The Lovin’ Spoonful bring us today’s classic song of the day, “You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice.” Released as a single in November of 1965, this nice little slice of folk-rock peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #11 on the Cash Box Top 100.
The Spoonful’s bassist, Steve Boone, wrote this one along with the group’s regular songwriter and lead singer, John Sebastian. Boone says he came up with the title and chorus after a date with photographer and socialite Nurit Wilde, who he apparently considered way out of his league and was grateful she treated him as kindly as she did. Boone took what he had to John Sebastian to help him finish the tune, which they supposedly did in about a half-hour between shows in San Francisco in August of 1965.
The Lovin’ Spoonful recorded “You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice” at New York City’s Bell Sound Studio in November of 1965. Unfortunately, the recording was too late to include on their debut album, Do You Believe in Magic. so their record label, Kama Sutra Records, released it as a non-album single. (They also included it on their second album, Daydream.)
It’s a great little tune, a good representation of the the kind of folk-rock-pop music that the Lovin’ Spoonful was all about. So here’s today’s daily bonus video of the day, the Lovin’ Spoonful performing “Do You Believe in Magic?” and “You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice” (complete with a funny false start) on the Big T.N.T. Show in late November of 1965. The show was actually several concerts over a two-day period, produced by the legendary Phil Spector, and turned into a concert film of the same name. Musicians on the bill included Petula Clark, Joan Baez, the Ronettes, the Byrds, Donovan, Ray Charles, Bo Diddley, Roger Miller, Ike & Tina Turner, and the Lovin’ Spoonful. David McCallum, then hugely popular from his role in The Man from U.N.C.L.E., was the host.
