TL;DR:
- A pair of jazzy Motown songs inspired The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Daydream.”
- Both of the Motown songs in question were famous songs by The Supremes.
- Paul McCartney said all of The Beatles were fans of The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Daydream.”
Motown was a significant influence on a number of classic rock bands. For example, two Supremes songs inspired The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Daydream.” Notably, it was difficult to put the latter song together in the studio.
Jazzy Motown songs inspired The Lovin’ Spoonful’s ‘Daydream’
Steve Boone is a member of The Lovin’ Spoonful. In his 2014 book Hotter Than a Match Head: My Life on the Run with The Lovin’ Spoonful, Boone said bandmate John Sebastian was dealing with romantic troubles one day. “Looking to cheer himself up, he was plucking his guitar in the ‘straight eight’ Motown style that we’d heard so much on this tour, from ‘Baby Love’ and ‘Where Did Our Love Go’ and beyond.” For context, “straight eight” is a style of jazz music.
Boone discussed how the lyrics of “Daydream” came to Sebastian. “As he peered out the window, feeling like he’d rather be anywhere in the world on this rainy day, the line came out: ‘What a day for a daydream,’” he said. “Maybe 20 minutes later, he’d finished the song.”
Why members of The Lovin’ Spoonful had to cut the song together using different takes
Putting the song together in the studio was more difficult than writing it. “There were two guitar figures in the song, with John playing the oompah part on his ’58 Les Paul and [band member] Zally [Yanovsky] playing the backbeat figure on John’s Heritage Gibson acoustic,” he said. “But the staccato kind of rhythm of the song prevented John and Zal from getting the guitars in sync, and the track kept breaking down when one guy would get ahead of the other.
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“Just as had happened with ‘Night Owl Blues,’ at some point the song was temporarily abandoned, at which point [producer] Erik Jacobsen started painstakingly piecing together takes with scissors and tape,” he added.
‘Daydream’ was a hit on the charts in the United States and inspired a Beatles song
“Daydream” reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. It remained on the chart for a total of 12 weeks. With the exception of “Do You Believe in Magic?,” none of the band’s other singles lasted longer on the charts.
“Daydream” appeared on the album of the same title. The album Daydream reached No. 10 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the chart for a total of 31 weeks.
“Daydream” is also important because of its impact on The Beatles. According to the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, “Daydream” was The Beatles’ favorite song by The Lovin’ Spoonful. Paul used the tune as his model for The Beatles’ “Good Day Sunshine” from the album Revolver. Paul said both tunes had an “almost trad-jazz feel.”
“Daydream” is a great song and it proves there that 1960s stars regularly inspired one another.
