Every Mother's Son was an American

sunshine pop Sunshine pop (originally known as soft pop) is a subgenre of pop music that originated in Southern California in the mid-1960s. Rooted in easy listening and advertising jingles, sunshine pop acts combined nostalgic or anxious moods with "an appre ...

band formed in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1966. Coming from a

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

background situated in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

, the group scored their only Top 40 hit "

Come On Down to My Boat "Come On Down to My Boat" is a song written by Jerry Goldstein and Wes Farrell and performed by Every Mother's Son. Their only top 40 hit ever, it reached No. 6 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1967, and appeared on their self-titled debut album ...

" in 1967. Following their brief commercial success, Every Mother's Son achieved lesser fortunes with songs such as "Put Your Mind at Ease" and "Pony with the Golden Mane", and recorded two studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

s before disbanding in 1968.

History

The nucleus of Every Mother's Son formed in early 1966, when brothers Larry (

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

) and Dennis Larden (vocals, guitar) met Bruce Milner (

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

) at a

nightclub. The Larden brothers had previous experience playing four years together as a

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

duo for engagements in Greenwich Village's burgeoning music scene. Milner had also spent time performing with various folk bands, but desired to involve himself with a group long-term. Soon after meeting Milner, the Larden brothers recruited Schuyler Larsen (

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

) and Christopher Augustine (

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

), forming a quintet named Every Mother's Son. The band invited Peter C. Leeds, a manager the Larden brothers knew from their days as a folk act, to spectate at a performance for a college fraternity. Impressed by what he witnessed, Leeds signed Every Mother's Son to a contract, and introduced the band to

Wes Farrell Wes Farrell (December 21, 1939 – February 29, 1996) was an American musician, songwriter and record producer, who was most active in the 1960s and 1970s. Career Farrell was born in New York, United States. Farrell's catalogue includes clos ...

, a songwriter and

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

who had composed songs such as "

Hang on Sloopy "Hang On Sloopy" (originally "My Girl Sloopy") is a 1964 song written by Wes Farrell and Bert Berns. Rhythm and blues vocal group the Vibrations were the first to record the tune in 1964. Atlantic Records released it as a single, which reached ...

", "

Boys A boy is a young male human. The term is commonly used for a child or an adolescent. When a male human reaches adulthood, he is described as a man. Definition, etymology, and use According to the ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary'', a boy is "a ...

", and "

Come a Little Bit Closer "Come a Little Bit Closer" is a song by the 1960s rock and roll band Jay and the Americans. It reached number 3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on November 21, 1964, making it the band's highest-charting single. It also peaked at number 4 on the ...

". Sensing the group's potential, Farrell utilized his Senate Records studio to record a dozen demo sides with Every Mother's Son. Through Farrell's connections in the music industry, five major

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

s expressed interest in the band; ultimately,

MGM Records MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...

signed the group as a clean-cut alternative to the

1960s counterculture The counterculture of the 1960s was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon that developed throughout much of the Western world in the 1960s and has been ongoing to the present day. The aggregate movement gained momentum as the civil rights mo ...

. Late in 1966, Every Mother's Son recorded the Farrell and Jerry Goldstein-penned song "

Come on Down to My Boat "Come On Down to My Boat" is a song written by Jerry Goldstein and Wes Farrell and performed by Every Mother's Son. Their only top 40 hit ever, it reached No. 6 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1967, and appeared on their self-titled debut album ...

", originally released by the

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

band The Rare Breed (who became The Ohio Express) under the title "Come and Take a Ride in My Boat" earlier in the year. An almost instant favorite on American pop radio stations, Every Mother's Son's take on the song reached number six on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in July 1967. Because the group was signed to MGM, not only did the band appear on several nationally televised programs to promote the single, they also were featured in a two-part episode of ''

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by MGM Television, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who wo ...

'' (series 3) entitled "The Five Daughters Affair", the combined episodes were also released as the movie "

The Karate Killers ''The Karate Killers'' is a 1967 American spy film and feature-length film version of ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.''s third season two-part episode " The Five Daughters Affair". The episodes were originally broadcast in the United States on March 31, ...

". A self-titled studio

, featuring mainly original material as well as their hit single, followed soon after, and became a modest commercial success, peaking at number 117 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Much of the music on the album was described as "clean summer rock (with almost imperceptible echoes of

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

and

The Association The Association is an American sunshine pop band from California. During the late 1960s, the band had numerous hits at or near the top of the ''Billboard'' charts (including " Windy", " Cherish", " Never My Love" and "Along Comes Mary") and ...

)". Although Every Mother's Son never managed to attain commercial success that paralleled "Come on Down to My Boat", they flirted with the national charts throughout the remainder of the year. MGM Records quickly distributed their second album ''Every Mother's Son's Back'' in late 1967, spawning three charting singles, "Put Your Mind at Ease" (number 46), "Pony with the Golden Mane" (number 93), and "No One Knows" (number 96), but the album itself failed to sell in sufficient quantities to chart. Schuyler Larsen departed Every Mother's Son following the release of their sophomore effort, and was replaced by Don Kerr. In 1968 work commenced on a third album; however, the group disbanded by the end of the year. Dennis Larden later joined

Ricky Nelson Eric Hilliard Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter and actor. From age eight he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he bega ...

's Stone Canyon Band. In 1998,

Collectables Records Collectables is a reissue record label founded in 1980 by Jerry Greene. Jerry Greene formed Lost Nite and Crimson record labels. Soul Survivors gained the hit "Expressway to Your Heart" (1967) while on Crimson Records. History It maintains a ca ...

distributed the

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

''The Very Best of Every Mother's Son: Come on Down to My Boat''. In 2012 a CD of both MGM albums and a bonus non-album single was issued by Now Sounds as "Come On Down: The Complete MGM Recordings" using the original master tapes. One member, Bruce Milner, is now a dentist in both Manhattan, New York and Woodstock.

Members

* Dennis Larden –

* Larry Larden – vocals, guitar * Bruce Milner –

* Christopher Augustine –

* Schuyler Larsen –

* Don Kerr – bass guitar

Discography

Albums

Singles

References