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One of the biggest The Turtles' hits, Elenore was written for the band's second album The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands. Consequently the song became on of the biggest hits of the band, together with it's first hit single - Happy Together. However, originally Elenore was intended to be just a prank song.
Leaders of the band, Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, were in a creative argument with the band's label - White Whale Records, which wanted artists to become more conventional, stop experimenting with a style and just release songs similar to the first hit - Happy Together. To do so, Howard wrote Elenore, which on the surface resembles Happy Together lyrics about teen love, but in fact makes a joke on White Whale policy. In fact the verse
Elenore, gee I think you're swell
And you really do me well
You're my pride and joy, et cetera
is addressed directly to the label.
However, general public referred to it as a humorous perception of a love story, making it into another big hit, topping at #6 position in British charts.
Through that Elenore became the only song with word "et cetera" in lyrics to ever reach Britain's Top-10.
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