The Lovin’ Spoonful is a Canadian-American folk-rock band formed in Greenwich Village, New York City, in 1964. The band were among the most popular groups in the United States for a short period in the mid-1960s and their music and image influenced many of the contemporary rock acts of their era. Beginning in July 1965 with their debut single “Do You Believe in Magic”, the band had seven consecutive singles reach the Top Ten of the US charts in the eighteen months that followed, including the number-two hits “Daydream” and “Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?” and the chart-topping “Summer in the City”.
Led by their primary songwriter John Sebastian, the Spoonful took their earliest influences from jug band and blues music, reworking them into a popular music format. In 1965, the band helped pioneer the development of the musical genre of folk rock. By 1966, the group were “one of the most highly regarded American bands”, and they were the year’s third-best-selling singles act in the US, after the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. As psychedelia expanded in popularity in 1967, the Spoonful struggled to transition their approach and saw diminished sales before disbanding in 1968.
Before they founded the Spoonful, Sebastian (guitar, harmonica, autoharp, vocals) and Zal Yanovsky (guitar, vocals) were active in Greenwich Village’s folk-music scene. Aiming to create an “electric jug band”, they recruited the local rock musicians Steve Boone (bass guitar) and Joe Butler (drums, vocals).
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Daydream
Summer in the City
Do You Believe in Magic
Darling Be Home Soon
You Didn’t Have to Be so Nice
Nashville Cats
Lonely (Instrumental)
Butchie’s Tune
Coconut Grove
Younger Girl
Try And Be Happy