"Stephanie Knows Who" | ||||
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![]() US issue | ||||
Single by Love | ||||
from the album Da Capo | ||||
B-side | "Orange Skies" | |||
Released | November 1966 | |||
Recorded | October 2, 1966 [1] | |||
Studio | RCA Victor (Hollywood, California) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:29 | |||
Label | Elektra | |||
Songwriter(s) | Arthur Lee | |||
Producer(s) | Paul A. Rothchild | |||
Love singles chronology | ||||
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"Stephanie Knows Who" is a song written by Arthur Lee and first released by Love on their 1966 album Da Capo . It has also been released on several Love compilation albums. It was to have been released as a single, backed with "Orange Skies", but the single was withdrawn, with "She Comes in Colors" replacing it under the same catalog number. The song was also covered by the Move.
The song was inspired by a woman approximately 18 years old named Stephanie Buffington, for whom both Lee and Love's guitarist Bryan MacLean had affections. [2] [4] Parts of "The Castle", another song on Da Capo, were inspired by the same woman. [4] Love drummer Michael Stuart-Ware stated that when Lee wrote the song, Stephanie was with him, but by the time the band recorded the song, she was with MacLean. [4] Stuart also believes that the romantic triangle helped lead to the deterioration of the friendship between Lee and MacLean, to the point where Lee tried to expel MacLean from the band. [4] According to guitarist Johnny Echols, the song's lyrics, "A tiger did, you said he did", referred to marks that Lee saw on her side, which she explained as having been caused by a childhood scratch from a tiger, though in fact they were stretch marks from a teenage pregnancy. [5]
The song's music contains jazz elements. [2] [6] AllMusic critic Matthew Greenwald has described the song as "a combination of hard, psychedelic rock with a free jazz interlude." [2] For the interlude, which features Johnny Echols' guitar playing and Tjay Cantrelli's (real name John Barberi) saxophone playing, the time signature shifts from 3/4 to 5/8. [4] [7] Echols has described the song as "a kind of a jazz waltz", though noting that the song isn't very danceable. [4] Stuart-Ware has also commented that the song is hard to dance to. [4]
Although Lee's singing on Love's debut album and Da Capo's lead single "7 and 7 Is" (released months before the album) uses a harsh style, his singing on most of Da Capo uses a softer style. [4] "Stephanie Knows Who" is an exception, and uses the raw singing style of the debut album. [4] However, the instrumentation of the song is more consistent with the rest of Da Capo. For example, Alban "Snoopy" Pfisterer's harpsichord is prominent. [8] [9] The Da Capo instrumentation is particularly evident in the instrumental introduction to the song, which features MacLean's folk music-style guitar playing and Pfisterer's harpsichord. [4]
Greenwald praised the song as being "wonderfully quirky." [2] Music critic Barney Hoskyns has described the song as having garage punk angst. [10] Chris Hollow of The Age described the song as a jewel. [11] Edna Gundersen and Ken Barnes of USA Today described the song as being "among the most attractively sophisticated of the era." [12] Author Domenic Priore considers it a prime example of Lee's "fiery passion" and remarks how the song "breaks into a jazzy solo without losing its rock 'n' roll grit." [13] Author Bob Cianci praised Stuart-Ware's drumming on the song. [7] Colin Larkin called it one of the "strong tracks" on Da Capo. [14] Authors Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz described Cantrelli's saxophone solo as being in a similar style to John Coltrane. [15]
"Stephanie Knows Who" had been intended as a single release in late 1966, backed with "Orange Skies" and was assigned catalog number EK 45608. [16] However, the single was withdrawn, and "She Comes in Colors", backed with "Orange Skies", was released with catalog number EK 45608 instead. [16] After its original release as a single and on Da Capo, "Stephanie Knows Who" was also included on a number of Love compilation albums, including The Best of Love (1980) and Comes in Colours (1992). [2]
The Move covered "Stephanie Knows Who" on their 1968 live EP Something Else from The Move. [17] AllMusic critic Cub Koda describes the Move's version as "a psychedelic number with loads of wah-wah guitar from Roy Wood." [17] AllMusic's Richie Unterberger commented on the song's "spinning and frenetic guitar work."[ citation needed ] The song also appears on other albums by the Move, including the reissue of Shazam . [18] [19]
"Stephanie Knows Who" was also covered by the Aardvarks on the various artists compilation album Modstock Saarbrücken 94. [20]
Forever Changes is the third studio album by the American rock band Love, released on November 1, 1967, by Elektra Records. The album saw the group embrace a subtler folk- and baroque pop-oriented sound based around acoustic guitars and orchestral arrangements, while primary songwriter Arthur Lee explored darker themes alluding to mortality and his growing disillusionment with the era's counterculture. It was the final album recorded by the original band lineup; after its completion, guitarist Bryan MacLean left the group acrimoniously, and Lee subsequently dismissed the other members.
Love is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965. Led by Arthur Lee, the band's primary songwriter, they were one of the first racially diverse American rock bands. Their sound incorporated an eclectic range of styles including garage, folk-rock, and psychedelia. While finding only modest success on the music charts, peaking in 1966 with their US Top 40 hit "7 and 7 Is", Love would come to be praised by critics as their third album, Forever Changes (1967), became generally regarded as one of the best albums of the 1960s.
Smiley Smile is the twelfth studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released on September 18, 1967. Conceived as a simpler and more relaxed version of their unfinished Smile album, Smiley Smile is distinguished for its homespun arrangements, "stoned" aesthetic, and lo-fi production. Critics and fans generally received the album and its lead single, "Heroes and Villains", with confusion and disappointment. The album reached number 9 on UK record charts, but sold poorly in the U.S., peaking at number 41—the band's lowest chart placement to that point.
"Good Vibrations" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was composed by Brian Wilson with lyrics by Mike Love. It was released as a single on October 10, 1966 and was an immediate critical and commercial hit, topping record charts in several countries including the United States and the United Kingdom. Characterized by its complex soundscapes, episodic structure and subversions of pop music formula, it was at the time the most expensive single ever recorded. "Good Vibrations" later became widely acclaimed as one of the finest and most important works of the rock era.
Arthur Taylor Lee was an American musician, singer and songwriter who rose to fame as the leader of the Los Angeles rock band Love. Love's 1967 album Forever Changes was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and it is part of the National Recording Registry.
"Hey Joe" is an American song from the 1960s that has become a rock standard and has been performed in many musical styles by hundreds of different artists. The lyrics tell of a man who is on the run and planning to head to Mexico after shooting his unfaithful wife. In 1962, Billy Roberts registered "Hey Joe" for copyright in the United States.
Da Capo is the second studio album by American rock band Love, released in November 1966 by Elektra Records. The album was recorded during September and October 1966 at RCA Studios in Hollywood, California, with the exception of lead single "7 and 7 Is", recorded the previous June. The single was a departure for the band and became their highest charting, reaching No. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100. Despite the success of "7 and 7 Is", a string of well received live performances at the time and contemporary critical acclaim for the album upon its release, it peaked at No. 80 on the Billboard 200.
Love is the debut album by the Los Angeles-based rock band Love; released in March 1966 by Elektra Records.
"Alone Again Or" is a song originally recorded in 1967 by the rock group Love and written by band member Bryan MacLean. It appears on the album Forever Changes, and was released as a single in the USA, UK, Australia, France and the Netherlands.
Bryan Andrew MacLean was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter, best known for his work with the influential rock band Love. His famous compositions for Love include "Alone Again Or", "Old Man" and "Orange Skies".
John Marshall Echols is an American songwriter and guitarist, who was a co-founder and the lead guitar player of the psychedelic rock band Love.
"7 and 7 Is" is a song written by Arthur Lee and recorded by his band Love on June 17 and 20, 1966, at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood. It was produced by Jac Holzman and engineered by Bruce Botnick.
Psychedelic pop is pop music that contains musical characteristics associated with psychedelic music. Developing in the mid-to-late 1960s, elements included "trippy" features such as fuzz guitars, tape manipulation, backwards recording, sitars, and Beach Boys-style harmonies, wedded to melodic songs with tight song structures. The style lasted into the early 1970s. It has seen revivals in subsequent decades by neo-psychedelic artists.
"Orange Skies" is a song written by Bryan MacLean and originally recorded in 1966 by the band Love for their second album Da Capo. It was first released the same month as the B-side to the band's single "Stephanie Knows Who". The original recording features band leader Arthur Lee on lead vocals instead of MacLean.
"She Comes in Colors" is a song written by Arthur Lee and released by the band Love as a single in 1966 and on their 1966 album Da Capo. It was also included on a number of Love compilation albums, including Love Revisited and Best of Love and on the multi-artist compilation album Forever Changing: The Golden Age of Elektra 1963–1973.
"My Little Red Book" (occasionally subtitled "(All I Do Is Talk About You)") is a song composed by American songwriter Burt Bacharach with lyrics by Hal David. The duo was enlisted by Charles K. Feldman to compose the music to Woody Allen's film What's New Pussycat? following a chance meeting between Feldman and Bacharach's fiancée Angie Dickinson in London. "My Little Red Book" was composed in three weeks together with several other songs intended for the movie. Musically, the song was initially composed in the key of C major, largely based on a reiterating piano riff performed. David's lyrics tells the tale of a distraught lover, who after getting dumped by his girlfriend browses through his "little red book" and taking out several girls to dance in a vain effort to get over her.
"¡Que Vida!" is a song written by Arthur Lee and first released in 1967 by the band Love. It was released both on Love's album Da Capo and as a single, backed with "Hey Joe". It has also been included on several Love compilation albums.
Smile is an unfinished album by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was intended to follow their 1966 album Pet Sounds. It was to be an LP of twelve tracks assembled from modular fragments, the same editing process used for their "Good Vibrations" single. Instead, after a year of recording, the album was shelved and the group released a downscaled version, Smiley Smile, in September 1967. Over the next four decades, few of the original Smile tracks were officially released, and the project came to be regarded as the most legendary unreleased album in popular music history.
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