
My new novel The Greatest Band that Never Was is full of music. Some of it is the music played by Decapede—a number of originals (including their megahit ‘Creston Gold’), but most of it covers—just like you would expect from a 1970 hippie pick-up band.
Decapede Core Repertoire

- ‘Pretty Woman’
Sam-styled, as I wrote in a recent newsletter—much, much, much slower than Orbison’s original. Sam does it methodical, raunchy, dripping sex. - ‘Bye Bye Love’
Because that’s the first song any two guys would sing together in 1970. Even S&G. - ‘Almost Grown’
Not the hilarious Chuck Berry original, but this garage cover by the young Lovin’ Spoonful - ‘Then He Kissed Me’
The song plays a big role in the book, which I’m not going to reveal here. But Decapede doesn’t have Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound on stage with them, so what I had in mind was this boy-band cover which I don’t think too highly of. Don’t worry, Decapede and their great chick singer do it better than that. - ‘Shout!’
Not the iconic Isley Brothers original, but the little-known cover by The Beatles. To me, this is really close to what Decapede would have felt like.

- ‘Louie, Louie’
If you weren’t involved in the rock scene in the mid/late-‘60s, you can’t imagine how ubiquitous this song was. - ‘Different Drum’
One of the band’s key numbers, featuring of course the chick singer. - ‘Rock Around the Clock’
I’m going to sing this one at the book launch in a week and a half. Get down and boogie.
Sam’s First Appearance

- ‘Peggy Sue’
Alone, on his acoustic guitar.
I’ve spent an awful lot of time imagining Sam’s voice. His timbre would be like Richie Havens, his phrasing like an introverted Van Morrison, his pain like Tim Hardin.
Then, he ripped into a driving, muscular “If you knew Peggy Sue,” rough and riveting. “Mah-hah Peggy Sue-ha-hu,” he growled, rhythmic and deep. The entire room could see her, that Peggy Sue, and feel the passion driving the rumpled stranger to utter consternation. His baritone was raspy, insistent, and probing. In the verses, his voice was controlled and commanding, but by the refrain, it was outright raunchy. Aaron’s three little groupies were staring up at this Sam Miller, their mouths half open. The frat boys’ dates were transfixed, their tight cashmere sweaters rising. The frat boys were wondering if what that asshole was generating would still be warm when they got back to the car.
- ‘True Love Ways’
Fifty-six years ago I played this Buddy Holley gem for TZ, a poet friend. His response was “A girl could get pregnant just listening to that.” I loved that line so much I saved it and used it in the book. - ‘Bring It On Home to Me’
Ladies and gentlemen, Sam fucking Miller.
Aaron’s Piano Bar Tunes

Aaron’s a very white boy singing bleached but appealing versions of white-oriented Black music.
- ‘Dancing in the Streets’
In my head I heard not Martha & the Vandellas magnificent original but The Mamas & The Papas’ Motown-lite version. - ‘Walk On By’
Aaron’s signature song. He can’t sing like Dionne Warwick, and he plays it first on the piano alone. The version in my mind is that of Laura Nyro, but she’s incomparably more soulful than him. - ‘Going Out of My Head’
Yeah, the style of Little Anthony’s vocal is pretty much how I heard Aaron.
Decapede Redux

- ‘I’m a Man’ by Bo Diddley
Aaron picks it for Sam to sing. Good choice, Aaron. - ‘I’m Gonna Love You Too’
Decapede probably sounds more like this cover by The British Invasion Hullaballoos than Buddy Holly’s original. - ‘Wedding Bell Blues’
I couldn’t write a book without getting Laura Nyro in there. Of course I heard this live version in my mind’s ear.

- ‘Ruby, Baby’
This song was a late addition for Decapede’s long-awaited second album. My model was neither The Drifters’ slick original nor the best known Donald Fagen version, but Dion’s original performed live without the slickness and with tons of swag.
Decapede Originals
- ‘Bug Juice’
In my mind, it sounded much like Country Joe & The Fish’s ‘Section 43’.
The favorite of the hard-core Decapede hippie devotees—Decaheads, they called themselves—was the endless instrumental jam they dubbed “Bug Juice.” It began with an eerie, psychedelic chord progression for a couple of verses, then evolved into Vaneshi’s guitar solo, meandering and snaking and weaving a mesmerizing journey through a spaced-out soundscape beyond time and place.
- ‘Shabbos’
Forty years later, the guitarists’ feature piece evolves into long, exploratory piece based on something like this, now called ‘Shabbos’.

- ‘Cuyahoga Rising’
Sam writes a protest song on a bet. “Cuyahoga rising, river gonna overflow/You looking for a place to hide/But you ain’t got no place to go.” Not Dylan, I admit, but in performance it sounds something like John Hall, Graham Nash, James Taylor and Carly Simon singing ‘The Times They Are A-Changing.’ - ‘Walleye’
One of my personal Decapede favorites is Sam’s ‘Walleye’.

He began to play, strumming and picking sweet, melodic lines. The music was tranquil, swaying. He began to hum softly in unison with the melody line, then in wordless syllables in harmony with the melody on the guitar, but it was mostly his fingers caressing the strings with a lover’s touch. Here and there, he added oohs and yo-de-wah-ahs, and a couple of times, “Moon dancing over the water, fish dancing under the sea.” It went on for several minutes, and not even his bandmates could figure out if it was a set piece or something he was making up on the spot.
I won’t tell you why Sam calls it ‘Walleye’, because you wouldn’t believe it. You’ll just have to read the book to find out.
The soundscape is certainly that of John Martyn’s best acoustic instrumental work like ‘Bless the Weather’. The whole package has very much the feel of David Crosby’s appropriately titled ‘1967’ from his masterpiece swan song “Here If You Listen.”

- ‘Start All Over Again’
A cheery Aaron original. Decapede sounds a lot like early Jefferson Airplane. - ‘Creston Gold’
Sam’s song, the first viral clip on the internet (2006), the spark that ignited Decamania. Here it is in my cover version. The original is so much better.
Non-Decapede Songs

Some of the songs come up as ‘incidental music’, music arising from the plot, not necessarily characteristic of Decapede’s vibe.
- ‘If You Wanna Be Happy’
“Never make a pretty woman your wife”, by One Hit Wonder Jimmy Soul. It’s based on a Trinidadian ditty. It seems I may have been subconsciously influenced in the setting of the song by this scene from the movie “Mermaids”. Or maybe it’s just that kind of song. - ‘Groovin’’
The song comes on the radio when two young lovers are driving on a country road in a maroon 1968 Mustang with the top down and not a care in the world.

- ‘The Way I Feel’
Gordon Lightfoot’s mournful ballad. - ‘Springfield Mining Disaster’
The song gets a less than successful treatment when a painfully untalented singer gets viciously heckled.
It was the chant that had accompanied her humiliation some weeks earlier, when her wraparound skirt unwrapped in the middle of the fourth verse, just as the widows and mothers were receiving news of the mine’s collapse.

I meant no disrespect for the version I learned the ballad from, a really great performance by Peter, Paul & Mary, their 3-voice harmony at its finest. I hadn’t listened to it for over half a century, but it’s indelibly engraved in my memory from back then. The version sung at Pedro’s Open Mic was probably closer to The Dubliners’ original or even U2’s treatment.
- ‘They’re Red Hot’ (‘Hot Tamales’)—Robert Johnson
Sam sings it. He’s a big fan of the Mexican cuisine he gets for free at Pedro’s Cantina. - ‘In My Life’
In the book it’s played by Sam on a very special guitar. But I ain’t gonna give away whose it was, you’ll have to read TBGtNW to find out. - ‘Here Comes the Sun’
Sam sings it, and it happens. He does that kind of thing. Sam probably sounds more like Richie Havens than The Beatles. - ‘Over the Rainbow’
And there is one.
It’s a mixed bag of music, some of it iconic, some of it 1970 pedestrian. It’s meant to be a realistic representation of what Decapede would have been doing. Yes, the book is full of music. But I think, I hope, it’s more than that. One reader just wrote:
“I just finished reading ‘The Greatest Band That Never Was’ by Jeff Meshel. It is a fast-paced, heartwarming story, with true-to-life three dimensional characters, that I fell in love with. Although it is a story about a 60’s band, I see the plot as a vehicle used to vibrantly display our foibles, loves, desires and dreams… and it that sense, it’s message is universal – something to which we can all relate. Bottom line; a very enjoyable read.“
I hope you’ll give it a chance. Available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.