THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

486-Bob Lind-Elusive Butterfly.

1966-Number 5 single.

Best Bit-At 0.51. Don’t be concerned, this will not harm you, it’s just poetry in musical motion.

Bob Lind was born Robert Neale Lind, on November 25th, 1942, in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, he is a singer, songwriter, and author. In 1965 he signed with ‘World Pacific Records,’ which was a subsidiary of ‘Liberty Records.’ For many years Bob Lind suffered from drug and alcohol problems, but he has been clean and sober since 1977. Between 1971-2006 he didn’t release any new music, instead concentrating on writing. In 1988 he relocated to Florida, where he went on to write five novels, an award winning play, and a screenplay called ‘Refuge,’ which won the ‘Florida Screenwriters’ Competition’ in 1991. In October 2019, his short play ‘A Good Night’ won a place in the ‘Delray Beach Playwright’s Festival,’ and in May 2023, another of his one-acts, ‘Spain,’ enjoyed a successful run in ‘The Curtain Call Playhouse’s Short Play Festival.’ Bob Lind has also been a regular contributor to weekly American tabloid newspapers for many years, and at the time of writing he still composes new music, and continues to perform live from time to time.

The discography of Bob Lind who helped define the 1960’s ‘Folk/Rock’ movement in the United States and the UK, and has had his body of work covered by over 200 artists, includes eight Albums released between 1966-2022, and nine singles released between 1965-1971. In America on the Billboard Hot 100, his only charting single is ‘Elusive Butterfly, which reached Number 5, while in the UK that song is also his only one to chart, and also made Number 5.

‘Elusive Butterfly’ was the only single released from Bob Lind’s 1965 debut Album called ‘Don’t Be Concerned,’ it was written by Bob Lind, with the production being by Richard Bock, (1927-1988) and the string arrangement being by Jack Nitzsche (1937-2000.) Bob Lind has said that he wrote the lyrics around sunrise, sometime in 1964. He credits the songs inspiration as coming from the Irish poet W B Yeats’ (1865-1939) poem ‘The Song of Wandering Aengus,’ first printed in 1897. Lind has said, ‘I wanted to write something like Yeats’ poem, that had the sense we feel of being most alive when we’re searching or looking or chasing after something. That expectation is more life affirming than getting the thing you’re after.’ In the song the narrator sees himself as a butterfly hunter, he is looking for romance, but he finds it as elusive as butterflies are to capture. The original version, first recorded by Bob Lind of the song, is more of a ‘Folk’ guitar based acoustic recording, (think early Bob Dylan) and when recorded lasted for nearly six minutes, and had more verses, Lind has said, ‘I played it for everybody I knew, but I didn’t think ‘Man, this is my best song, it’s going to be a hit that millions of people will hear. It was just another Bob Lind song. I was thrilled then by everything I wrote.’ It was after the songs producer Richard Bock had Jack Nitzsche take a listen, that the song was transformed. Nitzsche added a lush string arrangement, thus making the song one of the first ‘Folk/Rock’ songs to feature a string section.

Jack Nitzsche was born Bernard Alfred Nitzsche, on April 22nd, 1937, in Chicago, Illinois, United States, in 1998 he suffered a stroke which ended his career, and he died on August 25th, 2000, of cardiac arrest brought on by a recurring bronchial infection, at the age of 63. Jack Nitzsche was a musician, arranger, songwriter, composer, and record producer, who first came to prominence in the early 1960’s as the right hand man of the producer Phil Spector, (1939-2021) (see also best songs 820-782-737-262-192-127-91 and 20) working as the arranger and conductor, orchestrating almost all of the ‘Wall of Sound’ hits for Spector. Nitzsche worked with many big names including The Rolling Stones, and Neil Young, he can be heard playing keyboards on The Rolling Stones hit singles ‘Paint It, Black,’ (1966) and ‘Let’s Spend the Night Together,’ (1967) he also wrote the choral arrangements for ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ (1968.) Jack Nitzsche wrote film scores, and these included ‘Performance,’ (1970) ‘The Exorcist,’ (1973) and ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ (1975.) His songwriting credits include co-writing the 1983 ‘Academy Award for Best Original Song,’ ‘Up Where We Belong,’ with his then wife Buffy Sainte-Marie, and his co-write with Sonny Bono of ‘Needles and Pins,’ which was first a hit for Jackie DeShannon in 1963.

‘Elusive Butterfly’ was initially released as the ‘B’ side to Bob Lind’s first single release ‘Cheryl’s Goin’ Home,’ in November 1965, because the record company thought it was too different sounding from the types of music that were becoming hits at that time, and therefore wouldn’t be successful. It was when one of the DJ’s at the Miami radio station ‘WQAM’ began playing it, the track started to get requests from the listening audience, leading ‘Elusive Butterfly’ to be re-issued as the ‘A’ side in January 1966, with ‘Cheryl’s Goin’ Home,’ relegated to the ‘B’ side.

‘Elusive Butterfly’ has many cover versions. In 1966 the song was also recorded by the Irish singer Val Doonican, (1927-2015) and released as a competing version with Bob Lind’s original, both competing versions reached Number 5 in the UK. Other noteworthy cover versions include the one by the Zimbabwe born singer Judy Page, who made Number 5 in South Africa with her recording in 1966, and Levi Stubbs’ (1936-2008) passionate rendition on the Four Tops 1970 Album ‘Still Waters Run Deep.’ Of all the cover versions Bob Lind has said that his favourite is the 1966 recording by Petula Clark, ‘Nobody believes me when I say that, she wasn’t considered cool in the 60’s, she was considered mainstream and very vanilla, but I love her version of ‘Elusive Butterfly.’

‘Don’t be concerned, it will not harm you, it’s only me pursuing somethin’ I’m not sure of. Across my dreams with nets of wonder, I chase the bright elusive butterfly of love.’