Followup: The library link to “Nashville Cats”

In this post I asked if anyone could identify the (admittedly indirect) library connection to the song from which I quoted two lines, and for that matter the other category I could have used.

Despite some cute comments, nobody had the answer–but then, this blog has a moderately small readership, which is as it should be.

The library link is actually the New York Public Library, and the missing category is “Movies and TV.”

To wit:

  • The post’s title is the first line (except for the refain and “Well,”) and the last line of the post is the last line of “Nashville Cats,” a song from Hums of the Lovin’ Spoonful, the second album by the Lovin’ Spoonful. (John B. Sebastian sings the song and, I believe, wrote it, as he did most of Lovin’ Spoonful’s eleven, count them, eleven hits during its brief life as a group.)
  • The Lovin’ Spoonful provided part of the music for Francis Ford Coppola’s You’re a Big Boy Now (1966), including the title song (also sung by John B. Sebastian).
  • Parts of that movie (starring Rip Torn, Julie Harris, Elizabeth Hartman, Karen Black…) are set in the New York Public Library, where the hero of the piece has a job (as a page, fetching books on roller skates). I believe his father (Rip Torn) is supposed to be an official at NYPL.

(I now see that IMDB does not provide the connection, as they list someone else as providing the score–apparently, the Lovin’ Spoonful’s contributions were added to make an odd movie more commercial. I also see that John B. Sebastian is back in the music biz, which is a surprise…)

Those of you younger than dirt might have heard “Summer in the City” or “Do You Believe in Magic” or maybe “Coconut Grove” or “Rain on the Roof.” The Lovin’ Spoonful didn’t last long (drug problems), but had a remarkable string of feel-good hits while they did last.

Creative Commons License
This work by Walt Crawford is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

This entry was posted on Monday, May 16th, 2005 at 10:22 am and is filed under Movies and TV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

5 Responses to “Followup: The library link to “Nashville Cats””

  1. Ruth Ellen says:
    May 16, 2005 at 7:44 pm

    Rats. My library has one circulating copy of the book on which it is based (I’ve reserved it), but does not have the movie.
    -Ruth

  2. walt says:
    May 17, 2005 at 10:40 am

    I should note that the movie got mixed reviews, putting it charitably. I haven’t read the book. I enjoyed the movie at the time–but that was a long time ago!

  3. Ruth Ellen says:
    May 17, 2005 at 11:55 pm

    Ah, but once you’ve talked about it on your blog we all have to go watch it! Besides, I want to hear the Lovin’ Spoonful sound track.

  4. CYNTHIA says:
    September 30, 2005 at 2:11 pm

    Was Bill Berryhill or Bill Shaffer a member of the original Nashville Cats from the 1960’s ? Email me back if you have something. Thanks!

  5. Dean says:
    May 8, 2006 at 1:28 pm

    I remember as a teen, working at my family’s hot dog stand named Karr’s Red Hots in the 60’s and 70’s. There was a club called The Golden Palace on the corner of Belmont and Southport in Chicago where Big Bill Shaffer and the Nashville Cats played as the house band. The band member’s, to the best of my recolection were: Big Bill Shaffer, guitar, Jimmy Nichols, bass, Little Al French, drums and Larry “Possum” on piano.