TRACK #422:

My Girlfriend is a Witch by October Country

Several years after The Sonics broke ground with their Witch, folk rock outfit October Country threw another one on the stake with their hit, My Girlfriend is a Witch.

While we never get any kind of real physical description of our femme fatale, we’re given a much less ambiguous description of, let’s say, her “witchy” activities.

She flies on a broom. She’s got lots of spells around her. She’s apparently telepathic. She worships magic. OK. I think we’re dealing with a real life witch here, gang.

Now that we cleared that up, what about the band?

Well, October Countrywas a short lived affair that only released one self-titled album in 1968, on which you’ll find tonight’s jam. The band, the album and the title track October Country, were all named after a Ray Bradbury short story collection, which pretty much gets you instant access to The Shindig, even without a Witch song, but here we are none the less.

Interestingly, this song was re-recorded for an episode of The Chattanooga Cats, which was an old Hanna-Barbera cartoon featuring hep cartoon cats playing instruments. I dare say it’s the more popular version of the song, as you can find the clip spread across the internet, and it’s a pretty fun little video.

Another interesting notch on October Country’s short belt is having their music appear in Steven Spielberg’s 1968 short film Amblin’, of which his production company, Amblin Entertainment, takes its name. Nice.

That’s all we seem to get from these hippies for a paycheck (apparently they were pretty square and not at all into the psychedelic movement, despite their music) but when your name is October County and your song is My Girlfriend is a Witch, that’s all you really need to get hemmed up in The Shindig.