Most bands feel lucky if they’ve been able to score a single hit. The Buckinghams managed to run roughshod through the pop charts for an entire year with a series of songs before they faded out of the limelight.
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“Kind Of A Drag” was the impetus for the Chicago band’s success in their annus mirabilis of 1967. The horn-filled track also helped establish a sound that would quickly become associated with the Windy City.
Windy City to the World
Like so many 60s bands who found a way to the big time, The Buckinghams began their career playing cover songs of other groups who had already reached that elite status. Members came and went over a few years in the mid-60s before a solid lineup emerged.
The band’s first big break came when they won a talent show at a local television station. That gave them the chance to appear regularly on regional television, which helped them gain a bit of exposure. Around that time, they changed their name from The Pulsations to The Buckinghams in an effort to cop a bit of a British Invasion vibe.
A record deal on a small label soon followed, but early attempts at singles went nowhere. The Buckinghams might have quickly faded were it not for a song written by a Chicago musician named Jim Holvay. That connection proved very fruitful for the band, as they were about to go from obscurity to the top of the charts.
“Drag” Drama
The Buckinghams’ manager, Carl Bonafede, knew Holvay from the local music scene and asked if he had any spare songs. Holvay offered “Kind Of A Drag”, which had more of a pop-soul feel than the garage rock that the band was used to playing.
A horn-filled arrangement helped set the band apart from some of the rock band competition on the radio dial. Dennis Tufano sang an understated lead vocal that sat well in amidst the arrangement. “Kind Of A Drag” managed to turn The Buckinghams into overnight sensations. It hit No. 1 in early 1967, just a few months after its release.
Amazingly, four more songs that made it as high as No. 12 on the charts arrived in 1967 from The Buckinghams. Jim Holvay co-wrote three of those hits. But the band never again hit the Top 40 following that magical year.
Behind the Lyrics of “Kind Of A Drag”
“Kind Of A Drag” gets a lot of mileage out of that title. On the one hand, the narrator seems to be understating his plight, which is that he’s been left lonely. “Kind of a drag,” Tufano shrugs. “When your baby don’t love you.”
But when the song gets to the middle sections, and the rest of The Buckinghams come charging in behind him with backing vocals, the narrator sounds a bit more desperate. “Listen to what I’ve gotta say,” Tufano pleads. “Girl, I still love you / I’ll always love you anyway.”
One other note about this band: The producer on several of their follow-up hits to “Kind Of A Drag” was James William Guercio. Guercio would build on those horn-embellished productions when working in the years to come with the bands Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears. Even if they couldn’t sustain their success, at least remnants of The Buckinghams’ musical style lived on.
Photo by John Atashian/Getty Images
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