“Everything That Touches You” (The Association)

Today’s classic song of the day is a vocal treat. The song is “Everything That Touches You” and it’s performed by the group known as the Association. The single was released in January of 1968, just after the Summer of Love, and the song peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100, #11 on the Cash Box Top 100, and #22 on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart.

“Everything That Touches You” was written by Association associate Terry Kirkland. He also wrote the group’s biggest hit, “Cherish” (#1 in 1966) along with the Vietnam War protest song, “Requiem for the Masses.” The single was produced by Bones Howe with backing instrumental tracks by members of the Wrecking Crew, including Mike Deasy on guitar, Larry Knechtel on keyboards, Joe Osborn on bass, and the ubiquitous Hal Blaine on drums.

This track is a marvel of vocal engineering, of which the Association were prime architects. The song starts out in the verse with vocalists Terry Kirkland and Jim Lester singing in unison. The melody is rather static while the chords shift beneath them:

In my most secure moments I still can’t believe
I’m spending those moments with you
And the ground I am walking, the air that I breathe
Are shared at those moments with you

There it moves to the chorus with full group vocal harmonies:

You love for real
You show the feel
Of everything that touches you

Those harmonies as they hold the word “touches” are just killer.

But the real treat comes about two thirds of the way through the song, when the boys start in with a chiming round of “Love, love, love,” repeating over and over in glorious six-part harmony. This is the heart and soul of the song and something that only a group like the Association could pull off. It’s magical.

Terry Kirkland left the Association in 1972 after the hits had more or less dried up; Jim Yester, a year later. The Association as a whole carried on for a few years but eventually disassociated in 1978. While there have been a few reunions since, and some stints on various oldies tours, the core association is long gone.

After he left the Association, Terry Kirkland also left the music business, working as an addiction counselor in California. He passed away just last year on September 23, 2023, age 83.

Post-Association, Jerry Yester found work as a producer for artists like the Turtles, Tom Waits, and Pat Boone. In 2017, he was arrested on charges of child pornography, convicted, and served two years in prison. He’s out of prison today, aged 81.

And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, the Association lip syncing “Everything That Touches You” on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on January 14, 1968. That’s Jerry Yester with the turtleneck and porn ‘stache on the left and Terry Kirkland with the mutton chops and Civil War-era coat on the right. They may look dorky now, but they were quite hip and groovy back then—and they sounded terrific.