Before he became Patti Smith’s lead guitarist, Lenny Kaye compiled the 2 album set, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era. Released in 1972, the two-LP set covered American garage rock and psychedelia from the years 1965 to 1968 and was a major influence on punk rock. Rhino Records reissued an expanded version of the set in 1998, with 118 tracks in total. I’m profiling and rating each of these 118 tracks, working backwards.
Track 66/118: She’s About A Mover by Sir Douglas Quintet
From: San Antonio, Texas
Aphoristic Rating: 7/10
SHE’S ABOUT A MOVER – Sir Douglas Quintet [2:20]
(Doug Sahm)
Personnel/DOUG SAHM: vocals, guitar * AUGIE MEYERS: organ * JACK BARBER: bass * JOHN PEREZ: drums * FRANK MORIN: maracas, vocals
Produced by HUEY MEAUX
Recorded in Houston, TX
Tribe single #45-8308 (3/65); Pop #13
During the British Invasion, Houston producer Huey P Meaux took a stack of Beatles records into a hotel room, along with some wine, and studied them while getting drunk. He concluded that the Beatles’ rhythms often resembled Cajun dance songs, and wanted to find a local band to blend the two styles.
He met Doug Sahm, who’d grown up immersed in country – as a child he performed onstage with Hank Williams and turned down a spot on the Grand Ole Opry. Meaux shared his vision with Sahm, and Sahm quickly formed a five-piece band, featuring an organ player and a saxophonist. The band were given the very English name, Sir Douglas Quintet.
‘She’s About A Mover’ was the band’s second single. While they’re known for their Tex-Mex sound, ‘Mover’ strongly echoes the British Invasion bands. With its prominent Vox Continental organ, a gruff-voiced vocalist, and the opening line “Well, she was a-walkin’ down the street, lookin’ fine as she could be”, ‘She’s About A Mover’ recalls Manfred Mann, as well as The Animals. It was a #13 Billlboard hit in March 1965. Ringo Starr covered it in 1983.
‘She’s About A Mover’ featured on the band’s first album, the misleadingly named The Best of Sir Douglas Quintet. They soldiered on for another thirteen studio records. Their other famous song is 1968’s ‘Mendocino’, which cracked the Billboard top 30, sold 3 million copies in Europe, and featured in the film version of High Fidelity. Sahm also enjoyed success as a solo artist and with Texas Tornadoes, before passing from a heart attack in 1999. His son Shandon Sahm has drummed with The Meat Puppets.
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Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person. It features album reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.
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Graham Fyfe has been writing this website since his late teens. Now in his forties, he's been obsessively listening to albums for years. He works as a web editor and plays the piano.
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I always liked this song. But what an odd video, with the band performing amidst a cheesy castle setting and that mannequin-like woman dressed in armor and standing completely motionless, save her blinking eyes.
Yup, I guess it’s some kind of joke about how she’s not a mover?
Great garage band. I love the Continental organ sound…it fits well in Tex-Mex music. I’ve talked to a Texas blogger who played in a band at that time with some of the Nugget bands including these guys.
I don’t really get much Tex Mex off this song – it sounds almost entirely British Invasion to me. But then again, I don’t really know much about Tex Mex from that era. Hope you’re enjoying your sabbatical.
Thanks Graham… yes I got a lot of projects done plus I’ve had time to write some posts about basically Nugget 2 bands… a few of them and some unknown power pop bands…. I do miss the interaction though. I’m looking forward to getting back.
Cool, I’m looking forward to getting to Nuggets 2 on this site, but it’s going to take a couple more years. There’s a bit of NZ stuff on there too.
I haven’t followed it methodically by any means…I just picked a few songs I didn’t pick before…like from The Stems and others. I love the collection though.
I’m also checking out the “shoegaze’ genre.
‘Only Shallow’ by My Bloody Valentine is one of my favourite songs. It sounds so unique.
I did run across that one and I liked it. There are so many of those bands that are really good. The Rain Parade I like also.
I’m doing a post on a band you recommended a while back called The Pinkees… I think one of your readers suggested them… good power pop.
I don’t actually know a ton of shoegaze. I have a Ride album.
I’ve been listening to a lot of NZ indie stuff lately – The Bats and David Kilgour.
I’ve heard some of the Bats before and I like them… Did many of the Australian rock/pop bands bleed over to NZ? Bands like Radio Birdman or The Stems? I don’t think I know David Kilgour…I’ll check him out.
Shoegaze… what I’ve heard so far I like…it’s close to a more modern psychedelic pop/rock.
I don’t really know The Stems, but generally the big Australian bands did well in NZ too – like Midnight Oil and Jimmy Barnes. Hoodoo Gurus are one Australian band I like that have a bit of power pop in their DNA.
David Kilgour is from The Clean.
Cool song. The groove reminds me of The Beatles’ “She’s a Woman.” It never occurred to me the Fab Four’s rhythms often resembled Cajun dance songs – maybe I need to get drunk! 🙂
Coming back to “She’s About a Mover,” like Max (hey there!), I dig that Vox Continental organ.
I didn’t hear much Tex Mex in that song, although maybe it’s just me missing it.
The Vox Continental works here. For some reason it drives me crazy on Elvis Costello’s This Year’s Model though.
Great tune. Sahm is throughout my record pile.
Both “Mover” and “Mendocino” got their share of airplay here in the States. Pretty good songs. And somebody would have to actually map out for me how any Beatles song has any relationship to Cajun songs.
Did you get the Tex Mex influences in ‘She’s About A Mover’? I didn’t hear much, but it’s possibly my ignorance as I don’t know much from the genre beyond Los Lobos.
I had never heard the term Tex Mex when it was released. Once I knew more about it – and I’m hardly the expert – I still didn’t think that. It’s kinda hard to pin down what genre it is or what I hear in it. Just sounded like any other AM radio hit to me.
I played the song for a musical (and age) peer. He remembered it but didn’t hear any Tex Mex influence.
This is another 10/10 for me. Although I never knew what the title meant. What could it mean to be about a mover?
Have you heard the Big Star song ‘She’s A Mover’? I assume the two are connected somehow?
She’s a mover I could understand, but She’s ABOUT a mover I don’t get.
Yeah, I don’t know if it’s just something random that sounds good or a colloquial expression that’s not used anymore.
That’s probably what it is. Like an old expression that they used to say in Texas or down south somewhere. They got a lot of them down there that you don’t hear anywhere else. Or at least I never heard them before till I got there. Except maybe in movies and stuff.
Like she’s just about a mover?
I also thought that maybe it means “just about a mover” but that would also be a weird thing to say