Gary Troxel (b. November 28, 1939, Centralia, Washington) and Gretchen Christopher (b. February 29, 1940, Olympia, Washington) were two high school students waiting for Christopher's mother to pick them up after school. They started singing and humming a song together, and liked it enough to ask Christopher's friend and singing partner, Barbara Ellis (b. February 20, 1940, Olympia, Washington), to join them as a trio to perform it.
They performed the song twice at school functions, and their classmates wanted recordings of it so they could learn the song. After six months, they got the track recorded. They sang it a cappella, then dubbed the instrumental accompaniment, consisting only of Latin-styled acoustic guitar and the rhythmic shaking of Troxel's car keys. "Come Softly to Me" was also recorded by Frankie Vaughan and The Kaye Sisters, who had a chart hit in the United Kingdom with the song. The Fleetwoods' version of "Come Softly To Me" can be heard on a portable radio at one point in the 1986 movie, Stand By Me, which was set in Washington state.
Bob Reisdorf, the owner of Dolphin Records (later changed to Dolton Records), was responsible for the changes to the group name and song title. He thought that the title was too risque and not commercial-sounding enough, so he had it changed to "Come Softly to Me". He also thought that the group's original name wasn't commercial-sounding enough. The new name of the group, The Fleetwoods, was based on the telephone exchanges in the areas where the three members lived, Fleetwood2-xxxx and Fleetwood7-xxxx.
The Fleetwoods continued to record into the 1960s, with a number of other successes, although none so big as "Come Softly to Me". Their second hit, "Mr. Blue," was one of the few recordings by a white singing group to make the rhythm & blues chart. The beginning of the end for the group came when Troxel was drafted into the U.S. Navy. Additionally, the British Invasion of the mid 1960s ended the public's taste for sweet, melodic music.
By the late 1970s, Troxel was working in a plywood plant, Ellis was managing a trailer park in Canada, and Christopher was a housewife and modern dance teacher. In 2000, Troxel and his wife Jenifer lost a landmark grandparents' rights case before the Supreme Court of the United States. The court held that under the United States Constitution, non-parents seeking custody or visitation rights of a child against the wishes of the child's parents must prove that the parents are not acting in the best interest of the child in refusing custody or visitation.
Imagination
The Fleetwoods Lyrics
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It makes a cloudy day sunny
Makes a bee think of honey
Just as I think of you
Imagination is crazy
Your whole perspective gets hazy
Starts you asking a daisy
Have you ever felt a gentle touch?
Then a kiss, and then
And then
Find it's only your imagination again
Again
Imagination is silly
You go around willy-nilly
For example, I go around wanting you
And yet
I can't imagine that you want me, too
The Fleetwoods's song Imagination is a beautiful ode to the power of the human imagination when it comes to love. The song has a beautiful melody and poetic lyrics that describe the funny, crazy, and silly aspects of how imagination works when we are in love. The song's lyrics explain that imagination has the power to make a cloudy day sunny, and make the bee think of honey just as the singer thinks of their loved one. The power of imagination is such that it can make a person's perspective get hazy and start asking the daisy what to do. The lyrics suggest that imagination can sometimes play tricks with a person's mind, making them think they have felt a gentle touch, then a kiss, and then finding out it's only their imagination playing with them again.
The song's lyrics also talk about how imagination is silly and can make a person go around willy-nilly. For example, the singer goes around wanting their loved one, but can't imagine that their loved one wants them, too. The lyrics reflect the universal feeling of insecurity and uncertainty that one experiences when in love. The song's lyrics beautifully capture the idea that the power of our imagination can make the world a beautiful and magical place, even if only in our minds.
Line by Line Meaning
Imagination is funny
Imagination can be amusing and make things seem better than they actually are
It makes a cloudy day sunny
Imagination allows one to see the bright side even on a gloomy day
Makes a bee think of honey
Imagination can make one fixate on certain desires, like a bee to honey
Just as I think of you
The singer's imagination often wanders to the person they have feelings for
Imagination is crazy
Imagination can be outlandish and distort one's perception of reality
Your whole perspective gets hazy
Imagination can cloud one's judgement and understanding of the world around them
Starts you asking a daisy
Imagination can lead one to seek answers or guidance from unlikely sources, like a flower
What to do, what to do
Imagination can create uncertainty and indecisiveness
Have you ever felt a gentle touch?
The singer queries whether the listener has ever experienced a tender caress
Then a kiss, and then
The intimacy builds with a kiss
And then
The anticipation mounts
Find it's only your imagination again
The euphoria is short-lived as reality sets in that the experience was only imagined
Again
The cycle repeats
Imagination is silly
Imagination can seem foolish or absurd
You go around willy-nilly
Imagination can make one's thoughts aimlessly wander without direction or purpose
For example, I go around wanting you
The singer's imagination often leads to longing for the person they desire
And yet
Despite their fantasies, reality is not what they want it to be
I can't imagine that you want me, too
The singer cannot fathom that their affections are reciprocated
Contributed by Alex N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.