I recently had a rather cool experience that involved being contacted by some kind of official group representing a blast-from-the-past band that I had invoked in one of my recent cartoons.

For all you Golden Moldies out there, the group was “The Association.” For all you young ‘uns who say, "The huh?,” here’s a bit of history about this sunshine pop harmony” group from the ‘60s (no, not the 1860s):

“The [Association’s] smooth harmonies and pop-oriented sound (which occasionally moved into psychedelia and, much more rarely, into a harder, almost garage-punk vein) made them regular occupants of the highest reaches of the pop charts for two years -- their biggest hits, including ‘Along Comes Mary,’ ‘Cherish,’ ‘Windy,’ and ‘Never My Love,"’ became instant staples of AM play lists, which was a respectable achievement for most musicians at the time.“

(”Artist Biography: The Association,” by Bruce Eder. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-association-mn0000753963/biography)


Having come from that era, and as I like to do today, I recently doodled a cartoon based on one of The Association's hit songs listed above: “Windy.” Here’s that original tune (feel free to get up and have a "fab' time as you sing and dance along):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsY8l0Jg3lY


Doing song parodies is fun because it takes people back to their own memories and experiences, and well as brings people into the present by pairing up a musical satire with current events.

Sometimes, however, things don’t go as planned. This was one of those times (but, spoiler alert, it had a happy ending).

So, I do a parody cartoon using The Association and, to my surprise, get an email a few days later from a “fan mail” group for the group (a group that I didn’t recognize as being a groupie-group when I first got their email). Here’s how the exchange went (It started out a little testy but got better rather quickly):

From: The Association <fanmail@theassociationwebsite.com>
Date: Tuesday, April 10, 2018 at 12:20 PM
To: "Benson, Steve" <steve.benson@arizonarepublic.com>
Subject: April 2nd cartoon

“Steve,

“A fan shared your cartoon of April 2nd and we’ve shared it on our private fan group on social media – so as not to offend those across the aisle.

“We think it’s a great cartoon (as are all your cartoons) but wanted to point out an error.

“'Windy' is by Ruthann Friedman, sung by The Association.

“Thanks for remembering our song!”

The heads-up came with the following attached links:

"The Association: http://www.theassociationwebsite.com

"On Facebook: The Association on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAssociation . . . "
_____


--I replied:

From: Benson, Steve
Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2018 1:50 PM
To: The Association
Subject: Re: April 2nd cartoon

“Thanks. I know that but people don’t know Friedman who wrote it, but they do know The Association who sung it.

“That’s like saying such-and-such a song is by Elton John when, in fact, he has had a songwriter for years.

“Thanks for writing."
_____


‘—The group wrote back:

“Steve,

“How NICE of you to say! Generally people know our songs but can’t name the group that sang it ;)

“Take care!”
_____


--I replied:

“Great song, by the way. One of my high school-era faves!

“Steve B.”
_____


--They replied:

“Steve,

“Thanks much, stay cool!

“The Association”

__________


Anywhoo, that’s the backdrop.

Here’s that cartoon based on The Association's song “Windy” that its fan-mail group had written to complain about because I hadn’t given (or so they said) proper attribution. (Please note that at the top of the ‘toon I did, in fact, gave credi--to the band).

https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/d2b69159f908f461154c92e01a0e2fe17be97d96/c=39-0-3639-2707&r=x513&c=680x510/local/-/media/2018/04/02/Phoenix/Phoenix/636582615854225625-Benson-Everyone-Knows-Its-Donny-04-03-18.jpg


Again, here’s the original hit tune:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsY8l0Jg3lY

*********


So, all you "doves" out there, "sock it to me," let's hear a "right on," whaddya say we "hang loose," stay "hip", get "stoked," and get "groovy" with all that’s "happenin,'" that's "outta sight," that's "a gas" and is "Far out" (or fill in whatever selected words you might want to from this '60s slang list below):

•All show and no go - looks good superficially
•Ape - crazy or mad
•Bad - awesome
•Badass - trouble maker
•Bag - steal
•Beat feat - leave quickly
•Bench racing - sitting around and talking about the speed of their cars
•Blast - good time
•Blitzed - drunk
•Blown - drunk
•Bogart - to keep for yourself
•Bone yard - a place to put junk or wrecked cars
•Boob tube - television
•Boogie board - a short surfboard
•Bookin' - going fast in a car
•Boss - fantastic
•Brew - beer
•Brody - skid half a circle in a car with the brakes locked
•Brody Knob - knob that attaches to a steering wheel to facilitate turning
•Bug - to bother
•Bug out - to leave
•What a bummer - what a bad thing or unpleasant experience
•Burn rubber - squeal tires and leave rubber on the road
•Cat - guy
•Catch some rays - get out in the sun
•Cherry - mint condition
•Chickabiddy - because I told you so
•Chicken/To play chicken - two cars driving towards each other
•Chinese firedrill - when four people get out of a car at a right light and exchange places in the car
•Chop - to cut someone down verbally
•Chrome Dome - bald man
•Cool head - nice guy
•Cooties - bugs
•Crash - sleep
•Cut out - leave the area quickly
•Decked out - dressed up
•Deuce - putting two fingers up in a peace symbol
•Dibs - ownership
•Dig - understand
•Don't flip your wig - don't be upset
•Don't have a cow - don't be upset
•Don't sweat it - don't be upset
•Downer - an unpleasant experience
•Drag - someone or something that is boring
•Dropout - refuse to conform with society
•Fab - fabulous
•Fab Four - The Beatles
•Far out - awesome
•Fink - tattletale
•Five finger discount - stolen
•Flake - useless person
•Flake off - leave
•Flee the scene - leave
•Flip flops - thongs
•Flower child - a hippie or other member of the counterculture
•Flower power - the impact of the hippy counterculture
•Fox - good looking woman
•Freak out - get excited and lose control
•Freedom riders - civil rights protesters
•Free love - casual sex
•Generation gap - the differences in beliefs between youth and parents
•Gimme some skin - to ask someone to slap or shake your hand in agreement
•Go ape - lose all control over emotions
•Gone - under the influence of drugs
•Gnarly - difficult or big
•Groady - dirty
•Grungy - looking shabby or dirty
•Glasspacked - has mufflers lined with fiberglass to muffle the sound
•Hacked - made someone mad
•Hairy - difficult or out of control
•Hang tough - to stick with something difficult
•Hawk - a supporter of war
•Heat - police
•Heavy - a controversial or powerful subject
•Hep - in full agreement
•Hodad - a person who does not surf
•Hog - to take over so that someone else cannot use
•Hot dog - show-off
•Hunk - good looking guy
•In the groove - a person who is part of the in-crowd
•Jam - group of people play music together
•Jazzed - excited
•Jelly Roll - heroin
•Kicks - something done for pleasure
•Kings X - safe
•Kiss off - dismiss
•Kiss up - someone who will do anything to gain favor by another person
•Knocked up - pregnant
•Laid back - relaxed
•Lay it on me - tell me
•Lay rubber - stop fast and leave wheel marks on the road
•Make out - kissing
•Mirror warmer - woman who spends a lot of time looking in the mirror
•Mod - modern or in fashion
•Moon - to drop your pants
•Mop-top - someone with a Beatle-style haircut
•Neato - awesome
•Nifty - stylish or very good
•No sweat! - No problem
•Now - of the current fashion or style
•Old Lady - mother
•Old Man - father
•On the make - looking for a date
•Pad - where you sleep or live
•Padiddle - car with only one working headlight
•Panty waist - a boy who does not have a tough personality
•Passion pit - drive-in movie
•Peel out - accelerate quickly, leaving rubber on the road
•Peggers - jeans with tight calfs and ankles
•Pig out - overeat
•Port holer - a sailor on a ship
•Pound - to beat someone up
•Race for pinks - race cars when the winner keeps the loser's car
•Rap - to talk
•Rat fink - someone who tells on someone else
•Rays - sunshine
•Rip off - steal
•Scarf - eat fast
•Score - get sex from a girl
•Scratch - money
•Shades - sunglasses
•Shake it, don't break it! - told to someone who wiggles
•Shot down - rejected
•Shotgun - passenger seat
•Skuzz - disgusting person
•Skuzz bucket - ugly place or thing
•Slug bug - Volkswagon beetle
•It's snowing down south - woman's slip is showing
•Sock it to me - Let me have it
•Solid - I understand
•Souped up - lots of extra equipment
•Split - to leave
•Sponge - live off of someone else's money or belongings
•Square - someone who is not cool
•Stoked - likes someone or something a lot
•Stuck up - conceited
•Submarine races - excuse given for parking next to the water to make out
•Sweat hog - fat boy or girl
•Sweat parties - sex parties
•Tennies - tennis shoes
•The Man - any authority figure who maintained the corporate, legal and political status quo
•Threads - clothes
•Ticked off - angry
•Tight - very friendly
•Tooling - driving around
•Tough - great looking
•Tuff - cool or very enjoyable
•Tune out - ignore
•Turn off - to respulse someone
•Truckin' - moving quickly
•Twice Pipes - two muffler tail pipes
•Twitchin' - great or awesome
•Unglued - upset
•Unreal - so outstanding that it was difficult to believe
•Uptight - tense and unable to enjoy life
•Way out - beyond explanation
•Wedgies - When someone pulls up someone else's underwear from the back, causing the underwear to go into the crack
•What's your bag, man? - what are you into? what is your problem?
•Wipe out - to fail in a big way or to fall off the surfboard
•Woodie - an old, wood-sided station wagon that was popular with the California surfing population
•Zilch - zero
•Zit – pimple

(“1960s Slang,” http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/slang/1960s-slang.html)



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/2018 12:41AM by steve benson.

Far Out! :-))

Don't forget "Groovy" and "Out of Sight"

Love the cartoon, btw!

Cheers!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/2018 01:23AM by captainklutz.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/2018 02:46AM by steve benson.

I have very fond memories of slow-dancing to Cherish and Never My Love at high school and church dances.

Love the cartoon, Steve!

I think I remember that one from my old Association LP.

Yep.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY4CleH2x8Y

OMG, me too. I can still here those notes at the beginning of "Cherish" and want to slow dance with some pimple-faced boy.

Great cartoon, Steve. I remember that song. The stormy eyes part fit so well that I felt I was experiencing some kind of synchronicity, but not at the same time. Maybe it was deja vu in reverse. Your art does that to me sometimes.

rang a bell with me, too. I wonder why. . .


Oh, I remember now: I had just read about it in the news. Heh.


(She kinda reminds me of Nancy Rigdon and her pushback against Joseph Smith. The one big difference is that Joe never got to first base with her).



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/2018 03:12AM by steve benson.

I was in high school when The Association was at it's peak, I think, although it's peak didn't last too long. I'm amazed to hear that they are still performing.

They played at the amusement park north of Salt Lake City, called Lagoon during the summer of 1966, I think, but I wasn't able to go since I had to work at the local Safeway that night. (WHY do I remember stuff like this?)

Also interesting to know from Wikipedia: "Bones Howe had worked as an engineer under Adler and used the Wrecking Crew when he produced hits by the Association (including "Windy", "Along Comes Mary", and "Never My Love"."

For those of you who are a fan of any kind of pop music from that era, clear through the early 70's, be sure you see the movie called "The Wrecking Crew".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wrecking_Crew_(music)

THe movie is from 2008 and is on Netflix and you probably can find it at your local library.

As to the song "Windy" . . .

"From Wikipedia:

"'Windy' is a pop music song written by Ruthann Friedman and recorded by The Association. Released in 1967, the song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July of that year. Overseas, it went to #34 in Australia, and #3 in Yugoslavia. Later in 1967, an instrumental version by jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery became his biggest Hot 100 hit when it peaked at #44. 'Windy' was The Association's second U.S. #1, following 'Cherish' in 1966. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 4 song for 1967. The lead vocals were sung in unison by Russ Giguere and Larry Ramos. Ramos claimed that Ruthann Friedman had written the song about a man, and that The Association changed the lyrics to make it about a woman.

"Friedman refuted the rumor on her website: 'There are many explanations of who Windy actually was in Ruthann's life. She would have you know, she being me, Ruthann Friedman, that none of them are true. Windy was indeed a female and purely a fictitious character who popped into my head one fine day in 1967 . . . During the recording session The Association members, sure that they were in the middle of recording a hit, called the songwriter, me again, in to sing on the fade at the end. I can be heard singing a blues harmony as the song fades out . . . '

"Session musician Hal Blaine played drums."

_____


When I was a kid and prior to our family moving to Dallas in 1965, I went to Lagoon several times. Loved the red disc in the Fun House that would whirl you around and spin you off into cushioned bumpers. The roller coaster looked kinda rickety but was awesome.

I was 15 in 1969. Those were the days. :)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/2018 08:41AM by steve benson.

Bitchin' is not on the list. Bummer.

Like, yeah, I was totally bummed not to see "bitchin'" on the list and then I saw you put it there and I was like "Radical, man!"

Then there's the surf talk: Gremmy, Hodad, Tubular, and one one we used for a bully--Hard Guy.

I recall seeing them the Ed Sullivan Show; Ed asked how they got the name 'The Association', and the guy said "Well, we heard a knock on the door, and I opened it, and there we were!"

The '60's, man.....

I was 9 in 1969...but I have the song on my playlists, and I didn't have to go "huh?" when you named the group :)

Nice cartoon, too.

I have a rather decent collection of many of the great songs of the sixties that I was able to grab in the Napster era. The Association is well represented along with the Cowsills, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich, the Rascals, Tiny Tim, the Cyrkle and on and on....too many to list!

Wow-flashback. I remember my parents had the album "Hair", and of course that song was on it. They got the record from my hippie Aunt in San Fran and played it on their new "Hi-Fi". Thanks for the memory.

"Hair" was onstage in Los Angeles when I was in college. I talked a buddy who had a car into going. I bought the tickets. (Tickets were affordable back then.)

"Hair" was essentially EVERYTHING that offended parents and the "Establishment." We loved it.

I came home from my mission in Brasil, November 1970, and spent 2 days in Rio De Janeiro, playing tourist with a guy who I'd been in the LTM with 2 years before. (He had gone to the Brasil South Mission and we hadn’t seen each other in 2 years, but somehow arranged to travel home together. And now, I’ve not seen him in 48 years.)

We went to typical tourist sites and I really enjoyed it. The 2nd night, we were just walking around and I spotted a theater in downtown Rio de Janeiro playing the brand new Brazilian version of the musical HAIR. It was the touring production that had just been translated so it could go on tour. I had read about it in the international version of Time Magazine and the guy I was with was oddly enough a theater major from his college before he came on his mission and he’d heard of it.

So we went to see Hair, in Portuguese and with the very short nude scene that’s in it. Until that night, I’d never seen a naked women except in a magazine. It was fun to see although the translation was kind of lost on us, even though we’d been speaking it for 2 years.

As we got ready to fly home the next morning, Elder..... said to me, I think it would be a good idea if we don’t tell our Bishop when we get home and I agreed. We flew home to LA and were supposed to have a delay but somehow we managed to leave LA, I made it home for Thanksgiving dinner. I had to back to the SLC airport later that night to get my luggage.

I saw the Association in Concert...Fall 1967 University of Idaho.
Thanks for that walk down memory lane! Loved the cartoon!

My favorite song of theirs is Never My Love.

I don't know that I ever would have described The Association as "groovy"...especially once I found The Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane and a host of other bands. In the very early 70's, I found Emerson, Lake & Palmer and took a left turn into Prog Rock. Still there today. Nothing like a 15-20 minute ditty that nobody could ever dance to!

That said, I did like "Windy".



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/2018 03:16PM by captainklutz.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/2018 03:25PM by steve benson.

I first heard "Cherish" by The Association when I at Ricks in '66...bought the album and damn near wore the grooves off it.

Thanks for reminding me of the song, Steve. Good to hear they are still working.