Nashville Cats


"Nashville Cats" is a song by the Canadian-American folk-rock band the Lovin' Spoonful. Written by John Sebastian, the song appeared on the band's 1966 album Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful, and it was also issued on a single released the same day as the album. The single peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, marking the seventh and final time the band reached the American Top Ten.

Composition and recording

John Sebastian composed "Nashville Cats" as an ode to the Nashville A-Team, a loose group of session musicians based in Nashville, Tennessee. He was initially inspired when the Lovin' Spoonful returned to their hotel after a show in the city, and he and Zal Yanovsky, the band's lead guitarist, were amazed by an unknown guitarist who played at hotel's bar. Sebastian recalled: Sebastian composed the song weeks later at his home in East Quogue, New York.
Though their sound was focused towards the popular music market, the Spoonful blended influences from blues, country and folk music. Each of the band's members enjoyed elements of country music, particularly Yanovsky, whose lead guitar playing often drew from the rockabilly guitarist Carl Perkins. Steve Boone, the band's bassist, later said that though the group's earlier efforts had hinted at country, "Nashville Cats" was their first conscious effort to make a country song. The track features an electric guitar, a pedal steel guitar and what Sebastian terms "sponge rubber guitar playing" on rhythm guitar. The pedal steel guitar had been leftover from a previous session, and Sebastian quickly learned to play it in the 45 minutes before the band began recording.
Like Boone, the rock author John Einarson describes the song as "pure country". By contrast, the author David Dachs describes the song as a parody, and the journalist Peter Doggett writes that though it was a sincere tribute from Sebastian, the song sounds "condescending" and a "pastiche of Southern slang". The author James E. Perone considers the song an example of pop music.

Release and promotion

"Nashville Cats" was released as psychedelic music began to reach its height in popularity, and the song stood in contrast to the music being recorded by the Spoonful's peers. As a hedge, Kama Sutra Records opted to include a song more suggestive of psychedelia, "Full Measure", as the single's B-side. Both the band and their record label were cynical of the possibility of "Nashville Cats" succeeding in the pop charts, but the band remained hopeful it could become a crossover hit in the country music market. MGM Records mailed the song to country radio stations across the US on a promotional EP, the liner notes of which were partly written by the country musician Buck Owens.
Kama Sutra issued "Nashville Cats" in the US in, simultaneously with the album on which it appeared, Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful. The single exceeded expectations and became a Top Ten hit; on December 17, it entered Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart, and it peaked six weeks later at number eight. "Full Measure" received stronger airplay than its A-side in some markets, especially LosAngeles. In KRLA Beat, the local publication of the Southern Californian radio station KRLA, "Full Measure" reached as high as number seven on the station's Top 40 Requests chart. It entered the national chart for three weeks, peaking at number 87, and it charted in Canada for one week at number 85. The Spoonful's version of "Nashville Cats" failed to appear on any country charts, but the American bluegrass duo Flatt and Scruggs recorded a cover which reached number 54 on Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in 1967.
Kama Sutra issued "Nashville Cats" in the UK on December2, 1966. The single reached number 23 on Melody Maker magazine's single chart. The Spoonful had achieved quick success in the country months earlier, when their single "Daydream" reached number two on the British charts in May1966, but the band's subsequent singles failed to perform as well. The anonymous reviewer for the Bucks Examiner newspaper suggested that the band's declining fortunes stemmed from their recent releases lacking the striking quality needed to succeed in the singles market, adding that though "Nashville Cats" was "very good", it was "a strange choice for a single".

Charts

Chart Peak
position
Australia National Top 40 26
Canada Top Singles 2
Finland 38
Netherlands 14
Netherlands 11
New Zealand 6
Norway 7
Sweden 12
UK 25
UK 23
UK 26
US Billboard Hot 1008
US Cash Box Top 10010
US Record World 100 Top Pops8

Chart Peak
position
Canada Top Singles 85
US Billboard Hot 10087
US Cash Box Top 10097
US Record World Singles Coming Up119