John Sebastian

Over four decades the contributions of John Sebastian have become a permanent part of our American musical fabric. His group The Lovin’ Spoonful played a major role in the mid-60’s rock revolution, but what leader, singer, and songwriter Sebastian had in mind was actually a counterrevolution. “We were grateful to the Beatles for reminding us of our rock and roll roots” Sebastian explained, “but we wanted to cut out the English middlemen, so to speak, and get down to making this new music as an American band.” This the Lovin’ Spoonful did like nobody before or since, putting their first seven singles into the Top Ten. At first they’d taken older material from blues, country, folk and jug band sources – what we now term roots music – and made it sound modern. Then, in a series of original songs composed and sung by Mr. Sebastian, they did the reverse, creating thoroughly modern music that sounded like it contained the entire history of American music. Which it did. You know the songs by heart: “Do You Believe in Magic?” “You Didn’t Have To Be So Nice.” “Daydream.” “Younger Girl.” “Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind?” “Summer In The City.” “Rain On The Roof.” “Nashville Cats.” “Six O’Clock.” “Darling Be Home Soon.” “Younger Generation.”