"Crimson and Clover"
Crimson and Clover by Tommy James and the Shondells single cover
Single by Tommy James and the Shondells
Length	5:25
Audio sample
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Crimson and Clover is a song by Tommy James and the Shondells. It was one of the biggest hits of the 1960s and reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1969. The 1968 album of the same name was also a hit, having reached #8 on the pop albums chart. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... A collection of various CD singles In music, a single is a short recording of one or more separate tracks. ... Tommy James and the Shondells was a rock and roll group, initially formed in 1964 as The Shondells. ... Image File history File links Crimson_and_Clover_by_Tommy_James_and_the_Shondells. ... Tommy James and the Shondells was a rock and roll group, initially formed in 1964 as The Shondells. ...

"Crimson and Clover" was completely written and recorded by the duo of Tommy James and Peter Lucia Jr., the Shondells drummer. Lucia played drums and delivered backing vocals, while James played all other instruments and sang the lead vocals. Tommy James (born Thomas Jackson on April 29, 1947 in Dayton, Ohio) is an American pop-rock musician and singer. ...

The song is famous for a unique "wobbly" vocal effect near the end of the song. To produce this effect, Tommy James plugged his microphone into a guitar amplifier, flipped the tremolo switch, and repeatedly sang the line "crimson and clover, over and over". When it was released in December 1968, many listeners thought he was saying "Christmas is over" instead of "crimson and clover."^{[citation needed]}

Various releases

There are three releases of Crimson and Clover.

• Album version: contains extended guitar solos and runs well over five minutes
• Single version: cuts the album version's guitar solos and runs just under three and a half minutes
• CD version (1991's Crimson and Clover/Cellophane Symphony): is similar to the album version, but a man in the beginning says: "I'm just gonna fool around man, like, just do a thing, you know, whatever, and I'll just, you know..." This is probably a reference the band's brainstorming while coming up with ideas. However, it is still unknown whose voice it is: the same voice can also be heard right before the song Sugar on Sunday saying, "Don't worry about it guys, it's all in the mix". Also, the guitar solos are a fraction higher in volume than on the LP version. This corrects the band's mistakes made in 1969, when they added new sections with different tape speeds to the existing single. The CD booklet states that Crimson and Clover is now as it is "meant to be heard," and that Tommy James is "very satisfied" with the reissue of the original LP master tapes to CD form.

It is often mistaken that Velvet Underground has also done a cover, however it is only the original version by Tommy James and the Shondells improperly named.

Cover versions

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Whole interpretations

• The Uniques (featuring Slim Smith) did a reggae cover in 1969[1] [2]
• The '70s Chilean band Aguaturbia did a part English/part Spanish cover entitled Carmesí y Trébol.
• Joan Jett and the Blackhearts did a rendition of the song in 1981 that appears on the album I Love Rock N' Roll. Jett did another rendition of the song in 1995 as the lead singer of Evil Stig (Jett's collaboration with punk band The Gits) on the live album Evil Stig.
• Simon and Garfunkel also did a cover of the song.
• Chicago art rocker Bobby Conn also did an interpretation of the song on a rare 7" LP with Never Get Ahead as well as Who's the Paul?.
• The band 2Young did a hip-hop remix of the song in the mid-90s.
• Cher and her son Elijah Blue Allman performed the song as a duet for the soundtrack to A Walk On The Moon (1999).
• Kelly Clarkson performed the song live a number of times towards the end of her 2005 Hazel Eyes Tour.
• Sielun Veljet, a Finnish rock group covered the song on their album "Musta laatikko".
• Velvet Underground also made cover version that did not appear on any common album.

For the Stargate SG-1 episode, see 1969 (Stargate SG-1). ... Centuries: 1st century BC - 1st century - 2nd century Decades: 20s - 30s - 40s - 50s - 60s - 70s - 80s - 90s - 100s - 110s - 120s 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 Note: Sometimes the 70s is used as shorthand for the 1970s, the 1870s, or other such decades in other centuries... Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin on September 22, 1960) is an American rock guitarist, singer, producer and actress. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Spears rocking in the music video I Love Rock N Roll is a rock and roll song, written in 1975 by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker of The Arrows. ... Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... The Gits were a Seattle punk rock band active from 1986 to 1993. ... Simon and Garfunkel are an American popular music duo comprised of Paul Simon and Arthur Art Garfunkel. ... Bobby Conn is a musician from Chicago, known for his pop-rock. ... Hip hop (also see hip-hop or hiphop) is both a music genre and a cultural movement developed in urban communities starting in the 1970s, predominantly by African Americans and Latinos. ... Centuries: 1st century BC - 1st century - 2nd century Decades: 40s - 50s - 60s - 70s - 80s - 90s - 100s - 110s - 120s - 130s - 140s 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 Sometimes the 90s is used as shorthand for the 1990s, the 1890s, or other such decades in various centuries. ... Cheryl Sarkisian LaPiere (better known as Cher) (born on May 20, 1946),[1] is an Academy Award winner American actress, singer, songwriter, and entertainer. ... Elijah Blue Allman also known as Phillips Exeter Blue I, (born July 10, 1976), son of Cher and Gregg Allman and half brother of Chastity Bono and Devon Allman . ... The 1999 drama A Walk On The Moon stars Diane Lane, Viggo Mortensen, Anna Paquin and Liev Schrieber. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born April 24, 1982) is a Grammy Award-winning American singer and actress who has enjoyed success in the pop and rock music genres. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This is a description of the concert tours that American pop rock singer-songwriter Kelly Clarkson has embarked on during her professional career. ... Sielun Veljet (Soul Brothers or Brothers of Soul) was a Finnish band, who started in the early 1980s and split after their 1991 3-CD Musta laatikko. ... The Velvet Underground and Nico (from left to right: John Cale, Nico, Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison, and Maureen Tucker) The Velvet Underground (Affectionately known as The Velvets, or V.U. for short) was an American rock and roll band of the late 1960s. ...

Samples and mentions

• Jarvis Cocker's Black Magic is built around a sample of the song.
• The band Jimmy Eat World references this song in A Praise Chorus on their album Bleed American. Though more likely based on the meaning of the song and the band's influences, they are referring to the Joan Jett cover. Near the end of the song, they repeat the words "crimson and clover, over and over" several times.
• The band Kings of Leon also mention this song in California Waiting (from their debut album Youth and Young Manhood), saying "crimson and clover pullin' overtime".
• Elliott Smith sings "the radio was playing Crimson and Clover" in the song Baby Britain on his album XO.
• The band American Hi-Fi mentions "crimson and clover" in the song The Breakup Song on their album The Art of Losing.
• Metric mentions "crimson and clover" in the song Siamese Cities off the Static Anonymity EP.
• Renee Renee mentions "crimson and clover" in his song Driving.
• Liz Phair sings, "crimson and clover--soon he's taken over all my senses now" in the song Johnny Feelgood.
• The track "Our Time" from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs debut EP samples the melody of "Crimson and Clover" when Karen O sings "It's the year to be hated / So glad that we made it."

Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963, in Sheffield, England) is an English musician, best known for fronting the band Pulp. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... A Praise Chorus is a song by Jimmy Eat World from the CD Bleed American (the CD was later retitled Jimmy Eat World after the events of September 11, 2001) It was the third single released from that CD. With its carpe diem theme, the song has been described as... Bleed American is the fourth album by Jimmy Eat World. ... Kings of Leon are a rock band made up of three brothers and a cousin, based in Mt. ... Steven Paul Elliott Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. ... XO (1998) is the name of the fourth album recorded by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. ... American Hi-Fi is a power pop/alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, best known for their 2001 hit Flavor of the Weak. To date they have released three studio albums, as well as a live album released only in Japan. ... The Art of Losing is the second studio album from American Hi-Fi. ... Metric is a Canadian rock band. ... Static Anonymity is an EP released by the Canadian band Metric in 2001. ... Liz Phair (born Elizabeth Clark Phair on April 17, 1967 in New Haven, Connecticut) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. ... Yeah Yeah Yeahs are a Grammy Award nominated New York City-based rock band. ... Yeah Yeah Yeahs is the Yeah Yeah Yeahs self-titled debut EP, released in 2001 by the bands own label, Shifty. ... Karen O Karen Lee Orzołek, better known as Karen O, is the lead vocalist for the New York art punk band Yeah Yeah Yeahs. ...

Background music

• It is used as background music to a makeout scene between John Cusack's character 'Rob' and his high school girlfriend 'Penny' in the movie High Fidelity.
• It was used multiple times in the 2003 film Monster.
• It is used as background music in Veronica Mars when Logan waits in his yacht for Veronica, who never shows up.
• It is used as background music in an A&W commercial where a middle-aged couple go to an A&W restaurant to relive memories.
• Also used as background music in Sports Night at the end of the "Sally" episode.
• A small part is used in the movie Frequency as the radio signal is traveling to the sun and back through time.