"It Could Be We're In Love" by The Cryan' Shames topped
the charts here in Chicago for four straight weeks during The Summer Of Love.
In doing so, it ranked as the 4th Biggest Hit in Chicagoland for The Summer of
1967 ...
(You can hear Phil Nee of WRCO and I count down The Top 50 Chicagoland Summer Hits here ...
I couldn't help but wonder, looking back fifty years, what it was like for the band at the time. Certainly it catapulted them to the top of the local scene ... the gigs must have gotten better ... the crowds must have gotten bigger ... the venues most likely would have improved ... and the opportunity to tour with bigger names should have also followed suit. (Incredibly, despite its amazing run on the Chicagoland charts, "It Could Be We're In Love" only reached #85 in Billboard Magazine ... which doesn't make ANY sense at all when you consider that it climbed as high as #52 in Record World ... a spread of over 30 points ... and #70 in Cash Box.)
Over the years we've heard stories from readers across the country who used to listen to WLS on a clear night, hear this song, and run out to their local record store to buy it, only to find that they weren't stocking it because it wasn't a hit on their OWN local chart. There is no telling how much higher this record might have climbed had Columbia Records gotten behind it and pushed. (It's been said by many that Columbia just didn't really know what to do with a rock act ... although they continued to sign artists like Paul Revere and the Raiders and The Buckinghams and The Byrds to their label.) I know that every time we have ever featured this song over the past eighteen years of doing Forgotten Hits, it has won over new fans from across the country who missed hearing it the first time around. I've heard from many who compared it to the very best music that Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys were putting out at the time. (Columbia must have believe in the record as they even released it with a picture sleeve!)
Anyway, now that three of the original members of The Cryan' Shames are back together again, fifty years later, performing in a series of shows as part of the Cornerstones Of Rock show that first launched as a PBS Television Special, I asked them to share some of their recollections with our readers ... and share they did.
First up ... JAMES FAIRS - Guitarist and co-composer of
"It Could Be We're In Love" ...
It never occurred to me that this
might be the place to submit my recollections, Kent.
The song seemed to write itself ...
The writing started on a trip I took, alone,
to Florida. I knew we needed a Summer hit, and Summer seemed a long way off in
Chicago.
I had a 2nd floor hotel room on the beach and
it was frigid in Chicago. The contrast was stunning. I’d just purchased a
Yashika J-7 camera, and I zoomed in on the beach from the
balcony.
The beach scenes were typical, even as I
walked them. On the last night of my trip, I decided to walk down to the beach
to see what it was like at night, and the scene was quite different. No station
wagons packed with young children ... in fact, the parking lots had large open
spaces. It was quiet, the moon was full, it was cooler ... and lovers strolled
hand in hand, stopping from time to time to make out.
When I got back to the room, I strummed the
chords for a verse, and wrote one line: “Didn’t it seem right, to walk along the
sand last night.”
When I got back to Chicago, it was bitter cold
with snow everywhere. There were houses with Christmas and Hanukkah lights up
and, sitting at my family's kitchen table, I started writing a ‘Virtual
Christmas Carol’ (“A Carol For Lorelei”) ...
The next
day I got out my notes for "Could Be” ... and it just happened.
I’d
sketched out most of the lyrics from my 'night down on the beach’ notes. Most of
the remaining writing was melodic: how to find melodies that were in some way
unique over a familiar set of chords ... that just ‘felt right’.
I had clear
ideas as to how it should end up, all produced, mixed
...
But we were never taken seriously by CBS, and
this song would serve to prove this.
Imagine ANY Music Distributor
today with:
- a song that has been running number 1 for months
- on all radio stations through out a region of seven states
- signed to a major label, with distribution in all seven states
It doesn’t take much imagination.
But CBS was
busily banking on ‘Moby Grape’ to usher them into the (nearly dead) San
Francisco scene. Every band from this era has a story like this. Heck, even Moby
Grape has that story!
CBS plastered a good, solid band with a
corporate veneer that doomed them from day one, and the label couldn’t figure
out that they (CBS) were the poison ... and so they plastered even more
on.
But I digress.
The CBS recording session was a good one. Fred
Catera (our amazing engineer) was at the top of his form.
Jim Golden (with whom I remained close
throughout his entire life), always gave me a free hand. He also had some really
useful ideas, although my most pervasive memory of him was looking up to see him
squinting out from the control room. I’m not sure to this day of what he was
looking at.
For just as sure as we
got a raw deal from CBS, whatever we DID get came from Jim Golden’s amazingly
encyclopedic knowledge of street-level record promotion. He introduced me,
personally, to rack jobbers (the guys who stocked the record shelves) and I used
to call them, urging them on. Jim had told me that the aisles were the best
shelf location, as everyone passed those areas. I would call the rack jobbers
personally to ask for the aisles, and they were stunned to hear from a band
member.
So the story has many players, but the most
important players were the band and the fans.
Tom Doody had (and has) an ideal, perfect
ballad voice. Jim Pilster was never totally happy, but in a way, that kept us
on our toes. Isaac Guillory was new to the band (and extremely versatile) … and
he was like a kid in a candy store. Lenny Kerley was a guitar player’s player,
and was stretching nicely from his country blues roots to accommodate this ‘wall
of sound’ band. What sticks out in my memory is this: Dennis Conroy was a
stunningly original drummer ... a natural. He unified our arrangements in ways
that never occurred to me.
Dennis went to Downers South ... I went to
North. I have no idea as to how it happens, but I just stumble upon the most
interesting people (!). Years later it would help me in landing the job of slide
guitarist in the Gregg Allman Band.
But (even better), in this case I landed
in Dennis' Garage, where he was playing the drums with his hands (!) ... cymbals
and all. Most importantly, it was musical ... but it was also unique,
innovative, and creative; characteristics that Dennis retains, I'm sure, to this
day.
We jammed, and it was terrific
fun.
One day he came by my place, and noted
that he had heard that a band called 'The Travelers" were regrouping, and
looking for some musicians. He had also found that they were playing in some
form that weekend, and we went together to see the band.
You could never tell: the sound systems
were awful, the stages were makeshift ... I figured that if they could keep the
songs together in that situation, it was worth a rehearsal.
What stunned them at the rehearsal, I
think, was the energy coming off of Dennis and I ... probably mostly Dennis. We
cracked through a round of "Roll Over Beethoven", and the evolution of the band
had begun. The players were: Bob Jones on Bass, Gerry Stone on rhythm guitar and
vocals, Tom Doody on lead vocals, Dennis on drums and me on lead
and miscellaneous vocals.
We played local gigs, had a ton of fun ...
but we all wanted more. More show, better harmonies, originals, recordings, fans
...
Soon enough, David Purple was on bass, and
Jimmy had joined.
It all happened fast.
The rest is
History.
So if you remember falling in love, or wishing for it, or just were in love with life as you heard this song on the radio, then you were part of this as we all played our part … and the fan reaction was everything. Thanks to all of you!
So if you remember falling in love, or wishing for it, or just were in love with life as you heard this song on the radio, then you were part of this as we all played our part … and the fan reaction was everything. Thanks to all of you!
James Fairs
