"Miss Mac Baren" is a song by the Swedish rock band

Tages Tages was claimed as a founding prophet of Etruscan religion who is known from reports by Latin authors of the late Roman Republic and Roman Empire. He revealed a cosmic view of divinity and correct methods of ascertaining divine will concerni ...

, released as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

in November 1966. It was written by all five members of the group and was recorded during the sessions for their third studio album, ''Extra Extra'', but was ultimately excluded from it. The B-side, "Get Up An' Get Goin'", was however included as the fourth track on the album. "Miss Mac Baren" got its first album release on ''Tages Hits Vol. 3'', a

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 ...

released in August 1967.

Background

The song originated during the band's Scandinavian tour. After a show in

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, they were phoned by their record label,

Platina Records Platina Records (Platina Skivor) was a Swedish independent record label founded in 1964 by businessman and songwriter Evert Jakobsson. The label saw great success throughout the mid-1960s with rock acts such as Tages, before turning to dansband m ...

, and told that they needed a title for their next single so that they could have the

sleeve A sleeve ( ang, slīef, a word allied to ''slip'', cf. Dutch ) is the part of a garment that covers the arm, or through which the arm passes or slips. The sleeve is a characteristic of fashion seen in almost every country and time period, acro ...

printed. The band was unsure of what to record until they were sitting at a bar and guitarist

Danne Larsson Dan "Danne" Tage Bexér (né Larsson; born 11 January 1948) is a Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist and businessman who is best known for being the rhythm guitarist in the Swedish rock band Tages (band), Tages, and subsequently Blond, between 196 ...

spotted an ad for Mac Baren Tobacco, which inspired the title. The band subsequently wrote the rest of the song on a tour bus in Southern Sweden during their way home from Denmark. According to vocalist

Tommy Blom Tommy Albert Blom (3 March 1947 – 25 May 2014) was a Swedish singer, songwriter and musician. He was a member of the band Tages in the 1960s. In the mid 1990s, he started hosting Vinyl 107. In 2008, he lost that job because "he was too old", but ...

, it was partly inspired by a currently unidentified

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

rock group which Tages had heard the previous year during a tour. Once they returned to

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, they recorded the song in Europafilm Studio in

Solna Solna Municipality ( sv, Solna kommun or , ) is a municipality in Stockholm County in Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna is one of t ...

on 22 November 1966. The unusual sound used at the beginning and end of the song was conceived by Blom, who crawled inside a

grand 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 ...

and played it with a pick. "Miss Mac Baren" was released as a single on 28 November 1966, a release that coincided with their third studio album ''

Extra Extra ''Extra extra'' or ''Marginella extra'' is a species of minute sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk or micromollusk in the family Cystiscidae. Some malacologists place this genus more simply in the family Marginellidae. Taxonomy ''Marginell ...

''. It instantly became a chart hit, reaching number one on Kvällstoppen in the early weeks of 1967 (becoming their second to do so, after "In My Dreams"), and number four on ''

Tio i Topp ''Tio i Topp'' (English: ''Ten At The Top'') was a Swedish record chart and radio program broadcast by Sveriges Radio P3 between the years of 1961 and 1974. It was launched to combat pirate radio charts and was the first official Swedish record cha ...

.'' The B-Side, "Get Up An' Get Goin'", was written by Anders Henriksson and Thorstein Bergmanunder under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

s F. Akon and F. Thokon.

Personnel

Tages

– co-lead vocals, percussion *

Göran Lagerberg Göran Bertil Lagerberg (; born 20 September 1947) is a Swedish musician and singer-songwriter, best known as the bass guitarist and co-lead vocalist in Swedish rock band Tages and later progressive rock act Kebnekajse. In the 1990s, he was a ...

– co-lead vocals, bass guitar *

Anders Töpel (Per-Inge) Anders Töpel (16 January 1947 – 10 April 2014) was a Swedish guitarist, best known for being the lead guitarist of the Swedish rock group Tages. Early life Töpel was born in Gothenburg, Sweden. He befriended Tommy Blom as a child ...

–

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 featur ...

–

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

, backing vocals * Tommy Tausis – drums

Other

* Anders Henriksson – piano, keyboards, backing vocals, producer

Chart positions

References

{{Tages 1966 singles English-language Swedish songs 1966 songs Tages (band) songs Number-one singles in Sweden Platina Records singles