It's Wonderful ('67)

Funny how a certain song can stop you in your tracks. I sometimes (perhaps too often) find myself lingering on the 60's channel on Sirius XM Radio. They love to play the big hits of the day, like "Satisfaction" by the Stones or "Stop in the Name of Love" by the Supremes--great songs, but suffering from overexposure.

Then, up comes "It's Wonderful" by the Rascals (note: you have to wait for it on the YouTube video). The psychedelic musings, four/four keyboard rhythms and odd marching outro are so much a part of that surprisingly short period from 1966 to early 1968 in which acid-themed odd (and long) songs suddenly appeared (and quickly disappeared). They play the Rascals' "Groovin'" all the time, but you rarely hear "It's Wonderful." It's a favorite--along with Tomorrow by the Strawberry Alarm Clock. Yeah, they play that band's "Incense and Peppermints" all the time, but not "Tomorrow."

It's for those little chestnuts that I wait through yet another Four Seasons or Gary Puckett and the Union Gap tune.