Editing The Lovin' Spoonful (section)

==== 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
 | align = right
 | direction = vertical
 | width1 = 250
 | header = 
 | image1 = Paolo Monti - Serie fotografica (New York, 1965) - BEIC 6361488.jpg
 | alt1 = 
 | caption1 = 
 | width2 = 250
 | image2 = Sights and People of NYC (2482153930).jpg
 | alt2 = 
 | caption2  = 
 | 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]].
}}

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}}}}}}