Gary Puckett and The Union Gap: "Lady Willpower"

July 13, 1968 (5 weeks)

It was a month prior to the now renamed Gary Puckett and the Union Gap's third Canadian number one hit on the bounce that the RPM singles chart had its fourth anniversary. During this time, no fewer than a hundred and sixty-nine singles topped the survey. (For the sake of comparison, there were a hundred and fifty number ones from the CHUM chart era, which went over a seven year span) Of them, only thirty-one managed a reign of longer than a week, a rate of less than twenty percent. The longest stay at the top was "Rag Doll" by The Four Seasons during the summer of '64. Until now that is. Puckett spent five long weeks at number one with his latest hit "Lady Willpower".

Yes, you read that correctly. For the first time since RPM became Canada's national singles chart, a number one hit remained on top for over a month. An impressive feat, if dampened slightly by the fact that only three hit parades were compiled during its reign. The staff at RPM seemed to get some summers and/or winters off and this was during one of their slack periods. Still, they were at the top of each hit parade so there's no taking it away from them.

Still, the question needs to be asked: why this? While far from the worst thing The Union Gap put out, it's a curious choice to have been on top for as long as it was. On the surface, it may seem like an unexpected summer smash but I have to wonder if there were simply a lot of horny teenage boys who could identify with Puckett's plea against celibacy while girls of around the same age could take it as a call to greater sexual empowerment. Having recently been at the top with the far more inappropriate "Young Girl", an effort seemed to have been made at finding a balance: guys want nothing more than to get laid and girls know it and can hold it over them. Admittedly, this is a generous take. His claim to be able to teach her all about the facts of life is super creepy and gives off a whiff that things aren't going to go well for her. That said, the very fact that he acknowledges that she's the one who has the power at the moment is progress of a kind.

Standards aren't exactly high but it must be said that this is comfortably Gary Puckett and the Union Gap's best effort to date. His nibs dialed back on the histrionics which is a definite plus and the Union Gap and an assortment of session aces give a tight performance. (Speaking of which, it's worth noting that the group had made an alternation to their name. Normally I scoff at bands changing from a 'The' to a '....and the...' but I'll overlook it in this instance. Puckett was the star and he was even credited as such in other territories so it's only right that he would the more prominent listing) It isn't anything special even in the grim wilderness of '68 but it is nevertheless a marked uptick from "Woman, Woman" and, especially, "Young Girl". For all I know, they would only continue to improve but that's irrelevant now since "Lady Willpower" would end up being their final Canadian number one. Good to go out on a high note, boys!

Score: 5

The Union Gap: "Young Girl"

April 20, 1968 (1 week)

So let's try to be as generous as possible. This guy knows what's been going on is wrong. He wants this young girl to go home to her mother so she can get on with the rest of her life and he can act like nothing happened. He's blaming himself at least as much as he's blaming her. (As the "get out of my mind" line in the chorus implies, he's responsible for his own thoughts) He didn't intend to be such a giant creep.

I shall now refute much of my generosity. Knowing it's wrong really doesn't make it any better and in fact takes what could plausibly be adjudicated a serious mental health issue and turns it into a straightforward crime. While going home would probably do her some good, this advice places the bulk of the responsibility on her shoulders. Sure, he blames himself for having some disturbing thoughts but she's still the one causing them. Creeps are seldom self-aware.

"Young Girl" makes for an uncomfortable listen in this day and age. Actually, it's hard to believe this hasn't always been the case but I can recall hearing it on sixties radio as a kid and not noticing just how inappropriate it is. I didn't care for it back then either but that was just because I couldn't stand the sound of Gary Puckett's overblown operatic voice. Now, it is perhaps the least offensive aspect of "Young Girl".

Like Anita Bryant's unbearable "Paper Roses", The Union Gap's biggest international hit would be an easy thing to crap all over even if it wasn't such a bad song; the fact that it is the shits to listen to is a bonus. While not quite as dreadful — Puckett's over-singing is still preferable to Bryant's ghastly excuse for a voice — it is still just as unnecessary to have around anymore. There are at least a couple more crappy Union Gap singles that oldies radio can play instead. It was a different time? It sure was — and that's precisely why we can happily leave "Young Girl" in the past where it belongs.

Score: 2

~~~~~

Hey! Where's...

I've been phasing out these extras of late but it's fun to occasionally bring them back. While it's hardly a chart injustice or anything but it's notable to see The Beatles stuck at number two while a pair of lousy singles had the top spot. "Lady Madonna" had been in the runner up spot while The Monkee's were in first place with "Valleri" and it remained there for "Young Girl". While hardly the Fab Four's finest work, it's still a rousing number with nifty fifties' piano work from Paul McCartney. Released while The Beatles were off in Rishikesh, India studying Transcendental Meditation and unknowingly entering their last act, it's a step up from the mediocre "Hello, Goodbye" but still not close to their peak. I tend to think it should've been released as an E.P. along with "Across the Universe", "The Inner Light" and "Hey Bulldog" which would've made for a more satisfying package. Meanwhile, coming up short no doubt gave the critics yet another chance to theorize over The Beatles going downhill. Relax guys, it won't be long now.

The Union Gap: "Woman, Woman"

January 13, 1968 (1 week)

It wouldn't be fully reflected at the top of the Canadian charts until the seventies but one of the coming musical trends for 1968 would be country rock, a rootsy blend of a pair of previously opposing genres. Bob Dylan seemed to see it coming with the release of John Wesley Harding at the very end of '67. It was a stark, stripped back affair that contrasted with the dynamism of previous official release Blonde on Blonde. (Even though the two were cut in the same Nashville studio with many of the same musicians) Meanwhile, Columbia label mates The Byrds had also begun dabbling in country, a style they would fully embrace by the midway point of the year. Spiraling into irrelevance, San Francisco's Beau Brummels even began working on a surprisingly strong country project of their own, which they titled Bradley's Barn.

Perhaps in no small part due to the involvement of The Byrds, the country rock movement is typically attributed as coming from individuals who had grown weary of psychedelic rock excess and were looking for a calmer headspace. (This narrative would only grow with The Grateful Dead's sudden shift from the acid-fueled jams of 1969's Aoxomoxoa to their sublime downhome duo of Workingman's Dead and American Beauty the following year) While The Union Gap were a relatively new act on the American pop scene, singer Gary Puckett had already made a failed attempt at stardom with The Outcasts. It is with their mid-sixties' singles "Run Away" and "I Can't Get Through to You" that you can hear early signs of psychedelic music. Jump ahead to the beginning of 1968 and his new act sounds like they were auditioning for the position of house band at the Grand Old Opry. (Quite what happened between the end of The Outcasts and this first Union Gap hit is up to the imagination, unless you happened to see them playing a show in the midst of their acid-to-country transition)

No, this is not your outlaw uncle's brand of country and western; rather, this is the old school Jim Reeves crooner variety. To be fair, Puckett and his crew couldn't have known that the tougher side of C&W would be the one favoured by rock's cooler kids. There had been a widespread instinct at the time to dial things back. The Beach Boys came off the Smile/Smiley Smile debacle with the pared down, R&B-influenced Wild Honey. Meanwhile, over in the UK, the simultaneous blues and folk booms were getting started while The Beatles were already scaling things back with their boogie single "Lady Madonna". (I maintain that the Fab Four should have released it and B side "The Inner Light along with John Lennon's recent compositions "Across the Universe" and "Hey Bulldog" as a brilliant E.P.; I would mention this elsewhere but for the fact that "Lady Madonna" didn't get to number one in Canada) Puckett had the right idea, only he went in the wrong direction.

Gifted a country composition, The Union Gap embraced fifties Nashville on "Woman, Woman". Considering Puckett's chewy baritone, they were probably right to go with mainstream country but it doesn't really ring true with these newfound back to roots values. If anything, it makes them sound more out of time than either the back to basics types or the acid rock holdovers. It isn't the worst attempt at countrifying the pop charts during this period (that happens to be the very next RPM number one) but there's little to say about it as well. How did it do so well? I think it's down to a combination of Puckett's dreamboat smile and crusty old dads hearing it, nodding with approval and going out to buy it for their kids. Or it's simply the public likes turgid old crap, the same old story. Either way, the single would kick start quite a year for the quintet as they joined an exclusive club alongside Elvis, The Beatles and a handful of others as acts for score at least three number ones on the Canadian hit parade within a calendar year.

I had never heard "Woman, Woman" before last week but I found myself listening to it an awful lot ever since. Considering my dismissiveness above, you might expect me to have played it a minimal amount and I would have done so but I couldn't get a grasp on it because it kept making me think of the 1993 dark comedy So I Married an Ax Murderer. Puckett's highfalutin sobs of "Woman, Wo-o-o-woman!" are so over the top that it's as if he's channeling his inner Mike Myers. Would "Woman, Woman" have sounded more at home as an amusingly twisted poem set to a basic jazz groove? It's impossible to say but yes, yes it would have.

Score: 4