860 The Association “Along Comes Mary” 1966

“The Association were a successful sixties vocal-harmony group who, despite selling some 15 million copies of their singles, were unable to build a long-term career for themselves. Formed around Terry Kirkman (who had played with Frank Zappa) and Jules Alexander in Los Angeles in 1965, the group from the start ploughed the path of soft, rather than hard, rock. Signed to Valiant in 1966, they had an immediate million-seller with the controversial ‘Along Comes Mary’ (despite its soft harmonies, the song was widely regarded, like the Byrds’ ‘Eight Miles High’, as an ode to marijuana” (Phil Hardy, The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001).

The Association “Along Comes Mary”