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“Back in 1966, I was hopelessly in love with a girl I was dating named Adrienne,” says Young Rascals singer/songwriter Felix Cavaliere. “I was so gone that this joyous, wonderful emotion came into the music.“

 

“Like most musicians, I always worked Friday and Saturday nights—which meant Adrienne and I only had Sundays together. "Groovin'" expressed the bliss I felt relaxing with her on Sunday afternoons, watching the world go by.”

 

Although Atlantic Records gave The Young Rascals unlimited session time at Atlantic Studios on Broadway, Cavaliere wanted to record at Talentmasters Recording Studio on 42nd Street, where James Brown had recently recorded “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World”.

Engineer Chris Huston at Talentmasters, 1966. © Unknown.

“Visually, Talentmasters was a dump,” says engineer Chris Huston, “but it sounded like a million dollars.” 

 

Cavaliere and Atlantic Records’ producer Arif Mardin mapped out the song moments before they entered the studio, deciding to use a conga instead of drums.  “It was one of those songs that really evolved as it was recorded,” recalls Huston.

 

Toward the end of the session, Mardin suggested a harmonica to accompany the vocals. “I remembered we had a guy at the studio who swept our floors who was in a band and could play,” says Huston, “so we used him.” 

 

Cavaliere says it was his idea to open the track with chirping birdsong to create “a sonic environment” the same way The Beatles used submarine sounds in “Yellow Submarine”.  “You’re creating a place for that song to exist,”  says Cavaliere. “I mentioned that to Paul McCartney when I saw him after that, and he looked at me like I was nuts.”

 

Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler initially refused to release “Groovin’” as a single, saying, “What is this? We can’t put this crap out. You’re supposed to be a rock band. There are no drums on it.” “He gave me a really hard time,” recalls Cavaliere.

 

It was New York DJ Murray the K who used his considerable clout to convince Wexler, telling him, “‘Are you crazy? This is a friggin’ No. 1 record. I will put this on the radio tomorrow morning!”

The Young Rascals in session for "Groovin" at Talentmasters,1966. © Joey Carbone.

Although released in early April 1967, "Groovin'" didn't peak on the Billboard charts until May 20th. After two weeks at number one, it was replaced by Aretha Franklin’s “Respect,” returning to the top spot on June 2nd for a further two weeks.

 

Amidst the political tension and social pressures of the late 1960s, "Groovin" ushered in 1967s “Summer of Love”. Its message of peace, love, and feeling free embodied the spirit of "Flower Power," earning its place on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs That Shaped Rock' n Roll

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In 1971, the Telephone Company of New York (now Verizon) announced the construction of a 41-story building at the corner of 42nd Street and 6th Avenue to alleviate a chronic shortage of telephone service in Midtown Manhattan.

 

To obtain planning permission for the 650-foot-tall tower, a block-long public plaza was created alongside the building between 41st and 42nd Street.

 

Several additional buildings, including Talentmasters Recording Studio, were demolished and replaced with one-story structures, and their air rights transferred to the tower. 

 

From 1976 until 1985, the one-story structure at 126 West 42nd Street was the flagship location of the New York record store chain King Karol Records.

 

For four months in 2010, it was home to Pop Tart World.

 

It was demolished in 2011 when the tower and plaza site were extensively renovated and rebranded as 3 Bryant Park.

 

Today, a three-story glass and steel structure called “The Cubes” sits on the former Talentmasters site, and two 12-foot sculptures, “The Guardians: Hero and Superhero”, frame the north and south entrances to the Plaza.

 

The marble “Hero,” a reinterpretation of Michelangelo’s David, gazes uptown from 42nd Street, while its stainless steel caped counterpart, ‘Superhero,’ watches over downtown from 41st Street.

 

“The Guardians represent two symbolic protectors of New York City.” says designer and architect Antonio Pio Saracino, “A hero from the past, and the promise of a superhero from the future.”

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