Green Tambourine Lyrics

"Green Tambourine" was the primary hit by the 1960s Ohio-based rock group The Lemon Pipers, as well as the title track to their debut-album "Green Tambourine". The song has been credited as being the first bubblegum pop chart-topper. Released towards the end of 1967, it peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for one week at the start of February, 1968 and earned the group a gold record for over a million copies sold. The record remained on the chart for three months.[3] It was also the first U.S. number-one hit for the Buddah label. The Lemon Pipers would never repeat this success, although "Rice Is Nice" and "Jelly Jungle" did make it onto the charts in 1968.[3] The song is the story of a street musician pleading for someone to give him money. In exchange he ofers to play his green tambourine. The song's instrumentation contains the title tambourine as well as an electric sitar,[4] a frequent signature of the so-called "psychedelic sound." Another hook is the heavy, psychedelic tape echo applied to the word "play" in each chorus and at the end, fading into a drumroll ("Listen while I play play play play play play/my green tambourine.") The echo is noticeably different in the mono and stereo mixes. The mono version also starts fading out slightly earlier than in the stereo version. The musical arrangement also features sweeping orchestrated strings and the distinctive vibraslap percussion instrument. The single's B-side, "No Help From Me," featured lead vocal by keyboardist Bob Nave and did not appear on either of the group's two albums.