March 1967.

There’s a hint of sunshine, it’s a good deal warmer than it has been and this is in my head. It’s starting to feel like a rather groovy start to the week.

Written by Garry Bonner and Alan Gordon, formerly members of the New York garage rock band The Magicians, this is not the song it appears to be. Most people think it’s a song about a couple in love but according to Bonner, it’s actually a song about unrequited love.

The song came about after Gordon had been struggling with writer’s block. Then, sitting in a diner early one morning, after night of no sleep, Gordon recalled that the only thing that kept coming to mind was a repeated tune that Allen (Jake) Jacobs, lead guitarist with The Magicians, used to endlessly tune his guitar. The next thing he knew there were lyrics and a melody and this song started to come together.

After being offered to a number of groups, with each one turning them down, Bonner and Gordon decided to record a demo themselves and the rest, as they say, is history.

On its release the song reached number one on the US chart, knocking Penny Lane from the top spot after just one week, and went on to remain at the top for three more weeks. In the UK it spent twelve weeks on the charts and peaked at number twelve.