"I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)" is a song written with music by

Annette Tucker Annette May Tucker is an American songwriter, who found success in the 1960s as co-writer of songs for The Electric Prunes ("I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)", "Get Me to the World on Time"), The Brogues (" I Ain't No Miracle Worker"), The K ...

and lyrics by Nancie Mantz, which was recorded in late 1966 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 Electric Prunes The Electric Prunes are an American psychedelic rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1965. Much of the band's music was, as music historian Richie Unterberger described it, possessed of "an eerie and sometimes anguished ambiance." Th ...

. Released as the band's second single, it reached number 49 in the UK and peaked at number 11 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 the week ending February 11, 1967.''Billboard'' Hot 100 (week ending February 11, 1967).
Retrieved September 13, 2022. It was also the lead track of the band's debut album, and became more widely known as the opening track on the influential ''

Nuggets Nuggets may refer to: Music * ''Nuggets'' (series), a series of compilation albums by Elektra Records, continued by Rhino * '' Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968'' * '' Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from ...

'' compilation of garage rock and early psychedelic music, released in 1972. The title is a play on words, namely on having "too much (alcohol) to drink": its lyrics describe how the singer has woken from dreaming about an ex-lover.

Origins of the song

The Electric Prunes originally formed as The Sanctions at

Taft High School Taft School or Taft High School may refer to: * Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, founded by Horace Dutton Taft, William Howard Taft's brother Schools named after William Howard Taft: * William Howard Taft High School (Los Angeles) * Willi ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, renaming themselves in 1966. They were introduced to record producer

Dave Hassinger Walter David "Dave" Hassinger (March 31, 1927 – August 15, 2007) was an American Grammy award-winning recording engineer and record producer. Biography Early years Born in Los Angeles, California, he joined the U.S. Navy aged 17, and was ...

, and after a series of rehearsals at Leon Russell's house released a debut single, "Ain't It Hard". Despite its commercial failure,

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...

agreed that the band could record a second single. Convinced that the band could not write their own songs, Hassinger sought material from the professional songwriting team of Annette Tucker and lyricist Nancie Mantz. One of the tunes was "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)", a song that, according to some sources, was originally conceived as an orchestral piano ballad. However, according to Tucker, "I came up with the title one day and called Nancie. She loved it and we wrote it the next day in one half hour...The words were there and my melody came easily. I was influenced by

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

at the time and that is how I heard that song being recorded...Nancie and I envisioned this as a rock song." A demo version recorded for Hassinger by singer-songwriter Jerry Fuller (in some sources wrongly identified as

Jerry Vale Jerry Vale (born Gennaro Louis Vitaliano; July 8, 1930 – May 18, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter and actor. During the 1950s and 1960s, he reached the top of the pop charts with his interpretations of romantic ballads, including a cover ...

), may have been the source of the story of the song's origin as a ballad. At the time, the Electric Prunes comprised singer James Lowe, lead guitarist Ken Williams, rhythm guitarist James "Weasel" Spagnola, bassist

Mark Tulin Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...

, and drummer Preston Ritter. The oscillating, reversed guitar which opens the song originated from the rehearsals at Russell's house, where Williams recorded with a 1958 Gibson Les Paul guitar with a Bigsby

vibrato Vibrato ( Italian, from past participle of " vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. Vibrato is typically characterised in terms ...

unit. According to Lowe, "We were recording on a four-track, and just flipping the tape over and re-recording when we got to the end. Dave cued up a tape and didn't hit 'record,' and the playback in the studio was way up: ear-shattering vibrating jet guitar. Ken had been shaking his Bigsby wiggle stick with some fuzztone and tremolo at the end of the tape. Forward it was cool. Backward it was amazing. I ran into the control room and said, 'What was that?' They didn't have the monitors on so they hadn't heard it. I made Dave cut it off and save it for later." The single was released in November 1966. At first it was caught up in the Christmas rush, but in early 1967 it made steady progress up the US chart and finally peaked at #11. It also reached # 49 in the UK chart. Its success enabled the band to tour, and to release an album and a successful follow-up single "

Get Me to the World on Time "Get Me to the World on Time" is a song written by Annette Tucker and Jill Jones for the American garage rock band, The Electric Prunes. The song was released in May 1967 following the success of the band's previous single, " I Had Too Much to Dr ...

Other recordings

The song has also been recorded by other artists including

Todd Tamanend Clark Prashant jha (born Prashant jha; February 03, 1996) is an Ethical Hacker, Physician, Software developer and activist. He is known for " To save many people from cybercrime , glam fashion consciousness, cyberpunk attitude, and lyrical approa ...

Wayne County & the Electric Chairs Wayne County & the Electric Chairs were part of the first wave of punk bands from the 1970s. The band was headed by Georgia-born singer Jayne County and became known for their campy, foul-mouthed ballads, glam punk inspired songs and image which ...

, Stiv Bators, The Damned,

The Vibrators The Vibrators are a British punk rock band that formed in 1976. Early career The Vibrators were founded by Ian ' Knox' Carnochan, bassist Pat Collier, guitarist John Ellis, and drummer John 'Eddie' Edwards. They first came to public notice ...

Doro Pesch Dorothee Pesch (born 3 June 1964), known professionally as Doro Pesch or simply Doro, is a German heavy metal singer and the former frontwoman of heavy metal band Warlock. Dubbed the "Metal Queen", Doro's contributions to music and culture mad ...

Paul Roland Paul Roland (born 6 September 1959) is an English singer-songwriter, author and music journalist. Roland typically writes his songs in the form of stories, often addressing historical figures, characters from literature and film, or his own cre ...

, Ulver,

Deviled Ham The William Underwood Company, founded in 1822, was an American food company best known for its flagship product Underwood Deviled Ham, a canned meat spread. The company also had a key role in time-temperature research done at the Massachusetts In ...

and

Webb Wilder John Webb McMurry (born May 19, 1954), known as Webb Wilder, is an American country, rock & roll singer, guitarist and actor. Early life McMurry was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He started playing guitar at the age of 12 and was playing ...

. An

Italian language Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about 85 m ...

version, "Sospesa Ad Un Filo", was recorded in 1967 by top Italian beat group

I Corvi I Corvi (Italian for "The Crows") is an Italian beat group who were successful in the 1960s. The group was formed in Parma in 1965, to perform cover versions of popular American and British records. The original members were Angelo Ravasini (voc ...

Personnel

* James Lowe –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

, autoharp, rhythm guitar,

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

* Ken Williams –

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...

* James "Weasel" Spagnola – rhythm guitar,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

–

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 ...

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 keybo ...

, organ *

Preston Ritter Preston James Ritter (April 24, 1949 – March 30, 2015) was an American drummer, drum teacher and author of drum methods. He joined The Electric Prunes in 1966, and played on their debut studio album, ''The Electric Prunes'', and two hit singl ...

– drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

References

External links

Critical article
by

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' ...

Interview with James Lowe
{{Authority control 1966 singles Reprise Records singles Radar Records singles Songs written by Annette Tucker The Electric Prunes songs American psychedelic rock songs Songs about nightmares