"Elenore" is a 1968 song by

the Turtles The Turtles are an America, American Band (rock and pop), rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The band achieved several Top 40 hits throughout the latter half of the 1960s, including "It Ain't Me Babe" (1965), "You Baby (song), ...

, originally included on ''

The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands ''The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands'' is the fourth studio album released by the American rock band the Turtles. Produced by Chip Douglas (who returned to work with the Turtles after producing The Monkees' ''Headquarters'' and '' Pi ...

''. Although written by

Howard Kaylan Howard Kaylan (born Howard Lawrence Kaplan; June 22, 1947) is an American retired musician and songwriter, who was a founding member and lead singer of the 1960s rock band The Turtles, and, with bandmate and friend Mark Volman, a member of the 1 ...

, its writing was co-credited to all five members of the band: Kaylan,

Mark Volman Mark Randall Volman (born April 19, 1947) is an American vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the 1960s rock band The Turtles, and, along with his bandmate and friend Howard Kaylan, a member of the 1970s rock ...

Al Nichol The Turtles are an America, American Band (rock and pop), rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The band achieved several Top 40 hits throughout the latter half of the 1960s, including "It Ain't Me Babe" (1965), "You Baby (song), ...

Jim Pons Jim Pons (born March 14, 1943) is an American bassist, author, singer, and video director who most notably played for the Leaves (1964–1967), the Turtles (1967–1970), and the Mothers of Invention (1970–1971), and Flo & Eddie (1971-1973). A ...

, and John Barbata. The song was written as a

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

of their biggest

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

hit " Happy Together."

Background

By 1968,

had had a number of successful pop records on the White Whale

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

, including

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

's "

It Ain't Me Babe "It Ain't Me Babe" is a song by Bob Dylan that originally appeared on his fourth album '' Another Side of Bob Dylan'', which was released in 1964 by Columbia Records. According to music critic Oliver Trager, this song, along with others on the al ...

," " Happy Together," and " She'd Rather Be with Me," the latter two written by Gary Bonner and Alan Gordon. The band members wanted to diversify their musical output (in parallel with more innovative musical groups of the time) and to record their own material. However, their record company was reluctant to allow them to do so. As a demonstration of their musical versatility, the Turtles recorded the album ''...the Battle of the Bands'', which featured performances in a wide variety of different musical styles. The band recorded "Elenore" as a

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

of the type of happy-go-lucky pop songs they themselves had been performing, but with deliberately clichéd and slapdash lyrics such as: "Your looks intoxicate me / Even though your folks hate me / There's no one like you, Elenore, really"; and "Elenore, gee, I think you're swell / And you really do me well / You're my pride and joy, et cetera..." The original lyrics used the phrase "Fab and Gear", which got replaced by the phrase "Pride and Joy". This was one of the first pop songs to use the

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer ...

, which is heard during the first half of the second verse, featuring Kaylan's double voiced track plus Volman's harmonic supporting track. Howard Kaylan later said:

Elenore was a parody of "Happy Together." It was never intended to be a straight-forward song. It was meant as an anti-love letter to White Whale ecords who were constantly on our backs to bring them another "Happy Together." So I gave them a very skewed version. Not only with the chords changed, but with all these bizarre words. It was my feeling that they would listen to how strange and stupid the song was and leave us alone. But they didn't get the joke. They thought it sounded good. Truthfully, though, the production on "Elenore" WAS so damn good. Lyrically or not, the sound of the thing was so positive that it worked. It certainly surprised me.

According to his autobiography ''Shell Shocked'', Kaylan stated that the Turtles had agreed that any song written by one or more members would be credited to the entire group. He added that he regretted this arrangement when "Elenore" became a hit. Describing the song in liner notes to the 1974 compilation ''Happy Together Again'', Kaylan claimed to have written the song in an hour after locking himself in a hotel room. In his 2013 autobiography, he wrote that the time of composition was 30 minutes.

Release

The song was produced by

Chip Douglas Douglas Farthing Hatlelid (born August 27, 1942), better known as Chip Douglas, is an American songwriter, musician (bass, guitar and keyboards), and record producer, whose most famous work was during the 1960s. He was the bassist of the Turtl ...

and released as a single (White Whale 276). ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' called it a "delightful turn to the softer rock style," saying it is "a powerful vocal stew blending attractively over a medium-slow rhythm track." "Elenore" reached No. 6 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

and also reached No. 7 on the UK Singles Chart, No. 4 in Canada, No. 8 in Australia, and No. 1 in New Zealand. It has since been featured on many anthologies and as part of the soundtrack of ''

The Boat That Rocked ''The Boat That Rocked'' (titled ''Pirate Radio'' in North America) is a 2009 comedy-drama written and directed by Richard Curtis about pirate radio in the United Kingdom during the 1960s. The film has an ensemble cast consisting of Philip Se ...

''.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Cover versions

Gianni Morandi Gian Luigi "Gianni" Morandi (; born 11 December 1944) is an Italian pop singer, actor and entertainer. It is estimated that Morandi has sold about 50 million recordings. Early life Born in Monghidoro, Emilia-Romagna, the son of a cobbler, Mor ...

released an Italian version of the song as "Scende la pioggia" in 1968. *

Flo & Eddie Flo & Eddie is a comedy rock duo consisting of Mark Volman (Flo, short for Phlorescent Leech) and Howard Kaylan (Eddie). Kaylan and Volman were founding members of the mid-to late 1960s rock and pop band the Turtles. After the Turtles dis ...

covered "Elenore" on their 1976 album '' Moving Targets''. *

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (often shortened to MFGG or the Gimmes) are a punk rock supergroup and cover band that formed in San Francisco in 1995. The band's lineup consists of Spike Slawson, C. J. Ramone, Joey Cape, Pinch and John Reis. ...

covered "Elenore" on their 2001 album ''

Blow in the Wind ''Blow in the Wind'' is the third album by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, released in 2001, on the Fat Wreck Chords independent record label. ''Blow in the Wind'' features several tracks which are led off with musical mash-ups of, or homages ...

''. * Ivo Heller covered "Elenore" as "Mátoha Parohatá" in 1970.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Elenore 1968 songs 1968 singles The Turtles songs Wednesday (Canadian band) songs Me First and the Gimme Gimmes songs Songs written by Howard Kaylan Number-one singles in New Zealand Satirical songs Musical parodies