#1285: My World Fell Down by Sagittarius

Peak Month: July 1967
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #70
YouTube.com: “My World Fell Down”
Lyrics: “My World Fell Down”

Gary Usher was born in Massachusetts in 1938 and grew up in the community of Grafton. After graduating from high school in 1957, Usher headed to California and was a musician in a few local rock ‘n roll bands. As it happened, Gary Usher’s uncle was a neighbor of Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys over in Hawthorne, a suburb of Los Angeles. Usher and Wilson ended up co-writing a number of songs for The Beach Boys including “409” and “In My Room”. The latter was a Top 30 hit in America in December 1963. Gary Usher also produced records in the mid-60’s for The Byrds, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, The Hondells and others. After considerable success as a producer, he eventually became a staff producer for Columbia Records. It was at this position that, during 1967, he produced Chad & Jeremy. They had played him several songs, which he felt lacked any commercial potential.

He had heard a demo around that time for a song called “My World Fell Down” (also recorded by the British pop group The Ivy League), and he played it for them, thinking that it was a sure-fire hit. They balked at the idea of covering the song, and Usher felt that he would do it himself. Gary Usher brought in Los Angeles session musicians, as well as drafting friends such as Beach Boys touring alumnus Glen Campbell (who did the lead vocal on the track) and Beach Boys singer, Bruce Johnston, and singer-turned-producer Terry Melcher for vocals.

Usher added Curtis “Curt” Boettcher to contribute vocals. Future press releases for Sagittarius would include Usher and Boettcher in the photos. Boettcher was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in 1944. Back in 1963, Boettcher formed a folk quartet called The Goldebriars, who released two albums. In 1966, Boettcher produced the Association’s debut album And Then… Along Comes the Association. The album included the Association’s hit singles “Cherish” and “Along Comes Mary”. Boettcher also produced Top Ten hits in 1966 for Tommy Roe, “Sweet Pea” and “Hooray For Hazel”.

He finished the recording by adding a musique concrète bridge. He presented it to Columbia executives under the group name Sagittarius, named after his astrological sun sign.

“My World Fell Down” was cowritten by Geoffrey Stephens and John Carter. Stephens was born in London in 1934 and served in the Middle East for two years as part of his national service. He worked as a school teacher, air traffic controller and silk screen printer. In 1961, his comedy sketches as part of his Four Arts Society found their way onto the BBC’s Monday Night at Home programme. In 1964, he wrote “Tell Me When” which was a #5 hit in the UK and #7 in New Zealand for the Applejacks. While “The Crying Game” became a #4 hit in the UK for Dave Berry. Boy George successfully covered the song in 1992 where it topped the pop charts in both Canada and Iceland. In 1965, Stephens produced Donovan’s debut album and hit single “Catch The Wind”.

In 1966, Geoff Stephens formed the New Vaudeville Band who had a number-one international hit with “Winchester Cathedral”. The song earned Stephens a Grammy Award nomination for Record of the Year. Another song he wrote for that band, “There’s A Kind Of Hush”, became a Top Ten hit in 1967 for Herman’s Hermits, and a Top 20 hit for the Carpenters in 1976. He also cowrote “Semi-Detached, Suburban Mr. James”, a Top Ten hit for Manfred Mann in over a half dozen countries, and reaching number-one in Rhodesia. Other Top Ten hits Geoff Stephens wrote include “Sorry Suzanne” for the Hollies, which climbed to #1 in South Africa and Switzerland. Stephens wrote Mary Hopkins “Knock Knock, Who’s There?” in 1970, which topped the pop charts in New Zealand and Singapore, and was a Top Ten hit in nine other countries. In 1977, Stephens’ “Silver Lady” was a number-one hit for David Soul in both Ireland and the UK, and #2 in Argentina; “Goodbye Sam, Hello Samantha” for Cliff Richard which topped the charts in 1970-71 in Ireland, Malaysia and Rhodesia; “Daughter Of Darkness” for Tom Jones which peaked at #1 in South Africa; A number-one hit in 1972 for Wayne Newton in Australia and the USA titled “Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast”; A Top Ten hit for dana in 1973 titled “It’s Gonna Be a Cold Cold Christmas”; A number-one hit in the UK in 1973 for the New Seekers titled “You Won’t Find Another Fool Like Me”; and Carol Douglas’ number-one hit in 1975 titled “Doctor’s Orders”. Geoff Stephens died at the age of 86 in 2020.

John Carter was born in Birmingham, England, in 1942. Around 1961, he and songwriter and musician Ken Lewis formed Carter-Lewis and the Southerners that released over a half dozen singles between 1961 and 1964. In 1962, they wrote Mike Sarne’s Top 20 UK hit “Will I What?” In 1964, they provided backing vocals for The Who’s “I Can’t Explain”, and wrote “Is It True?” for Brenda Lee. In 1965, Carter and Lewis co-wrote “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat”, a Top Ten hit for Herman’s Hermits in Canada and the USA; And a #3 hit in the UK for The Ivy League titled “Tossing and Turning”.  In 1967, they wrote “Let’s Go to San Francisco”, an international Top Ten hit for the Flowerpot Men. As well, Carter and Lewis cowrote “A Little Bit O’ Soul” for the Music Explosion, which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number-one in Canada. In 1974, Carter and Gillian Shakespeare penned a number-one hit in Canada for First Class titled “Beach Baby”. He also wrote “Dreams Are Ten A Penny” for Kincade.

“My World Fell Down” is a song about the break-up of a relationship. The lyrics depict the moment one person is moving out of the home where the couple have lived together:
I see your suitcase lying,
Packed up to go.
I stop myself from crying,
How, I don’t know.

On previous days, the singer heard a bluebird sing, “but not today.” Since the relationship has dissolved, the singer concludes “my world fell down.”

“My World Fell Down” was originally released in 1966 by the Ivy League in the UK. It did not chart.

Sagittarius’ cover of “My World Fell Down” reached #70 in the Billboard Hot 100. On local radio markets, “My World Fell Down” climbed to #8 in Key West (FL), and La Crosse (WI), #9 in Indio (CA), and Salt Lake City, #10 in Vancouver (BC), and Las Vegas, and #11 in Grand Rapids (MI).

When there was pressure from Columbia for Sagittarius to go on tour, it was revealed that a group did not exist. Gary Usher did, however, start working on an album for Columbia under the Sagittarius name. Most of this work was done in conjunction with Curt Boettcher.

Prior to releasing an album, another single appeared, with the song “Hotel Indiscreet” as the A-side. The B-sides for some of the Sagittarius singles consisted of instrumentals that Usher had originally recorded for another studio project. As was the case with “My World Fell Down” the bridge featured an unrelated comedy bit by The Firesign Theatre, another Usher discovery, but unlike the previous single, it failed to crack the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1968, the Present Tense album was released, and became a commercial failure. Because Clive Davis disliked the usage of musique concrete in the two singles, Usher removed these segments from the album versions. The album version of “My World Fell Down” featured a few bars of additional music between the first and second verses, that did not appear in the single version, and both were mixed in stereo for the album.

However, in 1969, Usher left his job at Columbia Records in order to start his own label, Together Records. Usher started work on another Sagittarius album, The Blue Marble, but this time, he contributed more as a musician, particularly as a vocalist. As he had done with the Byrds album The Notorious Byrd Brothers, he made extensive use of a Moog synthesizer throughout the record.

A cover of “In My Room”, culled as a single from The Blue Marble, became a minor hit, peaking at number 86 on the Hot 100, though the album failed to chart. Several more non-album singles were released by Together Records, before the end of the label. Usher issued an album in 1984 under the name of Celestium. The synth-laden LP was called Sanctuary. Gary Usher also worked for awhile with Brian Wilson in 1986, but due to difficulties with Wilson’s therapist the project faltered.

One of the last songs co-written by Usher was “Let’s Put the Fun Back in Rock n Roll”, co-written with singer-songwriter/producer Joseph Nicoletti in 1985. It was recorded by The Golden Boys (Frankie Avalon, Fabian, and Bobby Rydell) and performed for President and First Lady Reagan at Ford’s Theatre on December 6, 1988.

Usher died of cancer at his home in Los Angeles, California at the age of 51.

Meanwhile, Curt Boettcher created a group in 1967 named The Millennium. The group met with little success. Several of his songs were recorded by the Sunshine Pop band the Sunshine Company. Another Sunshine Pop band, Eternity’s Children, also recorded one of Boettcher’s compositions. Curt Boettcher recorded a solo album in 1968, but it was a flop since Curt Boettcher was reluctant to tour. In the mid-70’s, Curt Boettcher sang backing vocals on the Elton John-Kiki Dee duet “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’. In 1977, he provided backing vocals on Eric Carmen’s Top Ten hit “She Did It”. That year Boettcher was with Dennis Wilson in the recording studio for the Beach Boy bandmate’s solo album Pacific Ocean Blue. As well, Boettcher offered backing vocals on another Beach Boy bandmate’s solo album: Bruce Johnston’s Going Public. He also provided backing vocals on country album TNT by singer, Tanya Tucker. Curt Boettcher was married and became the father of a son before he got a divorce. Curt Boettcher died in 1987 of pneumonia.

December 31, 2024
Ray McGinnis

References:
Joel Goldenberg, Sunshine Pop Offered Some Respite From ’60s Strife, The Suburban, Montreal, Quebec, February 26, 2016.
“Gary Usher; Co-Writer of Beach Boys Hits,” Los Angeles Times, June 2, 1990.
“Song #212. The Beach Boys, ‘In My Room,‘ 500 Greatest Songs of All Time,” Rolling Stone, April 7, 2011.
Stephen J. McParland, The California Sound: An Insider’s Story: The Musical Biography of Gary Lee Usher, California Music, Los Angeles, CA, 2001.
“Terry Melcher,” Telegraph, UK, November 23, 2004.
Leo Barraclough, “‘Winchester Cathedral,’ ‘A Kind of Hush,’ ‘Crying Game’ Songwriter Geoff Stephens Dies,” Variety, January 3, 2021.
Joe Marchese, “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat: Cherry Red, Grapefruit Anthologize Songwriter John Carter’s Career on “My World Fell Down”,” The Second Disc, June 9, 2022.
Alexandra Molotkow, “She Told Herself She Couldn’t Die Because She Had to Write His Story,” New York Times Magazine, August 11, 2013.
“Boss 30,” CKLG 730-AM, Vancouver, BC, July 29, 1967.