Dec 14

Farmer John

Barely Appreciated

FARMER JOHN
 
 
There about midway through the fourth side of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968 was a song that I didn’t think quite fit in:  “Farmer John” by the Premiers.  It was earlier than any of the other tracks, dating from 1964, and it sounded like it was recorded live at somebody’s picnic.  The lyrics were simple – “Farmer John . . . I’m in love with your daughter . . . whoa-oh-oooh” – as was the beat and the slow, loping groove; but it just kept growing on me.  Eventually Neil Young recorded a cover of the song in the same style on his excellent 1990 album Ragged Glory.  The songwriter is Richard Berry – he is not related to Chuck Berry but has some seminal songs to his credit nonetheless; “Louie Louie” heads the list, but “Have Love, Will Travel” is almost as good.   (See below).
 
As I have thought it over though, I realize that Hacienda sounds more like by the Premiers than anyone else I can think of, so maybe it is a special Chicano sound that they have.  I had originally brought up the latter band as a device to start talking about Chicano rock bands – and as a way to write a tribute to one of my very, very favorite albums.  In any case, “Farmer John” is not to be missed, so I have included a link to a YouTube video of the original 45 of this great song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qz5Ax30T-E .  (I am not positive that this is the one that was on Nuggets, but it probably is, though the odd introduction about “Has anybody seen Kosher Pickled Herring?” is omitted).
 
(January 2011)
 
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To some extent, I think that Providence guides my hand as I am writing.  For example, in the post about the UARB Hacienda (one of the few current bands that I have written about), I started out talking about the Premiers in an examination of Hispanic rock bands and artists.  Their song “Farmer John” – which Neil Young covered much later – is the next-to-last song on the classic compilation album Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968 and also the oldest, dating from 1964.  As I struggled with how best to describe their sound – having been dissatisfied with the descriptions I had read in reviews and other places, including their own label’s promotional material – I realized that Hacienda’s music was actually quite similar to this song by the Premiers. 

 

(June 2013/2)

 

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I’m not sure where I got the idea that “Farmer John” was written by Richard Berry, but I was mistaken about that; the song was actually written by Don “Sugarcane” Harris and Dewey Terry, who originally recorded the song in the mid-1950’s under the name Don and Dewey.  Sorry about that.  I’m still glad that I had something to say about Richard Berry though; he wrote some great songs, and not just “Louie Louie”.
 
(January 2014)
 
Last edited: March 22, 2021