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Fact #40610

When:

Short story:

The Turtles enter the Billboard Top 40 singles chart in the USA with their version of the Bob Dylan composition It Ain't Me, Babe, which will peak at No8.

Full article:

Mark Volman (vocalist, The Turtles) : The only time we ever came close to breaking up was just before we made our first record. This is the story that makes film people drool. We were actually handing in our resignation to The Revalaire Club, when we were introduced to the people who would eventually sign us to White Whale Records.

Howard Kaylan (vocalist, The Turtles) : We were playing Friday and Saturday night at the Revalaire Club and we were fucking destitute, earning peanuts, but it was cool when everyone was going to school. Then a couple guys got married, some were holding down nine-to-five jobs and the decision to break up the Cross Fires as we were called then, was suggested.

The Friday we handed in our resignation – it said, 'Look, we've been playing here every Friday and Saturday for the last year and a half and we're starving' – these two guys came in and said, 'We have a hot new record company, Reb Foster [an ex-DJ and owner of the club] said you're a hot new group. We like that song you do, 'Mr. Tambourine Man' that they play on the radio, we'd like to sign you.'

We said, 'Another burn is coming, but we might as well do it because we don't have anything else to do,' – that was the attitude that fucked up The Turtles through our whole career. So we did it. (Interview by Harold Bronson, Rolling Stone, 16 September 1971)

Mark Volman (vocalist, The Turtles) : We had two guys in the band (Al Nichol And Don Murray) who were already married and starting families and they saw no future in a $40 a week night club act. Each of us agreed it was time to put childhood dreams to bed and start thinking about life after high school. Howard signed up at UCLA and I was at Santa Monica City College. With the chance to record with White Whale Records we tore up that resignation and put together three songs.

Howard Kaylan (vocalist, The Turtles) : I wrote two songs and we got Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe and we recorded them.

Mark Volman (vocalist, The Turtles) : When we chose the Dylan song, It Ain't Me Babe, it was at the suggestion of White Whale Record executives. They wanted us to pick a Bob Dylan song because when they had heard us sing other Byrds songs really well. We never thought of any real approach or arrangement we just shortened the song and added a Danalectro 12 string guitar. We probably used The Zombies as more of an influence than The Byrds.

It Ain't Me Babe, would become a top five record and would change our lives, for that moment. It would send us on the road with a Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars, instead of to college. The tour included Tom Jones, Peter And Gordon, The Shirelles, Billy Joe Royal, Ronnie Dove, Brian Hylandand others. This was a different type of college, a college we would become masters at, over the next 39 years.
(Source : not known)
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Mark Volman (vocalist, The Turtles) : Almost immediately we were an over-night success after three years. We were immediately slung out on the road. That first year we did about 280 days of touring. We did a Dick Clark Caravan Of Stars immediately, six months long tour with Peter And Gordon, Tom Jones. We were immediately pulled out of high school and flung into an entirely different world. So, it was an immediate change. (Source : interview with Gary James at www.classicbands.com)

Howard Kaylan (vocalist, The Turtles) : The first time I ever turned on was on the Caravan. One day in Syracuse, New York, we were sitting in our hotel room. Mel Carter comes to the door with at least a pound of grass in this huge plastic bag and he's got a pipe. There wasn't a word that was spoken, he just filled it up and we got out of it. (Interview by Harold Bronson, Rolling Stone, 16 September 1971)

The seriousness of the music industry was upon us in terms of having hit songs, record company needs for us in terms of having those hit songs. It was a really important thing and up until then, everything had been pretty much a hobby, even though we were pretty serious about it, it was still compared with what was about to happen, pretty much a hobby. So yes, it changed drastically.
(Source : interview with Gary James at www.classicbands.com)