Your classic ’60s song that you’ve probably never heard of of the day is “Splendor in the Grass” by the great Jackie DeShannon. The track, released in 1966, was actually a B-side to the A-side single, “Come and Get Me,” which only went to #83 on the Billboard Hot 100. Despite that obscurity, “Splendor in the Grass” has endured, making it into Jackie’s various greatest hits albums and earning high marks from music critics and other musicians.
Jackie’s original recording of “Splendor in the Grass” is interesting in that it features the Byrds as her backup band. It has that definite Byrds folk-rock feel to it, and if you listen closely you can hear David Crosby on background vocals. Yeah, the Byrds. That’s pretty cool.
Ms. DeShannon wrote the song a few years previous after seeing the 1961 movie, Splendor in the Grass. That movie, directed by Elia Kazan, starred Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty as two young lovers and the song’s lyrics reflect that theme of young, first, innocent love:
The first time I was ever kissed
The very first person I did miss
The first time I said goodbye
The first time I felt I’d die
The first time I felt shame
The first time I was to blame
If I had one wish I’d ask
To relive splendor in the grass
A fairly successful songwriter by that point in time, Ms. DeShannon recorded a demo of the song to shop around, with the Byrds playing backup. That demo was heard by a girl group called the Boys, who recorded a cover replete with some beautiful Mamas and Papas-inspired harmonies. They released their version in April of 1965 but it, unfortunately, didn’t go anywhere. (“Splendor in the Grass” ended up being the first and only recording by the Boys—sisters Lisa and Nina Mazey and friend Paula Hollander.)
Jackie eventually released her demo of “Splendor in the Grass” as the B-side to the equally fine “Come and Get Me” a year later, in April of 1966. Interestingly, she re-recorded the tune a few years after that with a bit slicker arrangement for her 1968 album, Me About You. That version got released as the B-side of two other singles: “Didn’t Have to Do It,” which was cancelled before it was released, and a cover of the Band’s “The Weight,” which was released in 1968 and hit #55 on the Hot 100. (For what it’s worth, as cool as the original Byrds-backed version is, I still prefer this later recording, probably because it’s the one I’ve known longer.)
I’m a huge Jackie DeShannon fan; she’s a top-notch songwriter and a wonderful singer who should have seen more success than she did. That said, she had a couple of pretty big hits on her own: “What the World Needs Now is Love” (#7 in 1965) and “Put a Little Love in Your Heart” (#4 in 1969). Plus she wrote a lot of songs that were hits for other artists, including “Dum Dum” (for Brenda Lee in 1961), “Break-a-Way” (for Irma Thomas in 1964), “When You Walk Into the Room” (for the Searchers in 1964), and “Bette Davis Eyes” (for Kim Carnes in 1981). Her 1972 album, Jackie, released less than a year after Carole King’s Tapestry, should have ridden that same singer-songwriter wave; the songs are every bit as good as Ms. King’s and it has that same Laurel Canyon vibe. Why Tapestry (justifiably) became legendary while Jackie spun into obscurity will always puzzle me.
By the way, I wasn’t aware of the original Byrds-backed version of “Splendor in the Grass” until I stumbled across it in Steve Simels’ PowerPop blog. I first read Simels back in the 1970s when he was an iconoclastic reviewer for Stereo Review magazine; as I wrote in a previous post, Mr. Simels’ reviews turned me onto a lot of great music back in high school and college. It’s good to see him still providing his well-reasoned opinions today.
It’s also good to know that Jackie DeShannon is still alive and kicking at age 81. She released her last album of original songs, You Know Me, in 2000 and in 2011 released a new album with new performances of some of her biggest hits, titled When You Walk in the Room. She was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 2010 and is currently a featured correspondent for SiriusXM’s continuing Breakfast with the Beatles satellite radio show. What a life!
