#21: From A Distance by P.F. Sloan

City: St. John’s, NL
Radio Station: VOCM
Peak Month: April 1966
Peak Position in St. John’s ~ #6
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “From A Distance”
Lyrics: “From A Distance”

Philip Gary Schlein was born in New York City in 1945. His mom was born in Romania and his dad in the USA. The family moved to West Hollywood when Philip was twelve years old. His father was a pharmacist and had the family name changed legally since Philip’s dad was repeatedly denied a liquor license for his store. The new surname, Sloan, gave Philip’s dad no hassles and the family business thrived. In 1958 Philip was given a guitar as a present. Prior to being drafted into the US Army, Elvis Presley gave Philip Sloan a quick guitar lesson at a music store in Hollywood. By the age of 14 Philip Sloan’s nickname was “Flip,” a variant of Philip. So he became P (Philip) F (Flip) Sloan. At 16, “Flip” Sloan got a position as a songwriter with Screen Gems in Los Angeles. In addition to songwriting, Sloan teamed up with Steve Barri. The pair recorded several records hoping for a hit single. They failed at getting any notice when releasing singles under the names The Lifeguards, Themes Inc., The Rally-Packs and The Wildcats. And they barely registered on the charts in 1964 as Philip and Stephan with “When You’re Near You’re So Far Away”, or as The Street Cleaners with “That’s Cool, That’s Trash”.

In the mid-60’s P.F. Sloan struck gold with his contributions as variously a songwriter, backup singer and producer for Barry McGuire on “Eve Of Destruction”. He also wrote for The Turtles on “You Baby” and “Can I Get To Know You Better“, Jan and Dean on “The Little Old Lady From Pasadena”, “From All Over The World’, and “Dead Man’s Curve”, Herman’s Hermits single “A Must To Avoid”, Johnny Rivers Top Ten hit “Secret Agent Man”, The Grass Roots debut single “Where Were You When I Needed You” and follow-up “Let’s Live For Today”, Terry Black’s “Unless You Care” and “Can’t We Go Somewhere”, and The Mamas & The Papa’s #1 hit “California Dreamin’”.

In the midst of all these successes, PF Sloan decided to record one of the songs he wrote, “Sins of the Family”, instead of giving it to another recording artist. P.F. Sloan tried to build on his marginal hit with “Halloween Mary“, a song that only got into the Top 50 in Vancouver and Top 20 in Los Angeles in October ’65. In April 1966, Sloan released “From A Distance”.

P.F. Sloan wrote “From A Distance. In the song, P.F. Sloan invites the listener to consider a series of questions as a catalyst for gaining perspective. The questions are rhetorical in an effort to build the case he is making: “Have you ever heard a lonely church bell ring? Have you ever heard a crying angel sing?…. Have you ever seen a star fall from the sky?” In answer to these and other questions, P.F. Sloan offers answers by importing meaning to instruct us: The angel is crying in anticipation of the sins that will be committed in the future. When stars fall from the sky, God has “one less chance…to see you and I.” A third verse concerns tall buildings which, from a distance, don’t appear so tall after all. This may have sounded “profound” back in 1966. Though it may not catch the imagination of the current generation so much.

“From A Distance” climbed to #6 in St. John’s (NL), #8 in Endicott (NY), and #17 in Cleveland. Internationally, it peaked at #11 in Tokyo, Japan.

P.F. Sloan again had only regional success in the summer of 1966 with “City Woman” where the song charted to #8 in Little Rock and #10 in San Bernardino. Later that year “A Melody For You”, was a commercial failure. “Sunflower, Sunflower”, was a hit in Redding, California, where it climbed to #7, but nowhere else. During this period PF Sloan released several albums, Twelve More Times (1966) and Measure of Pleasure (1968). Neither sold very well.

In 1972 P.F. Sloan released a solo album, Raised on Records, after a bout of illness. But for most of the next two and a half decades P.F. Sloan had a long battle with various physical and mental illnesses. His only other recording was in 1992 with his second solo album, Serenade of the Seven Sisters. After 2000 he was recovered from his ailments and credited Sathya Sai Baba, an Indian guru, with healing him. His 2005 album, Sailover, was a tribute to his guru that could be rendered as Sai Lover. His final album in 2014 was titled My Beethoven, featuring classical pieces by Beethoven that Sloan learned to play and inspired him. P.F. Sloan died of pancreatic cancer in 2015.

March 27, 2026
Ray McGinnis

References:
Bruce Webber, P. F. Sloan, Enigmatic Writer of ’60s Hit ‘Eve of Destruction,’ Dies at 70, New York Times, November 17, 2015.
Pierre Perrone, PF Sloan: Songwriter whose Protest Song ‘Eve of Destruction’ Became the Anti-Vietnam War Song Par Excellence, The Independent, UK, November 23, 2015.