The 31st of February - Morning Dew (1968)

David Brown and Claude “Butch” Trucks had both traveled, separately, from their hometown of Jacksonville, Florida to Tallahassee, Florida after graduating from Englewood High School and enrolling at Florida State University for the 1965 fall semester. They came together when they found themselves living on the same floor of the same dormitory and sharing a mutual interest in the new folk rock sound being pioneered by The Byrds. Together, they teamed up with Scott Boyer, who had also gone to Englewood High School in Jacksonville and had been living in Tallahassee as a professional musician.

The three new bandmates decided to call themselves The Bitter Ind. (Independents) and attempted to find work in Daytona Beach, Florida after Brown and Trucks left school after their freshman year. They struggled, but landing a performance at Club Martinique introduced them to Gregg and Duane Allman, who, at that time, were in a band called the Allman Joys. Their meeting with the two future stars would be paramount to their careers.

After the Daytona show, The Bitter Ind. returned home to Jacksonville, Florida, deflated from a lack of work. Not long after, Butch Trucks received a call from Duane Allman that his band would be in town, playing at a club called the Beachcomber, and needing a drummer to fill in for the night. Trucks played with the band and then convinced the Beachcomber’s manager to allow his band, The Bitter Ind., to perform as well. The manager agreed, liked what he heard, and used the group as his house band through 1967.

After 1967 and the end of the Beachcomber gig, the band decided to change their name, briefly using The Tiffany System before settling on The 31st of February. They relocated to Miami, Florida, signed a record deal with Vanguard Records, and released their first album, The 31st of February, in 1968. Unfortunately, it didn’t sell very well.

The group soon crossed paths with Gregg and Duane Allman once again, who were now members in a band called The Hour Glass. The 31st of February and the Allman brothers joined forces under The 31st of February name and began working on a new album together. Interestingly, one of the tracks on the album was an early version of “Melissa” (which would later be re-recorded by Gregg and Duane Allman as members of The Allman Brothers Band, and released in 1972). But, unfortunately, here in 1968, the album was shelved, never finished when the group split up before finalizing any of the tracks.

It wasn’t until 1972, after Duane and Gregg Allman found success in The Allman Brothers Band, that there became an interest in the members’ previous group. For this reason, The 31st of February’s unfinished second album finally saw the light of day, being released under the title of Duane & Greg Allman (which had misspelled “Gregg”).

The song heard below was the opening track on The 31st of February’s unfinished second album. It was recorded by Scott Boyer, David Brown, Butch Trucks, Duane Allman, and Gregg Allman in 1968, but released in 1972, as mentioned above.

The song itself was written in 1961 by Bonnie Dobson, and first recorded by Dobson in 1962. The lyrics are supposed to represent a conversation between the last man and woman left alive after a nuclear holocaust. Dobson stated that the lyrics were inspired by the 1959 movie titled On the Beach.



The 31st of February - Morning Dew (1968)

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Lyrics:

Walk me out in the morning dew, my heart
Walk me out in the morning dew, my heart
Though I can't walk you out in the morning dew, my heart
Though I can't walk you out in the morning dew, my heart

Thought I heard a young girl cry, yeah
Thought I heard a young girl cry, yeah
No, you didn't hear no young girl cry at all
No, you didn't hear no young girl cry

Thought I heard a young girl cry, yeah
Thought I heard a young girl cry, yeah
No, you didn't hear no young girl cry
No, you didn't hear no young girl cry at all

Now there is no morning dew
Now there is no morning dew
What they've been sayin’ all these years has come true
What they've been sayin’ all these years has come true

Got no morning dew

The Twilights - Cathy, Come Home (1967)

In the 1960s, a town just north of Adelaide in South Australia, called Elizabeth, was largely populated by British emigrants. It was also the hometown of this band and its members, all of whom had been born in Britain but relocated with their families to Elizabeth, Australia. Glenn Shorrock, Mike Sykes, and Clem “Paddy” McCartney came together because of these similar roots and formed an a capella trio in 1965, calling themselves The Twilights. They were often backed by local bands like The Vector Men and The Hurricanes when putting on performances. Eventually, the members of The Twilights and The Hurricanes merged, creating a six man lineup and adopting The Twilights’ name. After a bit of shuffling- still in early 1965- the final group solidified and consisted of Glenn Shorrock, Laurie Pryor, Clem “Paddy” McCartney, John Bywaters, Terry Britten, and Peter Brideoake. Those members remained together until the band dissolved in 1969. Shorrock would go on to participate in other bands, most notably the Little River Band, and Terry Britten became an internationally successful producer and songwriter, writing hits for Tina Turner, Cliff Richard, Olivia Newton-John, Status Quo, Michael Jackson, and many others.

By 1967, the group had relocated to London, donning mod styles and Beatles-inspired mustaches. Glenn Shorrock was quoted as stating that London was very difficult to work in because of all of the extremely talented musicians. He claimed that even bands you had never heard of were incredibly selective.

This song, written by band member Terry Britten, was recorded and released in November 1967. It steadily climbed the charts and plateaued at number four in January 1968. It was written by Britten after having been inspired by the one-off television drama of the same name, Cathy, Come Home, which had been released in November 1966. It was one of the last successful songs released by the band.



The Twilights - Cathy, Come Home (1967)

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Lyrics:

(Cathy, come home)
(Come)
(Come)
(Come)

Cathy, come home
Can't you see that I need it?
Cathy, come home
You must see it to believe it
Cathy, come home

I found someone to comfort me
Someone who finally let me be myself
My mind, I think, is much too small
To see the writing on the wall is here

Cathy, come home
Can't you see that I need it?
Cathy, come home
You must see it to believe it
Cathy, come home

If seeing is believing, then I see the truth
With you on my mind, I just can't seem to lose
(Lose)

My mind's made up; that's all I see
The writing's plain- as plain can be to me

Cathy's back, now she's all mine
Now everything's just turned out fine for me

Cathy, come home
Can't you see that I need it?
Cathy, come home
You must see it to believe it
Cathy, come home

Cathy, come home
(Cathy, come home)
Cathy, come home
(Cathy, come home)
(Home)
(Home)
(Home)
(Home)
(Home…)