, composing songs that were sometimes humorous and often had political or historical themes.Zevon's work has often been praised by well-known...
and Violet Santangelo. The duo is best known for its moderate chart hit "Follow Me," which represented the first commercial recording of Zevon's long musical career.
Origins
Zevon and Santangelo met in early 1964 while attending Fairfax High SchoolFairfax High School (Los Angeles)
Fairfax High School is a Los Angeles Unified School District high school located in Los Angeles, USA, near the border of West Hollywood in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. The two became close platonic friends and quickly found they shared musical interests, singing songs by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
. They soon formed a musical partnership. Zevon took the stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
of Stephen lyme, while Santangelo called herself cybelle, a name inspired by the 1962 French film
French Film
French Film is a 2008 British comedy film directed by Jackie Oudney and starring Anne-Marie Duff, Hugh Bonneville, Victoria Hamilton, Douglas Henshall and Eric Cantona. The film was shot in Spring 2007 at various locations around London including Waterloo station and the BFI Southbank.-Plot:Two...
Sundays and Cybele
Sundays and Cybele
Sundays and Cybele is a 1962 French film directed by Serge Bourguignon. Its original French title is Les Dimanches de Ville d'Avray , referring to the Ville-d'Avray suburb of Paris. The film tells the tragic story of a 12-year-old French orphan girl who is befriended by an innocent but emotionally...
. The pair fashioned their names in lower case in the style of American poet e.e. cummings
E. E. Cummings
Edward Estlin Cummings , popularly known as E. E. Cummings, with the abbreviated form of his name often written by others in lowercase letters as e.e. cummings , was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright...
.
On one occasion, the duo sang songs for a group of friends that included child actor
Child actor
The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child; to avoid confusion, the latter is also called a former child actor...
Michael Burns
Michael Burns (historian)
Michael Burns is an American professor emeritus of history at Mount Holyoke College. He is also a former television and film actor, particularly known for his role as the teenager "Barnaby West" on the NBC and ABC television series Wagon Train from 1960-1965.-Background:Burns was born in Mineola,...
, whose mother worked at White Whale Records
White Whale Records
White Whale Records was an American record label, founded in 1965 by Ted Feigin and Lee Lassiff in Los Angeles, California, and probably best known as the record label of The Turtles....
. Through this connection, Zevon and Santangelo obtained a contract with White Whale to record a single as lyme and cybelle.
Early success and rapid decline
Bones HoweBones Howe
Dayton Burr "Bones" Howe is a Grammy-award-winning record producer and recording engineer associated with 1960s and 1970s hits, mostly of the sunshine pop genre, including most of the hits of The 5th Dimension and The Association, as well as music supervision of several films...
produced their first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
for White Whale, called "Follow Me." Howe, famed for his production work on hits by The Association
The Association
The Association is a pop music band from California in the folk rock or soft rock genre. During the 1960s, they had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts and were the lead-off band at 1967's Monterey Pop Festival...
and The 5th Dimension, later considered "Follow Me" to be the first psychadelic pop
Psychedelic pop
Psychedelic pop is a psychedelic musical style inspired by the sounds of psychedelic folk and psychedelic rock, but applied to a pop music setting...
record. The single, backed with the lush ballad "Like The Seasons," reached number 65 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
pop charts in April 1966.
Rather than having the duo record an album to cash in on its success, White Whale opted to have Howe produce a second lyme and cybelle single. The resulting single, a cover of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's "If You Gotta Go, Go Now
If You Gotta Go, Go Now
If You Gotta Go, Go Now is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1964. The first released version was as a single in the US by the UK group The Liverpool Five in July 1965, but this went uncharted in the US despite receiving much airplay, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. It was another English band...
" backed with "I'll Go On," failed to make a dent in the charts. According to Santangelo, the single began selling well, only to have its momentum crushed when Bill Galvin, a powerful radio industry figure, claimed the song was sexually suggestive.
After the failure of their second single, Zevon left the duo. Several reasons have been given for why Zevon departed. Some accounts claim that Zevon became more uncompromising in his artistic vision. Santangelo claims that she walked away from Zevon because of his excessive drinking and drug use.
Zevon was replaced by a new "lyme," Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
guitarist Wayne Erwin. The first and only single issued by the second version of lyme and cybelle was "Song 7," backed with "Write If You Get Work," both allegedly written by Erwin, although credited to "Joe Glenn." The single was produced by Curt Boettcher
Curt Boettcher
Curt Boettcher was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer from Wisconsin. His career spanned 1964 to 1983...
, who had just produced The Association's first album. This incarnation of lyme and cybelle lasted into 1967, when Erwin fired Santangelo.
After lyme and cybelle
Following the demise of lyme and cybelle, Santangelo left the music business. Trying her hand at musical theaterMusical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
, she earned a talent scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
. She became a successful Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
actress under the stage name Laura Kenyon.
Zevon's subsequent demo recordings indicated an evolution toward incisive and darkly humorous lyrics and a rough sound far removed from the mellow vibe of lyme and cybelle. He scored a couple songwriting successes: "Outside Chance" was covered by The Turtles, while "He Quit Me" was included on the soundtrack
Soundtrack album
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television program. In some cases, not all the tracks from the movie are included in the album; however there are rare cases of songs in the trailers that do not appear in...
from the 1969 drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 American drama film based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. It was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Dustin Hoffman and newcomer Jon Voight in the title role. Notable smaller roles are filled by Sylvia Miles, John...
. Zevon's first solo album, Wanted Dead or Alive
Wanted Dead or Alive (Warren Zevon album)
Wanted Dead or Alive is the first album by singer/songwriter Warren Zevon, released by Imperial Records in 1970 under the moniker "Zevon." The album was a commercial and critical failure....
, was released by Imperial Records
Imperial Records
Imperial Records is a United States based label started in 1947 by Lew Chudd and reactivated in 2006 by label owner EMI.- The independent and Liberty Records years :...
in 1970. Although that album was not a commercial success, Zevon would eventually rise to fame with his classic albums Warren Zevon
Warren Zevon (album)
Warren Zevon is a rock and roll album by Warren Zevon. This album was recorded in 1975 and released in 1976 . Warren Zevon Collector's Edition, a remastered version of this album with special bonus tracks, was released in 2008 by Rhino Records.-Track listing:All songs written by Warren Zevon#"Frank...
(1976) and Excitable Boy
Excitable Boy
Excitable Boy is the third album by Warren Zevon, released in 1978. It includes the top 40 success "Werewolves of London". The album brought Warren to commercial attention and remains the best-selling album of his career. A remastered and expanded edition was released during 2007.The tracks...
(1978).
The Turtles
The Turtles
The Turtles are an American rock group led by vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. The band became notable for several Top 40 hits beginning with its cover version of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" in 1965...
recorded a cover of lyme and cybelle's "Like The Seasons" as a B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
to their #1 hit from 1967, "Happy Together
Happy Together (song)
"Happy Together" is a 1967 song from The Turtles' album of the same name. Released in February 1967, the song knocked The Beatles' "Penny Lane" out of the #1 slot for three weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the group's only chart-topper. "Happy Together" reached #12 on the UK Singles Chart in...
."
Re-release
All six of the lyme and cybelle songs from their three singles were included on a compilation albumCompilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
entitled Warren Zevon: The First Sessions, released by Varèse Sarabande
Varèse Sarabande
Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums as well as newer releases by artists no longer under a contract...
in early 2003, shortly after Zevon was diagnosed with fatal mesothelioma
Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma, more precisely malignant mesothelioma, is a rare form of cancer that develops from the protective lining that covers many of the body's internal organs, the mesothelium...
. This compilation also included two previously unreleased lyme and cybelle recordings, "I've Just Seen A Face
I've Just Seen a Face
"I've Just Seen a Face" is a song by The Beatles. It appears on their 1965 United Kingdom album Help!, although in the United States it and "It's Only Love" first appeared on the Capitol version of the Rubber Soul album.-Composition:...
" by the Beatles and "Peeping And Hiding" by Jimmy Reed
Jimmy Reed
Mathis James "Jimmy" Reed was an American blues musician and songwriter, notable for bringing his distinctive style of blues to mainstream audiences. Reed was a major player in the field of electric blues, as opposed to the more acoustic-based sound of many of his contemporaries...
, plus a demo recording of "Follow Me." This album is currently out of print
Out of print
Out of print refers to an item, typically a book , but can include any print or visual media or sound recording, that is in the state of no longer being published....
.
Discography
| Year | A-side (songwriter) | B-side (songwriter) | Catalog number | Hot 100 Chart | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | "Follow Me" (Warren Zevon & Violet Santangelo) | "Like The Seasons" (Warren Zevon & Violet Santangelo) | White Whale 228 | #65 | |
| 1966 | "If You Gotta Go, Go Now" (Bob Dylan) | "I'll Go On" (Warren Zevon & Violet Santangelo) | White Whale 232 | - | |
| 1966 | "Song 7" (Joe Glenn) | "Write If You Get Work" (Joe Glenn) | White Whale 245 | - | Wayne Erwin replaces Warren Zevon |