Magic on wax

Simply strummed guitar... hand claps... and Gerry Humphreys' anguished howwwwwwling vocals.
"Oh baby I love you soooo.... I can't go onnnnnnnn!"
The Loved Ones' "The Loved One" might be the greatest Australian single ever released.
Oh, there have been memorable ones since, of course, but they have never bettered this two-minute-45-second R&B-tinged rocker from May 1966.
May 1966 holds a certain magic for me. I was born that month in Oakland, Calif.
Across the pacific, jazz fans Humphreys, pianist Ian Clyne and bassist Kim Lynch were joined by drummer Gavin Anderson and guitarist Rob Lovett and the quintet released "The Loved One." It reached No. 15 in Melbourne and No. 2 in Sydney, but its real glory came later: The song worked its way into the Australian consciousness to become the quintessential early rock song. INXS covered it twice. That's the measure of the impact of "The Loved One. "
I am listening to The Loved Ones and sipping on cider, just thinking about music and May and 1966 and Humphreys, who passed away last month in London. His song will never die. I'm thinking about that, too.