How We Five Became Folk Rock’s Quintessential One-Hit Wonder in 1965

Folk rock held a ton of sway on the pop charts in the middle of the 1960s. Artists like The Mamas And The Papas, The Byrds, and The Lovin’ Spoonful, all of whom were categorized as folk rock, stood out as some of the biggest hitmakers of that era.

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The movement also had room for one-hit wonders. Consider the case of We Five, who scored big with “You Were On My Mind” in 1965 before fading from the mainstream.

Building the Five

If you were going to be a factor in the world of folk rock in the 60s, it helped if you were located in California. The undoubted epicenter of the movement, the Golden State hosted many artists from that time period who were subtly adding electric instrumentation to melodic songs that could easily have been done on an acoustic guitar.

We Five came out of that scene with some excellent pedigree. Michael Stewart, brother to John Stewart of the established The Kingston Trio, formed the band in 1964. Adding a female vocalist was on his to-do list early on, as many of the folk-based groups of that time were multigender.

Terry Kirkman, who later made a name for himself in folk rock as a writer and singer for The Association, recommended his girlfriend’s sister to Stewart for possible inclusion in the group. Beverly Bivens, who also went to the University of San Francisco with Stewart, got the gig.

“Mind” Games

The rest of the We Five lineup was filled out with Jerry Burgan, Pete Fullerton, and Bob Jones. Herb Alpert, co-owner of A&M Records, wanted to start adding folk rockers to the label’s roster. He signed We Five, who released their self-titled debut album in 1965. Their lead single was “You Were On My Mind”.

Sylvia Fricker, who’d go on to marry Ian Tyson and form the duo Ian & Sylvia, wrote “You Were On My Mind” back in 1961. She and her husband included it on an album in 1964. Soon enough, covers of the song were popping up all over the place.

Ian & Sylvia initially did the song at a loping tempo. But We Five decided to charge up the pace, even adding some chiming 12-string guitar that was very much in keeping with the times. They altered the lyrics as well, eliminating lines about the narrator getting drunk because they worried that those lyrics might torpedo the song’s chances at radio.

Their version caught fire in 1965, soaring up the charts all the way to the No. 3 spot. We Five eked out another Top 40 hit with “Let’s Get Together” later that year. But that was it in terms of their chart success, even though they continued recording albums well into the 70s.

Behind the Lyrics of “You Were On My Mind”

The We Five version of “You Were On My Mind” simplifies the lyrics to a great extent. Our narrator explains his preoccupation right off the bat: “When I woke up this mornin’/You were on my mind/And you were on my mind.” Turning it into a compound sentence consisting of the repeated phrase shows the level of his obsession.

“So I went to the corner,” the narrator explains. “Just to ease my pain.” If you really want to read into it, you could assume they were looking for drugs or drink. But this song skews more innocent than that. We can tell that this relationship isn’t running smoothly based on the complaints: “I got troubles, oh-whoa/I got worries, oh-whoa/I got wounds to bind.”

“You Were On My Mind” whooshes by in a blur of interweaving vocals. We Five found the folk-rock formula for that one glorious moment, even if they struggled afterward to replicate it.

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