too much to dream (last night)

The Electric Prunes broke through with this wrinkled, high-fiber, psychedelic nugget. The band started in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles and went through several incarnations as the Sanctions, and later, Jim and the Lords, before meeting David Hassinger, an engineer at RCA studios, who arranged for them to record some demos at Leon Russell's Sky Hill Studios. Hassinger suggested they change their name and the band picked the Electric Prunes as a joke. Their first single 'Ain't It Hard' flopped; but Reprise Records agreed to give them anther shot. Hassinger brought the band 'I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)' by the songwriting team of Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz. Tucker says, "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 at the time and that is how I heard that song being recorded....Nancie and I envisioned this as a rock song."

The classic lineup of the band at the time was singer James Lowe, lead guitarist Ken Williams, rhythm guitarist James "Weasel" Spagnola, bassist Mark Tulin, and drummer Preston Ritter. Lowe remembers the genesis of the unique guitar sound: "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." 'I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)' made it to number forty-nine in the UK and peaked at number eleven in the US. It was later included as the opening track on the classic compilation of garage rock: 'Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968'.

Last night your shadow fell upon my lonely room

I touched your golden hair and tasted your perfume

Your eyes were filled with love the way they used to be

Your gentle hand reached out to comfort me

Then came the dawn

And you were gone

You were gone, gone, gone

I had too much to dream last night

Too much to dream

I'm not ready to face the light

I had too much to dream

Last night

The room was empty as I staggered from my bed

I could not bear the image racing through my head

You were so real that I could feel your eagerness

And when you raised your lips for me to kiss

Came the dawn

And you were gone

You were gone, gone, gone

Oh, too much to dream

Oh, too much to dream

Too much to dream last night

Oh, too much to dream

After a successful tour, they would record an entire album entitled 'I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)', which included their only other hit 'Get Me To The World On Time'.