Happy Together (1967)

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• The Turtles - Happy Together (MP3)

By: The Turtles, formed by Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan.

Volman and Kaylan were saxophone players who played backup for the Coasters, Sonny And Cher and the Righteous Brothers. They later gave up sax and became the Crosswind Singers.

During the British Invasion in 1964 and 1965, they renamed themselves the Tyrtles. Their record company, White Whale, made them change the spelling of their name to The Turtles.

As legend has it, the demo of "Happy Together", recorded with just acoustic guitar and handclaps, was passed on by a number of popular artists (including the Vogues and Gary Lewis And The Playboys) by the time it reached the Turtles.

In 1999, BMI ranked "Happy Together" at #44 on their list of the Top 100 Songs of the Century (based on American radio and television airplay) for having been played more than 5 million times.

Chart position: #1 (US), #12 (UK).

It was the Turtles' only #1 hit.

It was #1 in the US for three weeks in March and April 1967. It was preceded at #1 by "Penny Lane" (the Beatles) and succeeded by "Somethin' Stupid" (Nancy Sinatra and Frank Sinatra.)

The Top Ten Songs: April 8, 1967 (US Billboard Hot 100).

1. "Happy Together" (Turtles)
2. "Dedicated to the One I Love" (The Mamas and the Papas)
3. "Somethin' Stupid" (Nancy Sinatra and Frank Sinatra)
4. "Bernadette" (Four Tops)
5. "This is My Song" (Petula Clark)
6. "Penny Lane" (Beatles)
7.  "Western Union" (Five Americans)
8. "I Think We're Alone Now" (Tommy James and the Shondells)
9. "A Little Bit You, a Little Bit Me" (Monkees)
10. "There's a Kind of Hush" (Herman's Hermits)
    

Written by: Gary Bonner and Alan Gordon, who were the bass player and drummer of the Magicians.

Gordon had most of the lyrics already written, but couldn't find the right melody. The Magicians were in the middle of an engagement at a club in Boston.

After being up all night, he stopped to have breakfast at a diner, miserable with no sleep and a case of writer's block. The only melody he could about was one that the Magicians' guitarist repeated incessantly before and after tuning his guitar.

The song began to take shape around the riff, so he asked him to help complete the song, but he refused, saying it was all "too simple" for him, so he asked Gary Bonner to help finish it. When Gary Klein at music publishing firm Koppleman and Rubin heard the result, he knew the song would be perfect for the new and upbeat image being created for the Turtles.

Download MP3s from Amazon.com:

• The Turtles - Happy Together (MP3)

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