"Incense and Peppermints" is a song by the Los Angeles–based psychedelic rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock. The song is officially credited as having been written by John S. Carter and Tim Gilbert, although it was based on an instrumental idea by band members Mark Weitz and Ed King.[5] It was released as the A-side of a single in May 1967 by Uni Records and reached the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for one week before beginning its fall down the charts.[6][7] Although the single was released in the United Kingdom it failed to break into the UK Singles Chart.[8] The song was featured in the film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery[9] and the fictional biopic Daisy Jones and the Six.
| "Incense and Peppermints" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Side A of the 1967 US single | ||||
| Single by Strawberry Alarm Clock | ||||
| from the album Incense and Peppermints | ||||
| B-side | "The Birdman of Alkatrash" | |||
| Released | May 19, 1967[1] | |||
| Recorded | 1967 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 2:47 | |||
| Label | UNI | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
| |||
| Producer(s) | Frank Slay | |||
| Strawberry Alarm Clock singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Official audio | ||||
| "Incense And Peppermints" on YouTube | ||||
History edit
Prior to the release of "Incense and Peppermints," Strawberry Alarm Clock had already issued four singles ("Long Day's Care" b/w "Can't Explain," "My Flash on You" b/w "Fortune Teller," "In the Building" b/w "Hey Joe," and "Heart Full of Rain" b/w "First Plane Home") on All-American Records under the name Thee Sixpence.[6][10] During recording sessions for "Incense and Peppermints," the Thee Sixpence members expressed a dislike for the song lyrics (which John S. Carter wrote, relying on a rhyming dictionary[citation needed] for the purpose), so the lead vocals were sung by a friend of the band, Greg Munford, who was attending the recording session as a visitor. The regular vocalists in the band were relegated to providing background and harmony vocals on the record.[11] Band members Mark Weitz and Ed King were both denied songwriting credits by producer Frank Slay, despite the fact that the song was, at least partially, built on an instrumental idea by Weitz and King.[5] The songwriting credits went to Carter and to his songwriting partner Tim Gilbert, despite the latter neither writing nor helping to write the song. King would go on to greater fame as a member of the 1970s Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd.
"Incense and Peppermints" initially appeared on the B-side of Thee Sixpence's fifth single, "The Birdman of Alkatrash," released on All-American Records in April 1967.[12] However, local radio stations began playing "Incense and Peppermints" instead of the A-side, and the song began to gain in popularity in and around Los Angeles. Sensing the possibility of a national hit, the Uni Records subsidiary of MCA (now called Universal Music Group) picked up the record for national distribution and the single was re-released in May 1967: this time with "Incense and Peppermints" on the A-side and "The Birdman of Alkatrash" as the B-side. By the time of this second pressing, the band had changed its name to "The Strawberry Alarm Clock" due to the existence of a local group with a name somewhat similar to Thee Sixpence.[6]
"Incense and Peppermints" spent 16 weeks on the Billboard chart, finally reaching the #1 spot for the week ending November 25, 1967.[7] The single earned a gold disc from the RIAA on December 7, 1967, for sales of one million copies.[13]
Chart performance edit
References edit
- ^ "Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense and Peppermints".
- ^ Mark Kemp (1 November 2007). Dixie Lullaby. Simon and Schuster. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-4165-9046-0. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
- ^ Doyle Greene (10 March 2014). The Rock Cover Song: Culture, History, Politics. McFarland. p. 152. ISBN 978-1-4766-1507-3. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ Breihan, Tom (October 23, 2018). "The Number Ones: The Strawberry Alarm Clock's "Incense And Peppermints"". Stereogum. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
...it's plenty possible to hear "Incense And Peppermints" as a...version of the acid rock that was blossoming in San Francisco during that moment. And maybe "Incense And Peppermints" is that.
- ^ a b "Mark Weitz Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 2010-03-31.
- ^ a b c Hogg, Brian. (1992). Strawberries Mean Love (1992 CD liner notes).
- ^ a b Whitburn, Joel. (2008). Top Pop Singles 1955-2006. Record Research Inc. p. 814. ISBN 978-0-89820-172-7.
- ^ Brown, Tony. (2000). The Complete Book of the British Charts. Omnibus Press. p. 861. ISBN 0-7119-7670-8.
- ^ "Austin Powers soundtrack". Imdb.com. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
- ^ "USA single's list S from 1966-72". Psychlists. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
- ^ "Incense and Peppermints album review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2010-03-31.
- ^ Stax, Mike. (1998). Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968 (1998 CD box set liner notes).
- ^ Murrells, Joseph. (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 231. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
- ^ "Go-Set National Top 40, 31 January 1968)". Archived from the original on 29 March 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
- ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles - November 18, 1967" (PDF).
- ^ "CHUM Hit Parade - October 23, 1967".
- ^ [Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-2002]
- ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2016-08-12. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
- ^ "Top 100 Hits of 1967/Top 100 Songs of 1967". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
- ^ "Cash Box YE Pop Singles - 1967".
External links edit
- Lyrics of this song
- Incense and Peppermints at Discogs (list of releases)
- Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense and Peppermints on YouTube