898 The Electric Prunes “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)” 1966

“Mark Tulin was born in Philadelphia to Jewish parents, Rose and Leon, and later moved to LA. He and his brother, Kip, were encouraged to learn musical instruments. While studying at Taft high school in Woodland Hills, he joined the guitarist Ken Williams, the singer James Lowe and the drummer Michael Weakley in the Sanctions, who became Jim and the Lords. Like thousands of groups across suburban America, the band could not afford a rehearsal studio, so they practised in their parents’ garage. During one rehearsal, they were discovered by Barbara Harris, whose husband, an estate agent, was in the neighbourhood. Harris introduced the band to Dave Hassinger, an engineer at RCA records who became their manager. Signing to Reprise, the band changed their name to the punchline of a goofy joke ("What's purple and goes buzz-buzz?") and released a single, Ain’t It Hard (1966), which flopped. Reprise’s parent label, Warner Brothers, were nervous about releasing a follow-up, particularly one with such an odd title, but I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night) was released with little fanfare in 1966 and became a sleeper hit, rising to No 11 in the US and No 49 in the UK (Pat Long, The Guardian, 18 March 2011). 

The Electric Prunes “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)”