The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #161201   Message #3831151
Posted By: Bee-dubya-ell
08-Jan-17 - 11:31 AM
Thread Name: Reissue: the turtles
Subject: RE: Reissue: the turtles
Re "Elenore", from the song's Wikipedia page:

The band recorded "Elenore" as a parody of the type of happy-go-lucky pop songs they themselves had been performing, but with deliberately clichéd and slapdash lyrics such as: "Your looks intoxicate me / Even though your folks hate me / There's no one like you, Elenore, really"; and "Gee, I think you're swell / And you really do me well / You're my pride and joy, et cetera..." Howard Kaylan later said:

Elenore was a parody of "Happy Together." It was never intended to be a straight-forward song. It was meant as an anti-love letter to White Whale [Records], who were constantly on our backs to bring them another "Happy Together." So I gave them a very skewed version. Not only with the chords changed, but with all these bizarre words. It was my feeling that they would listen to how strange and stupid the song was and leave us alone. But they didn't get the joke. They thought it sounded good. Truthfully, though, the production on "Elenore" WAS so damn good. Lyrically or not, the sound of the thing was so positive that it worked. It certainly surprised me.