You Were on My Mind
| "You Were On My Mind" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by We Five | ||||
| from the album You Were on My Mind | ||||
| B-side | "Small World" | |||
| Released | 1965 | |||
| Recorded | 1965 | |||
| Genre | Pop rock | |||
| Length | 2:39 | |||
| Label | A&M 770 | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Sylvia Fricker | |||
| Producer(s) | Frank Werber | |||
| We Five singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"You Were on My Mind" is a popular song written by Sylvia Fricker in 1962,[1] in a bathtub in a suite at the Hotel Earle in Greenwich Village. She wrote it in the bathroom because "it was the only place ... the cockroaches would not go". It was originally performed by Fricker and her future husband Ian Tyson as the duo Ian & Sylvia, and they recorded it in 1963 for their 1964 album on the Vanguard label, Early Morning Rain. It was published in sheet form by M. Witmark & Sons of New York City in 1965. Ian and Sylvia re-recorded the song in 1972 with their band Great Speckled Bird, reaching #4 on the Canadian easy listening chart.
Notable cover versions
- In 1965, the song was covered in an up-tempo version, with slightly altered lyrics and melody, by the California pop quintet We Five. Their recording reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in September 1965 and topped the Billboard easy listening chart for five weeks.[2] Billboard ranked the record as the #4 song of 1965.[3] The performance by We Five is noteworthy for the gradual buildup in intensity, starting off somewhat flowing and gentle, increasing in intensity in the third stanza and remaining so through the fourth stanza. The fifth and final stanza starts off gently and concludes very intensely, ending with a series of guitar chords.
- In the United Kingdom Crispian St. Peters recorded this song in late 1965, and scored a #2 hit with it in 1966.[4] This version was also released in the United States in 1967 and went to #36 on the Billboard Hot 100.[5] It was featured on his album, Follow Me...
Other versions
Other notable recordings include versions by:
- The Henchmen on their Dominion Records LP One UP!, circa 1964.
- The Chad Mitchell Trio on the 1965 album Typical American Boys.
- The Free Lance Singers on their only album, 1965's On The Road.
- The Vogues on their debut album in 1965, Meet The Vogues.
- Barry McGuire on his 1965 album, Eve of Destruction; his take was a hit in Italy (#19) in 1966.
- Danish group Dandy Swingers on a 7" single in 1966; it was backed with "Hand Me Down My Walking Cane".
- The Rhodes Brothers on their 1966 album The Rhodes Brothers.
- Joe Dassin, in French - "Ca m'avance a quoi?" - on his 1966 album A New York.
- Marti Shannon on her 1966 album, You Were On My Mind.
- Also in 1966, Equipe 84 had a #2 hit in Italy with the rendering "Io ho in mente te" besting a rival version by Paul Anka.
- Rock group Jay & The Americans on their 1970 album Wax Museum.
- Bobby Penn, in 1971; it went to #51 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart.
- Susanna Hoffs on the soundtrack for the 1992 film Fathers and Sons.
- Nanci Griffith on her 1998 album Other Voices, Too (A Trip Back to Bountiful).
- Serena Ryder on her 2006 album, If Your Memory Serves You Well.
- Shawn Colvin and Steve Earle on the 2016 album Colvin & Earle.
- Also in 2016, Lucius on the deluxe iTunes version of the album Good Grief.
- Sedona Station on their 2018 release, Peaceful Life.
See also
- List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1965 (U.S.)
- Los Angeles Times book review of Wounds to Bind, by We Five co-founder Jerry Burgan, which details the recording of "You Were on My Mind" http://www.latimes.com/tn-hbi-et-0904-wounds-to-bind-jerry-burgan-we-five-20140903-story.html
References
- ^ Laura Archibald (director) (2012). "Sylvia Fricker/Tyson interview". Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation. New York, NY: Kino Lorber. OCLC 842426241.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 255.
- ^ Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1965
- ^ Betts, Graham (2004). Complete UK Hit Singles 1952-2004 (1st ed.). London: Collins. p. 674. ISBN 0-00-717931-6.
- ^ Crispian St. Peters, "You Were on My Mind" US chart position Retrieved June 18, 2015.
