Katerinas Magic World

I bought the LP "Of Cabbages and Kings" in the fall of 1967 because of a foolish error. I had heard a song called "Painted Dayglow Smile" that was being played almost nightly by Rosko, a disk jockey who had a popular radio show on WNEW FM in New York City. I thought that "Painted Dayglow Smile" was a really great record and I was very anxious to buy it, but I was surprised to hear Rosko reveal that it was by Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde. I had practically forgotten all about Chad and Jeremy, even though I knew that they were still around because I had recently seen them on an episode of the "Batman" television series.
Chad and Jeremy were being played on the AM radio shortly after the arrival of The Beatles. I had heard the duo's first American single release "Yesterdays Gone" in the early summer of 1964, and I liked the song as much as I liked any British Invasion records that were out at that time. I not only bought "Yesterdays Gone" when the record was released on the World Pacific label, I also purchased their follow up hits, including "A Summer Song" and "Willow Weep For Me."
Chad and Jeremy always seemed to me to be a little too polished to be just a couple of singers who strummed guitars. I remember seeing the twosome in guest starring roles on several situation comedy television series in the mid-'60`s, including "The Patty Duke Show" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show." Their comedy timing as the fictional "The Redcoats" on Van Dyke's program made me think that these Englishmen were really actors who were masquerading as rock `n' rollers.
Columbia Records signed Chad and Jeremy to a big contract in 1965, and began releasing a lot of albums and singles, including the LP "Distant Shores." I remember seeing that album in the record stores at the time, but I have to admit that I never bought any of their discs after "Willow Weep For Me." In fact, Chad and Jeremy didn't have a hit on any of the NYC top forty radio stations after Christmas, 1964.
So I found myself in late 1967 searching out the records stores for a copy of Chad and Jeremy's "Painted Dayglow Smile." I never did find it, but I did unearth the obscure album "Of Cabbages and Kings" by Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde, as they were now billed. The colorful cover showed the pair of musicians dressed in Indian-like garb, and they were seated in front of a painted psychedelic background that featured characters from the Lewis Carroll poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter." I had often wondered if The Rolling Stones used the cover of "Of Cabbages and Kings" as a model for the soon to be released "Their Satanic Majesties Request."
I bought "Of Cabbages and Kings" even though I did not find "Painted Dayglow Smile" listed anywhere on the back cover. Songs with titles such as "Rest In Peace" and "The Gentle Cold of Dawn" made up most side one, and there was something called "The Progress Suite" on side two. I made the purchase thinking that maybe "Painted Dayglow Smile" was included in "The Progress Suite."
The opening of "Of Cabbages and Kings" was obviously influenced by The Beatles "Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band," right down to the squeaks and groans of a tuning orchestra. Jeremy Clyde is then heard self-importantly reciting a line from Carroll's famous poem: "The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things, of shoes and ships and ceiling wax, of cabbages and kings..." (interestingly, Chad and Jeremy were talking about walruses at least three months before John Lennon sang that he is one). There is then heard the grunts of someone laboriously hammering and chiseling stone. The sound effects finally lead into the opening strains of "Rest In Peace," with lyrics like "my name it is Mathews, and I've got it made, a memorial maker, it's a profitable trade...".
I listened to all of the ballads and satirical songs on side one, including "Busman's Holiday" and "Can I See You." There was also a funny song about teenage pregnancy, which I liked very much. I noticed that a lot of the songs featured the then trendy sounds of sitars and tablas, and there was also a lot of Sergeant Pepper-like special effects added to the tracks, like babies crying and crowd noises. I flipped the LP over, and listened to "The Progress Suite," which featured a lot of social commentary and humor that I really did not understand. I then realized that I had been duped; "Painted Dayglow Smile" was nowhere to be found on "Of Cabbages and Kings."
Despite my faux pas, I had my LP copy of "Of Cabbages and Kings" for over twenty years. I still liked to listen to it on occasion, especially side one. I always thought that Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde were very underrated, and I was not surprised to see the Sundazed record label reissue "Of Cabbages and Kings."
Chad and Jeremy released yet another concept LP on Columbia Records in the late summer of 1968 called "The Ark." I was amazed to see "Painted Dayglow Smile" listed on the album's back. I bought "The Ark" and upon listening to it realized that "Painted Dayglow Smile" had been re-recorded in stereo. To make matters worse, this version was ruined, at least for me, with a lot of annoying and weird sound effects. So now I had purchased two Chad and Jeremy LP's and I still did not get the song I wanted.
Thirty four years later, I was able to purchase the Sundazed CD release of "Of Cabbages and Kings" which includes a bonus track of the original Columbia Records 45 RPM version of "Painted Dayglow Smile" (the one Rosko played on the radio so many years ago.) After all these years, "Painted Dayglow Smile" is back where it belongs.
By Gary Weinraub
Tracks
1. Rest In Peace
2. The Gentle Cold Of Dawn
3. Busman's Holiday
4. Can I See You
5. Family Way
6. I'll Get Around To It When And If I Can
7. Progress Suite: Prologue
8. Progress Suite: Decline
9. Progress Suite: Editorial
10. Progress Suite: Fall
11. Progress Suite: Epilogue
12. Manners Maketh Man
13. Cautionary Tale
14. The Gentle Cold Of Dawn (instrumental)
15. Rest In Piece (single version)
16. Painted Dayglow Smile
17. Sister Marie
Download 1
Download 2