Forever Changes: Bummer In The Summer

[silentseason]

"Bummer In The Summer"
From: Forever Changes, side two, song four
-Running time: 2:20
-Recorded: August 12, 1967 Western Recorders Hollywood
-Written by: Arthur Lee
-Lead vocal: Arthur Lee
-Lead guitar: Johnny Echols
-Rhythm guitar: Bryan MacLean
-Bass: Kenny Forssi
-Drums: Michael Stuart
-Piano: Don Randi
-I've always thought that the Buffalo Springfield song "Go And Say Goodbye" (recorded a year earlier) beared some similarity to this song, at least in the country twang feel to it.
-Johnny originally wanted to use a steel guitar for this song, but as he did not own one nor did the studio have one he played country licks on his regular guitar instead.
-Quotable: Michael gives his take on the band's stage prescence:

"Actually, Love was pretty much cut from the same cloth as most of the bands from the mid-sixties (visually speaking). The Animals, The Kinks, Them, The Byrds...the members of those groups were serious musicians, and they, for the most part while on stage, just stood there and did their job of playing music.

I guess Johnny maybe did a little dance in place once in a while, or Arthur would step back from the mic to play the tambourine, then step back up to sing or play the harmonica, but that was about it.

The early Stones were like that as well. There was none of that running around the stage and flapping one's elbows and swinging the microphone by the cord, and the other flamboyant visual silliness that Mick and the others, engaged in later on. I guess The Who must have been the first band to employ that schtick. I know...somebody might say, "What about Bill Haley and the Comets, or Chuck Berry and his duckwalk, or Jerry Lee Lewis playing the piano with his shoes?" Nevertheless...never cared for it much myself. If you're a musician, just play the music."

-IMHO: This is my least favorite song of the project. The lyrics aren't Arthur's finest and the rap/scat singing just seems out of place. The highlights are Johnny's country guitar solo in the middle and Don Randi's thundering piano interludes. But in the song's defense, it still has a bit of lyrical bite, the cadence is different from the other songs on the album and also the eleven other offerings from Forever Changes are so good and the bar was set so high that one had to be a bit below par, and this one is it.
-Fun Fact: She will never get the deserved credit for her work but it would be negligent not include Ronnie Haran in this series. Besides being the bands manager early on, she was at the epicenter for one of the greatest rock revolutions in history and helped bring to the forefront two of the best bands ever: LoVE and The Doors. Without her vision to see greatness in its nascent stages or her ability to hustle the right people at the right time these two might never have survived to fulfill their destiny of musical greatness. If you want to see her work just look at the back cover of Forever Changes.
-Lyrics:

Well I remember when you used to look so good
And I did everything that I possibly could for you
We used to ride around all over town
But they're puttin' you down for bein' around with me
But you can go ahead if you want to
'Cause I ain't got no papers on you

In the middle of the summer I had a job bein' a plumber
Just to pass till the fall it was you I wanna ball all day
Ah-we were walkin' along, honey, hand in hand
I'm a-thinkin' of you, mama, when you're thinkin' of another man
But you can go ahead if you want to
'Cause I ain't got no papers on you
No, I don't I ain't got no papers on myself

All alone on the bone when I didn't have a home
When I saw the way I was and I knew where I was supposed to be
I was twitchin' so I turned and it's really hard to learn
That everyone I saw was just another part of me
But you can go ahead if you want to
'Cause nobody's got no papers on you
No, babe, it's just a falsehood