On October 15, 1971, Richard Nader's Rock 'n Roll Spectacular Volume VII concert was given at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The playbill included many greats of the early rock era, including Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Bobby Rydell, with Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band listed in advertisements as a "special added attraction".[1]
Nelson came on stage dressed in the then-current fashion, wearing bell-bottoms and a purple velvet shirt, with his hair hanging down to his shoulders. He started playing his older songs like "Hello Mary Lou", but then he played the Rolling Stones' "Country Honk" (a country version of their hit song "Honky Tonk Women") and the crowd began to boo.[2] While some reports say that the booing was caused by police action in the back of the audience, Nelson thought it was directed at him. Nevertheless, he sang another song but then left the building and did not appear onstage for the finale.[3]
The song
"Garden Party" tells of various people who were present, frequently in an oblique manner ("Yoko brought her Walrus", referring to Yoko Ono and John Lennon), with a chorus:
But it's all right now, I've learned my lesson well
You see, you can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself
One more reference in the lyrics pertains to a particularly mysterious and legendary audience member: "Mr. Hughes hid in Dylan's shoes, wearing his disguise". The Mr. Hughes in question was ex-Beatle George Harrison, who was a next-door neighbor and good friend of Nelson. Harrison used "Hughes" as his traveling alias, and "hid in Dylan's shoes" most likely refers to an album of Bob Dylan covers that Harrison was planning but never recorded.[citation needed]
Lyric references
A garden party; October 15, 1971's Rock 'n Roll Spectacular concert at Madison Square Garden, New York City
(Mr. Hughes) hid in Dylan's shoes; Harrison's planned (but later abandoned) album of Bob Dylan covers
I said hello to Mary Lou, she belongs to me; Nelson's song "Hello Mary Lou", which he played at the concert; also a reference to "She Belongs to Me", a Bob Dylan song covered by Nelson
It was time to leave; Nelson's subsequent departure
Out stepped Johnny B. Goode; Chuck Berry's song "Johnny B. Goode"
Playing guitar like a-ringing a bell; the line in "Johnny B. Goode", "he could play guitar just like a-ringing a bell"
I'd rather drive a truck; Elvis Presley worked for a time as a truck driver, having famously been told after several failed auditions to "stick to truck driving because you're never going to make it as a singer"
Charts
"Garden Party" reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the fall of 1972; it was Nelson's last top 40 hit on the US pop chart. The song topped the BillboardEasy Listening chart for two weeks[4] and reached number 44 on the Billboard Country Singles chart. The song peaked at number six in both Australia and South Africa[5] and reached number one in Canada.[6]
In 2012, Adam Young of Owl City covered the song and released it to his SoundCloud and personal blog followers. The song was pulled off of SoundCloud in late 2015, but can still be found on YouTube.
On December 31, 2012, Phish opened their New Year's Eve concert with the song at Madison Square Garden.[18] Phish bassist and singer Mike Gordon, who sang lead on the tune, wore a shirt very reminiscent of the one George Harrison wore on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Reggae song "Bad Reputation" by The Chantels is a partial cover of "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson. Released in 1978 by Producer Roy Francis under Phase One records in Jamaica, the song uses the same music but mostly different lyrics except for the "But it's all right now, I've learned my lesson well" portion of the chorus.
Filmography
McCloud (1972) In the first episode of the third season, "The New Mexican Connection", Rick Nelson sings "Garden Party" in a concert sequence.[19]
^Robinson, Lisa. "It's Folk-Rock Now for Rick Nelson", The Telegraph, October 31, 1971. Accessed April 27, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Despite Rick Nelson's protests that it wasn't a rock 'n' roll revival but a rock 'n' roll spectacular when he went onstage at Madison Square Garden at Richard Nader's seventh such show, it was the old songs the crowd wanted to hear. It wanted songs such as 'Travelin Man,' 'Be-Bop Baby,' 'Hello, Mary Lou,' rather than his version of the Rolling Stones' 'Honky-Tonk Woman,' a country-influenced version with Tom Brumley on pedal steel guitar. When Rick and his band finished that song there wore boos."
