Along came sunshine pop

Someone commenting on a different "Along Comes Mary" video wondered if 'Mary' referred to marijuana. Another replied that this was The Association, forget about drugs.

The clean-cut California band brought "sunshine pop" to the Sixties with hits like "Windy," "Cherish" and "Never My Love." We are not embarrassed at all to say we enjoyed their peppy music and sweet harmonies.  And we were as surprised as anyone to learn that bass player Brian Cole died of a heroin overdose on this day in 1972. He was 29.

Who would have figured?

What's cool about this video from the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour is that the intro has been included. And that intro, corny as it was, consists of Cole introducing the band members as musical robots. (He introduces himself as a "consisent low range modulator.")  So we actually get to see the bass player we're writing about. How rare.

Pressed on the tiny Valiant label, "Along Comes Mary" put The Association on the map, reaching No. 7 on the Billboard chart in 1966.  And, whether it references the evil weed or not (it probably does), it's our favorite song by the band.