The songs from the 1960s that The Lemon Twigs wish they wrote
Being timeless is something that The Lemon Twigs pride themselves on. They have a way of delving into their passion for 1960s melodies and structure in such a sincere and inventive way that it never comes across as pastiche and always lands as something fresh. In this regard they are in a league of their own.
“It helps to not feel in competition with anyone,” they tell me. “It’s good to just be on your own completely and not feel like what you’re going to put out is going to age or come out of a particular moment or fad.” Their eclectic taste produces a mix of influences that results in a sound that is equally as wavering and steadfastly baroque.
This almost makes getting to the heart of a matter when interviewing the band a tricky task. When I asked about the songs they wish they wrote from the ’60s, a comical exchange ensued among the D’Addario brothers. “Probably like a lot of love songs are like, you know,” Brian promisingly begins before trailing off, unable to put his finger on any.
“Just think of any! What’s one of your favourite songs? Most of them were written in the ’60s,” Michael then comically implores. Prompted by this command, Brian rattles off the first hit he wishes he wrote: ‘Stephanie Says’ by The Velvet Underground. It might be mumbled out in blase fashion but it makes a hell of a lot of sense. The track from the proto-indie band’s 1968 White Light/White Heat album could easily have a place on Everything Harmony, with its intricate vocal arrangements, luscious melody, and hint of darkness. In fact, it proved so profound for Lou Reed as a songwriter that he could barely escape it, rehashing it countless times in his career.
For good measure on the Stephanie front, he also threw in the thrashy Love spectacular ‘Stephanie Knows Who’ with its waltzing freak-out solo that Michael and Brian have often purveyed themselves in the past, perhaps when things get irritatable in the studio between them.
The two other tracks delve into the brothers’ more eclectic side. While The Move might’ve been big in Britain back in their heyday, and Roy Wood has since proven his songwriting knack with ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday’, they don’t feature in your average ‘song I wish I wrote’ answer from a band from the States.
Once again, with ‘Cherry Blossom Clinic’, you can see how Tony Visconti’s layered baroque arrangement might feature in The Lemon Twigs’ back catalogue. And beyond the psychedelia, the song happily plods towards a theme of madness and loneliness as Wood’s writing ventures to a psychiatric hospital. It somehow focuses on the mistreatment of mentally ill patients in a very child-like fashion, an emblem of Wood’s long-held desire to write a children’s book riddled with twists in order to appeal to an adult audience.
While technically released in 1970, the second single by The Move that Brian mentions with notable enthusiasm is the Beatlesque track ‘Beautiful Daughter’. Grounded in an structure and sound closer to a style prevalent in 1966, The Move often used public domain melodies that allowed them to bring the past back to life in a colourful new fashion. The song is also given a sense of seamlessness because as Wood says “it just sort of happened. I think I based it around the chord sequences on that. I based the whole song around the chords. I did a lot of open string work on that and it worked quite well.”
The songs The Lemon Twigs wish they wrote:
- ‘Stephanie Says’ – The Velvet Underground
- ‘Cherry Blossom Clinic’ – The Move
- ‘Beautiful Daughter’ – The Move
- ‘Stephanie Knows Who’ – Love
