Spanky and Our Gang
Encyclopedia
Spanky and Our Gang was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 1960s folk-rock band led by Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane. The band derives its name from Hal Roach
Hal Roach
Harold Eugene "Hal" Roach, Sr. was an American film and television producer and director, and from the 1910s to the 1990s.- Early life and career :Hal Roach was born in Elmira, New York...

's popular Our Gang
Our Gang
Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively...

 comedies of the 1930s (known to modern audiences as The Little Rascals). McFarlane was nicknamed "Spanky" because one of the band members, perhaps influenced by her last name, said that she resembled Our Gang star George "Spanky" McFarland
George McFarland
George Robert Phillips "Spanky" McFarland was an American actor most famous for his appearances as a child in the Our Gang series of short-subject comedies of the 1930s and 1940s...

. The group was known for its vocal harmonies.

Members

  • Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane (born June 19, 1942, Peoria, Illinois
    Peoria, Illinois
    Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated...

    ) - vocals
  • Nigel Pickering (June 15, 1929, Pontiac, Michigan
    Pontiac, Michigan
    Pontiac is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan named after the Ottawa Chief Pontiac, located within the Detroit metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 59,515. It is the county seat of Oakland County...

     – May 5, 2011, St. Augustine, Florida
    St. Augustine, Florida
    St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...

    ) - rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...

    , vocals
  • Paul "Oz" Bach (June 24, 1939, Paw Paw, West Virginia
    Paw Paw, West Virginia
    Paw Paw is a town in Morgan County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 524 at the 2000 census. The town is known for the nearby Paw Paw Tunnel. Paw Paw was incorporated by the Circuit Court of Morgan County on April 8, 1891 and named for the pawpaw, a wild fruit which formerly grew in...

     – September 21, 1998, Asheville, North Carolina
    Asheville, North Carolina
    Asheville is a city in and the county seat of Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the 11th largest city in North Carolina. The City is home to the United States National Climatic Data Center , which is the world's largest active...

    ) - bass guitar
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

    , vocals (1966–67)
  • Malcolm Hale (May 17, 1941, Butte, Montana
    Butte, Montana
    Butte is a city in Montana and the county seat of Silver Bow County, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2010 census, Butte's population was 34,200...

     – October 30, 1968, Chicago
    Chicago
    Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

    , Illinois) - lead guitar
    Lead guitar
    Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...

    , trombone
    Trombone
    The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...

    , vocals.
  • John "The Chief" Seiter
    John Seiter
    John Seiter is an American musician. He is best known for his work as a drummer, but has also recorded as a keyboardist and vocalist....

     (born August 17, 1944, St. Louis, Missouri
    St. Louis, Missouri
    St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

    ) - drum
    Drum
    The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

    s, vocals (1967–69)
  • Kenny Hodges (born August 3, 1936, Jacksonville, Florida
    Jacksonville, Florida
    Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

    ) - bass, vocals (1968–69)
  • Lefty Baker (January 7, 1939, Roanoke, Virginia
    Roanoke, Virginia
    Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...

     - August 11, 1971, California) - lead guitar, banjo
    Banjo
    In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...

    , vocals (1968–69)

History and work

The group's first album, simply titled Spanky and Our Gang
Spanky and Our Gang (album)
-Track listing:# "Lazy Day" - 3:10# " Bird Avenue" - 2:36# "Ya Got Trouble " - 4:38# "Sunday Will Never Be the Same" - 2:58...

, was released by Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...

 on August 1, 1967, and included three popular song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

s that were released as singles
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...

. These were "Sunday Will Never Be the Same" (their biggest hit, which reached number #9 on the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....

 in Summer 1967) followed by "Making Every Minute Count" (reached #31) and "Lazy Day
Lazy Day (Spanky and Our Gang song)
"Lazy Day" is a popular song by the 1960s band Spanky and Our Gang that peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart after its 1967 release. It appeared on their album Spanky and Our Gang....

" (reached #14). Both "Sunday Will Never Be The Same" and "Lazy Day" sold over one million copies. "Sunday Will Never Be the Same" was written by Terry Cashman
Terry Cashman
Terry Cashman is a record producer and singer-songwriter, best known for his 1981 hit, "Talkin' Baseball." While the song is well recognized today, it was all but ignored by typical Top 40 radio during its chart life, making only the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.Cashman was the lead singer...

 and Gene Pistilli. In an interview by Cashman with the Songfacts website, he revealed that the song was originally written as a ballad. However, Cashman said the group "changed it, and they added the vocal, 'Ba-da-da-da-da,' which was a great hook
Hook (music)
A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, hip hop, dance music, and pop. In these genres, the hook is often...

."

Their second album, Like to Get to Know You
Like to Get to Know You (Spanky and Our Gang album)
Like To Get To Know You is the second studio album by Spanky and Our Gang, released in 1968.-Track listing:# "The Swingin' Gate" - 2:14# "Prescription for the Blues" - 3:07...

, was released in April 1968. Two singles were released: "Sunday Mornin'" in the spring, which reached #30, and "Like to Get to Know You", which reached #17 in the Summer 1968. The single's B-side, "Three Ways From Tomorrow", also received considerable airplay. The album also included their rendition of the classic "Stardust
Stardust (song)
"Stardust" is an American popular song composed in 1927 by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics added in 1929 by Mitchell Parish. Originally titled "Star Dust", Carmichael first recorded the song at the Gennett Records studio in Richmond, Indiana...

" and a version of "Everybody's Talkin'
Everybody's Talkin'
"Everybody's Talkin" is a folk rock song released by Fred Neil in 1966 that became a global success for Harry Nilsson in 1969, reaching #2 and #6 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and Pop Singles chart respectively and winning a Grammy after it was featured on the soundtrack for the film...

", best known as a hit single for Harry Nilsson
Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson...

 and the theme song for the movie 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...

.

"Give a Damn" was released as a single in Summer 1968. In spite of not receiving airplay in several markets because of the curse word in its title - and because it was a comment on racial equality that became the theme song for the New York Urban Coalition - the song became a regional hit where released and overall made #43. It was also performed live on an episode of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour is an American comedy and variety show hosted by the Smothers Brothers and initially airing on CBS from 1967 to 1969.-History:...

, resulting in CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

' Standards and Practices division receiving numerous complaints about the song's title being used during "family viewing hours". One such complaint reportedly came from Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

 (Tom Smothers, 'Geraldo' Interview, 1987). "Give a Damn" would become John Lindsay
John Lindsay
John Vliet Lindsay was an American politician, lawyer and broadcaster who was a U.S. Congressman, Mayor of New York City, candidate for U.S...

's campaign song during his successful run for Mayor of New York.

In October 1968, the group's lead guitarist Malcolm Hale died of carbon monoxide poisoning due to a faulty heating system (Hale's death has also been ascribed to bronchopneumonia
Bronchopneumonia
Bronchopneumonia or bronchial pneumonia or "Bronchogenic pneumonia" is the acute inflammation of the walls of the bronchioles...

).
This was a devastating blow to the group. The 27-year old was a multi-instrumentalist, did much of the arranging and pretty well kept the band together. Hale's death, along with the group’s satisfaction over what they’d achieved musically, resulted in the decision to disband early in 1969. Mercury released a third album, Anything You Choose b/w Without Rhythm or Reason, in January 1969. It contained two popular songs, the previous summer's hit "Give a Damn" and "Yesterday's Rain".

After the band's break-up, McFarlane enjoyed some success as a solo artist. She also toured for years with the Mamas & the Papas
The Mamas & the Papas
The Mamas & the Papas were a Canadian/American vocal group of the 1960s . The group recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968 with a short reunion in 1971, releasing five albums and 11 Top 40 hit singles...

, singing primarily the parts previously performed by the late Cass Elliot
Cass Elliot
Cass Elliot , born Ellen Naomi Cohen and also known as Mama Cass, was an American singer and member of The Mamas & the Papas. After the group broke up, she released five solo albums. Elliot was found dead in her room in London, England, from an apparent heart attack after two weeks of sold-out...

. She was most recently seen on stage in Ferndale Repertory Theatre's production of South Pacific
South Pacific (musical)
South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...

, portraying Bloody Mary.

The group briefly reformed in 1975 and recorded an album Change for the Epic label.

Recent releases

Because of their continued popularity, Mercury has released album collections of the band's greatest hits in 1969 (Spanky's Greatest Hit(s)), 1994 (Give a Damn), and 2005 (Spanky and Our Gang). In addition, Hip-O-Select has issued a limited edition anthology of their complete Mercury recordings including never released recordings and extensive liner notes.

Albums

  • Spanky and Our Gang
    Spanky and Our Gang (album)
    -Track listing:# "Lazy Day" - 3:10# " Bird Avenue" - 2:36# "Ya Got Trouble " - 4:38# "Sunday Will Never Be the Same" - 2:58...

     (Mercury, 1967)
  • Like to Get to Know You
    Like to Get to Know You (Spanky and Our Gang album)
    Like To Get To Know You is the second studio album by Spanky and Our Gang, released in 1968.-Track listing:# "The Swingin' Gate" - 2:14# "Prescription for the Blues" - 3:07...

     (Mercury, 1968)
  • Anything You Choose b/w Without Rhythm or Reason (Mercury, 1969)
  • Spanky's Greatest Hit(s) (Mercury, 1969) (many songs were given new stereo mixes)
  • Spanky & Our Gang Live
    Spanky & Our Gang Live
    Spanky & Our Gang Live is the fifth album by American 1960s folk-rock band Spanky and Our Gang.Following the sudden death of co-founder Malcolm Hale in 1968, Spanky and Our Gang had stopped publishing albums after having completed three albums for Mercury Records and a “Greatest Hits” LP...

     (Mercury, 1970)
  • Change (Epic, 1975)

Singles

Year Song Peak chart positions Album
US
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

1966 And Your Bird Can Sing
And Your Bird Can Sing
"And Your Bird Can Sing" is a song by The Beatles, released on their 1966 album Revolver in the United Kingdom and on Yesterday...and Today in the United States. The songwriting credit is Lennon–McCartney, though the song was written primarily by John Lennon, with contributions by George Harrison...

-
1967 Sunday Will Never Be the Same 9 Spanky and Our Gang
Spanky and Our Gang (album)
-Track listing:# "Lazy Day" - 3:10# " Bird Avenue" - 2:36# "Ya Got Trouble " - 4:38# "Sunday Will Never Be the Same" - 2:58...

1967 Making Every Minute Count 31
1967 Lazy Day
Lazy Day (Spanky and Our Gang song)
"Lazy Day" is a popular song by the 1960s band Spanky and Our Gang that peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart after its 1967 release. It appeared on their album Spanky and Our Gang....

14
1968 Sunday Mornin' 30 Like to Get to Know You
1968 Like to Get to Know You
Like To Get To Know You
"Like to Get to Know You" is a 1968 song from Spanky and Our Gang. Written by Stuart Scharf, the song debuted at number 71 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 20, 1968, and peaked at #16 on June 8, 1968. It became a minor hit on Billboard's Easy Listening chart at the same time, eventually peaking...

17
1968 Give a Damn 43 Anything You Choose b/w Without Rhythm or Reason
1968 Yesterday's Rain 94
1969 Anything You Choose 86
1969 And She's Mine 97
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