Ergo, the Ogre

It’s time once again for Song Lyric Sunday! This week, Jim has given us weather-related prompts, breeze/cloud/wind/sky, to work with. So, I am going with The Rain, The Park, and Other Things by The Cowsills.

Lyrics

I saw her sitting in the rain
Raindrops falling on her
She didn’t seem to care
She sat there and smiled at me

Then I knew
She could make me happy
Flowers in her hair
Flowers everywhere

(I love the flower girl)
Oh I don’t know just why, she simply caught my eye
(I love the flower girl)
She seemed so sweet and kind, she crept into my mind
(To my mind)

I knew I had to say hello
She smiled up at me
And she took my hand
And we walked through the park alone

And I knew
She had made me happy
Flowers in her hair
Flowers everywhere

(I love the flower girl)
Oh I don’t know just why, she simply caught my eye
(I love the flower girl)
She seemed so sweet and kind, she crept into my mind
(To my mind)

Suddenly, the sun broke through
I turned around she was gone
And all I had left was one little flower in my hand

But I knew
She had made me happy
Flowers in her hair
Flowers everywhere

(I love the flower girl)
Was she reality or just a dream to me
(I love the flower girl)
Her love showed me the way to find a sunny day
(Sunny day)

(I love the flower girl)
Was she reality or just a dream to me…Songwriters: Steve Duboff, Arthur Kornfeld

The Story

According to SongFacts,

• This was written and produced by the team of Artie Kornfeld and Steve Duboff; Kornfeld went on to be one of the concert promoters of Woodstock.
• This was the breakthrough hit for the family group, The Cowsills, who was the forerunner of The Osmonds, a group that would appear on the same record label a few years later. Unlike the Osmonds, the boys’ mother Barbara also features on the recordings. The Cowsills also made many television appearances during the late 1960s and the early 1970s and they were an inspiration for the Partridge Family.
• This song is known to many as “The Flower Girl.” Studio musicians were brought in for the recording, a practice that continued until 1969 when the Cowsill family were allowed to play their own musical instruments.
• This reached #1 in Canada in the week of November 13, 1967.
• A British rock group, Vanity Fare, poked fun at the Cowsills by naming their 1968 album The Sun, the Wind, and Other Things.

• After the success of this single, two more Cowsill siblings – Paul and Susan – joined the group. In 1968 they had an American #10 hit with “Indian Lake.”
• Susan Cowsill had just had her ninth birthday when this reached the Top 10, making her the youngest rock performer to have a Top 10 hit in America.
• Olivia Newton-John recorded an upbeat version of this song for the 2011 movie soundtrack A Few Best Men. The soundtrack album is all cover songs recorded by Newton-John and mixed by various producers.