Tune Tuesday – Judy In Disguise With Glasses

John Fred (Gourrier) died on this day in 2005. His career in the music biz started in 1956 when he formed the band, John Fred and the Playboys. He was 15 years old.

The first single that charted (#82) for the band was “Shirley” and the instrumentation was by Fats Domino’s backing band. Their only real hit wouldn’t come for over a decade. This time under the name John Fred and His Playboy Band. The name change was so they were not confused with Gary Lewis and the Playboys.

“Judy in Disguise” is a parody of “Lucy In The Sky With Diamons” which The Beatles released a year earlier. The biggest difference is that instead of the psychedelic sound of the Beatles song, “Judy in Disguise” is bubblegum pop, but with similarly obtuse lyrics. Songfacts.com says: According to John Fred, John Lennon loved the song. Said Fred: “When I met John Lennon, that’s the first thing he asked me. He thought it was great. He said the first thing he was going to do when he got home was write a song called ‘Froggy in a Pond with Spectacles.'”

Fred came up with this song when he was touring southern states in 1967. He explained to One Shot magazine that he was looking for material for a follow up song when he found inspiration in the crowd. Fred said, “We were playing in Florida and the girls at the time had these big old sunglasses. One of the guys was hustling this chick. She took off these glasses and she could stop a clock. I said, ‘That’s it.’ That’s what gave me the idea. I said, ‘She’s kind of in disguise.'”

Fun Fact: The lyric, “Cross your heart with a living bra” came to him as he was writing lyrics while watching TV. He stole the line from a Playtex commercial.

Following “Judy In Disguise (with Glasses),” he got a deal with UNI records, who also signed the unknown talents Neil Diamond and Elton John. His follow-up song was “Hey, Hey Bunny,” failed to chart. With the label putting most of their efforts into Elton John, Fred’s career stalled.

With nothing really going on for the group, he went to work for a record company for a while. Then, in the early ’80s he returned to music, once again touring the south.

He received a kidney transplant in 2004. Due to complications, he died on April 15, 2005.

I’ve always loved the bass line in this song. Let’s remember John Fred …