Created by Bernard Slade, the series was inspired by and loosely based on The Cowsills, a real singing family in the late sixties. In fact, in its early development the Cowsill children were approached to be featured on the show, though that idea was quickly discarded (The Cowsills rejected the offer when producers wanted to replace their real-life mother Barbara in the cast). The show starred Shirley Jones as mother Shirley Partridge and David Cassidy (Jones' real-life stepson) as her son Keith. The remaining Partridge children were played by Susan Dey as Laurie, Danny Bonaduce as Danny, Jeremy Gelbwaks (replaced after one year by Brian Forster) as Chris, and Suzanne Crough as Tracy Partridge. Dave Madden played Reuben Kincaid, who was their manager and family friend.
The back of the bus, became an icon for the show, due to its Mondrianesque paint design.
The Partridge Family was produced for ABC by Screen Gems television, which was just finishing its run with The Monkees, another show about a fictional music group. The company promoted the success of the show by releasing a series of albums featuring the music of the family band, though most cast members did not actually play on the recordings. A group of studio singers and musicians, led by producer Wes Farrell actually created the Partridge Family sound. Although he was originally cast with the intent to lip sync, just weeks into production David Cassidy convinced Farrell he could sing, and was allowed to join the studio ensemble as the lead singer. Several songs were made without Cassidy as lead, they were featured in some of the early episodes and on the first album. He and Shirley Jones, who sang background, were the only cast members who were actually featured on the recordings. The whole cast would lip sync to the recordings when they performed on each episode, though it was obvious to most viewers that the actors were lip-synching, The Partridge Family became an instant success, not only as a TV show, but as a band that produced actual hit songs.
The Partridge Family's biggest hit came in 1970 with the song "I Think I Love You," which began climbing the Billboard chart in September and peaked at number one in December of that year. The companion LP, "The Partridge Family Album" reached number four. Other Partridge Family singles including, "I'll Meet You Halfway", "Doesn't Somebody Want To Be Wanted", and "I Woke Up in Love This Morning" would also chart high on the Billboard chart. The theme songs "When We're Singing", and its successor "C'Mon, Get Happy" were composed by Danny Janssen and Wes Farrell.
The title card for the pilot episode of The Partridge Family was, "What? and Get Out of Show Business?".
As the show and associated merchandizing took off, David Cassidy became an overnight teen idol. Cassidy launched a solo singing career, touring with his own group of musicians and performing Partridge Family songs as well as hits from his own albums. In the midst of his overwhelming rise to fame, Cassidy soon grew tired of the show. In the summer of 1972 he gave a very candid interview to Rolling Stone magazine in which he attempted to distance himself from the squeaky-clean image of Keith Partridge.
By the fourth season, due to declining ratings and Cassidy's looming departure, a feeble effort was made by the producers to breathe new life into the show. They introduced a precocious 4-year-old neighbor named "Ricky Stevens" played by Ricky Segall to occasionally sing children's songs with the band. To no avail, the ABC network moved the show from its 8:30 Friday night slot to Saturday at 8:00, directly opposite the hit All in the Family, against which they knew it would not survive. The show was cancelled, after 96 episodes and ten Partridge Family albums.
The Partridge Family had a brief resurgence in animated form, which saw the family propelled into the future. The animated Partridge Family first appeared when the kids did a series of guest spots on "Goober and the Ghost Chasers". That idea evolved into a CBS Saturday morning Hanna-Barbera-produced cartoon, "Partridge Family 2200 A.D.". It featured new characters Veenie (Keith's Venusian friend) and Marion (Laurie's Martian friend). Danny had a pet robot dog named Orbit. Shirley Jones and David Cassidy did not voice their animated counterparts, and Susan Dey and Dave Madden had very limited involvement with this series. Sixteen half-hour installments were produced for the animated series, which lasted for half a season on CBS Saturday morning (September 7, 1974 - March 8, 1975); on the syndicated Fred Flintstone and Friends, it was retitled The Partridge Family in Outer Space.
Nickelodeon featured a heavily publicized run of the original series in the early- to mid-90s, along with the Brady Bunch, as part of its Nick-At-Nite line-up. The network used interviews and commercials featuring cast members, and even created a new version of the Mondrian-esque Family bus for promotion.
In 2000 two different made-for-TV movies aired on different networks; Both "Come On Get Happy" and "The David Cassidy Story" attempted to tell the story behind the series. While the movies were criticized as being somewhat inaccurate, they did recreate some of the imagery and music from the original series. "Come On Get Happy" even featured another replication of the bus, which was later auctioned off on eBay.
A modernized version of the bus was created for a new promotion in 2004, when VH1 premiered In Search of The New Partridge Family. This talent competition in the format of American Idol sought a new cast for a contemporary version of the sitcom. The elimination type program aired seven episodes in which a panel of judges selected a new Partridge Family cast from auditioners across the country. The resulting pilot episode of The New Partridge Family aired in January of 2005, but due to low ratings VH1 opted not to produce any more episodes.
The first two seasons of the original series were released as of October 2005 on DVD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Also, at the same time Arista Records released a new music compilation, "Come On Get Happy!: The Very Best of The Partridge Family," which included four previously unreleased tracks.
Despite the prefabricated nature of the "band", the Partridge Family's records were some of the best arranged and produced of their day. Much care was given not only to the overall sound, but even to show that sound would translate to AM radio, then the major outlet for pop music. The writing was equally good, at least on the early albums. However, as ratings and record sales began to drop, so did the quality of the material.
Alone Too Long
The Partridge Family Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And lose the simple knack of givin'
It slips away before you know it's gone
Ya build up walls and before ya know it
Someone moves you and you want to show it
But you just can't find a way of lettin' on
I've been alone to long
I've been alone too long
That's all that's wrong with me
I want to build you a dream
Paint you a sunrise
Write you a beautiful song
But I don't know how
I've been alone to long
Funny how you can cut off feelin'
And tell yourself that your wounds are healing
When all you've done is turn the pain inside
And when your sure that no one can get to ya
Someone smiles and it goes right through ya
And wakes up somethin' that you thought had died
(Chorus)
I've been alone to long
I've been alone to long
I've been alone to long
I've been alone to long
The Partridge Family's "Alone Too Long" is a song about the struggles of a person who has been alone for a long time. The first verse talks about how you can lose the ability to give to others when you've been living by yourself for a long period. You become so accustomed to being by yourself that you build walls around you. You want to show affection to someone, but you're unable to because you don't know how to let down your guard. The singer in the song wishes to build a dream, paint a sunrise, and write a beautiful song for someone, but he doesn't know how because he's forgotten how to express himself.
The second verse takes a critical look at how someone can fool themselves into thinking that they're over the pain and hurt caused when they were abandoned. They convince themselves that they have recovered. The singer has become numb and has shut himself off from feeling. But when someone shows kindness to him, he is overwhelmed with emotion, effectively resurrecting some of the emotions that he thought had died. The chorus repeats the title, "I've been alone too long," several times, emphasizing that the singer's main issue is loneliness.
Line by Line Meaning
Funny how you can go on livin'
It's strange how you can continue living even when you've lost the ability to give.
And lose the simple knack of givin'
You can easily forget how to give to others.
It slips away before you know it's gone
The act of giving can disappear without you realizing it.
Ya build up walls and before ya know it
You create emotional barriers without even realizing it.
Someone moves you and you want to show it
When someone affects you, you want to express your feelings to them.
But you just can't find a way of lettin' on
However, you struggle to express yourself due to the walls you've built up.
I've been alone to long
I've been isolated for too long.
Baby now don't you see
My dear, can't you tell?
That's all that's wrong with me
My loneliness is the root of all my struggles.
I want to build you a dream
I envision creating a wonderful future with you.
Paint you a sunrise
I want to depict a beautiful scenery for you.
Write you a beautiful song
I want to express my love and admiration through song.
But I don't know how
Unfortunately, I am unsure of how to convey these feelings.
Funny how you can cut off feelin'
It's strange how you can shut down your emotions.
And tell yourself that your wounds are healing
You can convince yourself that you've healed from past emotional damage.
When all you've done is turn the pain inside
In reality, you've just buried the pain within yourself.
And when your sure that no one can get to ya
When you're certain that no one can affect you emotionally,
Someone smiles and it goes right through ya
someone's simple smile can break through your barriers and affect you emotionally.
And wakes up somethin' that you thought had died
This can bring to the surface emotions you thought were long gone.
I've been alone to long
I've been isolated for too long.
I've been alone to long
I've been isolated for too long.
I've been alone to long
I've been isolated for too long.
I've been alone to long
I've been isolated for too long.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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