The “Golden Hits Of The 70s”
Main MenuConcept Refinement The Author..Wayne JancikGolden Age Of The 50sGolden Age Of The 60s1970s and There After
JOHN SEBASTIAN
“WELCOME BACK”
(JOHN SEBASTIAN)
Reprise 1349
No. 1 May 8, 1976
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His lone solo charting outsold anything by his former group, the Lovin’ Spoonful, becoming the second big
gest selling single of 1976. “They said ‘Write the theme song,’ John Sebastian told Rolling Stone’s Patrick
Snyder. ” I said, ‘What’s the title?’ and they said, ‘Kotter’ and I said, ‘Gimme a chance!’ So I read the
original treatment and wrote ‘Welcome Back,’ and the next week, they made that the show’s title. Then, a
few weeks later, some network guy had a flash of brilliance–‘If we call it “Welcome Back’,” it’ll sound like
a nostalgia show. So we should call it “Welcome Back, Kotter.”‘ I wrote it in I8 minutes. Generally,
they’re hits if you write them fast.”
Sebastian ought to know–he was the principal songwriter and de facto leader of the Lovin’ Spoonful. The
Spoonful created a string of ’60s chestnuts: “Do You Believe in Magic?,” “You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice,”
“Daydream,” “Summer in the City,” “Nashville Cats.”
He was born John Besson Sebastian, son of a classically trained harmonica player (b. Mar. 17, 1944, New
York City). He hung out with poets and folkies in Greenwich Village. John played music with the Even
Dozen Jug Band and Mama Cass Elliot’s Mugwumps; recorded, as accompanist, with Eric Andersen and
Judy Collins. After a trek for truth to study with Lightnin’ Hopkins, John returned to the Village to form
with Steve Boone, Joe Butler, and Zal Yanovsky, the Lovin’ Spoonful. Sebastian also scored two flicks–
Woody Allen’s What’s Up, Tiger Lily (1966) and Francis Ford Coppolla’s You’re a Big Boy Now (1966)–
and tunes for the Broadway show Johnny Shine.
The Spoonful sound was magical, but their success evaporated amongst drug bust, bickering, and a hippie
boycott. “I’m glad the group broke up when it did,” Sebastian told Bruce Pollock in When the Music Mat
tered, “because the alternative is sort of playing in cheesier and cheesier entertainment parks, as a lot of
famous groups going down the tubes do. So, instead of cashing in on the downfall and taking the slow
road, we just pulled the plunger.”
John was off on a solo career that got an early boost at the Woodstock festival. He was not scheduled to
appear, and his tie-dyed, dazed-hippie routine was the result of a healthy dose of LSD. The crowd
response was enthusiastic, though Sebastian remains “sorry that the highest visibility performance I’ve
ever given was one where I was smashed beyond belief.”
In the recording world, Sebastian was headed for an even bigger bummer. MGM wanted his initial solo
issued as a Lovin’ Spoonful record. Sebastian balked, and signed with Reprise, who agreed to issue the
same material under his own name. Eventually, the disk in question–John B. Sebastian (1970)–was
released on both labels at the same time! To make matters worse, MGM, in what John claims was either
an act of vindictiveness or an effort to cash in on his Woodstock appearance, released a half-finished,
poorly-recorded live LP John Sebastian Live (1970).
Disenchanted, John moved into a tent outside an apartment complex run by his friend, Cyrus Faryar.
Sebastian stayed for two years. “I did a crazy year of cocaine, and then I said, ‘Oh my God, I’m not funny
any more… It was about 1974 when I really said to myself, ‘Okay, you’re going to have some slim years as
far as recording goes, so you better go where you can work.”
After three albums for Reprise, John Sebastian hit the East Coast college circuit, where he often performs
to this day. “Welcome Back,” unfortunately, was his sole hit; nothing further was issued for 17 years!
Thereafter, John did engage in work for a Canadian animation firm, wrote a kiddie book of tunes for
children’s TV shows, “Strawberry Shortcake” and “The Care Bears,” and supplying the music for a
musical based on E. B. White’s classic Charlotte’s Web. John also wrote the music to the NBC-TV
production of “The Jerk II” (1984).
John refuses to be a part to any proposed reformation of the Lovin’ Spoonful. In 1994, he formed J-Band,
a jug band, which has made appearances on Garrison Keiller’s radio review, “The Prairie Home
Companion.”