Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Canada Spotlight: The Ugly Ducklings - Just In Case You Wonder/That's Just A Thought I Had In My Mind

Our regional Battle of the Garage Bands heads to the great White North. The Ugly Ducklings hailed from the suburbs of Toronto Canada in the town of Yorkville Village. 

The Ugly Ducklings were Dave Byngham on vocals and harmonica, Glynn Bell on rhythm guitar, Roger Mayne on lead, John Read on bass and Robin Boers on drums. The group released six singles in their heyday of '66 and '67 on Yorktown Records and Yorkville Records. Today's double sided feature is their third single: Just In Case You Wonder/That's Just A Thought I Has In My Mind.
Just In Case You Wonder (misprinted on the first releases as Just In Case You're Wondering) is a standout of the entire garage genre and makes a strong argument for the best Canadian garage record of all time. Roger Mayne's fuzzed out guitar work gives the song a strong backbone without getting to the point of ridiculous fuzz (as was sometimes too often the case with garage bands). It's nicely complimented by Bell's distinct jangly rhythm work. The song is written by Byngham and Bell and our singer lays it out clear that he's psychologically damaged by a mean, nasty girl. 
Just in case you wonder
Why I'm feeling blue
There's no need to ponder
It's all because of you 
I'm sitting at home
Sitting alone
I'm waiting for you to come back
Knowing that you won't 
Just in case you wonder
Baby where I'm at
I'm in the basement yonder
counting all the rats!
Yeah baby! One rat, two rat. Then we go into a very impressive extended lead from Roger Mayne. 

That's Just a Thought I Had In My Mind is a solid Flip-Side. Much different from the A-side, more straight out pop, but I think you'll agree, it deserves a little love from us today. The flip was written by Byngham and Mayne. 
Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

No comments:

Post a Comment