Owl City has released a cover of Rick Nelson’s “Garden Party.” Stream and download it below and check out what Adam Young had to say about the cover below.
On October 15, 1971, a Rock ‘n Roll Revival 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. Rick Nelson came on stage and started playing his older songs, “Hello Mary Lou” and “She Belongs to Me”, 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. While some reports say the booing was caused by police action in the back of the audience, Nelson took it personally and left the stage. He watched the rest of the concert backstage and did not reappear for the finale.
I grew up with this song in my head but I never put it all together until recently, and when I did, I was pretty amazed because I can relate in a small way. Being under a microscope does something to you, makes you a caged animal, plants a primal instinct in you to strive to be the good guy always, no matter what, and sometimes life deals you a disaster and you don’t know how to take it. Similarly, I tend to deal with life by writing songs, and it seems this was Rick’s way of dealing with a curveball which I find admirable — because for an artist, what better way to deal with life than by writing about it? I like the bittersweet layer under the surface, I like the echoed themes of melancholy and disappointment. I like sad songs disguised as happy songs. I like honesty.
This was one of the few songs Nelson wrote himself and it was very important to him. Rick’s son Gunnar wrote, “After a lifetime of pretending to be a character he wasn’t — wearing the sweater on Monday on the set of Ozzie and Harriet after being a real rock star on the weekends — he was writing and performing for his own pleasure and satisfaction. The song was based on his experience at Madison Square Garden and he turned what could have remained the darkest day of his life into his brightest shining moment. Just when the music industry considered him a relic, filing him away as yesterday’s news, he had the biggest hit of his career and it was totally autobiographical.”
He died in a plane crash in 1985 at age 45.
Much respect to Rick Nelson
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