Episode 30: The Joke That Worked | The Turtles, “Elenore,” and the Hit They Didn’t Mean

Send us Fan Mail What happens when a band gets tired of being told to repeat their biggest hit… and decides to prove a point? In 1968, Elenore by The Turtles climbed to No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. But it wasn’t written as a serious follow-up. It was a parody. Frustrated with constant pressure from their label to recreate Happy Together, a No. 1 hit they didn’t even write, lead singer Howard Kaylan set out to expose the formula behind a pop hit. Instead… he proved it worked. In this ...