Yesterday’s piece about the Nashville All-Stars motivated me to take a closer look at a 1960s beat group that has generated positive buzz among the musical cognoscenti – The Nashville Teens.  Taking a peek at their 45 releases quickly revealed a startling discovery:  The Nashville Teens were musical clairvoyants who foresaw the digital age decades before the rest of us with their prescient piece of pop prognostication,  “Google Eye“:

The Nashville Teens     “Google Eye”     1964

The Teens were not actually from Nashville (and no relation to The Nashville All-Stars) but rather a bunch of blokes from Britain.  “Google Eye” would be their second 45 release in a string of singles spanning the 1960s that would include a mix of covers – “Tobacco Road”; “All Along the Watchtower”; “The Lament of the Cherokee Indian Reservation” – as well as originals.  How interesting to learn that “Google Eye” (1) was actually written by a Yank, John D. Loudermilk, and that (2) the song was so far ahead of its time that the record label would consequently misspell the title as “Goggle Eye” on a number of 45 releases:

 Italy                                          Germany                                    Somewhere

The Nashville Teens would also release a musical roll call in tribute to the rock & roll pioneers who came before – “Revived 45 Time” – as well as a lament to the “Tennessee Woman” who would ultimately turn her back on them and break their collective heart.