Strawberry Alarm Clock

 

I have a soft spot for the Strawberry Alarm Clock. They were known as a psychedelic rock band formed in 1967 in California. They had 5 songs that charted but are best known for their 1967 hit single "Incense and Peppermints." The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the week ending November 25, 1967.

Though you will find them categorized as acid rock, psychedelic pop, and sunshine pop, their first album was decidedly POP. My 1967 friends considered them to be phony psychedelic.

A history of the band written by member George Bunnell stated that "The Strawberry Alarm Clock came about by parts of two bands, Thee Sixpence and Waterfyrd Traene, morphing into one."

“I know there’s been a lot of different stories about how we got our name, and I think I’ve heard them all,” said Bunnell explained in a 2012 interview. “The most popular one is, we were all sitting around, looking at Billboard, put a finger on a song, and picked ‘Strawberry Fields Forever," but that record wasn’t even released at the time we started calling ourselves the Strawberry Alarm Clock. Our record company kind of picked our name for us. They wanted to use ‘strawberry,’ because I guess it was just a sign of the times. Peace, love and strawberries! So, that was already picked out.”

The “alarm clock” part came later, he said. Members began to throw around names that would fit with “strawberry” until a fateful incident chose the name for them. “We were over at Mark Weitz’s house one day, and his alarm clock suddenly fell down and broke,” Bunnell said. “And we looked at that, and decided ‘alarm clock.’ So, we called up our record company, and told them we were going to use the name the Strawberry Alarm Clock.”

During the Strawberry Alarm Clock's short lifespan, it saw many lineup changes.

SAC also made two notable appearances in films. In the 1968 Jack Nicholson movie Psych-Out, they played several songs including "Incense and Peppermints", "Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow", and "The World's on Fire". "The Pretty Song from Psych-Out" was re-recorded by a San Fernando Valley garage band, the Storybook, for the film's soundtrack album, but the Strawberry Alarm Clock's version was heard in the film. 

In 1970, the band appeared in the Russ Meyer cult classic film Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. By this time the band's popularity had waned considerably, but the band continued on for some time, touring the South in 1970 and 1971 with a then-unknown Florida band called Lynyrd Skynyrd opening for them. In the latter part of 1971, the group, now without a record label and with internal conflicts over musical direction, opted to disband. 

There are many compilation versions of their 4 studio albums, including all 4 albums on 2 CDs. and a vinyl Best Of album.

Their studio albums:

    Incense and Peppermints (1967, Uni Records)
    Wake Up...It's Tomorrow (1968, Uni Records)
    The World in a Sea Shell (1968, Uni Records)
    Good Morning Starshine (1969, Uni Records)
    Wake Up Where You Are (2012, Global Recording Artists)

 

Foil

A foil in literature is a character who contrasts with the main character to highlight the main character’s attributes. The purpose of the foil is to give the protagonist more color, depth, and nuance. So, the kind protagonist has a cruel foil. It's common in novels, movies and comic book superheroes.

A foil is not necessarily an enemy or antagonist. Sherlock Holmes had Dr. Watson. harry Potter has Draco.

But why? We know that a common use of foil is the metal that we use to wrap foods. Jewelers also place foil under gems to make them shine more brightly. Is it because this contrast makes a jewel’s brilliance and facets more apparent. Is that why a literary foil character serves as a "backdrop" to make the protagonist “shine.”

As a noun, "foil" means "very thin sheet of metal". It comes from the Old French words fueille, foile, or fueill, which mean "leaf; foliage; sheet of paper; sheet of metal". These words come from the Latin word folium, which is the plural of folia and means "leaf". The word "foil" has been used since the early 14th century.

As a verb, "foil" means to overthrow, defeat, beat off, repulse, or discomfit. In wrestling, it can also mean to throw or inflict a "foil" upon.

Big Wigs, Mad Hatters and Sons of a Gun

I saw that a question on TV's Jeopardy was about  “Big Wigs.”  The term has come to mean a very important person. The origin is quite literal. In the 18th century, wigs for women and men were common. The important figures within the political system would wear the biggest wigs.

You might have heard the expression that someone is “As Mad as a Hatter” meaning they are crazy or insane. I first encountered it in Alice in Wonderland.

The origin also goes back to the 17th and 18th centuries. Hatters - those who made hats - made felt hats using mercury. That led to all kinds of side effects, including literal insanity. The Mad Hatter, from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, is based on this phenomenon.

It is not a bad thing to call someone a "son of a gun" as it is a term of endearment. The origin I found goes back to when sailors took their wives to sea on long voyages. Inevitably, some of the women became pregnant. It was believed that the safest place to give birth was deemed to be between the guns/cannons. I couldn't find why that was the place, but therefore, a child born on the gun deck was known as a "son of a gun."

Another variation I found is that when in port, wives - and prostitutes - were allowed on board. In the morning, the Bosun's mates would yell "show a leg" as they came to the gun deck, where the sailors hung their hammocks. A female leg meant not to upend the hammock to get the sailor to work. That origin story also said that if a baby was born onboard, especially if the father wasn't known for sure, then the babe was a son of a gun.

Perhaps related is that the term "gundecking" is still used to mean really screwing up or doing the job wrong.