Ask “Mr. Music”
Jerry Osborne



FOR THE WEEK OF JANUARY 6, 2020

DEAR JERRY: Please help me find out something about a song that no one I know seems to remember. The phrasing in it is so odd that my friends probably think I'm joking when I mention it, and that there is no such song. When I was a teenager, in the late '60s and early '70s, a friend had an album that included a track that I think is titled "Frank Mills."

It is a really a strange little song, which, for some reason, I knew every word of. Now, decades later, I can't recall that album it was on. I know that it was sung by a female.
—Kathy Harmon, Seminole, Fla.

DEAR KATHY: Mmmm ... both questions this week come from Florida.

"Strange" appropriately describes "Frank Mills," one of the tunes from "Hair."

You'll find "Frank Mills" on at least three "Hair" albums: the 1968 Original Cast (RCA Victor 1150), the 1969 Original London Cast (Atco 7002), and the 1979 movie soundtrack (RCA Victor 3274).

Shortly after the late '60s "Hair" eruption, a Canadian singer named Frank Mills scored big with "Love Me, Love Me Love," "Peter Piper," and the Top 3 instrumental smash, "Music Box Dancer."

DEAR JERRY: I am looking for an old Peter, Paul & Mary album — one that contains a song titled (I think) "Kilgary Mountain." I'd be most grateful if you would identify this LP.

To read you column is to wander through an interesting period of American history.
—Thomas R. Oldt, Winter Haven, Fla.

DEAR THOMAS: That would be the trio's 1965 album, "A Song Will Rise" (Warner Bros. 1589).

Incidentally, the correct title of that tune is "Gilgarry Mountain."


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