Just an hour or so up the interstate from Baltimore resides a prominent metropolitan area that was once the “Rodney Dangerfield” of East Coast cities: Philadelphia. Somehow in the course of looking for bowling songs, I chanced upon this curious piece of sunshine pop – “A Bubble Called You“ by The Alan Copeland Conspiracy – that casts a rain cloud over Baltimore’s big neighbor to the north:
“A Bubble Called You“
The Alan Copeland Conspiracy (1967)
“A Bubble Called You” – written by Alan Copeland and Tom Bahler – would lead off the second side of Copeland’s Bob Thiele-produced ABC album of the same name (one that includes a cover of The Everly Brothers’ “Bowling Green,” hence the ten-pin connection). Despite its status as the album’s title track, “A Bubble Called You” would remain, surprisingly enough, under house arrest during its lifetime and not enjoy single release.
Copeland, in a playful bid to stoke controversy that might potentially boost sales, would subtitle the album, All Things Considered, I’d Rather Be Here Than in Philadelphia. In Australia, the album would get a new title — Here There and Everywhere — as well as new cover art.
Its indignation sufficiently stoked, The City of Brotherly Love would strike back years later with a concerted campaign to bring about “an end to Philadelphia’s dark ages and Chinese Wall ugliness, an end to a city thinking with an inferiority complex” — as we shall see in tomorrow’s post…
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LINK to Sunshine Pop on Zero to 180
