Today’s classic song of the day comes to us courtesy of the Lovin’ Spoonful. The song is “Daydream” and, when it was released in February of 1966, it went all the way to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Cash Box Top 100.
“Daydream” was written by the Spoonful’s front man and lead vocalist, the talented Mr. John Sebastian. He wrote it in November of 1965 while the Spoonful were in the middle of a long and grueling tour of the American South. (Also on that tour: the Supremes.) Sebastian was worn out and missing his girlfriend, and thought that writing a song like “Daydream” might buoy his spirits. He said he wrote it in about twenty minutes on the band’s bus on November 27 while driving to a concert in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Sebastian said that he initially sought to emulate Supremes’ tunes like “Baby Love” and “Where Did Our Love Go,” but I really don’t hear those influences. The group recorded the song in mid-December of 1965 at Bell Sound Studios in New York. “Daydream” ended up sounding a little like the jug band music that Sebastian favored, propelled by multi-tracked guitars played by himself and bandmate Zal Yanovsky. Steve Boone added a little honky-tonk piano and Joe Butler joined in on spoons. (Yes, spoons.) Sebastian also played harmonica and whistled a bit.
And here’s today’s daily bonus video of the day, John Sebastian and the Lovin’ Spoonful performing “Daydream” live on the March 19, 1967 episode of The Ed Sullivan Show. How can anybody not like this one?
