So, here's the story....

In 1971, when I was a junior in high school, I first started writing songs.

One of my first songs was a brilliant little ditty called "'The Foxiest Girl in School." Well, I liked it. Looking back, it wasn't the most original song I ever wrote, but it was a start. Hey! I was only sixteen! I envisioned it being recorded by Three Dog Night, or one of the big groups of the day. Well, that never happened.
Here's what did happen....

So my dad mentioned to one of our neighbors in Lynnwood, Washington, that I was starting to write songs. Turns out that the neighbor,
a guy named David Ellis had been a hotshot record producer in L.A. (At least that's what he told us.
I never did hear any of the "hit" records
he supposedly produced.)

Anyway, my dad brought him over to our house, and Ellis insisted that I play the "Foxiest Girl" song for the neighbor. I was pretty embarassed, but I played him the song. He got really excited and started telling my dad that it was "a hit!" I didn't really know what to think, as I'd only written a couple of other songs up to that point.

To cut a long story short, he didn't like my original lyrics all that much, and he wanted to re-write them, himself. I later regretted it, but I did tell him he could rewrite them. What he came up with, was "Peanut Buttery Gumdrop Girl". As soon as he told me the title, I hated it. He was a go-getter, though, so I kind of thought, "Let's see how far he really takes this."

For a while, he had been the manager of a rock group in Seattle called "The Centaurs". I guess they owed him a favor or two, because they got drafted to play the instruments and sing background vocals on "Peanut Buttery Gumdrop Girl". Ellis booked a studio in downtown Seattle called Audio Recording, and meanwhile he had me rehearse the song with the Centaurs at the bass player's house. Ellis wanted me to sing the lead vocal. I was pretty nervous. I could tell the Centaurs were NOT into this song, but they soldiered on, and somewhat cheerfully went along with it. (Centaurs guitarist and organist Cliff Lenz later became a local TV show host, and ironically, I appeared on a couple of his KING-TV shows, in the 1980's.)

On a Saturday afternoon, in the Summer of '71 we all drove down to the recording studio in Seattle. My parents and sister went with me, (I couldn't drive yet, anyway), and they sat in the booth with Kearny Barton, the audio engineer. Despite my teenage nervousness at being in a real recording studio. we managed to record the song in about two hours. Then we watched the Centaurs overdub a bunch of background vocals, tambourine, other effects. (My mom and dad even got in the act and helped add handclaps! (My sister was 14, and much too cool to join in.)

After the engineer played it back, I was really horrified! What I had originally written as a cool little rock tune of 1971, was now a BUBBLEGUM song! It sounded like something Bobby Sherman might have recorded. Or a throwback to the 1910 Fruitgum Company, five years earlier! Ellis insisted that his new arrangment and new lyrics would lead us to hit record stardom, so I blindly went along with it. Hey, I was just sixteen. He even came up with a dopey Bubblegum name for the 'artist' that this was released under. He came up with the name: "The Cincinnatti Ice Cream Factory Explosion Relief Commitee"! (Sergeant Pepper, it ain't!) But I was secretly relieved that my name wasn't plastered all over this record!

Needless to say, when it came out, the song was a big, fat FLOP, and he couldn't even give it away to radio stations. It was clearly done a style that was hopelessly out of date in 1971, big-time. By the time the record came out, I was a senior in high school. I was terrified that someone at my school would find out I had put out this record, and make me the laughing stock of Edmonds High.

Miraculously, no one ever found out. And I never mentioned the record to even my closest friends! In fact, most of my current friends have never heard this story, until now.....! THAT'S how embarassed I was about this single. It's a secret I've only shared with about one person, since I was a teenager. I've actually only seen the single turn up at a couple of local used record stores. I don't think that many were pressed.

Now, I can look back, listen to this, and kind of laugh. The song is kind of dopey, but in the context of those years, it has a certain charm to it.

Enough time has gone by, that I can talk about it! After all these years, and it's amusing to me to hear how young I sounded on this lead vocal! Well, I was young!