THE TURTLES
The Turtles are an American rock band led by vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, later known as Flo and Eddie. The band became notable for several Top 40 hits beginning with their cover version of Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe” in 1965. They scored their biggest and best-known hit in 1967 with the song “Happy Together”. (More from Wikipedia)
Following the break-up of the Magicians in 1967, Alan Gordon and Garry Bonner became successful songwriters, particularly with the Turtles; they composed two of the band’s biggest hits, “Happy Together” and “She’d Rather Be with Me”. Allan “Jake” Jacobs later recorded as Bunky and Jake, and also as Jake and the Family Jewels.
(December 2011)
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I do love being able to tie these obscure bands to something most people would have heard of or to something else going on in the larger society. For instance, two bandmembers from the UARB for last month, the Magicians went on to be successful songwriters; and even those who might not remember the 1960’s hit song “Happy Together” by the Turtles could still recognize it as the background music for one of those adorable Travelers Insurance ads with the dog who is so worried about his bone (the one with all of the puppies).
(January 2012)
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One of the guys in my suite in college had actually seen King Crimson in concert; they were the opening act for the Turtles, and is that an odd pairing. He told me that people in the audience could tell that the band was good, but mostly they were all just scratching their heads at what they were hearing.
(October 2012)
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Several other major artists have launched their careers with Bob Dylan songs, Olivia Newton-John (“If Not for You”), the Turtles (“It Ain’t Me Babe”), and Cher (“All I Really Want to Do”) among them. Cher’s hit version of “All I Really Want to Do” had to compete on the charts with the Byrds’ version of the same song, “All I Really Want to Do”. Additionally, Manfred Mann and Manfred Mann’s Earth Band have salted their albums with mostly obscure Bob Dylan songs since their third release, As Is (1966).
(March 2015)
