Music Blog

Fell Short: Strawberry Alarm Clock

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for Song Lyric Sunday –
“Talented with Potential, but Didn’t Pan Out”.
Here’s where the theme took me.

© Amazon.com

This week in Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams’ theme is “Talented with Potential, but Didn’t Pan Out”. Our challenge is to write about a song from a band or artist that had potential but never got its due.

At the height of one of the greatest years in the history of pop music, a band of teenagers with a bizarre name released a bizarre song with a bizarre story behind it. And they watched as it soared to the top of the pop charts. A product of the psychedelic era, the 1967 single “Incense and Peppermints” by the Strawberry Alarm Clock has nonetheless earned a timeless spot in the pop pantheon. It’s a marvelous oddity that came together in the unlikeliest fashion imaginable.

The story behind “Incense and Peppermints” gets a little convoluted when you try to sort out all the different claims as to its authorship and creation, so I’ll try to give you just the consensus basics of it all. It started with a California cover band named Thee Sixpence, who were just starting to branch out into creating their own music.

Keyboardist Mark Weitz and guitarist Ed King wrote a whirling instrumental to start the whole process, although there were no words at that point. The band’s manager liked what he heard, and since Thee Sixpence didn’t yet have any established lyricists, he farmed it out to other writers.

Those writers were John Carter and Tim Gilbert (although some accounts claim Gilbert didn’t contribute much to the final song, even though he received credit). The pair came up with the title “Incense and Peppermints”, a suitably trippy phrase considering the tenor of the times, and Thee Sixpence set about recording it.

When the band laid down the track, several of its members tried to step up to the task of lead vocals. None of them could get it quite right. A friend of the band named Greg Munford, who was all of 16 years old at the time, just happened to be there at the session, and he delivered the vocal that would appear on the recording.

That would be the extent of Munford’s contributions to the song and the band in total, as he never became an official member. “Incense and Peppermints” was initially tabbed as the B-side of a single. But a DJ flipped the record and the song took off on a local level.

The idea was then floated that the band should release the song as an A-side to capitalize on its undeniable allure. One problem: It was discovered there was already a group named Thee Sixpence (hard to believe, but it was the ‘60s). That’s why they switched it to Strawberry Alarm Clock for the wide release, which caught on like wildfire and put the band at #1.

On one hand, the words of this song are nonsensical. Don’t forget this was an era where even the Beatles were purposely writing songs like “I Am the Walrus” that were meant to befuddle listeners. But a deeper dive into “Incense and Peppermints” reveals a sly message about the futility of finding true leaders in a world where so many people are out for themselves. Wait a minute! Maybe these guys really were onto something.

Sadly, Weitz and King (who later joined Lynyrd Skynyrd) didn’t receive credit for their contributions to “Incense and Peppermints”. Strawberry Alarm Clock, beset by massive lineup changes and managerial tumult, had largely imploded by the early ‘80s. What an impact they left behind with this one-of-a-kind creation.

This is “Incense and Peppermints” by Strawberry Alarm Clock

LYRICS

Good sense, innocence, cripplin’ mankind
Dead kings, many things I can’t define
Occasions, persuasions clutter your mind
Incense and peppermints, the color of time

Who cares what games we choose
Little to win, but nothing to lose

Incense and peppermints, meaningless nouns
Turn on, tune in, turn your eyes around
Look at yourself, look at yourself, yeah, girl
Look at yourself, look at yourself, yeah, girl, yeah, yeah

To divide the cockeyed world in two
Throw your pride to one side, it’s the least you can do
Beatniks and politics, nothin’ is new
A yardstick for lunatics, one point of view

Who cares what games we choose
Little to win, but nothing to lose

Good sense, innocence, cripplin’ mankind
Dead kings, many things I can’t define
Occasions, persuasions clutter your mind
Incense and peppermints, the color of time

Who cares what games we choose
Little to win, but nothing to lose

Incense, peppermints
Incense, peppermints

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Timothy P. Gilbert/John Daniels Carter
Incense And Peppermints lyrics © Claridge Music Co., Mpl Music Publishing Inc, Claridge Music Inc.

Talented with Potential, but Didn’t Pan Out

Big thanks to Jim Adams for hosting another great Song Lyric Sunday this week and every week. Be sure to follow the link and check out Jim’s site.

Thanks for stopping by for a look and a listen.

That’s all she wrote, kids. See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2025

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy Richy and are not for use by anyone without permission. NAR©2017-present.

57 thoughts on “Fell Short: Strawberry Alarm Clock”

  10. Great choice, Nancy. Following their initial success of this song, Strawberry Alarm Clock toured with popular acts like the Beach Boys and Buffalo Springfield and appeared in the films Psych-Out and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, but they failed to replicate ‘Incense and Peppermints’.

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  13. This was new to me Nancy. It was such an interesting time. I thought I had heard of the song Incense and Peppermints but when I played it I realized I was mistaken. I think it might have popped up when looking for another SLS song when we were searching for herbs! As always I enjoyed your well-written post my friend. I learn something every week here at SLS ☺️💕

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    1. Thanks very much, Christine. SLS is one of my favorite challenges and I totally enjoy participating each week.

      Were you in the UK when this song came out? That might be one of the reasons you don’t remember it too well. It was a huge hit here and then everything just fizzled out over a short period of time. So strange how that happens; I don’t even recall hearing this song on SiriusXM in a very long time. Thank you for another extremely kind a gracious comment. I love preparing these posts for SLS and I’m delighted to know they are appreciated.

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  14. Just perfect for the prompt! Instantly recognizable, though I would’ve never recalled the name of the band. And yep, I might be up off the couch moving around. I gotta get these creaky achy joints loosened up. Happy Sunday Nancy!

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  18. Nancy! What a great choice. I am familiar with this song and the name of the band- and never realized they didn’t really do anything else- as the song was already an established hit by the time I got around to hearing it. I Googled Greg Munford- since his role in this was unique and his name seemed familiar- and he has a pretty interesting website where he explains his singular involvement in this song. As always excellent narrative.

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    1. Thanks very much, Jodi. This song was huge when I was really getting into music and going to concerts big time. My husband thinks we may have seen SAC but I think his memory has been tampered with by forces from the psychedelic side. 😂 I’m really glad you enjoyed this one and thanks for bringing up Greg Munford. His is an interesting story. 🎶

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    1. Right you are, Fan! I checked out your post earlier and commented.

      When I learned what today’s theme was, this song came to mind immediately and I didn’t even bother looking up other songs. It’s a great tune and I’m glad you remembered it and enjoyed hearing it again today. Thanks!

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