Every Mother’s Son – Come On Down To My Boat

Obbverse and I were commenting the other day and this song came up. I had this single from a relative of mine when I was a kid and I would play this and Eleanor by the Turtles over and over again. The band had a really cool name. The song is pure bubblegum but enjoyable.

Every Mother’s Son was short-lived, consisting of brothers Dennis (guitars) and Larry Larden (lead vocals, guitars), along with Bruce Milner (keyboards), Schuyler Larsen (bass), and Christopher Augustine (drums). They were formed in New York City, New York in 1967.

The band’s clean image was a perfect foil to the “hippie invasion” groups of that time, and that clean image was the very reason why MGM signed them. By 1967 though the squeaky clean image didn’t help…well…their image.

The group recorded their self-titled debut album, which was released in 1967. The album mostly contained a collection of songs written by Jerry Goldstein and Wes Farrell. Not only did the band look like the Beach Boys, but Every Mother’s Son‘s sound had echoes of the Beach Boys too.

This was their first single and they hit pay dirt. It peaked at #6 on the Billboard 100 and #3 in Canada in 1967. They were making appearances and enjoying being in the top 10 and they did try to follow up this song. They released four more singles in 1967 and 68 trying to push another one up the charts…but it didn’t work.

They would fall into the One Hit Wonder file…but it’s better than the No Hit Wonder file. The bubblegum band The Rare Breed also released this song before Every Mother’s Son but it wasn’t a hit.

Come On Down To My Boat

She sits on the dockA fishin’ in the water uh, huhI don’t know her nameShe’s the fisherman’s daughter uh, huh

Come on down to my boat babyCome on down where we can playCome on down to my boat babyCome on down we’ll sail away

She smiled so niceLike she wants to come with me uh, huhBut she’s tied to the dockAnd she can’t get free

Come on down to my boat babyCome on down where we can playCome on down to my boat babyCome on down we’ll sail away

Fish all day sleep all nightFather never lets her out of his sightSoon I’m gonna have to get my knifeAnd cut that rope, cut that rope

So we can go fishin’ in my little red boatMake you happy in my little red boat, so

Come on down to my boat babyCome on down where we can playCome on down to my boat babyCome on down we’ll sail away

Come on down to my boat babyCome on down where we can playCome on down to my boat babyCome on down we’ll sail away

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

41 thoughts on “Every Mother’s Son – Come On Down To My Boat”

  5. Within a couple of months, my dad and I spoke about this song and “bubblegum” hits of the lates 60s. You two really know your stuff, Max. I wish I could catapult myself back in time to experience these songs during their time. I wonder what genre used today would be a similar descriptor to “bubblegum.”

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  6. Beach Boys knockoff band. You can hear the strong influence and production. I’m surprised Mike Love didn’t sue these guys; he’s sued everyone else. Our band played this song because our manager, Miss Alice, liked it, and her son, our rhythm guitar player sung it. It was excruciating, but at least we had the voices to do Beach Boys tunes, of which we did none. But, it was a very cool name for a band.

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    1. We didn’t have those voices when we first started…when we changed up members…we could actually start playing songs with cool harmonies.
      It is a catchy song…no doubt about that…

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    1. No lol….yea…Aretha kinda beat this one out! lol. It is a fun song and as a kid I loved it. I have to admit…when obbverse and I brought it up…I enjoyed listening to it again.

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      1. you and Phil mention how much it sounds like the Beach Boys, to me the best example of a BB knockoff was First Class. Remember that song ‘Beach Baby’ from about ’73, I thought that was BB for some time.

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      4. Nah, not Top Five or even close, but the trail to the real musical treasures must start somewhere, and where better than a dumb decent dance beat and clean hooks? We can’t all of start with ‘Thunderstruck.’

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    1. It wouldn’t hurt! Actually you got me thinking the next time the guys get together… if we made Sugar Sugar sound edgy, we might could do it with this one.

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