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" Garden Party " was a 1972 hit song for Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band from the album Garden Party . It tells of his being booed off the stage at Madison Square Garden, seemingly because he was playing his newer, country-tinged music instead of the 1950s-era rock that he had been successful with earlier, and his realization that "you can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself".

The concert

On October 15, 1971, a Rock 'n Roll Revival concert was given at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The playbill included many greats of the early rock era, including Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Bobby Rydell.

Nelson came on stage dressed in the then-current fashion, wearing bell-bottoms and a purple velvet shirt, with his hair hanging down to his shoulders. He started playing his older songs "Hello Mary Lou" and "She Belongs to Me", but then he played The Rolling Stones' "Country Honk" (a country version of their hit song "Honky Tonk Women") and the crowd began to boo. While some reports say that the booing was caused by police action in the back of the audience, Nelson took it personally and left the stage. He watched the rest of the concert backstage and did not reappear on stage for the finale.

The song

The song tells of various people who were present, frequently in an oblique manner ("Yoko brought her Walrus", referring to Yoko Ono and John Lennon), with a chorus:

But it's all right now, I've learned my lesson well
You see, you can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself

One more reference in the lyrics pertains to a particularly mysterious and legendary audience member: "Mr. Hughes hid in Dylan's shoes, wearing his disguise". The Mr. Hughes in question was not a Howard Hughes reference, as is widely believed, but refers to ex-Beatle, George Harrison, who was a good friend and next-door neighbor to Nelson. Harrison used Hughes as his traveling alias, and "hid in Dylan's shoes" is most likely in reference to an album of Bob Dylan covers Harrison was planning, but never recorded. "Wearing his disguise" fits in with the fact that Harrison traveled incognito.

The lines "Out stepped Johnny B. Goode / Playing guitar, like a-ringing a bell" refer to Chuck Berry and his song "Johnny B. Goode".

In the final verse of his song, Nelson sang, "If memories are all I sing / I'd rather drive a truck."

Charts

"Garden Party" reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the fall of 1972, remaining in the Top 40 for twelve weeks. The song also topped the Billboard adult contemporary chart for two weeks. The song also reached #44 on Billboard's Country Singles Chart. Coincidentally, this was at the same time when two other '50s rock legends were on the charts: Chuck Berry's "My Ding-a-Ling" was at #1 and Elvis Presley's "Burning Love" at #2. This was Nelson's last Top 40 hit on the pop chart.

Covers

Country singer Johnny Lee recorded a cover version of the song in the late 1970s, entitled "Country Party", with slightly altered lyrics. Dwight Yoakam has also performed it live in concert.

In 2009, John Fogerty recorded the song with former Eagles Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit, for Fogerty's The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again album.

References

1. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1996). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits , 6th Edition (Billboard Publications)

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