Top Ten Real Event Songs: Garden Party (#2)

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On a gloomy Monday morning with the threat of that dirty "S" word in the weather forecast I'm going to brighten up things, at least momentarily, with another song on my list of songs inspired by real events. If you've noticed, only a couple of these were "personal," a songwriter talking about what he went through. "Alice's Restaurant" was one. Here's the other. #2: Garden Party - Rick Nelson There's a point in a lot of teen idols' lives where they want to just shake that crap off. Sometimes it succeeds (Sinatra, Donny Osmond); sometimes it doesn't (Leif Garrett). In Rick Nelson's case, both happened! For you kiddies, back in the black & white, three-channel, get-up-and-change-the-station-yourself TV days there was a TV show called The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. No, that's not Ozzy Osbourne. It was a real-life couple, Ozzie & Harriet Nelson, and their kids, David and Ricky. When the show started, Ozzie and Harriet were the big stars. Within a year, Ricky was a teenybopper idol in the fledgling world of rock and roll. Songs like "Travelin' Man," "Poor Little Fool," and "Hello Mary Lou" made Ricky the biggest star in the family! As you know, times and music tastes change. Beatles, psychedelia, blah blah blah. Then comes the "revival" era. You may credit/blame Sha Na Na and their appearance at Woodstock for that, but for whatever reason the 50s were suddenly "cool" again in the early 70s. Then, as now, "rock 'n' roll revival" shows began making the rounds (of course, back then the singers were in their 30s, not their late 70s the way they are now). One was booked into Madison Square Garden in October 1971, featuring Chuck Berry, Bobby Rydell, Bo Diddley, and Ricky Nelson. Of course, by then, Ricky didn't want to be Ricky. He wanted to be Rick. Another thing: he went country. And, folks, I mean country. In 1966 he did an album called Bright Lights and Country Music, with the title song a cover of a Bill Anderson hit. His Stone Canyon Band featured Buckaroos steel guitarist Tom Brumley! All of the sudden, he's asked to be teenybopper Ricky again for this show. As my late, lamented friend Tim Wilson used to say in his comedy routines, that went over like a fart in a diving helmet. Instead of being clean-cut, Nelson had longer hair (not Blue Cheer long, but still....), and he was more interested in his newer music, which included a country version of the Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women." (If you listen to his version, it's not that country, but it's not what you think of when you think of that song!) When he started singing "Honky Tonk Women" in a country fashion there was a commotion and a bunch of boos. Nelson took that personally. (Picky Wedia says police were making an arrest in the venue, which may be what the audience was booing about.) He left the stage, and didn't come back for the finale. But man, did he get a great song out of it!! "Garden Party," celebrating the good ("out stepped Johnny B. Goode [Berry], playing guitar like a ring in a bell and looking like he should") and the bad ("If memories were all I sang I'd rather drive a truck") of the concert. And Nelson's valuable lesson was imparted to us all: "You can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself." Rick Nelson was killed in a plane crash on New Year's Eve 1985. His children carry on his legacy: Tracy Nelson acts, and the band Nelson is fronted by Rick's twin sons. Garden Party Written by Rick Nelson Recorded by Rick Nelson From Garden Party, 1972 Based on Nelson's bad experience at the Rock 'n' Roll Revival Concert, Madison Square Garden, New York City October 15, 1971 I didn't look the same: