Music of the Day, 2 April 2024

not the garden party i thought it was

It’s the time of year when people start talking about their gardens—whether planning them or getting seedlings going in the Northern Hemisphere, or winding things down in the Southern Hemisphere. Even though I know it’s coming, the chatter always brings me pangs of sadness.

Despite repeated attempts with a variety of plants, I’ve been unable to keep anything¹ alive in our current New Mexico abode. It’s too damn dry inside and out; our patio holds heat like a dragon hoards its jewels; the temperature swings are crazy; and if there’s a magic formula for keeping plants properly hydrated inside, I’ve not found it, as they swung from desiccated to drowning with no happy middle. In Washington, we had a small herb garden outside our front door, including a rosemary bush that was too large to come with us when we moved.² To go from that to absolutely nothing has been one of my most challenging adjustments.

All the garden conversations combined with my new focus on music here surely led to today’s MotD. I haven’t thought of or heard this song in decades, but once it started playing on the radio station in my mind, the lyrics came flooding back.

I was 10 when “Garden Party” became a top-ten pop hit for Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band. Even though I clearly heard the line “Yoko brought her walrus” and knew the references, I couldn’t figure out what that had to do with a garden party—which for some reason I’d decided was a fancy British thing. Today I learned that the song is an allusion to Nelson being booed at a 1971 concert in Madison Square Garden; the song’s Wiki page includes a rundown of lyric references.

For me, Nelson was a pop musician, as I wasn’t around when The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet was broadcast and never saw any of the things he acted in. Truth be told, I mostly remembered his clear, relaxed voice and clear diction; when I listened to “Garden Party” on YouTube, I was surprised by how country it is. It doesn’t make me like the song less, but now that I know its meaning, I’m not sure that it’ll come to mind again.

While searching for the song, I discovered that Herb Alpert also has a piece titled “Garden Party.” It was released as a single from the 1983 album Blow Your Own Horn and did pretty well on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart. It’s possible I’ve heard it before, but I don’t remember it.

I’d probably be more likely to listen to this music rather than Nelson’s song, but since it isn’t on the only Herb Alpert album I have (1970’s Greatest Hits, which was Alpert with the Tijuana Brass), that’s unlikely. Which do you prefer?

1. Even my beloved, tenacious peppermint plant—which thrived in Wyoming, Wisconsin, and Washington—was no match for the dry heat on our patio

2. A dear friend who had a small landscaping business took it (the homeowner was a real bitch, so we didn’t leave them anything … they probably would have doused everything with herbicide anyway)