I Think I Love You

Songs I hate myself for liking, Part 1



This past Sunday, my wife and I had the following conversation:

Kim (from the living room): Something something Partridge Family something music.

Me (from the den): What?

Kim: I said The Partridge Family made good music.

Me: What?

Kim: I love The Partridge Family.

Me: You love David Cassidy.

Kim: I like his voice.

Me: You're hot for him.

Kim: There's that too. You like Susan Dey.

Me: I like Shirley Jones; she was a 30 something MILF!

Later, during dinner, Kim turned to me and said "I'd see The Partridge Family in concert; I really like their music"

I'm not as big a Partridge fan as my wife; as early 70's sitcom families go, I prefer the Bradys (even though Shirley Partridge is way hotter than Carol Brady). This is not to say I didn't watch The Patridge Family, just not as frequently as The Brady Bunch. I've seen every episode of the Brady Bunch many times over; I can only recall a handful of Partridge episodes.

Still, whenever I hear the introduction to I Think I Love You (Baah, Baah Baah Baah...) my ears perk up and I find myself singing out loud "I'm sleeping, and right in the middle of a good dream..." I'm not a fan of 70's Bubblegum Pop, but there's something just so damn infectious about this song that I can't help myself. I love every note of it - from the opening Bahs to the harpsichord/synthesizer interlude. to the final "I think I love you" fade out. The Partridge Family had a few other hits but fortunately none effect me in to same way. As an excuse to hear the song, here's a clip from a first season episode of the show. The only cast members to actually perform on the songs were David Cassidy and his real life step-mom (and, as previously noted, MILF) Shirley Jones.



Mr Mike Fun Fact 1: The Partridge Family was based on The Cowsills, a real-life singing family from Newport Rhode Island who scored several top 10 hits in the mid-late 60's.

Mr. Mike Fun Fact 2: When The Partridge Family was in the development stage, The Cowsill children were approached to star in the show. The catch was that Shirley Jones had already been signed to play the mother, so real life mom Barbara Cowsill (nowhere near as hot as Shirley) would not be included. Family loyalty won out over potential TV stardom and the kids turned down the offer. So the legend goes...

Mr Mike Fun Fact 3: The Cowsills' first big hit was 1968's The Rain, the Park and Other Things. Fast forward a decade. I'm a high school sophomore. Sitting in front of me in Journalism Class is a cute hippie-chick named Mary. She was a senior and was way too cool for me to ever speak to beyond the perfunctory "hi". Still, for the past 30 years, whenever I hear this song I think of her (sigh). This is no surprise to my wife; I've lost track of the number of times I've told her the pathetic story of my decades-old infatuation. I think it's just so much background noise to her at this point. Anyway - here's a clip of The Cowsills performing The Rain, the Park and Other Things. Mary, if you're reading this, this one's for you...~



Post Script 1: I should point out that my wife actually has eclectic musical tastes (despite her preoccupation with the Grateful Dead) and is not as obsessed with the Partridge Family as I'm making her seem. Or is she? I seem to recall something about her trying to get a job as a nanny for David Cassidy's children when he had a summer home near here (long before we met, of course).

Post Script 2: I am now a decade older than Shirley was when she starred in The Partridge Family. I first noticed the hotness that was Shirley Jones when I was in my late 20's; I took it as a sign that I was growing up and maturing in my tastes. Now I just feel old.

"C'mon get happy..."