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Tommy James & the Shondells - Crystal Blue Persuasion

Tommy James & the Shondells - Crystal Blue Persuasion Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Cellophane Symphony
Released: 1969

Crystal Blue Persuasion Lyrics

Look over yonder
What do you see?
The sun is a'rising
Most definitely

A new day is coming
Ooh ooh
People are changing
Ain't it beautiful
Crystal Blue Persuasion

Better get ready
To see the light
Love, love is the answer
Oooh ooh
And that's all right

So don't you give up now
So easy to find
Just look to your soul
And open your mind

Crystal blue persuasion
Mmm, mmm
It's a new vibration
Crystal blue persuasion
Crystal, blue persuasion

Maybe tomorrow
When he looks down
On every green field
And every town
All of his children
And every nation
They'll be peace and good brotherhood

Crystal blue persuasion
Yeah
Crystal blue persuasion
Aha
Crystal blue persuasion
Aha
Crystal blue persuasion
Aha
Ohhhh
Crystal blue persuasion
Aha

Writer/s: GRAY, EDDIE MORLEY / VALE, MIKE / JAMES, TOMMY
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Crystal Blue Persuasion Song Chart

In our interview with Tommy James, he explained: "'Crystal Blue' was interesting. First of all, I was becoming a Christian at that time, and we never thought a thing about it. We never thought that doing something semi-religious was any big deal. We didn't think of it as being politically incorrect or anything like that. We just did what felt right. I wrote 'Crystal Blue Persuasion' with Eddie Gray and Mike Vale. Eddie came up with the little guitar riff, and Mike and I did the lyrics. And it just felt very right as a sort of semi-religious poetic song, but it turned out to be one of the hardest records I've ever made.

We went in and had a set of drums, we had guitars, we had keyboards, and by the end, we just realized we had totally overproduced the record. It just was not 'Crystal Blue Persuasion' anymore. It was a nice track, but wasn't right. So we had to produce the record, and then we had to un-produce the record. And one by one we just started pulling the instruments out, until we ended up with a conga drum, a bongo, a tambourine, a flamenco guitar, and a very light-sounding bass. We took out the drums completely. We took out all the keyboards except one, which was a Hammond. And basically ended up with about four instruments on it. And suddenly it became 'Crystal Blue Persuasion,' the song that we had written. It has kind of an effervescent sound about it, a lot of atmospherics that just weren't there when it had all those instruments on it. Suddenly when you emptied out the record it sounded like 'Crystal Blue' again. It had that light airy sound, which it needed to be right. And it took us about 6 weeks to do all that. It really was a very intricate un-production, pulling all the things out. Actually, it was tougher than putting them in because you didn't want to mess up the record, but you wanted to empty it out. So it came out and went #1 for us. It was the follow-up to 'Sweet Cherry Wine.' We were in Hawaii when it went #1, and I often think of Hawaii as I think of 'Crystal Blue Persuasion.'"

When we asked James if "Crystal Blue" is a reference to the Book of Revelation, he replied: "Yes, it is. It's out of the Bible. The imagery was right out of Chapter 19 of the Book of Revelation, about the lake of crystal, and just what John sees. The imagery was just right there. 'Crystal blue persuasion,' although those words aren't used together, it was what the image meant to me."

The lyrics, "It's a new vibration," are about James becoming Christian, but many listeners had their own interpretation. He explained: "Of course, everybody thinks if they don't understand what you're talking about it must be about drugs. But it wasn't. We were going through a real interesting time back then, and a very wonderful time. Everybody in the band, by the way, became Christian. And we're very proud of it. And 'Crystal Blue Persuasion' was sort of our way of saying that in a kind of pop record way."

This would have made a great performance at Woodstock, and the song was peaking on the charts at the time of the famous festival. Tommy James & the Shondells were invited to appear, but, as Tommy explains: "Like dopes we turned it down. I gotta tell you what – we were in Hawaii at the foot of Diamond Head. This was in August of '69, and we played a date in Hilo, and then we had two weeks off and then we were gonna play in Honolulu. They put us at these gorgeous mansions at the foot of Diamond Head, right on the ocean. And our biggest decision of the day was, Do I go in the ocean or in the swimming pool? We were sitting around drinking margaritas, and it was wonderful. And I get this call from JoAnn, my secretary, and she said, 'Artie Kornfeld was up,' Artie Kornfeld was one of the principals at Woodstock, and he was also a friend of mine. He produced the Cowsills and a whole bunch of other acts, and he was very successful producer. We had the same lawyer. And so she said, 'Artie was up and asked if you could play at this pig farm up in upstate New York.' I said, 'What?!?' 'Well, they say it's gonna be a lot of people there, and it's gonna be like a really important show.' And I said, 'Did I hear you right? Did you say would I leave paradise, fly 6,000 miles, and play a pig farm? Is that what you just asked me?' She said, 'Well, you could put it like that, but it's gonna be a big show. It's important.' I said, 'Well, I'll tell you what, if I'm not there, start without us, will you please?' And I hung up the phone. And they did. And by Thursday of that week we knew we messed up really bad. (laughing) But in the end I think I got probably more mileage out of that story."

Tommy James & the Shondells - Mirage

Tommy James & the Shondells - Mirage Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: I Think We're Alone Now
Released: 1967

Mirage Lyrics

I see you standing in the alleys and the hallways
Wait a second, you're gone now
I run to touch you but you vanish through the doorway
And oh how
Hard it is to live without you
I love everything about you
Now I know you're really gone
But my imagination is so strong
That I see you coming into view
And your face is telling me that you
Oh yeah oh, want to be by my side
Oh yeah oh, now it's finally time
Wait a second

Mirage, that's all you are to me
Mirage, something I only see

So I keep walking through the alleys and the hallways
Where are you
I keep remembering the kissing in the doorways
The car too
How it all comes back to me
The movies every Saturday
The place we used to go to eat
I want so much to have it like it used to be
That I see you coming into view
And your face is telling me that you
Oh yeah oh, want to be by my side
Oh yeah oh, now it's finally time
Here it comes again

Mirage, that's all you are to me
Mirage, something I only see

Just a mirage, that's all you are to me
Just a mirage, something that I only see
Just a mirage, that's all you are to me
Just a mirage, something that I only see

Writer/s: Cordell, Ritchie
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Mirage Song Chart

This came about as the result of a studio mistake. Producer Bo Gentry inadvertently put the tape of their previous hit, "I Think We're Alone Now," on the player backwards. The group started listening to the chord progression as they played the reversed tape, and band member Ritchie Cordell wrote the lyrics to it.

This was released as the follow-up to "I Think We're Alone Now." (thanks, Brad Wind - Miami, FL, for above 2)

Tommy James & the Shondells - Mony Mony

Tommy James & the Shondells - Mony Mony Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Mony Mony
Released: 1968

Mony Mony Lyrics

Here she come down, say Mony Mony
Well, shoot 'em down, turn around come home, honey
Hey, she gimme love an' I feel alright now
Everybody! You got me tossin' turnin' in the night
Make me feel alright

I say yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah)
Yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah), yeah

Well you make me feel Mony, Mony
So Mony, Mony
Good Mony, Mony
Yeah, Mony, Mony
So good, Mony, Mony
Oh, yeah, Mony, Mony
Come on, Mony, Mony
All right, baby Mony, Mony
Say yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah)
Yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah) , yeah (yeah), yeah

Break 'dis, shake 'dis, Mony, Mony
Shot gun, get it done, come on, honey
Don't stop cookin', it feels so good, yeah
Hey! well don't stop now, hey, come on Mony,
Well come on, Mony

I say yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah)
Yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah)

Well you make me feel Mony, Mony
So Mony, Mony
Good Mony, Mony
Yeah, Mony, Mony
Oh, yeah, Mony, Mony
Come on, Mony, Mony
So good, Mony, Mony
All right, Mony, Mony

I say yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah)
Yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah)

Oh, I love your Mony, moan, moan, Mony (so good)
Oh, I love your Mony, moan, moan, Mony (so fun)
Oh, I love your Mony, moan, moan, Mony
Oh, I love your Mony, moan, moan, Mony

Yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah)
Yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah)

Come on! Mony, Mony
Come on! Mony, Mony
Come on! Mony, Mony
Everybody, Mony, Mony
All right, Mony, Mony
Mony, Mony
Mony, Mony

Writer/s: BLOOM, BOBBY / GENTRY, BO / CORDELL, RITCHIE / JAMES, TOMMY
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Mony Mony Song Chart

In our interview with Tommy James, he explained: "Originally, we did the track without a song. And the idea was to create a party rock record; in 1968 that was pretty much of a throwback to the early '60s. Nobody was making party rock records really in 1968, those big-drum-California-sun-what-I-sing-money-type songs. And so I wanted to do a party rock record. And we went in the studio, and we pasted this thing together out of drums here, and a guitar riff here. It was called sound surgery, and we finally put it together in probably a month. We had most of the words to the song, but we still had no title. And it's just driving us nuts, because we're looking for like a 'Sloopy' or some crazy name – it had to be a two-syllable girl's name that was memorable and silly and kind of stupid sounding. So we knew what kind of a word we had, it's just that everything we came up with sounded so bad. So Ritchie Cordell, my songwriting partner and I, are up in my apartment up at 888 Eighth Avenue in New York. And finally we get disgusted, we throw our guitars down, we go out on the terrace, we light up a cigarette, and we look up into the sky. And the first thing our eyes fall on is the Mutual of New York Insurance Company. M-O-N-Y. True story. With a dollar sign in the middle of the O, and it gave you the time and the temperature. I had looked at this thing for years, and it was sitting there looking me right in the face. We saw this at the same time, and we both just started laughing. We said, 'That's perfect! What could be more perfect than that?' Mony, M-O-N-Y, Mutual of New York. And so we must have laughed for about ten minutes, and that became the title of the song. When we made the record, we had our usual studio band, but we also dragged in people off the street, we had secretaries come downstairs. This was in the 1650 Broadway Building, the basement of 1650 was a big music industry building. All the writers and publishers were there, so we invited them all downstairs, and it was really a party that got captured on tape."

Amphetamines and the Mafia played a surprising role in this Bubblegum classic. Roulette Records was run by The Mob, as James explains in our interview. As for the drugs, Kenny Laguna, a producer who played keyboards and sang with The Shondells, told us: "We used to do a lot of amphetamines, they were very popular with people trying to succeed, so we'd spend all day and night 'up' making records, and not worrying about getting paid. It was perfect for the record companies, who would supply us with amphetamines." James added: "The record company didn't have anything to do with that. That was probably us. That was our decision, that wasn't their decision."

Two versions were put together to form the song. The part that goes, 'I love you Mony, Mo Mo Mony...' was Bobby Bloom, who was also working for Roulette Records (Bloom sang "Montego Bay," which was a hit in 1970). The rest of it was written by James with producers Bo Gentry and Ritchie Cordell.

When they were recording this, it was considered a throwaway B-side. They had no idea it would become a huge hit.

Kenny Laguna told us more about the recording of this song. Says Laguna: "There was no drummer, so the recording engineer went out there, but he could only get through 2 bars. So before there were loops or anything else, we copied the 2 bars of drums 44 times and spliced them together, and that's the track of 'Mony Mony.' It was like an early loop before there was looping. If you listen carefully, you can hear just 2 bars of the drum track." He added: "When it came time to make it sound like it was a big party, it was lunch time. We went up to Broadway and talked all these strangers into coming down to the studio and going 'Mony, Mony!' There were all these serious guys out there having lunch, and we said, 'You want to sing on a Tommy James record?'"

Check out the video for this song. There weren't a lot of places to show music videos in 1968, but James thought it was important to have one. He told us: "We wanted to do videos. And 'Mony' was the very first video we had ever done. And to me it seemed very sensible to make a film of your hit record. And I couldn't figure out why nobody was doing it. You'd find things would run sometimes on television, there'd be like a movie with a song in it, and they'd take the film clip and run it. But nobody was really making videos. And so we hired a film company, went in and did a video of 'Mony.' We actually did a video of 'Ball of Fire,' and we did a video of 'She' as well. But we couldn't get them played anywhere. So 'Mony' was one of the first videos made. It was 13 years before MTV. And we couldn't get it played anywhere in the United States. TV would not play video made by musicians, they just wouldn't do it. So the only place we could get our video played was over in Europe in the movie theatres. In between double features, they played 'Mony Mony.' And the reason you see it in black-and-white is because it was shown on the Beat Club in England, and it was a film of a film. And it was shown in black-and-white. So when they shipped it back to the United States it was in black and white. But the original video was in color. And so it was me and Daffy Duck for a long time. (laughing) And Daffy wanted to close. So I had problems with Daffy."

There's a story floating around that The Beatles wrote a song for Tommy James & the Shondells, and they turned it down. Tommy clears this up: "What happened was 'Mony Mony' became the biggest-selling single in Britain up to that point. And it was actually bigger in England than it was here. Apple (Records) originally started out as a publishing company and a production company before it was a record company. And their idea was that they were going to write songs for other acts, and publish them, and in some cases produce them. So George Harrison was working with a group called Grapefruit, and George and these fellas wrote a bunch of these songs for us that they sent over to my manager, Lenny Stogel. We were very flattered, but they all sounded like 'Mony Mony.' And we had by that time made the decision that we were gonna go with 'Crimson And Clover,' and really change our style. So we never did these songs. Some of them were really good. There was a whole tape full of them. And we were very flattered and very honored. One of my great regrets is that I never got a chance to thank George for doing that, and I should have, I should have made a bigger fuss. But because we had changed our style with 'Crimson and Clover,' we never went back to the 'Mony Mony' style of party rock."

This was a #1 hit for Billy Idol in 1987. It brought the song to a new generation who had never heard the original. When Idol released his version, it became popular for kids to shout "hey, hey, what, get laid, get f--ked" during the instrumental break in the chorus. Anyone who went to a prom when this was popular can verify this, although the origin of the chant remains a mystery.

Idol first released his version as a single in 1981, his first as a solo artist after leaving the band Generation X, and included it on his 4-song EP Don't Stop the same year. He released a live version in 1987 which became his biggest hit, going to #1 US and #7 UK. When asked why recorded the song, Idol would often tell a story about how it was playing when he lost his virginity in a park. In later years, he implied that it had more to do with publishing rights and financial interests.

When Idol's version of "Mony Mony" hit #1 in the US, it knocked off another Tommy James cover - Tiffany's version of "I Think We're Alone Now," which was a hit for James in 1967. Another James song that got new life as a cover was "Crimson And Clover," which Joan Jett recorded in 1982 as her follow-up to "I Love Rock And Roll." Jett's version was produced by Kenny Laguna, who has worked with her since she started as a solo artist.

Weird Al Yankovic wrote a parody based on Billy Idol's 1987 recording called "Alimony," about a guy who gets divorced and has to pay his ex alimony payments, but is broke from it. It is on his 1988 album Even Worse. (thanks, Steph - SoCal, CA)