Editing The Lovin' Spoonful (section)

==== "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>
{{clear}}