Page 25 - The NOISE November 2015

the turtles, Warren zevon, circa 1960’s, nyPoSt.CoM, WIKIPEDIa.oRG, SoUnDCloUD.CoM
outstanding debut for the young duo. Howe later referred to “Follow Me,” as the first psychedelic pop record. The single was released in February 1966 and made it up to an encouraging #65. Zevon, entranced with the possibility of success as a performer, found a great song for their next single: “If You Gotta Go, Go Now,” an obscure Bob Dylan composition virtually unknown in the States. In September 1965, Manfred Mann’s cover had hit #2 in England, but made not a dent in the US charts. Dylan himself would not release an official version for 25 years.
“If You Gotta Go, Go Now” was a sly and funny seduction song, well suited for lyme & cybelle’s boy/girl dynamic. Zevon threw himself into the recording process (under Bones Howe’s tutelage) and emerged with a little masterpiece. lyme & cybelle’s “If You Gotta Go” has a sexy swagger absent from any other recorded version. The record’s true brilliance is the transformation of Dylan’s one-sided harangue to a chick that won’t put out into a flirtatious dialogue between a man and a woman about to become intimate.
Warren Zevon’s first two singles were better than anything The Turtles had done, better than anything on White Whale’s roster, better than half of what was on the radio. The Turtles were not jealous, but ecstatic for Warren. “If You Gotta Go,” floored everyone who heard it. The record was a guaranteed smasheroo.
Only it wasn’t, and nobody knew why. White Whale had worked the disc to every radio station on the West Coast and larger markets nationwide. It began to catch fire in isolated areas, and then ... nothing. The record was dead in the water. Every DJ had seemingly stopped playing it at once. “If You Gotta Go, Go Now,” didn’t even sell enough copies to make the Billboard Top 100.
Despite his inexperience, Warren Zevon smelled something funny. He pressed his employers for an explanation, but if White Whale knew the story behind the single’s fate, they weren’t talking. “Just a tough break, kid. That’s the biz.” Distraught and frustrated,
by tony ballz
Zevon quit lyme & cybelle and went back to making demos, his compositions turning darker and more cynical. He was replaced, and the Warren-less lyme & cybelle made one more single for White Whale before breaking up for good in 1967.
Years after leaving the music industry for a Broadway career, Violet Santangelo discovered the reason for the premature death of lyme & cybelle’s second record. Apparently music business bigwig Bill Gavin, founder of the influential Gavin Report, had heard “If You Gotta Go, Go Now,” and declared it too salacious for radio play in the United States. And, just like that, it disappeared from the airwaves.
The Turtles were having troubles of their own. After three successful singles, the group had the leverage to demand their next A-side be self-composed. White Whale agreed, and in May 1966 released “Grim Reaper of Love,” (penned by Turtles Chuck Portz and Al Nichol) a droning, overtly psychedelic track with a shifting 5/8 to 6/8 meter. All around them, pop music was growing more complex, and The Turtles were ready to leave the world of happy little sunshine ditties. The record fizzled out at #81, the band’s first certified flop. “Grim Reaper of Love,” may have been too jarring a shift in tone for The Turtles’ fans. Besides, you couldn’t dance to it. But at least the group was trying to evolve.
After Warren Zevon’s world fell apart, The Turtles, in a show of solidarity, set about recording one of his songs for their next single. “Outside Chance,” was the toughest of Zevon’s demos, with a driving backbeat, great kiss-off “sorry, babe” lyrics, and a fat, bluesy 12-string riff for an anchor. The band worked their asses off in the studio and came up with their best record yet. Warren started to surface from his funk.
“Outside Chance,” is the Rosetta Stone, the one to spin for non-believers, 2:08 of rock & roll stomp tempered by sweet harmony, easilyonaparwith“DirtyWater,”“Pushin’Too Hard,” “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” or any other 1966 garage punk. And there’s a cowbell.
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