Incense and Peppermints

Infobox Single
Name = Incense and Peppermints


Artist = Strawberry Alarm Clock
from Album = Incense and Peppermints
A-side =
B-side = The Birdman of Alkatrash
Released = 1967
Format = 7", 12"
Recorded = 1966
Genre = Psychedelic pop
Length = 2:37
Label = UNI
Writer = John Carter
Tim Gilbert
Ed King (uncredited)
Mark Weitz (uncredited)
Producer = Frank Slay
Certification =
Last single = -
This single = "Incense and Peppermints" (1967)
Next single = "Tomorrow" (1967)
Misc =

"Incense and Peppermints" is a song and album by Strawberry Alarm Clock. The single was released in 1967 and reached number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100. Follow-up single "Tomorrow" reached #23 on the Billboard chart in January 1968, as well as three minor hits; "Sit with the Guru" (#65) and "Barefoot in Baltimore" (#67), which, like "Incense and Peppermints," had lyrics that were foisted onto their music that the band cared little for, and "Good Morning Starshine" from "Hair" (#87). According to the liner notes of the CD release of the second album Strawberry Alarm Clock album, "Wake Up... It's Tomorrow", Mark Weitz and Ed King wrote the music to "Incense and Peppermints" as an instrumental, Weitz writing the bulk of it and King writing the bridge, and songwriter John Carter surreptitiously sang his own vocal line and lyrics over his own performance of their music in a demo, and producer Frank Slay considered the song to have been written by Carter and Tim Gilbert. According to King, Slay denied King credit because King did not write the melody line, and because, he alleged, no more than two names would fit on the label. As such, the band recorded no more music by Carter until their third album. Carter laid low during the recording of the band's second album, but Slay put more of his music into the band's repertoire on the third.

The band members cared so little for the lyrics that neither of the band's two singers, Lee Freeman and Mark Weitz, wanted to sing the lead vocal. This recalcitrance was due in large part to the lyrics, which had been written by a songwriter named John Carter, who was under contract to the song's producer Frank Slay. The band did not care for Carter's pseudo-psychedelic lyrics and were miffed that he—and therefore Slay—would get a share of the song's royalties. As a result, the band impulsively drafted a 16-year-old named Greg Munford, a friend of the band who happened to be at the recording session to add percussion, to sing lead. Munford was never officially a member of the Strawberry Alarm Clock and appears only on this recording; he was not even present for the single's B-side, "Birdman of Alkatrash". "Birdman of Alkatrash" was intended by the band to be the A-side, with Weitz and King's instrumental, "The Happy Whistler," which became "Incense and Peppermints," as the B-side.

Album

"Incense and Peppermints" is also the name of the first album by Strawberry Alarm Clock. It is currently unavailable on CD in the United States. A compilation album of the same title (albeit spelled with an ampersand) was released by MCA Special Products in 1990 and reissued by oldies.com in 1997. It features the five Strawberry Alarm Clock songs that charted along with several other tracks. The only tracks from the first album contained on the compilation are "Birds in My Tree," "Strawberries Mean Love," "Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow," and "Incense and Peppermints," and not in that order. The Japanese release also includes the aforementioned non-album B-side, "Birdman of Alkatrash," which is also on the compilation. The album charted at #11. "The World's on Fire", "Lose to Live", "Paxton's Back Street Carnival", "Hummin' Happy", "Pass Time With the SAC", and "Unwind with the Clock" remain unreleased on CD in the United States. "The World's on Fire", "Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow", and "Incense and Peppermints" are all featured in the motion picture "Psych-Out", along with a new title song, also by the band.

Track listing

ide 1

#"The World's on Fire"
#"Birds in My Tree"
#"Lose to Live"
#"Strawberries Mean Love"

ide 2

#"Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow"
#"Paxton's Back Street Carnival"
#"Hummin' Happy"
#"Pass Time With the SAC"
#"Incense and Peppermints"
#"Unwind with the Clock"

Pop culture occurrences

The song has appeared in numerous places:
*The motion pictures "Psych-Out" (1968), "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" (1970), "" (1997), and "Riding the Bullet" (2004).
*The animated movie "" (2001).
*"The Simpsons" episodes "Weekend at Burnsie's," "Future-Drama," "D'oh-in in the Wind," and "Fraudcast News".
*Spoken by Ben Stein at the beginning of an episode of "Win Ben Stein's Money".
*"Clone High" Episode 8: Raisin the Stakes.
*The title is mentioned in the lyrics of Pretty Baby by Blondie
*The front page of YTMND as a prank.

External links

* [http://www.mplcommunications.com/song_display.asp?SongNum=1689 Song information] at MPL Communications website