Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?

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"Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?"
Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind%3F - Lovin' Spoonful.jpg
U.S. picture sleeve
Single by the Lovin' Spoonful
from the album Do You Believe in Magic
B-side "Didn't Want to Have to Do It"
ReleasedApril 1966 [lower-alpha 1]
RecordedSeptember 1965 [4]
Studio Bell Sound, New York City
Genre
Length2:00
Label Kama Sutra
Songwriter(s) John Sebastian
Producer(s) Erik Jacobsen
The Lovin' Spoonful U.S.singles chronology
"Daydream"
(1966)
"Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?"
(1966)
"Summer in the City"
(1966)
Audio
"Did You Ever Have to Make up Your Mind?" on YouTube

"Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?" is a song written by John Sebastian and first released by his band the Lovin' Spoonful on their 1965 debut album Do You Believe in Magic . It was the second single released from the album and the most successful, reaching number 2 on the American Billboard charts for the week of June 11, 1966 (number 1 was "Paint It Black" by the Rolling Stones). [7] It also reached number 2 in Canada. In New Zealand, the song charted at number 5. [8]

Contents

Billboard called the song an "easy rockin' ballad" that would be an "off-beat winner for the hot group." [9] Cash Box described the song as an "easy-going, lyrical blues-tinged item which claims that romantic decisions are extremely difficult to make." [10]

The song has continued to be popular and has been included in many compilations of music of the period. In 1996, Denny's restaurants used the song for their $1.99 breakfasts. [11]

The song was used on an episode of The Wonder Years titled "Cocoa and Sympathy."

In the 1999 film Dudley Do-Right , the song is given a big-band-style arrangement, and it starts with a swing dance battle between Snidely Whiplash and Dudley for Nell Fenwick, and evolves into a big production number. The lead vocals in this version are by Steve Tyrell.

The Christian parody band ApologetiX included a parody, "Did You Ever Ask Where Cain Got His Wife?", on their 2010 album Soundprooof .

Charts

Notable covers and later remakes

Notes

  1. Before the single's U.S. release in April 1966, [1] Quality Records issued it in December 1965 in select Canadian cities to test its potential performance in the American market. [2] [3]
  2. After the single's early release in some Canadian cities, [3] [13] it reached number ten on RPM's chart in February 1966. [14] It reached number six that July after it was issued across the country. [12]

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Do You Believe in Magic is the debut album by the folk rock group the Lovin' Spoonful. It was released in the United States in November 1965, on the Kama Sutra label. Release in the United Kingdom followed in March 1966. The album features the hits "Do You Believe in Magic" and "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?".

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"Summer in the City" is a song by the American folk-rock band the Lovin' Spoonful. Written by John Sebastian, Mark Sebastian and Steve Boone, the song was released as a non-album single in July 1966 and was included on the album Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful later that year. The single was the Lovin' Spoonful's fifth to break the top ten in the United States and their only to reach number one. A departure from the band's lighter sound, the recording features a harder rock style. The lyrics differ from most songs about the summer by lamenting the heat, contrasting the unpleasant warmth and noise of the daytime with the relief offered by the cool night, which allows for the nightlife to begin.

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References

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