The Curious Case of Gary Puckett

"Have sex with me while my friends watch!"

Sometimes, when the shuffled selections of my iPod intersect with music-geek conversations I'm having with friends in certain corners of the internet, I find myself considering the strange case of Gary Puckett. Born in 1942 in the same town (Hibbing, Minnesota) where Bob Dylan grew up, Gary went on to become a labelmate of the Mighty Zimm's, though the records he made occupied an entirely different part of the musical spectrum, to say the least.

Though one could argue that Gary Puckett and the Union Gap were un-credited/underappreciated purveyors of what would come to be known as "horn rock," their music was never considered to be anywhere as hip as that of, say, Chicago, Blood Sweat & Tears, the Buckinghams, or even Chase. It was tuneful and commercial as hell, though, with Gary's big, burly, man-tastic voice soaring through one catchy, dinner theater-worthy chorus after another. I remember my aunt playing her 45 of "Lady Willpower" for me when I was 12, and I couldn't help getting swept up in the record's thrilling horn-powered surges. A week later, I heard "Over You" on the local oldies station, and I thought, "Hey, it's 'Lady Willpower'!" — but as I would soon come to realize, all of his hits kind of sounded the same.

What I didn't realize at the time was just how fucking creepy his hits actually were; that particular lightbulb wouldn't go off over my head until the late 90s, when I saw him perform them all in the space of 45 minutes during an oldies show at the Greek Theater. (He also did a medley of Jimi Hendrix songs, which really had to be heard/seen to be believed.) At that moment, I realized that all of his hits could basically be broken down accordingly:

HAVE SEX WITH ME: "Lady Willpower," "Let's Give Adam and Eve Another Chance."

I HAVE HAD SEX WITH YOU: "Over You," "This Girl Is A Woman Now" (the latter of which contains the completely foul line, "This girl has tasted love," which made me laugh so hard at the Greek that I spit beer through my nose.)

DON"T HAVE SEX WITH HIM: "Woman, Woman" (which could have easily been subtitled "Have You Got Cheating On Your Mind") and "Don't Give In to Him". Of the latter's line, "...because he will only ask for more," my friend Jason wonders, "What the hell does that mean? Anal?"

YOU'RE TOO YOUNG TO HAVE SEX WITH ME: "Young Girl," which contains the immortal line, "With all the charms of a woman/You've kept the secrets of your youth" — Example A of my long-held belief that "charms" used to be a pop code-word for "breasts". "This Girl Is A Woman Now" would probably qualify as well, if somebody'd bothered to check her ID.

Now, this inherent creepiness wasn't entirely Gary's fault — these songs were all penned by outside songwriters, including his producer Jerry Fuller, who wrote "Young Girl," "Lady Willpower" and "Over You". But Gary sure sold those songs, in several senses of the term. And in the course of today's Puckett conversation, I've discovered a few new additions to the Puckett canon, with some interesting variations on the aforementioned messages.

"His Other Woman":

Or rather, HE'S HAVING SEX WITH HER.

"The Pleasure of You":

The B-side of "This Girl Is A Woman Now" manages to combine the "Have Sex With Me" pleading of "Lady Willpower" and the pedophilic yuck factor of "Young Girl" (Though you were a child, nature had blessed you ahead of your time...") in a tender tale of a girl who has already slept with most of the guys in town before Gary got to her. In other words, THEY HAVE HAD SEX WITH YOU.

And finally, there's "The Beggar," the B-side of "Adam and Eve." It's an odd song that's almost Scott Walker-esque in its baroque lyrics and overwrought delivery, and which comes complete with this equally odd video of Gary moping around on a French Quarter rooftop in a pretty cool fringed-sleeve jacket. The message, perhaps, is SOMEONE, ANYONE, PLEASE HAVE SEX WITH ME.

Puckett reminded us several times that night at the Greek, he's since found God — which, given the underlying (and overlying) themes at work in his classic hits, was probably a good thing for everyone involved...

 

Comments

[Michelle Babicz]

OMG - Dan - I can't believe I found this blog! (Aside: BRILLIANT blog name.) I finally found another whose Eeeeww!-Meter goes off the scale when Gary Puckett emotes. You absolutely nailed the Puckett Sex Song Categories - I've been laughing for half an hour! His initials clearly also stand for Ginormous Pedophile. I can't believe nobody picked up on this in the 60's, which actually is a pretty sad commentary. Even Ringo's "You're Sixteen" pales by comparison to Gary's Lolita-friendly catalog. The mod haircuts and weirdo-shades alone should have sent the Tweens scampering home to Mama. Where I work, we're forced to listen to oldies, and often we hear what we now call the Gary-Barry Two-Punch, i.e., a Puckett followed by a sexy Barry White number. Believe me, my workplace ain't where you wanna feel warm, erotic stirrings. It's bad enough hearing Gary waxing hornily about some juicy pubescent charmer, but then to hear Barry croon, "the many times we've shared love and made love and gave love and created love and assembled love and fabricated love, etc." makes for a very uncomfortable 6 to 8 minutes in the workplace.

Thanks again for your super-cool blog, which I'll now be following like Gary follows a junior-high pep squad bus. !

[Dan E]

Hahaha! That may be the greatest comment anyone's ever posted on this blog, Michelle! Many thanks...