Editing The Lovin' Spoonful (section)

== History ==
=== 1964–1965: Formation ===
==== Greenwich Village and folk music ====

{{quote box|quote= The first time I heard [[Zal Yanovsky|Zal [Yanovsky]]] was at [[Cass Elliot]]'s house. Cass was forever the Jewish matchmaker, she was matching up boys to play in bands like a house afire. And she had us nailed as, "Oh, these guys have to work together."<ref name="Shiner Sebastian" /> |source=– [[John Sebastian]], 2012 |width=25%|align=left|salign=right|style=padding:8px;}}

The co-founders of the Lovin' Spoonful – [[John Sebastian]] and [[Zal Yanovsky]] – met on February 9, 1964, at the apartment of [[Cass Elliot]], a mutual friend and fellow musician.<ref>{{harvnb|Unterberger|2002|p=75}} and {{harvnb|Courrier|2008|p=75}}: (met the night the Beatles debuted on ''Ed Sullivan''); {{harvnb|Miles|2001|pp=131–132}}: (February 9, 1964).</ref>{{refn|group=nb|Sebastian typically identifies the night at Elliot's apartment as his first time meeting Yanovsky.<ref name="Rock Family Trees">{{Cite episode |title=California Dreamin' |series=Rock Family Trees |series-link=Rock Family Trees |last=Hanly |first=Francis (director) |network=[[BBC Television]] |date=September 4, 1998 |season=2 |number=1 |time=2:50–3:04, 30:05–30:22, 31:40–32:00}}</ref> He has also recalled they "actually met once before", adding that it was the night at Elliot's apartment in which the two first played music together and the first time they became acquainted in "a very low-key setting".{{sfn|Fiegel|2005|pp=113–114}}}} Elliot was holding a party that night to watch the English rock band [[the Beatles]] make their American television debut on ''[[The Ed Sullivan Show]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Unterberger|2003|p=63}}; {{harvnb|Mersereau|2015|loc=chap. 5}}.</ref> Elliot, Sebastian and Yanovsky were all active in the [[American folk music revival|folk-music scene]] in [[Greenwich Village]], a neighborhood in New York City,{{sfn|Bronson|2003|p=205}} and the three were greatly influenced by the Beatles' performance; Sebastian later reflected, "It affected {{em|us}} heavily{{nbsp}}... {{em|us}} [meaning] my specific generation".{{sfn|Barone|2022|p=168}} Later that night, Elliot encouraged Sebastian and Yanovsky to play guitars,{{sfn|Bronson|2003|p=205}} and Sebastian remembered discovering they had "a tremendous affinity" for one another.{{sfn|Fiegel|2005|p=114}}

Sebastian, the son of the classical [[harmonica]] player [[John Sebastian (classical harmonica player)|John Sebastian Sr.]], grew up in a Village apartment which neighbored [[Washington Square Park]].{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=157}} The younger Sebastian often went to the park to play music,{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=157}}{{sfn|Petrus|2015|p=294}} and he also played in rock bands as a teenager at his [[College-preparatory school|prep school]] in [[New Jersey]].{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=28}} He became a multi-instrumentalist, being proficient on guitar, harmonica, piano and the [[autoharp]].{{sfn|Petrus|2015|p=294}} Beginning in the early 1960s, he worked as a [[studio musician]].{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=75}}

{{multiple image|caption_align=center|header_align=center
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 | footer = Top: [[Washington Square Park]], 1965<br />Bottom: [[MacDougal Street]], 2008<br />The Spoonful emerged from New York City's [[American folk music revival|folk-music scene]] in [[Greenwich Village]].
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Yanovsky grew up in [[Downsview]], a suburb of Toronto, Canada, and he was enmeshed as a guitar player in the city's folk-music scene, which centered on the [[Yorkville, Toronto|Yorkville]] neighborhood.{{sfn|Bunch|2017|p=343}} [[Denny Doherty]], another musician active in Yorkville,{{sfn|Bunch|2017|p=343}} invited Yanovsky to join his folk group, [[the Halifax Three]], which later relocated to Greenwich Village.{{sfn|Mersereau|2015|loc=chap. 4}} After the Halifax Three broke up in June{{nbsp}}1964,{{sfn|Rees|Crampton|1991|p=316}} Elliot recruited Yanovsky and Doherty to join her own group, [[The Mugwumps (band)|the Mugwumps]].{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|pp=72–73}} That same year, Sebastian briefly played with another New York folk group, the [[Even Dozen Jug Band]], before he was also recruited into the Mugwumps to play harmonica.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|pp=75, 123}}{{refn|group=nb|[[Warner Bros. Records]] signed the Mugwumps in August{{nbsp}}1964.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=u.t.|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|date=August 22, 1964|page=8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VUUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA8|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> They recorded an album of material later that month,<ref name=NoDepression>{{cite web |author1=Anon. |title=Mugwumps – Self-Titled |url=https://www.nodepression.com/album-reviews/mugwumps-self-titled/ |website=[[No Depression (magazine)|No Depression]] |access-date=May 6, 2024}}</ref> but Sebastian joined the group too late to have contributed.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=75}} The group released one single in 1964, and Warner Bros. released the rest of their recorded material in 1967, after its former members had become famous.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|pp=73–74}}}}

Sebastian later remembered becoming enamoured with Yanovsky: "[He] amused the hell out of me. He inhaled and exhaled people and conversation and jokes and theater. He was this kind of cultural weathervane – and people gathered around him."{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=214}} During live performances with the Mugwumps, rather than playing folk songs straight through, Yanovsky and Sebastian often improvised off of one another on guitar and harmonica, respectively.{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=214}} After the Mugwumps dissolved in late{{nbsp}}1964, Sebastian and Yanovsky began planning to form their own group,{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|pp=75, 123}}{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=45}} which they envisioned as an electric [[jug band]].{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=214}}{{refn|group=nb|Elliott and Doherty went on to form [[the Mamas & the Papas]].{{sfn|Bronson|2003|p=205}}}} Sebastian recalled: "Yanovsky and I were both aware of the fact that this commercial folk music model was about to change again, that the four-man band that actually played their own instruments and wrote their own songs was the thing."{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=214}} Yanovsky contacted [[Bob Cavallo]], the former manager of the Halifax Three and the Mugwumps, who agreed to manage Sebastian and Yanovsky's group even though they had not yet performed publicly, had no songs and did not yet have a band name.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=45–48}}

In 1964, Sebastian lived in an apartment on Prince Street in [[Little Italy, Manhattan|Little Italy]], a Manhattan neighborhood south of Greenwich Village. That year, [[Erik Jacobsen]], the former banjo player of the bluegrass band [[Knob Lick Upper 10,000]], moved into the apartment next door,{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=212}} and the two soon bonded over their shared interests of smoking marijuana and listening to eclectic music.{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=212}}{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|pp=69–70}} Like Sebastian, Jacobsen had been affected by the new sound of the Beatles; he later recalled that while touring in early{{nbsp}}1964, he listened to the group for the first time on a [[jukebox]]: "I decided, kind of then and there I think, that I was gonna quit the Knob Lick Upper 10,000, and go to New York City, and produced electric folk music."{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=212}} As part of his effort to switch focus towards production, Jacobsen recorded [[Demo (music)|demos]] for musicians in the Village,{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=213}} including Sebastian's compositions "Warm Baby" and {{nowrap|"Rooty-Toot".{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=70}}{{refn|group=nb|Both of Sebastian's demos featured experimentation and exotic instruments, including African drums, bongo drums and a [[sitar]]. Jerry Yester recalled playing on "Warm Baby" with other local folk musicians, including Jesse Colin Young and [[Sticks Evans]].{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=70}} Both demos went unissued, but the Spoonful rerecorded "Warm Baby" for ''Daydream'' and Sebastian included "Rooty-Toot" on his 1971 live album ''Cheapo-Cheapo Productions Presents Real Live''.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=70}}{{sfn|Unterberger|2006b}}}}}}

==== Earliest lineup ====

From 1962 to 1964, [[Steve Boone]] played bass guitar in several [[Long Island]] rock bands with the drummer [[Joe Butler]].{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=123}} They both played in the Kingsmen, a band led by Boone's brother, Skip, before Boone quit in mid-1964 to spend time visiting Europe. Skip and Butler changed the band's name to ''the Sellouts'' and moved to Greenwich Village, holding a residency at [[Trude Heller's]] club as one of the neighborhood's earliest rock groups.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=11–15, 23–24, 32}}

In December{{nbsp}}1964,{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=123}} at the insistence of Butler, Boone went to the Village Music Hall, a small music club on West 3rd Street in Greenwich Village.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=34–35}} There, he met Sebastian and Yanovsky,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=36}} and though he had no background in folk music,{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|p=123}} Boone soon bonded with the two over their shared musical influences, including [[Elvis Presley]], [[Chuck Berry]], [[the Everly Brothers]], [[Buddy Holly]], [[Motown]], the Beatles and other [[British Invasion]] acts.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=36}} Sebastian played him his composition "[[Good Time Music]]" – the lyrics of which derided early 1960s [[rock and roll]] while extolling the Beatles and other new music – and the three musicians [[jam session|jammed]] different Chuck Berry and R&B numbers.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=35–38}} Sebastian invited Boone to Jacobsen's apartment afterwards, where Boone met Jacobsen as well as [[Jerry Yester]] of the [[Modern Folk Quartet]], a local folk music group.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=39}} That week, Boone attended Sebastian's performance at a Greenwich Village club.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=39–41}} Sebastian's show, made up of a quickly assembled group of Fred Neil, [[Tim Hardin]], [[Buzzy Linhart]] and [[Felix Pappalardi]], greatly impressed Boone,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=39–41}}{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=124}} who later remembered it as "one of the most significant nights in my musical life."{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=124}} He also recalled: "I was stunned. I had never heard such power in a folk group before."{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=124}} The performance motivated Boone to enter the Greenwich Village folk scene and join Sebastian and Yanovsky's group.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=124}}

The band was still in need of a drummer, and Boone suggested Jan Buchner, a part-timer with the Kingsmen who came at the recommendation of both Skip and Butler.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=48}} Buchner, who went by the stagename Jan Carl, was the manager of the Bull's Head Inn, a small inn located in [[Bridgehampton, New York|Bridgehampton]] on Long Island, and which he offered as a rehearsal space during the inn's winter closure. The band rehearsed at the Bull's Head for several weeks in December{{nbsp}}1964 and January{{nbsp}}1965, and they also played at local bars in Bridgehampton at night.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=48–51}}

In late{{nbsp}}1964 and early{{nbsp}}1965, to keep earning money before his new band had earned a contract, Sebastian continued performing as a studio musician on other artists' recordings.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=47}} In this period, he played harmonica on [[progressive folk]] records for several acts, including [[Fred Neil]], [[Jesse Colin Young]] and [[Judy Collins]].{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=75}}{{refn|group=nb|Sebastian played harmonica on [[Vince Martin (singer)|Vince Martin]] and Neil's 1964 album ''Tear Down the Walls'' and on several 1965 albums, including Neil's ''[[Bleecker & MacDougal]]'', Young's ''[[Young Blood (Jesse Colin Young album)|Young Blood]]'' and Collins's ''[[Fifth Album]]''.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|pp=75, 123}}}} In January{{nbsp}}1965,{{sfn|Heylin|2021|p=297}} the musician [[Bob Dylan]] asked Sebastian to play bass guitar on his newest album, ''[[Bringing It All Back Home]]''.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=53}} The album's first day of sessions, January{{nbsp}}13, featured only Dylan on an acoustic guitar and, for a few tracks, Sebastian playing bass guitar, but none of the recordings were used on the final album.{{sfn|Heylin|1996|p=65}}<ref name="OB">{{cite web |last=Björner |first=Olof |author-link=Olof Björner |title=Still On The Road: 1965 Concerts, Interviews & Recording Sessions |url=https://www.bjorner.com/DSN00785%20(65).htm |website=About Bob |access-date=September 8, 2023 |archive-date=August 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220822153419/https://www.bjorner.com/DSN00785%20%2865%29.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|According to the Dylan researcher [[Olof Björner]], Sebastian played bass on unused takes of "[[Love Minus Zero/No Limit]]" and "[[She Belongs To Me]]" and harmonica on "[[Outlaw Blues]]".<ref name="OB" /> The recordings were officially released on the 2015 album ''[[The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966|The Cutting Edge 1965–1966]]''.{{sfn|Flanagan|Wilentz|2015}}}} Dylan returned the next day to re-record much of the material, rearranging the songs attempted the day before so they instead featured an electric backing.{{sfn|Heylin|1996|p=66}} Dylan invited Sebastian to return for a separate session held that evening,{{sfn|Heylin|1996|p=66}} in which they recorded a remake of the song "[[Subterranean Homesick Blues]]".<ref name="OB" /> Boone –  one of the few people Sebastian knew with a car and driver's license – offered to drive him to the session.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=110}}{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=51}} Sebastian was not a trained bass player and, after struggling to play the part, he suggested that Boone play instead,{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|pp=109–110}}{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=51–54}} but neither musician's contributions ended up on the final album.{{sfn|Heylin|1996|pp=65–66}}{{refn|group=nb|Later authors have sometimes doubted that there was an evening session on the 14th,{{sfn|Heylin|2021|p=297}}{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=110}} but [[American Federation of Musicians|AFM]] records indicate Sebastian and Boone were present for a three-hour session.{{sfn|Heylin|2021|p=297}} The pair are in photographs of the session taken by the photographer Daniel Kramer.{{sfn|Heylin|2021|p=297}}}}

==== First live dates ====

{{quote box|quote= We were still trying to come up with a name when I ran into [[Fritz Richmond]], a friend and musician. I asked him for suggestions. Fritz asked what we sounded like. I said a cross between [[Chuck Berry]] and [[Mississippi John Hurt]]. Fritz suggested ''the Lovin' Spoonful'', a line from Hurt's 1963 song "Coffee Blues." The name was perfect.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Myers |first1=Marc |author1-link=Marc Myers |title=The Story Behind 'Darling Be Home Soon' by the Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-story-behind-darling-be-home-soon-by-the-lovin-spoonfuls-john-sebastian-1482957136 |work=[[Wall Street Journal]] |date=December 28, 2016 |url-access=subscription |ref=none}}</ref> |source=– John Sebastian, 2016 |width=25%|align=right|salign=right|style=padding:8px;}}

In early{{nbsp}}1965, in preparation for their first public performances, Sebastian, Yanovsky, Boone and Carl continued rehearsing at the Bull's Head, while Sebastian and Yanovsky searched for a group name.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=54–55}} [[Fritz Richmond]], the [[washtub bass]] player for the [[Jim Kweskin Jug Band]], suggested to Sebastian the name ''the Lovin' Spoonful'',{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=54–55}}{{sfn|Von Schmidt|Rooney|1994|p=246}} a reference to the lyrics of the song "Coffee Blues" by the country blues musician [[Mississippi John Hurt]],{{sfn|Myers|2017|p=74}} with whom Sebastian had previously worked.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=124}} Sebastian and Yanovsky were enthusiastic about the suggestion and adopted it as the band's name.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=55}}

Joe Marra, the owner of Greenwich Village's Night Owl Cafe, knew Sebastian from his time backing other artists at the club, and Marra offered to book the Spoonful at the venue.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=54}} The Night Owl was formerly an after-hours bowling alley at [[3rd Street (Manhattan)|West 3rd]] and [[MacDougal Street]]s, which Marra had recently converted into a 125-person capacity coffeehouse and restaurant for folk music acts.{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|pp=215–216}} The band made their first live performances in late January 1965 at the Night Owl, holding a two-week residency.{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=214}} One show, which Jacobsen recorded on a tape recorder, featured a mixture of Sebastian's originals ("Good Time Music" and "Didn't Want to Have to Do It"), folk songs ("Wild About My Lovin{{'"}} and "My Gal") and rock and roll ("[[(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66|Route 66]]", "[[Alley Oop (song)|Alley Oop]]" and "[[Almost Grown (song)|Almost Grown]]").{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=57–59}}{{refn|group=nb|Decades later, the recording was considered for release on CD as ''Live at the Night Owl'', but Sebastian rejected the idea. The recording has since circulated as a [[Bootleg recording|bootleg]].<ref name="Unterberger interview">{{cite web |last1=Unterberger |first1=Richie |author1-link=Richie Unterberger |title=The Lovin' Spoonful's Steve Boone Opens Up About the Infamous Pot Bust that Broke Up the Band |url=https://pleasekillme.com/lovin-spoonful-steve-boone-interview/ |website=PleaseKillMe |access-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221127091756/https://pleasekillme.com/lovin-spoonful-steve-boone-interview/ |archive-date=November 27, 2022 |date=May 3, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>}} The band received a mixed reception, due in part to their loud playing style in the small venue.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=57–59}} Marra was unimpressed and returned to booking folk acts.{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=215}} Cavallo and Jacobsen recommended rehearsals and that the band replace Carl as drummer. Carl, who was six years older than his bandmates, clashed with them in terms of appearance and playing style, and he was subsequently fired by the band's management.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=57–59}}
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[[File:The original Hotel Albert, 40 East 11th Street (2) (cropped) (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|The band rehearsed for weeks in early{{nbsp}}1965 in the dilapidated basement of [[Greenwich Village]]'s [[Hotel Albert (New York, New York)|Hotel Albert]] (''pictured 2023''). [[Joe Butler]] later said, "It inspired us, because it made us frightened of poverty".{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=135}}<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Roxon|first=Lillian|title=The Lovin' Spoonful: Do You Believe in Magic|date=May 1968|magazine=[[Eye (magazine)|Eye]] |pages=32–33}}</ref>]]

Having fired Carl, the Spoonful could no longer play at the Bull's Head and were in need of a new rehearsal space.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=60, 62}} The band had little money and had been living with Elliot in her Village apartment at the [[Hotel Albert (New York, New York)|Hotel Albert]].{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=46–47}} The Albert was frequented by many local folk musicians, and the building's proprietors allowed musicians staying there to rehearse in its basement, a decaying space with standing pools of water, chipping walls and a bug infestation.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=47, 60, 62}} While at the Albert, the band befriended one of the building's permanent residents, Butchie Webber, who often fed them meals. Though the two were not romantic, Webber married Sebastian, so as to prevent him from being drafted into fighting in the [[Vietnam War]].{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=62, 151}} Butler, who still played drums for the Sellouts, auditioned for the Spoonful in the Albert's basement. He impressed the others when he broke a drumstick but continued performing by hitting the cymbal with his hand, cutting it in the process. The band were inspired by Butler's energy and hired him as their drummer.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=124}}{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=60–61}}

While waiting to be signed to a record label, the Spoonful played at night clubs on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village, including [[Cafe Wha?]] and Café Bizarre.<ref>{{harvnb|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=65–66}} (waiting, Café Bizarre); {{harvnb|Fletcher|2009|p=215}}: (MacDougal); {{harvnb|Einarson|2005|p=63}}: (Cafe Wha?).</ref> The band held a brief residency at Café Bizarre,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=65–66}} playing several sets a night for six days a week,{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=215}} leading Sebastian to later reflect, "We learned more at that crappy little club than almost any other gig."{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=216}} Marra had been especially critical of the band's earlier performances at the Night Owl, but he was impressed by the band's newly professional approach,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=65–66}} and in May of 1965, he offered for the band to return to performing at the Night Owl.{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=216}} The Spoonful shared their bill at the club with two other electric groups whom Marra booked, [[Danny Kalb]]'s band [[the Blues Project]] and the Modern Folk Quartet,{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=216}}{{sfn|Unterberger|2005}} the latter of which Sebastian sometimes filled in for on drums.{{sfn|Colby|Fitzpatrick|2002|p=90}} The Night Owl's triple-bill was immediately successful,{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=216}} and other established acts sometimes came to watch, including members of the American band [[the Byrds]] and [[Mary Travers]] of the folk-trio [[Peter, Paul and Mary]].{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=73}} Around the time he began booking electric acts, Marra moved the venue's stage towards the front street-facing window to draw in passers-by,{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=216}} and he printed a large color photo of the Spoonful and placed it in the club's window, which helped elevate the band's local popularity.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=65–66}}

[[File:The Lovin' Spoonful KRLA Beat Oct 9, 1965.jpg|thumb|The Lovin' Spoonful performing live, 1965]]

On June{{nbsp}}7 and 8, 1965,<ref>{{cite magazine|title=...{{nbsp}}And Coffee Too|magazine=The Broadside|date=June 9, 1965|volume=4|issue=8|pages=12–13|url=https://credo.library.umass.edu/view/full/mums1014-v04-n08-i001|via=[[UMass Amherst]]}}</ref> the Spoonful performed at [[Club 47]], a folk music club in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]].{{sfn|Von Schmidt|Rooney|1994|p=247}}{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=77}} Boone remembered feeling hesitant to perform at a club known strictly for folk music,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=77}} but Sebastian recalled that he and Yanovsky were immediately enthusiastic at the prospect of challenging folk enthusiasts: "Did we want to {{em|kill}} in that room!{{nbsp}}... We were going to be face to face with the folkies at last."{{sfn|Von Schmidt|Rooney|1994|p=247}} The band played at the venue at the suggestion of Fritz Richmond,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=77}} who encouraged the group by pointing to Bob Dylan's recent transition to electrified rock,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=77}} first heard three months earlier with the release of "[[Subterranean Homesick Blues]]",{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=126}} and the newfound popularity of the Byrds,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=77}} whose [[folk rock]] cover of Dylan's song "[[Mr. Tambourine Man]]" reached number one in North America that month.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|pp=135–136}}{{sfn|Einarson|2005|pp=61, 65}} The term "folk rock" had been coined in the June{{nbsp}}12 issue of the American music magazine ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' by the journalist Eliot Siegel, who used the term principally to describe the music of the Byrds.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=129}} Siegel also counted "the Living Spoonfull"{{sic}} as an act working in the New York area with "a folk-rock sound", even though the group had not yet released a record.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=129}}<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Tiegel|first=Elliot|title=Folkswinging Wave On – Courtesy of Rock Groups|date=June 12, 1965|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|pages=1, 10|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qCgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA1|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|Boone later reflected that he and his bandmates had mixed feelings about the success of the Byrds, something they found encouraging but also disappointing because it meant that another group had beaten them in breaking the new folk-rock sound into the charts.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=73–74}}}}

The Spoonful performed two sets at Club 47 and initially received a mixed reception; many folk fans walked out of the first set due to the band's loud sound.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=78}} Years later, Sebastian recalled a moment from the first set: {{quote|[This woman] carefully [got my] and Zally's attention, points out toward the amplifier, and puts her fingers in her ears. And Zally gave her his broadest and most affectionate smile, and turned his amplifier up as loud as he could. That was a real transition.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=164}}}} During the second set, the band received a warm response from the remaining crowd.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=78}} In retrospect, the author [[Richie Unterberger]] describes the Spoonful's appearance as a "watershed" moment in the history of folk rock.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=164}} The rock journalist [[Paul Williams (Crawdaddy)|Paul Williams]] attended the shows, and his review of the performances for the magazine ''Folkin' Around'' marked his earliest work as a music writer.{{sfn|Williams|2002|p=120}} Williams later reflected, "For a band like that to come to Club 47 was revolutionary, in terms of Cambridge['s] holier-than-thou purist attitude about folk music."{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=164}}
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==== "Do You Believe in Magic", Kama Sutra ====

{{listen|type=music|filename="Do You Believe in Magic" by the Lovin' Spoonful.mp3|title=The beginning of "Do You Believe in Magic" |description= A lyrical celebration of the Spoonful's changing audience,{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=136}}{{sfn|Barone|2022|p=200}} "Do You Believe in Magic" was one of the first [[folk-rock]] hits.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=173}} The song blends influences from [[Motown sound|Motown]], {{nowrap|[[jug band]]}} and {{nowrap|[[Contemporary folk music|folk music]]}}.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=173}}}}

Early in the Spoonful's May residency at the Night Owl,{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=216}} Sebastian wrote a new song, "[[Do You Believe in Magic (song)|Do You Believe in Magic]]", which explored the transformative power of music.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=62–63}} His initial inspiration came during one of the band's performances, in which he and Yanovsky noticed a sixteen-year-old girl dancing among the audience.{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|pp=216–217}}{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=136}} The girl stood in contrast to the older [[beatnik]] crowd who typically attended folk performances,{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=136}} and Sebastian recalled that "[she was] dancing like {{em|we}} danced – and not like the last generation danced".{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=216}} He also remembered: "Zal and I just elbowed each other the entire night, because to us, that young girl symbolized the fact that our audience was changing, that maybe they had finally found us."{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=136}} Sebastian composed the song the following night,{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|pp=216–217}}{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=136}} and the band worked together at the Albert to finish its arrangement.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=63}}

The Spoonful was enthusiastic about "Do You Believe in Magic" and hoped to record a [[Demo (music)|demo]] of the song to flog to record companies.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=63}} In June{{nbsp}}1965,{{sfn|Edmonds|2002}} Jacobsen fronted a session with his own money at [[Bell Sound Studios]] in New York, where the band recorded "Do You Believe in Magic" and several other songs.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=63}}{{sfn|Edmonds|2002}}{{refn|group=nb|Which other songs were on the demo is {{nowrap|disputed.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=63}}{{sfn|Edmonds|2002}}}} Boone and the journalist Ben Edmonds each write it was "Wild About My Lovin{{'"}} and an electric arrangement "Younger Girl",{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=63}}{{sfn|Edmonds|2002}} but Jacobsen suggested it only included "On the Road Again".{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=63}}}} Jacobsen invited Yester to participate in the session, adding both piano and backing vocals,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=64}} and the session musician [[Gary Chester]] played tambourine.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bosso |first1=Joe |title=John Sebastian: My Career in Five Songs |url=https://www.guitarplayer.com/players/john-sebastian-my-career-in-five-songs |website=[[Guitar Player]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205043358/https://www.guitarplayer.com/players/john-sebastian-my-career-in-five-songs |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |language=en |date=June 7, 2021 |quote=The recording came together quickly. It didn't hurt that [session drummer] Gary Chester, who happened to be in the building, played tambourine on the track. He kept us from speeding up. |url-status=live}}</ref> Jacobsen and Cavallo brought an [[acetate disc]] of the demo to numerous record labels, all of which turned down an opportunity to sign the band.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=64}}{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=173}} After attending one of the Spoonful's performances at the Night Owl,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=66–67}} [[Phil Spector]], a well-known producer, listened to an acetate of "Do You Believe in Magic" and considered signing the band to his label, [[Philles Records]].{{sfn|Ribowsky|1989|p=194}} Recollections differ as to who turned whom down, but subsequent authors suggest that in writing their own music and possessing a defined sound, the Spoonful differed greatly from the acts with which Spector normally worked.{{sfn|Hoskyns|1996|p=99}}{{sfn|Ribowsky|1989|p=195}}{{refn|group=nb|Henry Diltz of the Modern Folk Quartet later said, "The word was that [Spector] really wanted the Lovin' Spoonful, but he couldn't get them",{{sfn|Hoskyns|1996|p=99}} and Sebastian said in a 1966 interview that the band turned Spector down "because we didn't want to be swallowed up under his name".{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=124}}<ref name="Altham 1966">{{cite magazine|last=Altham|first=Keith|title=Nice, Abnormal Spoonful|magazine=[[New Musical Express]]|date=April 22, 1966|page=2}}</ref> In his autobiography, Boone instead said "I don't think we turned [Spector] down flat{{nbsp}}... but we decided to play hard-to-get for a little while longer".{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=67}} The producer [[Vini Poncia]] recalled that Spector "was considering them but passed on it".{{sfn|Ribowsky|1989|p=194}}}}

[[Elektra Records]] approached the Spoonful and offered to sign them.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=67}}{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=125}} Elektra regularly produced acts from Greenwich Village, including the Even Dozen Jug Band and [[the Paul Butterfield Blues Band]]. The label's offer would have allowed the Spoonful to retain Jacobsen as their producer and Cavallo as their manager, but the band worried that Elektra had not been successful at issuing singles in the pop market,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=66–67}} and that they would not be clearly identified as a rock act if they signed at a folk-oriented label.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=125}} Cavallo approached [[Paul Rothchild]] and [[Jac Holzman]] of Elektra and said the band needed an advance of $10,000 before they could sign ({{Inflation|US|10000|1965|fmt=eq|r=-3|cursign=US$}}).{{sfn|Holzman|Daws|2000|p=124}}{{Inflation/fn|US}} Holzman initially refused due to the large figure, but he soon changed his mind and offered the band a deal, by which point they had signed elsewhere.{{sfn|Holzman|Daws|2000|p=124}} The band instead signed a side-deal with Elektra,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=67}} which had them record four songs, including Sebastian's song "Good Time Music".{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=125}} Jacobsen later said that the band offered the songs to Elektra out of guilt, since "We had kind of hung [Holzman] out to dry just a little bit{{nbsp}}... [so we] allowed him to have those sides.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=125}} The label later included the four songs on the compilation album ''[[What's Shakin']]'', released the following year.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=125}}{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=70}}

The Spoonful signed with Koppelman-Rubin, an entertainment company,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=71}} who signed the band to [[Kama Sutra Records]] in June{{nbsp}}1965.{{sfn|Helander|1999|p=237}} As part of the deal, [[MGM Records]] distributed the records, which Kama Sutra released for Koppelman-Rubin.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=71}} The arrangement's format of multiple [[Intermediary|middlemen]] left little in profits for the band.{{sfn|Holzman|Daws|2000|p=124}}{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=71}} Sebastian later said that not signing with Elektra was "the worst decision I ever made in my life".{{sfn|Houghton|2010|p=173}}

Kama Sutra saw no need to re-record Jacobsen's original demo of the Spoonful performing "Do You Believe in Magic", and the label pressed copies to be the band's debut single.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=71}} The label issued it in the U.S. on July 20, 1965,{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=xvii}}{{sfn|Barone|2022|p=200}} and it debuted on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] a month later,{{sfn|Edmonds|2002}} remaining on the chart for thirteen weeks and peaking in October at number nine.<ref name="Billboard chart history">{{cite magazine |title=The Lovin' Spoonful Chart History (Hot 100) |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/the-lovin-spoonful/chart-history/hsi/ |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |access-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221121215619/https://www.billboard.com/artist/the-lovin-spoonful/chart-history/hsi/ |archive-date=November 21, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>
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=== 1965–1966: American popularity ===
==== Touring, debut album ====

[[File:The Lovin' Spoonful, 1965 (2).png|thumb|The Lovin' Spoonful in a promotional photograph taken by [[Henry Diltz]], 1965]]

The release of "Do You Believe in Magic" in July{{nbsp}}1965 propelled the Spoonful to nationwide fame in the U.S. within weeks.<ref name="Mix">{{cite web |last1=Eskow |first1=Gary |title=Classic Tracks: The Lovin' Spoonful's 'Do You Believe in Magic' |url=https://www.mixonline.com/recording/classic-tracks-lovin-spoonfuls-do-you-believe-magic-366002 |website=[[Mix (magazine)|Mix]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220520085538/https://www.mixonline.com/recording/classic-tracks-lovin-spoonfuls-do-you-believe-magic-366002 |archive-date=May 20, 2022 |date=August 1, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> The band made their American television debut on the [[WPLG|channel 10]] show of the Miami disc jockey [[Rick Shaw (radio)|Rick Shaw]], and they also taped appearances for the TV programs ''[[American Bandstand]]'', ''[[The Merv Griffin Show]]'' and ''[[The Lloyd Thaxton Show]]''.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=80–84}} In conjunction with the release of the single, the band's management made plans for their first series of serious live dates outside of New York City.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=71}} Beginning in August, the band toured the [[West Coast of the United States]].{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=81–84}} In San Francisco, the band held a two-week residency at [[Mother's Nightclub]],{{sfn|Miles|2005|p=30}}<ref name="Gleason 5/15/66">{{cite news |last1=Gleason |first1=Ralph J. |author1-link=Ralph Gleason |title='Spoonful' Fans Kept Following |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-john-sebastia/96860815/ |work=[[The San Francisco Examiner]] |date=May 15, 1966 |page=37 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |quote=Last fall the Spoonful appeared at Mother's on Broadway for two weeks and later at the hungry i. They also played the first of the really successful rock 'n roll dances here presented by The Family Dog. It was those productions which set the pattern for the whole dancing scene that exists now.}}</ref> which then advertised itself as the "world's first psychedelic nightclub",{{sfn|McNally|2003|p=86}} and on August{{nbsp}}7,<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Sternfield|first=Aaron|title=People and Places|date=August 14, 1965|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|page=12|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rigEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA12|via=[[Google Books]]|ref=none}}</ref> they performed in-front of 35,000 at the [[Rose Bowl (stadium)|Rose Bowl]] in [[Pasadena, California]], as one of several support acts for the English pop group [[Herman's Hermits]], alongside [[the Turtles]] and [[the Bobby Fuller Four]].{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=84}} In Los{{nbsp}}Angeles, the Spoonful played at several clubs on [[Sunset Strip]], including [[Ciro's]], the [[Whisky a Go Go]]{{sfn|Hoskyns|1996|p=90}} and [[The Crescendo (music venue)|The Crescendo]] (later renamed [[The Trip (night club)|The Trip]]).<ref name="Mix" />{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=81–84}}

In October{{nbsp}}1965, the Spoonful returned to the West Coast,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=81–84, 102–104}} where their image and sound proved influential in the emerging [[San Francisco sound|San Francisco scene]],{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|p=61}}<ref name=Meriwether /> particularly in the city's [[Haight-Ashbury]] district, a center of the 1960s counterculture.<ref name=Meriwether>{{cite journal |last1=Meriwether |first1=Nicholas G. |title=When the Dead Fought the Law: The Grateful Dead's 1967 Marijuana Arrest and its Legacies |journal=Proceedings of the Grateful Dead Studies Association |date=2023 |volume=3 |pages=121–136 |url=https://deadstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GDSA_Proceedings3_Meriwether.pdf |issn=2770-5358}}</ref> The band appeared for a week at the [[hungry i]],<ref>{{cite news|last=Wilson|first=Russ|title=A 'Spoonful of Pain in Folk-Song|newspaper=[[Oakland Tribune]]|date=October 21, 1965|page=22-F|url=https://newspapers.com/image/354613638/?match=1&clipping_id=148098114|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Anon. |title=Today's Lively Arts |url=https://newspapers.com/image/458408293/?match=1&clipping_id=148097780 |work=[[The San Francisco Examiner]] |date=October 18, 1965 |page=34 |quote=The Lovin' Spoonful{{nbsp}}... opening tonight for a one-week run at the hungry i. |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> one of the most prominent clubs in America's folk-music scene,{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=38}} where they were seen by the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]''{{'s}} jazz critic [[Ralph J. Gleason]].<ref>{{cite news |author1=Anon. |title=Two Popular Noted Modern Singing Groups Being Brought Here by PTSA at North High |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-mail/111836170/ |work=[[The Herald-Mail|The Daily Mail]] |date=February 25, 1966 |page=6 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref name="Gleason quoted Independent">{{cite news |author1=Anon. |title='The Lovin' Spoonful' in Concert Saturday at UC |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-independent-the-lovin-spoonful-in/165288094/ |work=The Independent |date=May 19, 1966 |page=21 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> In his review of their first show, Gleason described the band's music and clothing as "the expression of a new age" and "an expression of freedom".<ref name="Gleason quoted Independent" /> He concluded the band was "vital and alive and, I believe, important".<ref name="Gleason quoted Independent" /> On October{{nbsp}}24,<ref name=10/24/65>{{cite news|last=Gleason|first=Ralph J.|author-link=Ralph J. Gleason|title=State College Tunes Up for Jazz '65|newspaper=[[The San Francisco Examiner]]|date=October 24, 1965|page=19|url=https://newspapers.com/image/458468806/?match=1&clipping_id=149829251|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|quote=The Lovin' Spoonful, Larry Hankin and the Charlatans play a dance concert tonight at the Longshore Hall sponsored by the Family Dog{{nbsp}}...}}</ref> the Spoonful headlined a dance party at the [[Longshoreman's Union Hall]] in the city's [[Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco|Fisherman's Wharf]] neighborhood.<ref name="Gleason 5/15/66" /><ref>{{harvnb|Jackson|2015|pp=240–243}}; {{harvnb|Selvin|1995|pp=35–36}}.</ref> Organized by the concert-production collective [[Family Dog Productions]], the event combined rock music with light shows and [[psychedelic drugs]],{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=347}} and it was among the earliest events of its kind in San Francisco;{{sfn|Jackson|2015|pp=240–243}}{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|p=61}} Jacobsen reflected, "That whole idea of going and listening to music and [[getting high]] started there".{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|p=61}} In attendance at the Longshoreman's show were members of the [[Grateful Dead]],{{sfn|Jackson|2015|pp=244–245}} an acoustic-folk group, who were inspired by the Spoonful's performance to similarly "go electric" in their style.{{sfn|Miles|2009|p=232}}{{refn|group=nb|The Grateful Dead had performed as a jug band since their formation in May{{nbsp}}1965,{{sfn|Jackson|2015|pp=250–251}} but seeing the Spoonful's show inspired them to transition to amplified instruments.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|pp=244–245, 250–251}}{{sfn|Miles|2009|p=232}} Their first recording session with electric instruments was ten{{nbsp}}days later, on November{{nbsp}}3.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=251}} That month, for their first photo session, they adopted similar clothing to the Spoonful.{{sfn|McNally|2003|p=98}}}}

Amid their touring schedule, the Spoonful recorded tracks for their debut album, ''[[Do You Believe in Magic (album)|Do You Believe in Magic]]''.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=87}}{{refn|group=nb|Around this time, the band also performed as uncredited studio musicians on [[Sonny & Cher]]'s single "[[But You're Mine]]",{{sfn|Edmonds|2002}} released in late{{nbsp}}1965.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Breakout Singles|date=October 9, 1965|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|page=42|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HSkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA42|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>}} The band recorded thirteen songs across several sessions between June and September{{nbsp}}1965, mostly at Bell Sound in New York, and they also recorded at RCA Studios in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles]]. The band's focus was on recording as quickly as possible, and a majority of the songs were jug band and blues covers taken from their typical live set list.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=87–89}} The album's five original compositions were all credited to Sebastian, including "[[Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?]]",{{sfn|Edmonds|2002}} which he based on a experience as a child at summer camp when he fell in love with twin sisters.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=88}} Pointing to the success of the Beatles and the Byrds, the Spoonful's label encouraged the band to trade lead vocal responsibilities;{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=78}} on ''Do You Believe in Magic'', Sebastian sings lead on most songs, but Butler also sings twice ("[[You Baby (song)|You Baby]]" and "The Other Side of This Life") as does Yanovsky ("Blues in the Bottle", "On the Road Again" and the unreleased "[[Alley Oop (song)|Alley Oop]]").{{sfn|Edmonds|2002}} The album first went on sale on October{{nbsp}}23, 1965, when the band held an autograph session in [[Pleasant Hill, California]],<ref>{{cite newspaper|author=Anon.|title=Autorama Begins Today at Store|date=October 22, 1965|page=10|newspaper=[[Contra Costa Times]]|url=https://newspapers.com/article/contra-costa-times-autorama-begins-today/148098435/|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|quote=The Lovin' Spoonful{{nbsp}}... will be at the Autorama{{nbsp}}... on Saturday [October 23] to sign autographs. Their first L.P. album, 'Do You Believe in Magic' will be on sale for the first time at the Autorama.}}</ref> and Kama Sutra issued the album nationwide in November.{{sfn|Edmonds|2002}} It debuted on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' Top LPs]] chart on December 4,{{sfn|Edmonds|2002}} and it initially ran on the chart for 19 weeks, peaking in February{{nbsp}}1966 at number 71.<ref>{{multiref2|{{cite magazine|title=Billboard ''Top LP's''|date=April 9, 1966|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|page=40|ref=none}} (19 weeks).|{{cite magazine|title=Billboard ''Top LP's''|date=February 19, 1966|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|page=31|ref=none}} (number 71).}}</ref>

By late{{nbsp}}1965, the Spoonful had made appearances on the most popular American television variety shows, including ''[[Where the Action Is]]'', ''[[Shindig!]]'' and ''[[Hullabaloo (TV series)|Hullabaloo]]''.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=91}} Executives from [[NBC]] approached Cavallo and offered the band the opportunity to star in their own television series, ''[[The Monkees (TV series)|The Monkees]]''.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=91}}{{sfn|Hartman|2012|p=158}} The executives [[Bob Rafelson]] and [[Bert Schneider]] met with the band in Manhattan and explained their idea for a comedy sitcom about a band seeking to make it big, styled similarly to the Beatles' 1964 film, ''[[A Hard Day's Night (film)|A Hard Day's Night]]''. Though excited at the prospect of being propelled quickly to a national audience, the band were unenthusiastic at the idea of having to change their name to ''[[The Monkees]]'' and were worried that their ability to create and play their own music would be limited by the venture. They declined the offer.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=91–93}} Rafelson later said that the Spoonful was the only existing group considered for the show before they began auditioning individual actors and musicians in September{{nbsp}}1965.{{sfn|Sandoval|2005|pp=23, 26}}
{{clear}}

==== ''Daydream'' ====

In November{{nbsp}}1965, the Spoonful embarked on a 19-day package-tour with the American girl group [[the Supremes]].{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=96}}<ref name=Lewis>{{cite news |last1=Lewis |first1=Dan |title=Lovin' Spoonful Make Hit With Peers in Pop Music |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/122654443/lovin-spoonful-make-hit-with-peers-in-p/ |work=[[Fort Worth Star-Telegram]] |date=September 18, 1966 |page= 5-G |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> The acts performed at colleges across the southern U.S.,<ref name=Lewis /> beginning in [[Lafayette, Louisiana]], on November{{nbsp}}10.<ref>{{cite news |author1=Anon. |title='Lovin' Spoonful' To Appear Here |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/122657365/lovin-spoonful-to-appear-here/ |work=[[The Daily Advertiser (Lafayette, Louisiana)|The Daily Advertiser]] |date=November 5, 1965 |page=21 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |ref=none}}</ref>{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=98}} Both acts traveled by bus and partied together, along with members of the Supremes' backing band,{{sfn|Diken|2002}} [[the Funk Brothers]], billed as the [[Earl Van Dyke]] Orchestra.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=96, 98}} The Spoonful generally enjoyed the tour but found it physically exhausting. Sebastian additionally missed his girlfriend, Loretta "Lorey" Kaye.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=101}} Near the tour's end, in an effort to raise his own spirits, he composed "[[Daydream (The Lovin' Spoonful song)|Daydream]]" while riding on the bus through North Carolina,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=101}} drawing inspiration from the Supremes' 1964 singles "[[Baby Love]]" and "[[Where Did Our Love Go]]".{{sfn|Diken|2002}} A stop in [[Savannah, Georgia]] inspired the beginnings of "Jug Band Music",{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=101}} which Boone later said "recalled pleasant visions of the tour" for him and his bandmates.{{sfn|Diken|2002}}

[[File:The Lovin' Spoonful.png|thumb|left|The Lovin' Spoonful performing for ''[[The Big T.N.T. Show]]'', November{{nbsp}}1965]]

At the conclusion of their tour with the Supremes, the Spoonful departed directly for Los Angeles, having been invited by Phil Spector to appear in the concert film ''[[The Big T.N.T. Show]]''.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=102}} After filming on 29–30{{nbsp}}November,{{sfn|Hjort|2008|p=73}} the band remained in Los Angeles to do several weeks of a residency at the Trip, a short-lived nightclub on [[Sunset Boulevard]],{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=102}} where [[Brian Wilson]] of [[the Beach Boys]] saw them perform.{{sfn|Priore|2007|pp=45, 49}} During their stay, the Spoonful befriended a local fashion designer, [[Jeannie Franklyn]], who subsequently designed custom-clothing for Yanovsky.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=103–104}} They also struck up a friendship with [[David Crosby]], the rhythm guitarist of the Byrds.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=103}} Crosby had spoken favorably of the Spoonful in interviews as early as August, often promising reporters that they would be the next big group.{{sfn|Hjort|2008|p=52}}{{sfn|Rogan|1997|pp=175–176}} Both he and his bandmate [[Roger McGuinn|Jim McGuinn]] had been familiar with Sebastian and Yanovsky since their earlier years playing folk with Cass Elliot, and the Spoonful, the Byrds and the Mamas & the Papas remained on close terms in the mid-1960s.{{sfn|Rogan|1997|pp=175–176}}{{refn|group=nb|The Mamas & the Papas later chronicled the origins of the three groups in their single "[[Creeque Alley]]",{{sfn|Leonard|2014|p=136}} which reached number five in the U.S. in June{{nbsp}}1967.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Mamas & the Papas Chart History (Hot 100) |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/the-mamas-&-the-papas/chart-history/hsi/ |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |access-date=October 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007234837/https://www.billboard.com/artist/the-mamas-&-the-papas/chart-history/hsi/ |archive-date=October 7, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Amid their busy TV and live-date schedule, the Spoonful recorded most of their second album ''[[Daydream (The Lovin' Spoonful album)|Daydream]]'' in four days, from December{{nbsp}}13 to 16, at [[Bell Sound Studios]] in New York City.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=104}} Some songs for the album were recorded in November, including "[[You Didn't Have to Be So Nice]]", and additional sessions took place at [[CBS Studio Building|Columbia Studios]] in New York City and RCA Studios in [[Hollywood, California]].{{sfn|Diken|2002}} Boone began "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice" as a verse and a basic melodic figure, and Sebastian collaborated with him to complete the song.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=89–90}} Kama Sutra  issued the song as a non-album single on November{{nbsp}}13,{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=xx}} and it peaked at number ten on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in January{{nbsp}}1966.<ref name="Billboard chart history" />{{sfn|Diken|2002}} The sessions for ''Daydream'' came ten weeks after the band finished their first album, and the band had had little time to rehearse new material. Owing to the constraints, they recorded some Sebastian compositions which Jacobsen had rejected for inclusion on their debut album, including "Didn't Want to Have to Do It" and "Warm Baby".{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=104–105}} While ''Do You Believe in Magic'' contained just five original compositions, eleven out of twelve tracks on ''Daydream'' were original. Kama Sutra released the album in March{{nbsp}}1966 and it reached number ten on the ''Billboard'' Top LPs chart, making it the band's best performing studio album.{{sfn|Diken|2002}}

[[File:Daydream Billboard advertisement.png|thumb|[[Kama Sutra Records]]' trade ad for the "[[Daydream (The Lovin' Spoonful song)|Daydream]]" single fueled press speculation that the band's name alluded to drug use.]]

Of the songs recorded for ''Daydream'', Sebastian and Yanovsky hoped that their joint composition "It's Not Time Now" would be issued as a single, but Kama Sutra denied the request out of fear that it was a [[protest song]].<ref name="NME May 20, 1966">{{cite magazine|last=King|first=John|title=Simplicity is Secret of Spoonful's Disc Success says Zal|date=May 20, 1966|magazine=[[New Musical Express]]|page=3}}</ref> The label instead issued "[[Daydream (The Lovin' Spoonful song)|Daydream]]" in February{{nbsp}}1966.{{sfn|Savage|2015|p=555}} The song's release fueled speculation from the press and public about a link between the band and drug use,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=111–112}}{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=263}} as the press had often incorrectly speculated that ''the Lovin' Spoonful'' alluded to the spoon used in injecting [[heroin]].{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=111}} The increased speculation was partly driven by the lyrics' use of the term "dream", which by 1966 was sometimes used to connote the experience of taking [[psychedelic drug]]s.{{sfn|Savage|2015|p=143}} Additionally, a trade ad in ''Billboard'' accompanying the single's release made several drug allusions, drawing the ire of the band, who had regularly sought to distance themselves from drug associations.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=111–112}}

"Daydream" remained on the Hot 100 for twelve weeks, peaking at number two for two weeks in mid-April.<ref name="Billboard chart history" /> The single was kept from the top spot on ''Billboard''{{'s}} chart by [[the Righteous Brothers]]' song "[[(You're My) Soul and Inspiration]]",<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Billboard ''Hot 100''|date=April 9, 1966|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|page=24|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IkUEAAAAMBAJ|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> but it reached number one on ''[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cash Box]]'' magazine's chart and also reached the top spot in Canada.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=100 Top Pops (Week of April 9)|date=April 9, 1966|magazine=[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cash Box]]|page=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=2832&|title=RPM 100 (April 18, 1966)|date=July 17, 2013 |publisher=[[Library and Archives Canada]]|access-date=April 17, 2023}}</ref> The song's success expanded the Spoonful's popularity such that they were often able to headline their concerts rather than perform as a support act.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=110}} When the band toured the American South with the Beach Boys from April{{nbsp}}1 to 9, 1966,{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=124–126}} the two groups alternated top billing.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=110–111}}{{refn|group=nb|[[Brian Wilson]] stopped regularly touring with the Beach Boys in December{{nbsp}}1964,{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=75}} but he saw the Spoonful perform at The Trip.{{sfn|Priore|2007|pp=45, 49}} Wilson later said that "a John Sebastian song I had been listening to" inspired his song "[[God Only Knows]]",{{sfn|Wilson|Gold|1991|p=138}} which the biographer Mark Dillon connects to "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice".{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=112}}}}

=== 1966: International popularity ===
==== ''What's Up, Tiger Lily?'' soundtrack; European tour ====

Though the Spoonful had achieved quick success in North America, they remained generally unknown in the U.K.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=112}}<ref name="Alan Jones" /> None of their singles had charted in the country.<ref name="UK charts" />{{refn|group=nb|"Do You Believe in Magic" was issued in the U.K. on October{{nbsp}}1, 1965,<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Valentine|first=Penny|author-link=Penny Valentine|title=Penny Picks Your Pops: Searchers' sound gets tiresome|magazine=[[Disc (magazine)|Disc and Music Echo]]|date=October 2, 1965|page=11|quote=Do You Believe in Magic (Pye Int.){{nbsp}}... Out tomorrow [Friday, October{{nbsp}}1, 1965].}}</ref> but its performance was hindered by the release of a similar-sounding cover by an English band, the Pack.<ref>{{cite news |author1=Anon. |title=Record Review: This Group Won't Need Magic |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/whitstable-times-record-review-this-gro/137684146/ |work=Whitstable Times |date=October 30, 1965 |page=3 |quote=Sales [of 'Do You Believe in Magic'] are being affected by a near-copy turned out by another group{{nbsp}}... |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author1=Disker |title=Off the Record: Still More New Names |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/liverpool-echo-off-the-record-still-mor/137684007/ |work=[[Liverpool Echo]] |date=September 25, 1965 |page=4 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author1=Anon. |title=Paul Still No. 1 in America |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/liverpool-echo-paul-still-no-1-in-ameri/137685499/ |work=[[Liverpool Echo]] |date=October 19, 1965 |page=13 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> Another English band, the Boston Crabs, covered "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice" around the time the original was issued in the U.K. in January{{nbsp}}1966.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Farmer |first1=Bob |title=In the Groove: Mark Leeman May Yet Be 'A Name' |url=https://newspapers.com/article/lincolnshire-echo-in-the-groove-mark-le/137686266/ |work=Lincolnshire Echo |date=January 31, 1966 |page=4 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>}} To expand the band's popularity to an international audience, their management organized several live- and TV-dates in England and Sweden for April{{nbsp}}1966.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=112}} Only days before the Spoonful was set to depart to Europe, they were approached to provide a soundtrack for ''[[What's Up, Tiger Lily?]]'', the directorial debut of the comedian [[Woody Allen]],{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=113}} who knew the band from his work at clubs in Greenwich Village.{{sfn|Colby|Fitzpatrick|2002|p=80}} The band recorded the soundtrack in two days, April 11 and 12, at [[National Video Center|National Recording Studios]] in New York City,<ref>{{harvnb|Boone|Moss|2014|p=113}}; {{harvnb|Moriarty|1966}}.</ref><ref name="Runcorn Guardian" /> and they made a brief appearance in the film.{{sfn|Lee|2015|pp=18–19}} The film was a commercial disappointment and received mixed reviews.{{sfn|Barone|2022|p=251}} Issued in August{{nbsp}}1966,{{sfn|Anon.|1990}} the soundtrack album reached number 126 on the Billboard LPs chart.<ref name="Billboard chart history" /> Jacobsen later criticized the project as a "goofball album" which distracted the band and stalled their progress.{{sfn|Barone|2022|p=251}}

[[File:The Lovin' Spoonful, KRLA Beat 6-18-66.png|thumb|left|The Lovin' Spoonful in a 1966 promotional photograph]]

On April{{nbsp}}12,<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Anon.|title=Spoonful here|magazine=[[Melody Maker]]|date=April 16, 1966|page=4|quote=The Lovin' Spoonful arrived in Britain on Tuesday – one day earlier than expected{{nbsp}}...}}</ref> the Spoonful arrived at [[Heathrow Airport]] to begin their ten-day tour of England and Sweden.<ref name="Runcorn Guardian">{{cite news|author=Anon.|title=News of the Pops: For 'Ready, Steady Go'|newspaper=The Runcorn Guardian|date=April 7, 1966|page=6|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121230444/news-of-the-pops-for-ready-steady-go/|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref name="Alan Jones">{{cite news|last=Jones|first=Alan|title=Sweet Music from the Lovin' Spoonful|newspaper=[[Lincolnshire Echo]]|date=May 2, 1966|page=4|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121235459/sweet-music-from-the-lovin-spoonful/|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> Problems which arose during negotiations with the [[Musicians' Union (United Kingdom)|British Musicians' Union]] forced the band to limit the number of appearances they made in Britain.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Anon.|title='Daydream' boys back in August|magazine=[[Disc (magazine)|Disc and Music Echo]]|date=May 14, 1966|page=5}}</ref><ref name="Disc 5/14/66">{{cite magazine|author=Anon.|title='Daydream' boys back in August|magazine=[[Disc and Music Echo]]|date=May 14, 1966|page=5}}</ref> In the tour's first week, the band played concerts in [[Birmingham]] and [[Manchester]], appeared on the television programs ''[[Top of the Pops]]'', ''[[Ready Steady Go!]]'' and ''[[Thank Your Lucky Stars (TV series)|Thank Your Lucky Stars]]'', played on [[BBC Radio]] and attended a party at the London home of the Irish socialite [[Tara Browne]].{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=116–117}} The band's time in England allowed them to interact with many of Britain's top musicians.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=116–118}} On April{{nbsp}}18, they performed an invite-only show at the [[Marquee Club]] on Wardour Street, Soho, central London.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=117}}{{sfn|Hinman|2004|p=82}} Several of Britain's top performers were in attendance,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=117}} including [[John Lennon]], [[George Harrison]],{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=229}} [[Ray Davies]],<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Welch|first=Chris|author-link=Chris Welch|title=Knocking Down a Myth|date=April 30, 1966|magazine=[[Melody Maker]]|page=9|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/knocking-down-a-myth|url-access=subscription|via=[[Rock's Backpages]]|quote=I saw the Lovin' Spoonful and they were nice and easy.}}</ref> [[Brian Jones]], [[Steve Winwood]], [[Spencer Davis]] and [[Eric Clapton]].{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=117}} The band were warmly received,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=118}}{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=204}} and Lennon and Harrison joined them afterwards into the morning at [[The May Fair Hotel]] in [[Piccadilly]].{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=118}} The next night, following their performance at the Blaises Club in [[Kensington]], the band befriended Jones as well.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=118}}

After flying to [[Stockholm]] to perform on Swedish television, the Spoonful proceeded to Ireland to attend the 21st-birthday celebration of Browne on April{{nbsp}}23.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=116, 118–119}} Browne, who then regarded the Spoonful as his favorite band,{{sfn|Tinniswood|2021|loc=chap. 14}} delayed his party by seven weeks in order to coincide with the band's touring and recording schedule.{{sfn|Howard|2017|pp=248–249}} Browne flew the band to Ireland at his own expense to perform a private show,{{sfn|Shea|Rodriguez|2007|p=446}}{{sfn|Savage|2015|p=135}} paying them US$10,000 for the performance ({{Inflation|US|10000|1966|fmt=eq|cursign=US$|r=-3}}).{{sfn|Howard|2017|p=249}}{{Inflation/fn|US}} Held at the [[Luggala]] Estate, a [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic Revival]] house in the [[Wicklow Mountains]], the party was attended by many prominent [[Swinging London]] figures, including members of [[the Rolling Stones]], [[Peter Bardens]], [[Anita Pallenberg]],{{sfn|Savage|2015|p=135}} [[Chrissie Shrimpton]], [[John Paul Getty Jr.]], [[Rupert Lycett Green]]{{sfn|Tinniswood|2021|loc=chap. 14}} and [[Mike McCartney]].{{sfn|Howard|2017|p=249}} Butler recalled that the band's performance was likely substandard, since they were all drunk and high on marijuana.{{sfn|Howard|2017|p=249}} Several guests also partook in the drug [[LSD]],{{sfn|Savage|2015|pp=135–136}} including Butler,{{sfn|Tinniswood|2021|loc=chap. 14}} and the Spoonful stayed overnight.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=119}}

The Spoonful flew back to the U.S. on April{{nbsp}}24,<ref name="Disc 4/23/66">{{cite magazine|author=Anon.|title=Spoonful film on 'Top Pops'|magazine=[[Disc and Music Echo]]|date=April 23, 1966|page=6}}</ref> and reports soon followed that they planned to return later in the year for more British shows.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Anon.|title=Pop-Liners|magazine=[[New Musical Express]]|date=May 6, 1966|page=6|quote=The Lovin' Spoonful will return to Britain in September for concerts, Tito Burns annonuced this week.}}</ref><ref name="Disc 5/14/66" /> The band's morale was high following the April tour, particularly after they had been treated as equals by contemporary performers whom they held in high regard.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=119–120}} "Daydream" became a major international hit;{{sfn|Rogan|2015|p=274}} by mid-May, it had reached number two on all of the major British singles charts and number one on the Swedish [[Kvällstoppen]] chart.<ref name="UK charts">{{cite web |title=Lovin' Spoonful |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/12420/lovin-spoonful/ |publisher=[[Official Charts Company]] |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220816014342/https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/12420/lovin-spoonful/ |archive-date=16 August 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{multiref2|{{cite magazine|title=NME Top Thirty|date=May 13, 1966|page=5|magazine=[[New Musical Express]]|ref=none}}|{{cite magazine|title=Melody Maker Pop 50|magazine=[[Melody Maker]]|date=May 14, 1966|page=2|ref=none}}|{{cite magazine|title=Top 50|date=May 14, 1966|magazine=[[Disc and Music Echo]]|page=3|ref=none}}}}</ref>{{sfn|Hallberg|1993|p=271}}
{{clear}}

==== Marijuana bust ====
{{Main|The Lovin' Spoonful's drug bust}}
On May{{nbsp}}20, 1966, Boone and Yanovsky were arrested in San Francisco for possessing marijuana, then an illegal drug. Police discovered the marijuana after pulling the pair over and searching their vehicle.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=121–126}} Boone and Yanovsky spent the night in jail before being bailed out the following morning by the Spoonful's road manager, Rich Chiaro.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=127–128}} Cavallo and Charley Koppelman flew out to meet the band to begin managing the situation, and they hired [[Melvin Belli]] to be their attorney. Sebastian and Butler were not immediately informed of the nature of the bust, and the band's May 21 performance at the [[University of California, Berkeley]]'s [[Hearst Greek Theatre|Greek Theatre]] went forward as normal.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=129–131}}

{{quote box|quote= We were the first big rock band to get busted for weed. There was no playbook in effect. The record company, the management company – they didn't have an operating procedure for what you do, especially if one of your members has an immigration issue.<ref name="Unterberger interview" /> |source=– [[Steve Boone]], 2018 |width=25%|align=right|salign=right|style=padding:8px;}}

At a meeting with San Francisco police and the [[San Francisco District Attorney's Office|District Attorney]], Yanovsky was threatened with deportation back to his native Canada.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=130–131}} Belli expressed that Yanovsky and Boone were unlikely to win on the merits of their case and that their only way to avoid charges was to cooperate with authorities.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=131–132}} The two initially balked at the idea, but they relented to avoid Yanovsky being deported, something they expected would lead to a breakup of the band.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=132}} Yanovsky and Boone cooperated with authorities to name their drug source,{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|p=61}} directing an undercover operative to their source at local party.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=135–137}} In exchange, all charges were dropped, their arrest records were expunged, the two did not need to appear in court and there was no publicity related to their arrest.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=134}} Their drug source was in turn arrested and served a brief jail sentence.{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|p=61}}

After the drug case went to court in December{{nbsp}}1966, knowledge of Yanovsky and Boone's bust became more widespread.{{sfn|Savage|2015|p=518}} The [[Underground press#North America|underground press]] was especially critical of the band.{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|p=61}} By early{{nbsp}}1967, the Spoonful's shows on the West Coast were sometimes picketed by members of the [[Counterculture of the 1960s|'60s counterculture]]. Protesters carried signs which accused the band of being "[[Informant|finks]]" and traitors to the movement, and they encouraged fans to boycott the band and burn their records.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=178–180}} The public revelations of the drug bust added to tensions between Sebastian and Butler on the one hand, and Yanovsky and Boone on the other.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=173}} Boone later suggested that the boycott hurt the band's commercial performance,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=178–180, 187–189}} but the author Richie Unterberger suggests that the effects have likely been overestimated by other authors, since "most of the people who bought Spoonful records were average teenage Americans, not hippies".<ref name="AllMusic bio">{{cite web |last1=Unterberger |first1=Richie |author1-link=Richie Unterberger |title=The Lovin' Spoonful biography |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-lovin-spoonful-mn0000052900/biography |publisher=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=August 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230514131315/https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-lovin-spoonful-mn0000052900/biography |archive-date=May 14, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> In an article recounting the June{{nbsp}}1967 [[Monterey International Pop Festival]], the author Michael Lydon suggested that the Spoonful was unable to appear at the festival due to complications related to the drug bust.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lydon |first=Michael |title=''Monterey Pop'': The First Rock Festival |date=September 22, 2009 |website=[[The Criterion Collection]] |url=https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/231-monterey-pop-the-first-rock-festival}} Originally written in 1967 for ''Newsweek'' magazine, whose editors reduced it from 43 to 10 paragraphs. Printed in full in the 2003 book ''Flashbacks'' {{ISBN|978-0-415-96644-3}}.</ref>

==== "Summer in the City" ====

{{listen|type=music|filename="Summer in the City" by the Lovin' Spoonful 1966.mp3|title=The end of the first bridge of "Summer in the City" |description= The Lovin' Spoonful's only number one record, "[[Summer in the City (song)|Summer in the City]]" features a harder rock style than the band's previous output.<ref name="AllMusic SitC" />}}

After having recorded two albums in the second-half of 1965, the Spoonful was stretched for new material in March{{nbsp}}1966 when they began sessions for a new single.<ref name="Summer in the City UNCUT">{{cite magazine |last=Richards |first=Sam |editor1-last=Bonner |editor1-first=Michael |title=The Making of{{nbsp}}... Summer in the City by The Lovin' Spoonful |date=September 2021 |magazine=[[Uncut (magazine)|UNCUT]] |number=292 |pages=92–94 |url=https://archive.org/details/uncut-september-2021/page/92/}}</ref> While searching for inspiration, Sebastian recalled a song composed and informally recorded by his fourteen-year-old brother, Mark.<ref name="Summer in the City UNCUT" /><ref name=nytimes>{{cite news |last1=Besonen |first1=Julie |title=How 'Summer in the City' Became the Soundtrack for Every City Summer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/09/nyregion/summer-in-the-city-lovin-spoonful-soundtrack-for-city-summer.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601194710/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/09/nyregion/summer-in-the-city-lovin-spoonful-soundtrack-for-city-summer.html |archive-date=June 1, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> Sebastian reworked the lyrics and melody of his younger brother's composition into "[[Summer in the City (song)|Summer in the City]]", and he also incorporated contributions from Boone and the session musician [[Artie Schroeck]].{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=141}} Kama Sutra did not issue "Summer in the City" immediately but instead repurposed "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?" for release as a single.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=139, 141}}{{refn|group=nb|[[Quality Records]] released "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?" as a single in December{{nbsp}}1965 in select Canadian cities to test its potential performance in the American market.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Anon.|title=Chris Montez – Top Seller for Quality Records|date=May 23, 1966|magazine=[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]]|page=7}}</ref><ref name="Music Capitals">{{cite magazine|author=Anon.|title=Music Capitals of the World|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|date=January 15, 1966|page=28|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7SgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA28|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> It initially reached number ten in Canada in February{{nbsp}}1966,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=9265&|title=RPM 100 (February 21, 1966) |date=July 17, 2013 |publisher=[[Library and Archives Canada]]|access-date=April 13, 2023}}</ref> reaching number six that July after it was issued across the country.<ref name=Canada>{{cite web|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=2819&|title=RPM 100 (July 11, 1966) |date=July 17, 2013 |publisher=[[Library and Archives Canada]]|access-date=April 17, 2023}}</ref>}} Issued in April,{{sfn|Savage|2015|p=556}} "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?" reached number two on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in June,<ref name="Billboard chart history" /> making it the band's fourth top ten single in America and their second top two record in a row.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=139}}{{refn|group=nb|[[Quality Records]] issued "Jug Band Music" as a single exclusively in Canada,<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Anon.|title=International News Reports: Canada|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|date=May 21, 1966|page=41|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8SgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA41|via=[[Google Books]]|quote="After breaking the Lovin' Spoonful's 'Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind' in Canada prior to its release in the U.S.{{nbsp}}... Quality Records has another Canadian exclusive from Kama Sutra with the Lovin' Spoonful's 'Jug Band Music,'{{nbsp}}..."}}</ref> where it reached number two in June{{nbsp}}1966.<ref name="RPM Canada">{{cite web|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=2920&|title=RPM 100 (June 27, 1966) |date=July 17, 2013 |publisher=[[Library and Archives Canada]]|access-date=April 14, 2023}}</ref> "Bald Headed Lena" reached number one on Sweden's ''[[Tio i Topp]]'' chart that July.{{sfn|Hallberg|Henningsson|2012|p=450}}}} That same month, ''Do You Believe in Magic'' re-entered the Top LPs chart,<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Billboard ''Top LP's''|date=June 11, 1966|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|page=42}}</ref> peaking in August at number 32 after spending 16 more weeks on the chart.<ref name="Billboard chart history" />

In June{{nbsp}}1966, while in Los{{nbsp}}Angeles to play at the [[Golden Bear (nightclub)|Golden Bear]] nightclub and support the Beach Boys at the [[Hollywood Bowl]],<ref>{{cite news |title=The Golden Bear |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times/138878053/ |work=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |date=June 19, 1966 |page=19 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |quote=Two nites {{sic}} only June 22 & 23: The Lovin' Spoonful{{nbsp}}... [at] the Golden Bear{{nbsp}}...}}</ref>{{sfn|Hjort|2008|pp=99–100}} the Spoonful held a party to debut their newest single.<ref name="Taylor 6/18/66">{{cite magazine|last=Taylor|first=Derek|author-link=Derek Taylor|title=Hollywood Calling!: Look out for new Spoonful sound|magazine=[[Disc and Music Echo]]|date=June 18, 1966|page=14}}</ref> "Summer in the City" was released on July{{nbsp}}4.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=141}}{{sfn|Barone|2022|p=249}} One month later,{{sfn|Savage|2015|p=283}} it overtook [[the Troggs]]' "[[Wild Thing (The Troggs song)|Wild Thing]]"{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=144}} and became the band's first and only number one single in the U.S.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=75}} It held the position for three weeks, becoming what the author [[Jon Savage]] terms the "American song of the summer".{{sfn|Savage|2015|p=283}} The song also topped ''Cash Box'' and ''[[Record World]]''{{'s}} charts,<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Cash Box Top 100 – Week of August 20, 1966|magazine=[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cash Box]]|date=August 20, 1966|page=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=Record World 100 Top Pops – Week of August 20, 1966|magazine=[[Record World]]|date=August 20, 1966|page=19}}</ref> and it was number one in Canada.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=2825&|title=RPM 100 (August 22, 1966) |work=[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]]|date=July 17, 2013 |via=[[Library and Archives Canada]]|access-date=September 23, 2023}}</ref> The musicologist [[Ian MacDonald]] characterizes the song as a "cutting-edge pop [record]" and one of many "futuristic singles" to appear in 1966, representative of a time period when recorded songs began to employ sounds and effects difficult or impossible to recreate during a live performance; when the Spoonful played the song in concert, Sebastian was unable to both sing and play the piano part simultaneously, and Butler instead performed lead vocal duties.{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|pp=202n3, 214n1}} After "Daydream" reached number two in the U.K.,<ref name="UK charts" /> expectations were similarly high for "Summer in the City", but it failed to enter the top five of the British charts;{{sfn|Williams|2002|p=69}} it instead peaked at number eight on the [[UK Singles Chart|''Record Retailer'' chart]].<ref name="UK charts" /> Coincident with the single's release, the band reiterated their plans for a second tour of Britain and continental Europe, to be held over two weeks in September and October with the English singer [[Dusty Springfield]].<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Anon.|title=Lovin' Spoonful sign for October tour|date=July 2, 1966|magazine=[[Melody Maker]]|page=5}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|author=Anon.|title=Dusty, Spoon Tour|date=July 16, 1966|magazine=[[Melody Maker]]|page=6|quote=Dusty Springfield and the Lovin' Spoonful are to tour Britain for two weeks at the end of September [1966].{{nbsp}}... The tour will probably open at the Finsbury Park Empire on September 27 and will play major concert dates.}}</ref><ref name="Spoonful-Springfield tour">{{cite magazine|author=Anon.|title=International Section: Great Britain|date=September 24, 1966|magazine=[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cash Box]]|page=60|quote=[The] Spanish group Los Bravos [are] replacing the Spoonful on Dusty Springfield's autumn British tour{{nbsp}}...}}</ref> Only weeks before it began, the band withdrew from the tour.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Anon.|title='Shame about the Spoonful'|magazine=[[Disc (magazine)|Disc and Music Echo]]|date=October 8, 1966|page=8}}</ref><ref name="Spoonful-Springfield tour "/><ref>{{cite magazine|author=Anon.|title=Vaudevilles Replace Bravos|date=October 8, 1966|magazine=[[Record Mirror]]|page=4|quote=The New Vaudeville Band have replaced Los Bravos on the Dusty Springfield–Alan Price Set tour.{{nbsp}}... Before the tour began, the Lovin' Spoonful said they would not appear and Los Bravos were signed to take their place.}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|Paul Williams wrote that the Spoonful opted to delay their appearance after "Summer in the City" failed to enter the top five in the U.K.{{sfn|Williams|2002|p=69}} Asked for comment by ''[[Disc (magazine)|Disc and Music Echo]]'' magazine, the talent manager [[Tito Burns]] said that negotiations for the Spoonful's appearance broke down over "a terrible misunderstanding".<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Anon.|title=Big US Groups to Tour Here: Spoonful due in May|magazine=[[Disc (magazine)|Disc and Music Echo]]|date=November 19, 1966|page=5}}</ref> Dan Moriarty, the band's publicist,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=79, 115}} told ''Disc'' that the band had to delay the tour after sessions for their album ''Hums'' were delayed.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Anon.|title=Lovin' Spoonful – why we didn't come to Britain |magazine=[[Disc (magazine)|Disc and Music Echo]]|date=September 17, 1966|page=7}}</ref>}} As they announced their withdrawal, the band announced plans to return to Britain in April{{nbsp}}1967 for a three-week tour.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Anon.|title=Spoonful Tour Here in April |magazine=[[Disc (magazine)|Disc and Music Echo]]|date=September 17, 1966|page=4}}</ref>

In July{{nbsp}}1966,{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|pp=265–266}} the Spoonful played to a crowd of 65,000 at that year's [[Newport Folk Festival]] in [[Rhode Island]].{{sfn|Lenhoff|Robertson|2019|p=126}} [[Electric Dylan controversy|Bob Dylan had generated controversy]] at the previous year's festival when he performed a set of electric rock,{{sfn|Lenhoff|Robertson|2019|p=126}}{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|p=266}} but at the 1966 festival, the Spoonful and several other electric bands appeared, including [[Howlin' Wolf]], [[Chuck Berry]] and [[the Blues Project]].{{sfn|Wald|2015|p=298}} The Spoonful was well received and received no pushback over their appearance.{{sfn|Lenhoff|Robertson|2019|p=126}}{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|p=266}} In an article recounting the festival for ''[[The New York Times]]'', the critic [[Robert Shelton (critic)|Robert Shelton]] suggested that the band's warm reception "reflected the growing acceptance of folk-rock and other amalgamations of contemporary folk songs with electric instruments".{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|p=266}}<ref>{{cite news |last1=Shelton |first1=Robert |author1-link=Robert Shelton (critic) |title=A Fare-Thee-Well for Newport Sing: 6th Folk Festival Ends, But All Did Not Go Smoothly |url=https://nyti.ms/47suqlM |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 25, 1966 |page=L23 |language=en |via=[[TimesMachine]]}}</ref>

==== ''Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful'' ====

Sessions for the Spoonful's third studio album, later released as ''[[Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful]]'',{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=144}} were originally booked for [[Columbia Records#Studio A|Columbia Records' 7th Avenue studio]] in New York from August 16 to September 23, 1966.{{sfn|Williams|2002|p=69}} Recording was delayed after Columbia booked its own artists at the studio.{{sfn|Williams|2002|p=69}} When time allowed them a break from touring, the Spoonful recorded the album across several sessions in New York City at Bell Sound and the 7th Avenue studio, with work also done in Los Angeles.{{sfn|Diken|2003}} For the first time on one of the band's albums, it consisted of only original material.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=145}} [[Henry Diltz]], a member of the Modern Folk Quartet, contributed clarinet to "Bes' Friends" and took the pictures which adorned the LP's sleeve.{{sfn|Diken|2003}} The album was released in November{{nbsp}}1966,{{sfn|Zimmerman|Zimmerman|2004|p=113}} and it reached number 14 on the ''Billboard'' LPs chart.<ref name="Billboard chart history" /> Preorders for the album were diminished after a disappointing reaction accompanied the August release of the ''What's Up, Tiger Lily?'' soundtrack album.<ref>{{harvnb|Barone|2022|p=251}}: (diminished preorders, disappointing reaction); {{harvnb|Anon.|1990}}: (August{{nbsp}}1966).</ref>

[[File:"Nashville Cats" Cash Box advertisement.jpg|thumb|A trade ad for "[[Nashville Cats]]", the Lovin' Spoonful's seventh and final single to reach the US Top Ten]]

In addition to the already released "Summer in the City", the sessions for ''Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful'' produced the song "[[Rain on the Roof (song)|Rain on the Roof]]".{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=147–148}} The possibility of releasing the song as a single generated disagreement among the members of the Spoonful.{{sfn|Diken|2003}}{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=148–149}} "Summer in the City" featured a harder sound than their previous output,{{sfn|Savage|2015|p=284}}<ref name="AllMusic SitC">{{cite web |last1=Unterberger |first1=Richie |author1-link=Richie Unterberger |title=Summer in the City – The Lovin' Spoonful |url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/summer-in-the-city-mt0013293678 |publisher=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=February 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811073122/https://www.allmusic.com/song/summer-in-the-city-mt0013293678 |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |language=en |url-status=live}}</ref> and it had attracted new fans to the group after it reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in August.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=149}}<ref name="Billboard chart history"/> Both Boone and Butler worried that returning to a softer sound with "Rain on the Roof" would potentially alienate the band's new fans,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=149}}<ref name="Summer in the City UNCUT" /> but Sebastian countered that the band ought to avoid releasing consecutive singles which sounded too similar, also contending that "Rain on the Roof" would add another dimension to their sound.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=149}} Issued as a single in October,{{sfn|Savage|2015|p=561}}{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=252}} "Rain on the Roof" remained on the Hot 100 for ten weeks and peaked at number ten, making it the Spoonful's sixth consecutive single to reach the top ten.<ref name="Billboard chart history"/> The song also continued the band's success in Europe, charting in several European countries.{{sfn|Diken|2003}}

Another song from ''Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful'', the country-tinged "[[Nashville Cats]]", was issued as a single in December.{{sfn|Anon.|1990}} It reached number eight on the Hot 100, but despite the band's hopes, it failed to crossover into the country market.{{sfn|Diken|2003}} The single's B-side, "Full Measure", a Boone-Sebastian collaboration, received strong airplay in California and the [[Southwestern United States]], helping it reach number 87 on the Hot 100 chart.{{sfn|Diken|2003}}{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=147–148}} In ''[[KRLA Beat]]'', the local publication of the [[Southern Californian]] radio station [[KWVE (AM)|KRLA]], "Full Measure" reached as high as number seven on the station's chart.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Anon.|title=What a Crazy World|date=December 31, 1966|magazine=[[KRLA Beat]]|page=8|url=http://krlabeat.sakionline.net/issue/31dec66.pdf}}</ref>

In 1966, the Spoonful had five Top Ten singles, making it the band's most successful year to date.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|pp=185, 212}} The end-of-year issue for ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine ranked the Spoonful as the third best performing singles artist of the year, after the Beatles and [[the Rolling Stones]].{{sfn|Savage|2015|pp=544–545}}<ref name="1966 Top Artists">{{cite magazine |title=Top Singles Artists of 1966 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |date=December 24, 1966 |pages=14, 18–19 |ref=none}}</ref> In the magazine's list of the [[Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1966|top records of the year]], it placed "Summer in the City", "Daydream" and "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind" at numbers 35, 38 and 48, respectively.<ref name="1966 Top Records">{{cite magazine |title=Top Records of 1966 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |date=December 24, 1966 |page=34 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hSIEAAAAMBAJ |via=[[Google Books]] |ref=none}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|The only other groups to have at least three singles on the list were the Beach Boys (three), [[Paul Revere & the Raiders]] (three) and the Beatles (four).<ref name="1966 Top Records" />}} Besides achieving commercial success, the Spoonful in 1966 were among the American bands regarded most highly by critics;<ref name="O'Grady" /> a piece in ''[[Time (magazine)|TIME]]'' magazine that October placed the band alongside the Mamas and the Papas and [[Simon & Garfunkel]] as one of the three best new groups in the country, and Ralph J. Gleason told ''[[Look (American magazine)|Look]]'' magazine that the Spoonful were "the best group in the U.S.", adding he was "glad to be alive at a time when I can hear them".<ref>{{cite news |author1=Anon. |title=Lovin' Spoonful Praised |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-duluth-news-tribune-lovin-spoonful/165288658/ |work=[[The Duluth News Tribune|Duluth News Tribune: Cosmopolitan]] |date=November 20, 1966 |page=10 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|author=Anon.|title=Music: Rock 'n' Roll: The New Troubadours|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|TIME]]|date=October 28, 1966|pages=92, 94|url=https://archive.org/details/time-1966-11-18/Time%201966-10-28/page/92/|via=the [[Internet Archive]]|quote=The best of the new groups{{nbsp}}...}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last=Rollin|first=Betty|title=The Lovin' Spoonful: Rock 'n' Roll Sweetener|magazine=[[Look (American magazine)|Look]]|date=November 1, 1966|pages=77–81|quote=Some older, wiser heads are just as caught up – among them, jazz critic Ralph Gleason, who says, 'They're the best group in the U.S. I'm glad to be alive at a time when I can hear them.'}}</ref>

=== 1967–1968: Diminished success ===
==== ''You're a Big Boy Now'' soundtrack; Yanovsky and Jacobsen fired ====

In mid-October{{nbsp}}1966, the Spoonful recorded [[You're a Big Boy Now (album)|a soundtrack album]] for the 1966 film ''[[You're a Big Boy Now]]''. The film served as the master's thesis of the director [[Francis Ford Coppola]], who was then attending [[UCLA Film School]].{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=163–164}} After meeting with Coppola in September to discuss the project,{{sfn|Myers|2017|p=75}} Sebastian wrote the songs on his own before presenting them to the musician [[Artie Schroeck]], who arranged the compositions for an orchestra.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=163–164}} After Butler struggled with the drum part, the session musician [[Bill LaVorgna]] played in his place.{{sfn|Myers|2017|p=77}} [[David "Fathead" Newman]] played saxophone during the sessions and [[Clark Terry]] played [[flügelhorn]].{{sfn|Myers|2017|p=77}}

{{quote box|quote= [Not working with the Spoonful anymore] was fine by me, because we had kind of run our course. We were falling apart.{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|p=61}} |source=– [[Erik Jacobsen]], 2003|width=25%|align=left|salign=right|style=padding:8px;}}

During the editing of ''You're a Big Boy Now'', Coppola used the Mamas & the Papas' 1966 single "[[Monday, Monday]]" as [[temp music]] for one sequence in the film, for which Sebastian wrote "[[Darling Be Home Soon]]".{{sfn|Myers|2017|pp=75–76}} Sebastian's composition flips a genre convention by describing a male subject waiting for a female to return home.{{sfn|Myers|2017|p=76}}{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=164}} The Spoonful recorded the song in one night, but Sebastian's original vocal track was subsequently wiped. Sebastian later attributed the loss to an accident on the part of an engineer, saying that what is heard on the final recording "is me, a half hour after learning that my original vocal track had been erased". He added: "You can even hear my voice quiver a little at the end. That was me thinking about the vocal we lost and wanting to kill someone."{{sfn|Myers|2017|p=77}} Boone instead suggests that Jacobsen deliberately erased Sebastian's vocal after finding it substandard; Boone recalled that the event marked the angriest he had ever seen Sebastian. Jacobsen was soon fired from working with the band, and Boone suggests that the vocal-erasure "probably played a major role" in Jacobsen's departure.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=163–164}}

The lack of collaboration on ''You're a Big Boy Now'' led to consternation from Sebastian's bandmates, especially Yanovsky, whose playing style often relied on improvisation.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=163–164}} Yanovsky especially disliked the soundtrack album's lead single, "Darling Be Home Soon", which was issued in early{{nbsp}}1967.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=170}}{{sfn|Myers|2017|p=74}} When the Spoonful appeared on ''[[The Ed Sullivan Show]]'' in January to promote the release, Yanovsky [[Overacting|mugged]] for the camera, miming the lyrics and bouncing up-and-down with a rubber-toad figurine attached to his guitar.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=170}}{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|p=61}} The appearance led to laughter from the audience and anger from Sebastian.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=170}} "Darling Be Home Soon" peaked at number fifteen,{{sfn|Myers|2017|p=74}}{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=170}} a major disappointment compared to the band's earlier releases and their first single which failed to reach the Top Ten.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=170}} Also disappointing was the release of the ''You're a Big Boy Now'' soundtrack, which peaked at number 160 on the ''Billboard'' Top LPs chart in May{{nbsp}}1967.<ref name="Billboard chart history" />{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=173}} The album's sales were hampered by the release in March of the band's first greatest hits compilation, ''[[The Best of The Lovin' Spoonful]]'',{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=173}} which reached number three and became the band's best selling album.<ref name="Billboard chart history" />{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=173}}

{{quote box|quote= I wanted us to go back [to the clubs] and try to recapture that sort of energy{{nbsp}}... I had told John [Sebastian] that I thought his songwriting [had] really gone down the toilet and I thought that{{nbsp}}... it was time for him to get back into the "risk element".<ref name="Rock Family Trees" /> |source=– [[Zal Yanovsky]], 1998|width=25%|align=right|salign=right|style=padding:8px;}}

From late{{nbsp}}1966 into early{{nbsp}}1967, Sebastian's bandmates felt he was exerting excessive control over the band's direction.{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|p=61}}{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=165}} Boone recalled that the relationship between Sebastian and Yanovsky became especially stilted, since Yanovsky often rebelled rather than articulate his concerns directly.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=165–166}} Further agitating the situation, when Koppelman and Rubin renegotiated the band's distribution deal between Kama Sutra and MGM in late{{nbsp}}1966, though the band received an increase in pay, the label added a "key-man clause" which specified that the band would only exist if Sebastian was a member.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=167–168}}{{refn|group=nb|A July{{nbsp}}1967 article in ''[[The Wichita Beacon]]'' reported that the Spoonful's new contract with Kama Sutra ran until 1975 and had the band's compensation at seven figures.<ref>{{cite newspaper|author=H.I.M. KLEO Good Guy|title=Peach Blight|newspaper=[[The Wichita Beacon]]|date=July 12, 1967|page=8B|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-wichita-beacon-peach-blight-by-him/161064074/|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>}}

In May{{nbsp}}1967, Sebastian convened a meeting with Butler and Boone to discuss the band's future. Sebastian expressed frustration with Yanovsky's increasingly erratic public behavior and his derogatory treatment of his bandmates. Sebastian concluded that either Yanovsky should be fired, or else he was prepared to leave the band.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=174–175}} Butler, who had never gotten along with Yanovsky{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|p=124}} and was increasingly the target of Yanovsky's insults, agreed with Sebastian.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=175}} In a subsequent group meeting at Sebastian's apartment, the band informed Yanovsky that he had been fired.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=175–176}} He agreed to continue performing the rest of the group's scheduled dates,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=175–176}} but rumors circulated throughout June that the band was breaking up.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Anon.|title=Zal quits Spoonful – new boy in|magazine=[[Disc and Music Echo]]|date=July 1, 1967|page=4}}</ref> He last performed with the Spoonful on {{nowrap|June 24, 1967}}, at the [[Forest Hills Music Festival]] in [[Queens]], New York.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=176}}{{sfn|Rees|Crampton|1991|p=317}}<ref name="FHMF">{{cite news |last1=Wilson |first1=John S. |author1-link=John S. Wilson (music critic) |title=Lovin' Spoonful at Forest Hills: Opening Festival Concert Is Last for Guitarist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/06/26/archives/lovin-spoonful-at-forest-hills-opening-festival-concert-is-last-for.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 26, 1967 |page=36 |url-access=subscription |via=[[TimesMachine]]}}</ref>

==== Yester hired, ''Everything Playing'' ====

[[File:The Lovin Spoonful 1968.png|thumb|alt=Refer to caption|The Lovin' Spoonful with Yanovsky's replacement, [[Jerry Yester]] (left), {{circa|1967–68}}]]

The Spoonful hired Jerry Yester to replace Yanovsky on lead guitar duties. Following the May{{nbsp}}1967 meeting in which Yanovsky was fired, Sebastian suggested hiring Yester, and no other replacement was considered. Yester had been close to the band and Jacobsen for years, having contributed to the recording of "Do You Believe in Magic".{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=178}} Since mid-1966, when Yester's band the Modern Folk Quartet disbanded,<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Fisk|first=Thermon|title=Gene Clark: 'You Have to Hear It and See Yourself'|magazine=[[KRLA Beat]]|date=July 9, 1966|page=3|quote=[I]n the pop world recently{{nbsp}}... [s]everal groups have been affected by break-ups{{nbsp}}... among these{{nbsp}}... [are] the MFQ – who are now completely defunct as a group{{nbsp}}...}}</ref> he had been working as a session musician and producer in Los Angeles.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=178–179}}{{refn|group=nb|Yester contributed to the Monkees' 1967 album ''[[Headquarters (The Monkees album)|Headquarters]]'', and he produced [[the Association]]'s 1966 album ''[[Renaissance (The Association album)|Renaissance]]'' and [[Tim Buckley]]'s 1967 album ''[[Goodbye and Hello (Tim Buckley album)|Goodbye and Hello]]''.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=178–179}}}} In early June{{nbsp}}1967, he rehearsed with the Spoonful at Sebastian's home in [[East Quogue, New York]], and he debuted with the band on June{{nbsp}}30 at the [[Veterans Memorial Coliseum (Portland, Oregon)|Memorial Coliseum]] in [[Portland, Oregon]].{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=178–179}}

The Spoonful reconvened in August{{nbsp}}1967 to begin sessions for their next album, ''[[Everything Playing]]''.  In need of a producer after Jacobsen's firing, the band initially hoped to work with [[Roy Halee]], who had worked as [[Audio engineer|engineer]] on the band's earlier recordings, but his continued employment with [[Columbia Records]] prevented the collaboration. Koppelman-Rubin instead suggested [[Joe Wissert]], a Philadelphia-based producer who had recently worked with [[the Turtles]] on their 1967 singles, "[[Happy Together (song)|Happy Together]]" and "[[She'd Rather Be with Me]]". On Wissert's recommendation, the band moved from Columbia's recording studios to Mira Sound Studios, a new facility in New York City which made use of an AMPEX MM-1000, the industry's first [[Multitrack recording|16-track recorder]].{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=180–181}} The band struggled to manage the more complicated recording equipment, a situation worsened when Wissert stopped attending sessions, forcing Yester to produce in his place.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=186–187}}

Like other folk-rock acts, the Spoonful struggled to modify their musical approach as the new genre of [[psychedelic music|psychedelia]] expanded in popularity in 1967.{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|p=61}} The sessions for ''Everything Today'' yielded three singles, all three of which continued the band's downward commercial performance when they failed to place in the Top Ten.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=182, 189}} "Six O'Clock", which had been recorded at Columbia before Jacobsen and Yanovsky were fired, was released in April{{nbsp}}1967 and peaked at number 18.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=182}} For the album's next single, "She Is Still a Mystery", Yester arranged an orchestral accompaniment which included [[String section|strings]] and [[Woodwind section|woodwinds]] played by members of the [[New York Philharmonic]], along with [[Horn section|horns]] from [[Ray Charles]]' touring band.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=182}} Released in October,{{sfn|Anon.|1990}} the single reached number 27.<ref name="Billboard chart history" />{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=182}} ''Everything Playing'' was issued in December{{nbsp}}1967,{{sfn|Anon.|1990}} but received negative reviews from critics and peaked at number 118 in the U.S. after spending seven weeks on the album chart.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=187}} The album track "Younger Generation" was originally intended for release as a single – a trade ad in ''Billboard'' promised it would be "the most talked-about track of 1968" – but its release never followed.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=183}} Instead, "Money" was issued as a single in January{{nbsp}}1968,{{sfn|Hill|2003}} and it peaked at number 48.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=189}}

==== Sebastian departs, ''Revelation: Revolution '69'' ====

After the major commercial disappointments of ''Everything Playing'' and "Money" in early{{nbsp}}1968, Sebastian advised his bandmates that, following the Spoonful's next three months of scheduled tour dates, he planned to leave the group.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=189–190}} ''[[The Los Angeles Times]]'' reported in April that he intended to leave by June.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Johnson |first1=Pete |author1-link=Pete Johnson (rock critic) |title=Pop Duet Issues Delayed Record |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-pop-duet-issues-de/164173373/ |work=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |date=April 1, 1968 |page=IV-30 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> The band last publicly performed on June{{nbsp}}1, 1968, at [[Parker Field (Richmond)|Parker Field]] in [[Richmond, Virginia]].{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=192}}<ref name=Richmond />{{refn|group=nb|In his autobiography, Boone writes the Richmond show was June{{nbsp}}20,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=192}} but contemporary newspaper articles date it to June{{nbsp}}1.<ref>{{cite news |author1=Anon. |title=Tiny Tim, Spoonful Will Perform Here |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/richmond-times-dispatch-tiny-tim-spoonf/164193300/ |work=[[Richmond Times-Dispatch]] |date=May 29, 1968 |page=C-15 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref name=Richmond>{{cite news |last1=Venable |first1=Maggie K. |title=Lovin' Spoonful Soon to Disband: Group Plagued by Mishap |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/richmond-times-dispatch-group-plagued-by/164193987/ |work=[[Richmond Times-Dispatch]] |date=June 7, 1968 |page=B-8 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>}} The following day, Sebastian told reporters that the group had probably played their last show together,<ref name=Richmond /> and some newspapers reported in July that the band had broken up.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gardiner |first1=Sandy |title=Off the Record |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-ottawa-journal-off-the-record-by-san/164161561/ |work=[[The Ottawa Journal]] |date=July 12, 1968 |page=18 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Winters |first1=Scott |title=On{{nbsp}}... |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-wichita-beacon-on-by-scott-winte/164172478/ |work=[[The Wichita Beacon]] |date=July 31, 1968 |page=7D |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> By September, Sebastian announced his intention to pursue a solo career.<ref name=Johnson>{{cite news |last=Johnson |first=Pete |title=Spoonful of Talent Out on His Own |newspaper=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |date=September 30, 1968 |page=IV-18 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96867524/john-sebastian/ |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |ref=none}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |author=Anon. |title=Executive Turntable |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |date=September 7, 1968 |pages=6, 86}}</ref> Sebastian later summed up the band's career as "two glorious years and a tedious one".{{sfn|Nixon|2003|p=615}}

Following Sebastian's departure, the remaining members of the band had little contact with one another. Butler received permission from the label to record and produce an album under the Spoonful's name. Released in late{{nbsp}}1968, ''[[Revelation: Revolution '69]]'' featured neither Boone nor Yester, but is credited to "The Lovin' Spoonful featuring Joe Butler".{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=192, 195–196}} The album did not chart,<ref name="Billboard chart history" /> and it is generally omitted from lists of the Spoonful's discography.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=196}} The album's first single, the [[John Stewart (musician)|John Stewart]]-penned "Never Going Back", was recorded in Los Angeles at [[Sunset Sound Recorders]] before Sebastian departed the group, but he did not play on the recording. It was issued in July{{nbsp}}1968 and reached number 73.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=191}}

=== 1968–present: After the breakup ===
==== John Sebastian ====
The Spoonful were one of several bands to have broken up in 1968.{{sfn|Hjort|2008|p=197}} In an article that December, [[Penny Valentine]] of ''[[Disc (magazine)|Disc and Music Echo]]'' counted the band's breakup and the formation of the folk-rock [[supergroup (music)|supergroup]] [[Crosby, Stills & Nash]] as reflecting a consolidation in the industry, "[tying] up all the loose strings of musical talent in the pop world".{{sfn|Hjort|2008|p=197}} Sebastian was offered a position in Crosby, Stills & Nash, but he declined,{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|pp=206–207}}{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=207}} expressing his desire in a contemporary interview to focus on his solo career rather than joining a new group.{{sfn|Hjort|2008|p=197}}

Following the Spoonful's dissolution, Sebastian was the only former member whose music career initially appeared promising.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=196, 255}} Splitting time between New York City and Los Angeles, his first major project after leaving the band was composing the lyrics and music for the [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] show ''[[Jimmy Shine]]'',{{sfn|Shea|2023|p=343}} which ran from December{{nbsp}}1968 to April{{nbsp}}1969.{{sfn|Pollock|2009|pp=94–95}} In late{{nbsp}}1968, he signed with [[Warner Records]] and he recorded a solo album, ''[[John B. Sebastian (album)|John B. Sebastian]]'', which included contributions from Crosby, Stills & Nash.{{sfn|Unterberger|2006a}} Due to a contract dispute, release of the album was delayed by over a year until January{{nbsp}}1970.{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|p=203}}{{sfn|Unterberger|2006a}}{{refn|group=nb|MGM claimed that they owned the rights to the album due to their contract with the Spoonful,{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|p=203}} and the label hoped to issue it under the band's name.{{sfn|Pollock|2009|p=94}} Both MGM and Warner issued copies of the LP with unique artwork.{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|p=203}}}} It reached number 20 on the ''Billboard'' Top LPs & Tape chart.{{sfn|Unterberger|2006a}}

[[File:2-JohnSebastianErikJacobsenZalYanovsky-Feb1974 4x6 300dpi.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Sebastian, Jacobsen and Yanovsky in 1974]]

In the decade after he left the Spoonful, Sebastian was active in the concert and festival circuit, and he typically played around 100 shows a year.{{sfn|Helander|1999|p=237}} He made an impromptu appearance at the [[Woodstock]] festival in August{{nbsp}}1969, in which he played the Spoonful's songs "Darling Be Home Soon" and "Younger Generation".{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|p=278}} Despite his initial successes, Sebastian struggled as a songwriter for most of the 1970s.{{sfn|Unterberger|2003|p=290}}{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=255}} His 1974 album ''[[Tarzana Kid]]'' did not chart, but it was produced by Erik Jacobsen, marking the first time the two collaborated since their falling out years earlier.{{sfn|Rees|Crampton|1991|p=317}}{{sfn|Unterberger|2006c}} After his first five singles were commercial failures, Sebastian's label planned to drop him;{{sfn|Rees|Crampton|1991|p=317}} he achieved a number one hit in 1976 with "[[Welcome Back (John Sebastian song)|Welcome Back]]", the theme song for the TV show ''[[Welcome Back, Kotter]]'', but he was unable to translate it into continued success.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=255}}

==== Zal Yanovsky ====

After leaving the Spoonful, Yanovsky signed as a solo act with [[Buddha Records]], and he continued to be managed by Cavallo.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Anon.|title=Zal Yanovsky|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|page=8|date=September 23, 1967|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XCgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA8|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> In September{{nbsp}}1967, Buddha issued his debut single, "As Long As You're Here",<ref>{{cite magazine|author=''Billboard'' Review Panel|title=Spotlight Singles|date=September 23, 1967|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|page=18|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XCgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA18|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|author=Anon.|title=Zalman (Zally) Yanovsky advertisement|date=September 30, 1967|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|page=1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WygEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA1|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> which reached number 101 on ''Billboard''{{'s}} [[Bubbling Under the Hot 100]] chart the following month.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Bubbling Under the Hot 100|date=October 28, 1967|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|page=41|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VCgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA41|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> In late{{nbsp}}1967, he began recording his first solo album, ''Alive and Well in Argentina'', which was released in April{{nbsp}}1968.{{sfn|Childs|March|1999|p=222}} The album received little critical or commercial attention,<ref name="Canadian Encyclopedia">{{cite web |last1=McPherson |first1=David |title=Zal Yanovsky |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/zal-yanovsky |website=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |access-date=August 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230802183104/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/zal-yanovsky |archive-date=August 2, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> but it spawned a partnership between Yanovsky and his replacement in the Spoonful, Jerry Yester, who produced the album.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=196}}{{sfn|Childs|March|1999|p=222}} The two formed "Hair Shirt Productions", which produced recordings in Los Angeles for [[Pat Boone]], [[Tim Buckley]] and the Fifth Avenue Band.{{sfn|Childs|March|1999|p=222}}

Yanovsky played in [[Kris Kristofferson]]'s band on a 1970 European tour,<ref name="Canadian Encyclopedia" /> including a performance at [[Isle of Wight Festival 1970|that year's Isle of Wight Festival]].{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=219}} Sebastian was performing at the festival as a solo act, and Yanovsky joined him on stage during the former's set for several songs.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=219}} Yanovsky subsequently exited the music business and moved back to Canada, opening the restaurant [[Chez Piggy]] in 1979 with his wife in [[Kingston, Ontario]].<ref name="Canadian Encyclopedia" />

==== Steve Boone, Joe Butler and reunions ====

In 1969, Boone attempted to record a solo album, but the project dissolved. That same year, he produced an album for the Virginia-based folk group the Oxpetals, after which he left the music business.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=196–205}} Butler pivoted to Broadway acting,{{sfn|Hoffmann|2016|p=270}} and he performed in the rock musical ''[[Hair (musical)|Hair]]''.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=219}} He also worked as a sound editor in Hollywood,{{sfn|Hoffmann|2016|p=270}} but by later in the 1970s he was no longer active in music and instead drove a taxi cab.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=256}}

Sebastian resisted subsequent efforts to reform the Spoonful,{{sfn|Nixon|2003|p=615}} and the original members of the band only reunited twice.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=255–257, 281}} In late{{nbsp}}1979, at the invitation of the musician [[Paul Simon]], the band appeared in his 1980 film ''[[One-Trick Pony (film)|One-Trick Pony]]'' in a concert sequence which featured several 1960s acts.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=255–257}} The band did not see each other again until March{{nbsp}}2000, when the four original members were inducted into the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]] in Cleveland.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=281}} Yanovsky died of a heart attack two years later.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Keepnews |first1=Peter |title=Zal Yanovsky, 57, Guitarist With Lovin' Spoonful in 60's |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/17/arts/zal-yanovsky-57-guitarist-with-lovin-spoonful-in-60-s.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=December 17, 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230528061858/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/17/arts/zal-yanovsky-57-guitarist-with-lovin-spoonful-in-60-s.html |archive-date=May 28, 2023 |language=en |url-status=live}}</ref>

Butler, Boone and Yester began touring under the name the Spoonful in 1991,{{sfn|Helander|1999|p=237}} a venture opposed by both Sebastian and Yanovsky.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=288–291}} Augmented by a group of touring musicians,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=288–289, 293}} the group released a live album, ''[[Live at the Hotel Seville]]'', in 1999.<ref name="AllMusic bio" /> Sebastian has since reunited with Boone and Butler once, joining them onstage in 2020 during a benefit concert.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Kreps |first1=Daniel |title=See Lovin' Spoonful Members Reunite Onstage for First Time in 20 Years |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/lovin-spoonful-reunite-benefit-concert-960233/ |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607161030/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/lovin-spoonful-reunite-benefit-concert-960233/ |archive-date=June 7, 2023 |date=March 1, 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref>